Camille Goes Places

I have decided to visit every graveyard in Berlin. I don't know if anyone has attempted this, but I would like to believe I am one of the few, if not the first. It started with visiting one cemetery on the Day of Open Landmarks, in which guided tours were happening at various historical sites in Germany. One graveyard later, my "spooky season" hobby had transformed into a 10-month goal.  Besides providing a setting for existential rumination, older cemeteries especially spark historical inquiry and discovery. Most structures in Berlin are relatively new, as in the 20th century, though it was founded about 785 years old. However, in traveling outside of Berlin, I've been able to observe medieval graves as well. Furthermore, for this blog post, I thought I would give you a thrilling incomplete history of medieval burial practices.  A THRILLING INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL BURIAL PRACTICES 1. Burying the dead, 1000 + years ago. On October 7th, I went to Konstanz, Germa...

It's been a hot minute since I have given a so-long-fare-wellness check. Here is what I have been doing for two weeks since the last post! (I know that it has been more than two weeks but too bad, you'll only get a fornight of my records for now). Monday, September 19  Of all the things I imagined going wrong on my first official day as an English Teaching Assistant (nothing to do, getting lost, expected to work full time) I didn’t expect I’d show up at the wrong school entirely. As it turns out, my contract should’ve stated Kurt Tucholsky Oberschule (high school) not Grundschule (elementary school). I realized this when the office staff at the elementary school told me that the building and teacher I was looking for did not exist and they have never heard of Fulbright. At this point, I had no way to contact my teacher or any idea how to get to the school, so I prioritized purchasing a SIM card so I could message people with international data. (I had screenshotted places near...

New format alert! Chef, what I have prepared for you today is a mild dive into three art movement styles that I had the opportunity to delve into in my travels thus far. I wish you could have accompanied me on my castle museum tours, but instead, you'll have to settle for my written recaps. Life update at the end!  1. Frederician Rococo Rococo is a style of decoration, architecture, and art that began in France in the 1730s as a reaction – because art movements apparently must rebel against something – to the classical style defined by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Rococo is known for pastel colors, asymmetry, and naturalistic curved elements. The term arises from the rocaille , a specific design motif of a seashell interlaced with acanthus leaves. Rococo also took inspiration from Chinese and Japanese art, often depicting places, people, plants, and animals from these regions. While churches and private residences in Spain, Italy, and Southern Germany adopted rococ...