Hamburg, the city of Harbor

    It was a week-long academic trip to the city of Hamburg, 'the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg' or 'Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg.' This trip marked the beginning of a significant academic and novel project, designed by a sociologist on staff at the University of Hamburg, that aims to address a pressing contemporary issue: the transnational change in the Palestinian family across three distinct communities: the West Bank, the Palestinian minority within the occupied 1948 borders, and Germany.

Project staff at Uni Hamburg hanging out at the harbor

Hamburg caught my attention in July last year when it headlined international media outlets. Thousands of protestors went onto the streets across the city during the ceremony of the G8 summit in 2017 that was held there. The main reason behind the riots was protesting against President Trump's global policies and the summit that embraced these policies.

At arrival, the city speaks for itself with its various manifestations: streets, gardens, and distinguished architecture, which insinuate a long history of civilizational buildings that have passed through different phases to end up as such. This architecture reminds me of many things that portray Europe; it's not only the field of interests that had highlighted Europe on specific occasions when I learned about its history, but also, I used to watch cartoons during childhood designed by cartoon makers who objectified the historical European landscape on their long episodes. For instance, the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Duma. These episodes left an image that Europe is a place that should be explored one day. 

The city is harmonized with diverse cultures; people from multiethnic backgrounds coexist in serenity. I couldn't touch upon any fissures among these diverse groups, nor have I ever heard that Hamburg has attested to ethnocentrism negatively, which led to vindictive reactions. 

On the contrary, the city of Harbour, or as I could name it, showed a role model of diversity. It's the way of life that I constantly call on people to slip into all walks of life. How wonderful this paradigm is! How wonderful to wake up every morning and see a colorful landscape around you and integrate into multiculturalism!

In Hamburg, colliding with individualism is inevitable, which means a lot to people there. I felt  those people would have said to me, had I asked why this individualism, "It's our absolute free choice to do whatever in this life as long as it doesn't violate the law or encroach on others' rights."

As we arrived in the city, the Palestinian group went through Jordan, and the first day was spent touring around.  In the following days, we discussed the following steps to be carried out to get our long academic project done. How are we going to carry it out by organizing interviews? A session captured our reflections on the interviews we conducted experimentally to familiarize ourselves with the atmosphere. What we did outside the workshops was unforgettable; we enjoyed the amazement of the city; it's a cosmopolitan city that reflects all colors of life in terms of the availability it provides its multiethnic citizens with. It's possible to pass by a convenience store or restaurant owned by Chinese, Italians, Latinos, Asians, Russians, Africans, Arabs, etc.

A statue in Hamburg

Therefore, in Hamburg, you can indulge in almost all life tastes to the degree that you feel nothing is missing regarding food, outfits, fine arts, and other affinities.

The Elbe River gives the city another charming scene. We enjoyed a tour on the boat there, and we could see how it divides the city into several areas from the north, making wide fissures flooded by water. This constitutes a water passageway to ships and the international commercial shipping movement. Indeed, its existence opens up more diversity to the city through touristic and industrial activities. From this point, Hamburg can be named the city of Harbor.

Historical sites, like ancient buildings, embellish the city; churches have a lion's share in these buildings. Also, many of their art pieces are erected in different public places; these pieces are randomly shaped to reflect meaningful messages that artists try to convey to the audience or their fans. This kind of art in the street isn't only in Hamburg but also typical in Germany. It amazes me to stop by and start pondering the meaning behind such art, which is unfamiliar to us in the Middle East!

Street art, acrobatics in Hamburg

Despite the hardship of fasting Ramadan there, I didn't spare time to explore the city from all walks of life to relieve myself as much as possible. I had a small, adorable adventure to add to our commemoration with my colleague in the project; we went out of the classroom to roam the campus as we didn't join the lunch due to our fasting. At that moment, we suddenly passed by a huge tree with lots of yellow fruits dangling down, but at first glance, we didn't figure out what sort of fruit it was. We approached to explore; it was like clusters of fruit shining under the sunrise; it attracted us to check it out; it was finally a cherry tree. I told my colleague, let's pick up some, but let's get permission from those in charge of it first who permitted to pick up some mouth-watering cherries to have them at fast-breaking.