More from Berlin

Day Three: Today the group was excited for our tour. Guides gave us a walking tour of Berlin's famous street art.  We saw all the famous arts from Blu to 1up and others throughout the tour.  The group soaked up the street art, tags and graffiti all day and were overwhelmed with inspiration.  Later that afternoon, we participated in a street art workshop where students were able to create stencils and spray paint them on boards and the building.  This day was very positive and the students reflected on the differences between street art/graffiti.


Street Art vs. Graffiti

Graffiti—tags, quick, not usually impressive, often annoying, usually one or a few words…

Street Art—often big murals, lots of effort put into it, obviously creative, very few tags put on it, almost never careless, often meant to send a message.

--Madison

We took to the streets of Berlin today for the street art tour.  I can truly say that Berlin is beautiful.  The walls tell stories that anyone can understand.  The differences between tags and more time consuming pieces is painfully clear but both together influence the flavor of the city.  Each of these walls is a constantly changing work—art gets covered from time to time but that is what makes what you see have more value—when it could be gone the next day.  I really love street art because it is ever changing with the times and it’s made by people who are leaving a piece of themselves for the world to see.

--Rachel

Street art is respected by other artists as it has a great deal of work put into it and typically high quality.  Graffiti is a modification of a building or place and it is typically a tag or something of importance

--Ace

I would say the difference is:  street art has more meaning and takes way more time and thought into what you are doing.  Graffiti takes almost no time to think about. Like gang names or paintings that are destructive or degrading to a building or artist.  There are famous street artists like Blu, Just, and 1 up.  They take everything from hours, days or even weeks, just to get their signature up.  1up does that almost everywhere.  I personally think that street art is a great way to express yourself and should be legal everywhere.

--Bailey

Day Four: Today we finished our tour of Berlin by going to Alexanderplatz for some R & R and last minute shopping.  The group was exhausted from the walking tours we did all week.  The students were excited to go back to Frankfurt to be with their host families.  Again, the theme of our time in Berlin was logistics, construction and public transportation.  Though we were delayed, our students were greeted by all of their host families back in Berlin.  During our train ride our students were asked to journal about the differences between the two cities.

Differences between Frankfurt and Berlin:

I’ve spent more time in Frankfurt so I’ve had the chance to explore more of the city and take time to do my own thing.  However, while spending 3 and a half days in Berlin I’ve felt more comfortable.  Mostly because there’s so many more diverse people and styles.  Berlin has more public and performance art.  People are more direct and up front.   Frankfurt is more uptight, clean, smaller and low energy.  Berlin is more fast, big and what I feel to be more accepting.  Berlin is more dirty and grungy.  The people just seem not to care about what others are dong, saying, thinking or feeling.  I really enjoy both, but if I had to choose between the two, I fell in love with Berlin.  Why?  That’s really hard for me to explain mostly because there are so many amazing things.  In Berlin there are so many different styles and people.  I don’t really want to tough everything but it is so unique and weird.  I fell in love with the art and the old grunginess of everything.  Frankfurt is wonderful but I feel like it is a little uptight and clean cut for me personally.

--Megan

The time I have spent in the cities, have led me to these opinions:  Frankfurt has a mix of tall building city skyline, and the lush green parks with trees and grass.  To me Frankfurt is more of a friendly city.  Berlin, on the other hand, has had was intimidating.  There was a lot of trash and street art.  I found Berlin raw—it has the potential for anything.  If someone wanted, they could change the city for better or worse.  Overall, I do not prefer one over the other.

--Ben

Frankfurt is much more conservative—not in their political beliefs, but in how they ac t, dress, and carry themselves.  They are more conformists, following more mainstream America culture patterns than Berlin.  You can find those type of people in Berlin, but counterculture is more prevalent and accepted.  You won’t get judged for being different.  Berlin has more cultural freedom and street art.  It’s grittier, but feels lke home.  The music and food are better and I feel more at home in Berlin—I definitely feel at home in Berlin.

--Ranen