Grrrrmany

Hamburg was a completely different experience than St. Petersburg. I felt like it had more of a party atmosphere. Hamburg is home to one of the largest red light districts in Europe because it has always been such a big port, and that definitely played a part in the culture of the city.

My first day there, I actually had a field trip for my Global Ethics class that dealt with the Reeperbahn, which is the area where the red light district is located. Our morning started at the offices of a nonprofit organization called Amnesty for Women, which helps migrant women from all around the world when they come to Germany. They provide all kinds of services - German lessons, help with lawyers, finding healthcare - and try to educate migrant women about their rights in Germany. There are only three full time employees and a couple of interns, so it's not a huge organization. But I got the impression that their work has been fairly widespread and influential.

After a debrief session at Amnesty, we had a very German lunch at a very German restaurant before walking to the Reeperbahn. There, our first stop was a block full of strip clubs and the bar where the Beatles first performed. Our tour guide, Eike, explained to us that this culture developed in Hamburg because the men who docked their ships in the port were lonely after being at sea for months, and the women got paid to keep them company. Further along on the tour, we saw a brothel that the city had paid to have built so that the prostitutes weren't in view of the children of the city. Eike told us that because prostitution is legal in Germany, women with that occupation have to pay taxes and have access to all the same government benefits as other German citizens. He also explained that German prostitutes can rent a room themselves so that they don't have to deal with a pimp. We learned that most women in the Reeperbahn stand on certain streets at night, and they are recognizable because they wear fanny packs to hold their money in. But there is one street where it's more like Amsterdam with the women standing in doorways. This street was the only place prostitution was legal during Nazi Germany, and there are blockades still there to keep women and children out.

   

It was a very weird day. The goal of our field trip had been to learn about human trafficking in Germany, but we learned that it actually isn't a huge problem for them. Most of the prostitutes are legal citizens who have chosen this as an occupation and are protected by the laws and regulations in place. But for me that still posed an ethical question. My guess is that prostitution isn't most people's first career path choice, but is most often a last resort. The women make a surprising amount of money so it's understandable that it might seem like an attractive option. But is making money enough of a reason to justify the exploitation and objectification of women? I'll be writing a 4-6 page paper on that for Global Ethics, so I'll let you know what I come up with.

I met up with my friends for dinner on the ship and then we all got dressed up to go out. Per usual, we couldn't find a place and spent an hour walking around before we decided to stop. Hamburg apparently doesn't have many German restaurants, but there a lot of Italian places so we got a pizza and ordered some wine to replenish our energy. Then we spent some time walking around the Reeperbahn - it's definitely more lively at night than during the day. Aileen and I needed to be up early the next morning, so we headed back to the ship around midnight.

Day two started out with an SAS program at the Rathaus, Hamburg's government building. There we met with a member of the Hamburg Parliament, who gave us a tour of the building and then broke down the German electoral process. My political-nerd side was so happy.

   

Afterwards, Aileen and I met up with everyone at Rathaus Square for lunch from some food stands. I had a German sausage and dark chocolate-covered strawberries on a stick and it was DELICIOUS. It was also just a really cool and lively area to be in. The government building was right there, but so was a stage for a music festival, a lake, and lots of shopping (which meant we had to stop at H&M).

After walking around that area for a while, we went to Miniature Wonderland, which is supposedly the largest model train in Europe. Guys...it was awesome. It took up three floors, and we saw the Berlin Wall coming down, a plane land, a UFO come down, Las Vegas at night, and Superman flying through Switzerland. There was even a mini polar bear in Sweden. It sounds kind of lame and childish, but all six of us college students were thoroughly amused for the multiple hours we were there.

         

Later that night we went back to Rathaus Square for a reggae/rock music festival. The food stands from earlier were still there and I got a Kinder crepe. In case you don't already know, Kinder is one of my favorite things in the world (Kate you know what I'm talking about). But then put it in a crepe...I didn't know food could be so fantastic. We were at the square for a couple hours before I decided I was going to walk back to the ship. By myself. I know, I know...that was stupid. But I had been in the area all day and it was super close to the ship! So surely it shouldn't have been an issue to walk the few blocks home. Except it was. After two hours of walking in the dark, past the same buildings, I declared myself officially lost. I managed to find a train station where I got a taxi back to the ship. I can't even describe the relief I felt to finally see the Explorer again. Who knew Hamburg was so confusing?! Don't worry about scolding me...my friends won't let me hear the end of it. They even made me get a key chain that says "You'll never walk alone."

   

The next morning I sat at a cafe people watching and writing postcards for a couple hours. There may or may not have also been ice cream because Germany is really good with that stuff...it's wonderful. Then I made my way to St. Michael's Church, where a service was going on. I got to stand in the back for a while, which was interesting because the service was in German. After being completely confused by the German sermon, I climbed the tower. Which is equivalent to climbing up a 10-story building, so yay for me. From up there I could see all of Hamburg - including the area I had been lost in and my ship. It was gorgeous.

         

I met up with everyone on the ship at midnight that night to go back out to the Reeperbahn. We were told that real night life doesn't start until that time, so we decided to nap and then try it out. We sat in a square for an hour or so, just hanging out. People watching in the Reeperbahn that late at night is a very entertaining thing - there's SO MUCH going on! Eventually someone suggested we actually find a real place to go, and we wound up at a club where we made some German friends. We were on the dance floor until 4:30 am...and the locals said we were weird for leaving so early. But we wanted to witness the opening of the Sunday morning fish market on the pier. Which was totally worth it because I got fresh donuts. We headed back to the ship around 6:30, just in time to see the sunrise. I didn't have my camera with me though so no pictures :(

Our last day in Hamburg was really chill. Most of us had stayed up all night and all of us were coming down with a bad cold, so energy levels were low. We spent the morning walking around the pier and doing some souvenir shopping. Then it was back to the ship to catch up on sleep and homework!