Thais Weiss #3

Wow! I can’t believe my summer study abroad is over already! After Spain we went to Berlin for a week, Munich for a week and Freiburg for two weeks. Things got really intense in Germany. We had stories due every week for Transition Magazine, and 3 papers due the last week of the program. Our days started early and we were never done before 8 or 9pm. But boy, did we have fun! Berlin was beautiful, warm and full of art and culture. A week was not enough. That week we had many meetings, but my favorite was a walking tour with the Institute for Creative Sustainability. We walked around Berlin to see co-housing apartments, community and art centers, urban gardens and children’s farms that bring citizens together. We learned that many Berliners are making efforts to create a community based on social sustainability. My favorite stop was at “Tipi Land”, a public property that was transformed into an area for alternative living. Today there are about 20 people living in the property with no more than two people from the same nation. The tipis were made completely out of recycled material such as advertisement banners.

Munich was a blur; we had meetings everyday from 9am until at least 6pm. After that we went back to the hostel to write our stories and papers. I barely got to see Munich because I was so exhausted and had so many assignments due. Not to mention about 10 of us got sick that week. But after Munich we went to Freiburg and had a blast! We worked a lot but I just loved that city. It was the most sustainable city I’ve ever seen. It has many energy efficiency policies and it provides the right motivation for its citizens to reduce their carbon footprint by meshing walking and biking with other forms of public transportation. I never saw any traffic in the city and interviewed many residents who told us they prefer walking and biking than driving. A lot of people in Freiburg don’t even own cars because they don’t need one! The city has a tram system that runs all day. We bought a month long pass that we could use on the trams, buses and trains! After spending 6 weeks studying renewable energy, policies, sustainability and analyzing the walkability and bikeability of European cities, my peers and I are coming back to the U.S full of ideas on how to improve American cities that have been designed for cars instead of people. I’m sad to leave, but I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to see everything I saw on this trip. I’m looking forward to what senior year has to offer and hopefully I can start planning my next trip abroad soon!

🙂 Thais Weiss