Exploring Berlin in the New Year
Shaping Cultural Experiences
Travel has been an integral part of my life since I was a young child. I grew up in a multicultural, bilingual home in the Netherlands with a Polish mother and a Dutch father. My
Update & BBC News Link
A brief update: One interview video will be uploaded tomorrow evening. I believe the BBC News One-Minute World News provides well-balanced reporting of news, hence why I wanted to share it. Top stories on May
From Nigeria to Boston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VNkCazT_T4&feature=youtu.be
When you first meet Oluwagbeminiyi Osidipe, you encounter a very vibrant, friendly, and unique personality. Oluwagbeminiyi or Niyi – as she shortened her name for simplicity – was named by her mother, who had a “very personal experience” when she had her, Niyi explained. Niyi is a Yoruba Nigerian transplant who arrived in the U.S. in 2006. As one of the most densely populated (West) African countries, Nigeria derives its name from the river that spans its land. To the South, it borders the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean. Originally colonized by the British, Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Its main ethnic groups are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, who speak English and their own respective languages, while major religions include Islam, Christianity and indigenous beliefs. Niyi shares her story, her views on politics, cultural differences she’s embraced with humor, and what we can learn from each other by expressing curiosity. Her message is simple: travel enriches us through its exposure to new cultures, and enables us to grow.
Mark Twain on Travel
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” (American author Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad).
Have you had the opportunity to travel (extensively, within your country, or even once abroad)? Can you relate to Twain’s sentiments? How does travel enrich us?
Pleasing The Taste Palate
Food has the wonderful quality of uniting us no matter where we are. There is nothing partisan or narrow-minded about food. It simply invites us to indulge, create recipes, and share with others. Two of my favorite Polish dishes (included in collage) are pierogies and barszcz czerwony – a beetroot soup – served on Christmas Eve in Poland. How does food bring us together? What are some of your favorite dishes and why? Can food trigger memories?
Stereotypes: Truth or Fiction?
DEFINING STEREOTYPES: “An idea or statement about all of the members of a group or all the instances of a situation.” (Merriam-Webster). Stereotypes enable bias and preconceived notions to perpetuate, but can also reveal valid
Annual Human Rights Report
“The world changed immeasurably over the course of 2011. Across the Middle East, North Africa, and far beyond, citizens stood up to demand respect for human dignity, more promising economic opportunities, greater political liberties, and
Euro Crisis & Emerging Stereotypes
Brief Crisis Breakdown Since the onset of the global financial crisis, or Great Recession, in 2007, the Eurozone has feared impending growing global debt levels, as well as sovereign debt within European countries themselves. In
Remembering Tiananmen
Today marks the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, China. Inflation, a lack of career prospects, the fall of Eastern European communism, and political corruption, are all said to have fueled anger
Coffee's Uniting Power
A cup of coffee can bridge cultural gaps. At least, that’s what Gizem Salgicil White, founder of Turkayfe.org, believes. Her organization aims to create awareness of Turkish culture, particularly within America. Gizem is a Turkish native,
Today’s Culture with Travel post is by Paul Calderon
I have always wanted to start the New Year in a different country. This has always been a dream of mine, until around October last year, when I decided to have one of my best holidays so far. I thought of a country I could visit; somewhere that is modern, but still has a rich culture, alongside a huge presence of mind-blowing architecture. Europe came to mind, but then I had to choose which country. I contacted my friends, that I knew enjoy traveling, and we came to the conclusion that we were going to visit Germany for the New year.
I had read a lot of blogs and many top ten things to do in Germany, meaning I was really prepared to enjoy my New Year getaway. My two friends and I planned to leave New York on December 28, 2016, our intention was to get to Germany, relax and plan our New Year celebration. We got our passports ready, booked our tickets and left NY from John F. Kennedy International Airport three days before the New Year.
We got to our 3-bedroom apartment in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. It was a cozy, warm and beautiful apartment. By evening, we decided to walk around the city center. One thing that stood out was that Germans are really nice people, and quite a number of them can speak English, as our German language was poor. We went out to a nearby restaurant to deal with our hunger before we rested for the night.
Morning came, and I couldn’t wait to get out of bed. It was two days until the New Year, and we planned to have as much fun as possible before the big day. Our first destination in Berlin was the Don Xuan center.
A Trip to The Dong Xuan Center in Berlin, Germany
This is an Asian market, where you can find lots of Asian food, and other materials. As history tells, the Dong Xuan Center was founded by Nguyen van Hien, many years back. This is one of the most unpopular cool spots in Berlin. Recently, increasing number of tourists have been coming to the center, if judge by the interaction we had with the traders in the market. We were able to get some traditional Vietnamese wears, bags, and bracelets. The place was like a small Vietnamese community, because of the presence of a lot of Vietnam citizens.
The visit to the market took our entire day, as we just didn’t get stuff for ourselves, but also for our friends back in New York.
Night Out in Berlin, Germany
We decided to take a rest on the 30th of December because we had plans to hit the club at night. As you might already know, Berlin is the capital of electronic music around the globe. However, electronic music is quite predominant in Kiev too, so we decided to visit a club that doesn’t play this kind of music. My favorite music genre is hip-hop, so I successfully convinced my friends to go to a club that plays hip-hop. We finally settled for a club around the subway station, Warschauer Straße in Friedrichshain.
Pictures can’t do justice to the amount of fun we had. It was electrifying. The DJ really kept the night alive, and we did raise the roof. If I came to Germany for holidays anytime soon, this club would be top on my priority list.
We got home the following morning and rested till evening. Our plan was to go to another party, to cross over into the new year. Our next part location this time was one of the most popular sites in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate.
New Year Celebration at the Brandenburg Gate
Apparently, it’s custom for the people of Berlin to celebrate the cross-over night at the Gate. We could not miss out on this. We had to wear our thickest coats because it gets really cold in Berlin at this time of the year. We got to the venue, and we were blown away. There were live bands and DJs. The cherry on top was that it was totally free, except if you are willing to get drinks, then you’d have to pay for that. Exactly at 12:00 AM 2017, there were massive fireworks. It was nothing short of magical. It was really a good experience, the one I’ll keep in mind forever. This was by far one of my best getaways in years.
Paul Calderon is an American academician and a freelance writer at https://eduzaurus.com. He is an associate lecturer at several universities throughout USA. Paul has a Master’s degree in English Language and currently is working on his Ph.D. thesis. In his free time, Paul enjoys traveling, photography, and modern theatre.
Hi! I'm the founder of Culture With Travel and #CultureTrav. Please chat with us on social media and contribute in the comments! Follow @Nicolette_O
