Good morning blog, my day started like every other day, chocolate croissant and a latte from the coffee machine in the hotel lobby. Today we are going to Dachau. We got to sleep in and we didn’t leave until 9 in the morning. There was a forecast of rain for that day so we prepared accordingly. Everyone knew that today would be the hardest day on the trip by far.
We get on the bus at 8:55 and depart at 9:00. It is about an hour bus ride to Dachau, everyone was sleeping, like they always are, but me and Noemi (one of the German students) sat together and talked the whole time. It was a relaxing bus ride, we saw the fields and solar panels like normal, but we also got to ride in the World’s biggest round about. Not as exciting as it sounds, if it sounds exciting at all. But still, I can say that I rode a coach bus on the World’s biggest round about. We soon arrive to Dachau and we all climb off into the puddles that have formed from the hours of rain. The umbrella that I had bought from rite aid before coming just broke. I quickly put it back together but the rest of the day, I am preparing for it to fly away.
The visitor’s center was designed with a lot of dark wood and glass. There were presentations happening and a couple of other people walking around. We started with our tour in the visitor’s center. Our guide explained the history of World War 2 and the general history about the other countries involved. A couple more minutes go by and she is done with her introduction of World War 2 and Dachau. We walk outside, took a bit of effort but I got my umbrella back together. The first stop is the gates of Dachau that everyone has to walk through to get inside. Once through she explained what the people brought to Dachau used to go through.
I was surprised to exactly how big Dachau was. I had seen photos but never understood the actual size of Dachau. Our next stop on the tour was to where the people in Dachau used to sleep and eat. Seeing everything in real life did put into perspective just the horror these people went through at concentration camps. We learned about it in class but nothing compares to actually seeing it in real life.
After the tour is over we are allowed to walk around on our own for a little. I took a quick look at the exhibits we skimmed over during our guided tour.
Seeing Germany’s relationship with World War 2 is interesting, to show how a country can grow and become better from such a terrible time. They do not try to forget that it happened but instead to educate and move for a better future.
After Dachau the rest of the day consisted of relaxing and working on our presentations. We had sandwiches and snacks on the bus. I took a much needed nap and had Döner for dinner.
