Hallo, and greetings from Motel One Berlin-Bellevue, where we are staying during our time in Berlin! I am Melissa Welshans (she/her), assistant director of Syracuse University’s Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) and the first volunteer blogger of this study tour.

So, what were today’s highlights? For most of us, the biggest highlight was safely arriving in Germany in time to check in to our hotel and join the group for a welcome dinner at 5:30 pm local time. And I am happy to report, that we made it!

My own journey began early on Saturday, May 11^th. This is my first visit to Germany (as it is for most of us on the trip), and I will admit I was filled with a mix of excitement and nerves as I boarded my plane from Syracuse. Luckily, Scott Palmer (prestigious scholarships advisor at UC-Davis and a tour co-leader) and I happened to be on the same connecting flight from Newark to Berlin, and together we navigated the S-Bahn (Germany’s rapid transit) from the Berlin Brandenburg Airport to our hotel after we landed, arriving at roughly 8 am local time (2 am ET).

After 15 hours of stuffy airport air, the warm sun and cool breeze in today’s forecast shook us out of our travel fatigue. So, after checking into our rooms, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and enjoy a bit of sightseeing before dinner!

With the additional excellent company of Deb Viles (Director of the Office of Top Scholarships at UC-Boulder, who was already at the hotel) Scott and I quickly freshened up and headed to Berlin’s Museum Island – an island in the Spree River that houses 5 museums and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. First, on the island, we browsed the collection held at The Alte Nationalgalerie which opened on Kaiser Wilhelm I’s birthday on March 22^nd, 1876. It is especially well known for holding the works of famous figures in Romanticism and Impressionism, like Auguste Rodin, Pierre Auguste-Renoir, and Casper David Friedrich. Many paintings we viewed depicted scenes of women at work, from spinning flax to plucking geese—scenes which put the occasional stress of a career in fellowships advising into perspective 😉

Then, it was off to the Bode Museum, where Deb and I (Scott chose to stay in Alte Nationalgalerie to see more of its holdings), were treated to medieval and renaissance art and sculpture.

Dear reader, by the time we had done all this, it was only 2 pm local time! So, after a quick late lunch of dim sum it was back on the S-Bahn to the hotel, where we then briefly rested and headed out for our first official programmatic piece with the rest of our fellow NAFAns—a lovely welcome dinner buffet in the quaint Restaurant Neumann’s.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has attended an in-person NAFA event, but another central highlight of my day was being reminded of the kindness, generosity, and humor of my fellow NAFAns. We’re off to a great start with even greater company, and I ended my day filled with a deep sense of gratitude for this organization and the people in it.

The final highlight of the day? SLEEP.

For tomorrow, we will start our days bright and early with a visit to the German Parliament (Bundestag), followed by a visit to the ESCP Business School’s Berlin Campus, and another lovely group dinner.

 

Thanks for reading! Tune in tomorrow for the next guest blog describing our day’s adventures.

Melissa