In 1988-1989 I spent one year abroad studying one semester in Tübingen, West Germany (south of Stuttgart), and one semester studying in Rostock, on the northern coast of what was still the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) often referred to the “DDR.” The DDR was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. The DDR described itself as a socialist workers’ and peasants’ state. Soviet soldiers were stationed throughout the country, and East German students were forced to learn Russian.

How was it an American university student could study in the former East Germany? My alma mater, Brown University, had an exchange program with Wilhelm-Pieck Universität in Rostock for ten years before the Berlin Wall fell. Students from Brown went to Rostock, and East German students came to Brown to study, a fact that still surprises many.

As the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, my mind is flooded with memories of that amazing year. This blog is a collection of those memories.

Thank you for visiting and I welcome and appreciate your comments. If you enjoy my writing, you may like my other blogs. I have one dedicated to travels to Japan and my Japanese-American family history, and I have a general blog with random musing. To learn more about me, visit my personal website.