July
21, 2014
Today is cooler than before. The
entire group went to visit the Deutscher Bundestag. I felt it is an awesome
tour. The Bundestag is a
constitutional and legislative body in Germany.
The
Bundestag was established by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
in 1949 as the successor to the earlier Reichstag. The Bundestag members are
the only federal officials directly elected by the public; the Bundestag in
turn elects the Chancellor and, in addition, exercises oversight of the executive
branch on issues of both substantive policy and routine administration. This
check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public
debates on government policy, investigations, and direct questioning of the
chancellor or cabinet officials. Members serve four-year terms, with elections
held every four years, or earlier in the relatively rare case that the
Bundestag is dissolved prematurely by the president. The Bundestag can be
dissolved by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor if the
latter has lost a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, if the recommendation is
made and accepted before the Bundestag acts to elect a new Chancellor. All
candidates must be at least eighteen years old; there are no term limits. About
the Distribution of seats by party in the 17th Bundestag, there are total 620
seats. CDU/CSU has 237 seats; SPD has 146 seats; FDP has 93 seats; The Left
Party has 76 seats; Alliance 90/The Greens have 68 seats.
After we back to hostel, I went to
grocery store to buy some water. But before I went to there, I felt so hungry. So
I went to McDonald’s to have something to eat. I am so happy about it. The
reason is the dinner was too difficult for me to eat. There is cheese in the pasta.
I had never eaten food like this. Hope tomorrow’s food will be better.
