Day 6, "Hamburg" Blogpost by George (Romania)

This blogpost comes eight days too late, due to technical issues and the organisational wrap-up of the conference left no time for editing. Anyway, here it is, George's (Romania) Blogpost!

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Waking up at 6.00 am after going to sleep at 5.00 am is never easy, but today I had no other choice because it was Hamburg Time!!! "Heute war ich ein hamburger", as people might say.
Today I broke 3 stereotypes:
1. German trains are never late: yes, they can be late
2. All german cities are cristal clean: no, they are not, but that only makes them more fascinating (note from Jannes: We started our trip at the alternative district "Sternschanze")

3. Germans never emigrate: yes, sometimes even germans need to emigrate to other countries.
The day in Hamburg started out with a visit at a museum depicting the history of german emigration (Ballinstadt, a new and well-designed interactive museum in the renovated halls where actually Germans started their trip to America!). I have to admit that for me and for the other this museum was a very big surprise. I was expecting something boring to be very honest (maybe the only one hour sleep had something to do with it also), many pictures, all explained in german, of course. But no, actually the museum was very interesting, interactive and everything was also translated in english. I think the best word to describe the museum after a one and a half hour visit is “impressive”, because i really felt the athmosphere of when the museum was the departure point for emigrants.
After that we went for a small tour of the city. 

I could write pages about Hamburg, but I am going to settle with 3 key words: contrast, diverse, fascinating. Many people from all over the world live in Hamburg, making it one of the most, if not the most cosmopolitan city in Germany. If you want, you can find traces of immigration at every step.
Again, like in Hanover, the tour consisted of mainly 2 activities: walking and taking pictures, many many pictures. And a lot of walking too. But it was all right because you could see somethig interesting at each corner. We saw the Television Tower, a very nice and beautiful park, the Town Hall and many other nice places.
Yes, you can either love Hamburg or hate it, there are no other options. The only thing you will not be, for sure, is feeling disappointed.

http://www.ballinstadt.net/BallinStadt_emigration_museum_Hamburg/