My Year in Deutschland: My trip to the German Bundestag

Back in November I received an invitation from the member of Parliament who represents the region I am living in here in Germany to visit the Bundestag and meet with him. This is one of the many perks of the scholarship I received. So, last Thursday my host family and I went to Berlin. We met one of Mr. Steineke's aids and she took us around the building. It was cool because the Reichstag building doesn't look that big, but there are other buildings with offices that are apart of the Bundestag. There are underground tunnels connecting them. Only the general public would need to go outside to get from one building to another. Quick lesson here: Reichstag refers to the building and Bundestag refers to the people and the parliamentary things being done (ie making laws). Reichs means imperial and Bundes means federal. All of it used to be called the Reichstag back then with the German Empire and Third Reich, for example. Since 1945; however, the word Reichstag stopped being used to refer to the people of the Bundestag and what they do. The Bundestag is the current national parliament.

In the basement, there is this a wall of boxes (size: big enough to fit a 3x5 index card, color: rusted brown) with names of former members of Parliament and the years they served. The boxes contained the cards with which the members used to vote. The interesting part is that there is one box that is completely blacked out. That particular box belonged to Hitler.

We then went to the plenary chamber, which is where the members of the Bundestag meet. We watched and listened as different members give speeches. The topic was Investing in Germany and Europe's Future. I'm taking the wording from my host mom when I say it is a bit of a circus in there. Attendents are constantly moving around, members on the lower floor are coming, going or talking, and groups are always coming in and out from the viewing section.

We then went on to meet with Mr. Steineke. One thing we talked about was the program I am on and the scholarship I received. This leads me to something very important. This program is in danger. Everything is explained on the website, but I'll give a quick overview. Congress is planning to cut program funds in half starting this year; potentially jeopardizing the entirety of the program. The Bundestag has agreed to cover the what the USA does not fund, but only for this year. This petition is to get Congress to reverse their decision and restore the funding. Most exchange students on this program, from both Germany and the USA would not have this opportunity if it wasn't for this scholarship (myself included). It is very important to keep this program running so that future exchange students have this amazing opportunity as well.
Here is the link to sign the petition.
http://savecbyx.org/

We then went up to the dome. There is an upward and downward spirialing ramp circling the dome and you can see the city of Berlin. Actually, directly under the dome is where the plenary chamber is, so natural light comes down to the chamber. There is also an audio guide for the dome that I have previously done, although this time we had the aid as our guide. She explained the tasks of the Bundestag and pointed out all the sights you can see from the dome. Outside the dome is also a rooftop terrace, which is great for photos and views.

That was the end of our visit to the Bundestag. Although I had visited before, this time was obviously cooler and better. The aid was knowledgeable, nice, and super friendly, too. The whole thing felt very official and it was quite the experience.

The absolute coolest part of the whole day, though? I saw Chancellor Angela Merkel.