Tours, History and a Memorial.

This is going to be a photo intensive post, just to warn you!

On 27/8, we headed out early for a campus tour, followed by a boat tour of Berlin, followed by a stroll around the biggest Soviet memorial in Berlin. Twas a busy day. Fortunately, I stuck to my "only one drink" rule the night before, and so was not as exhausted as a few of my fellow compatriots. The campus tour was supposed to last from 9:30 - 12:00. We had to be at FU-BEST by 9 (for no reason whatsoever), and then we sat around waiting. The tour only took about an hour - it was raining and H, our tour guide, didn't want to drag us around town too much. The FU campus is spread out all over, and really doesn't have a central location, so an entire tour would be been awful in that weather.

This building used to be where the Nazi's carried out

all of there eugenics experiments. It's now part of the

Political Science department. Berlin has a belief in 

recylcing their buildings, and not just knocking them

down to ignore the past. All of such buildings have 

a plaque to remind people of the buildings former

and current purposes.

This is the best shot I could get of the library (which I already

have a picture of in an earlier post). It's crazy cool, and will be

awesome for studying in. It's all glass, so I imagine it sounds 

incredible in there when it rains!

The mensa (cafeteria) at school actually has some relatively

good food. There's typical German bad-for-you food (which is

delicious), but they also have a lot of healthier food. This is

some yoghurt concoction with blueberries in it. Super delicious!

And it's all pretty cheap. I got a sandwich and the yogurt for about 2Euro!

After the mensa, we sat around for about 2 hours waiting to go on the boat tour. We were all so tired and bored, but it was really great getting to know some other people on the program. Finally, the masses started to move and we were on our way. Because our program is so large, they had rented out the boat for us, which was awesome! We went all over Berlin. I don't know where we started or where we ended, but I can tell you that it was along the Spree river, so you can look that up yourself if you're uber interested :) Here are a few pictures from that:

On the boat. And no, we didn't sing "I'm on a Boat."

None of us have learned the lyrics in German yet,

and we weren't allowed to order wine, so there was

no singing.

The rain started to get a little irritating, and we couldn't see around

everybody else's umbrella's, so we moved inside where it was warm :)

Mo and I took some cheesy "boat tour" pictures.

This picture makes my fingers look stubby :-p

When the tour was over, we walked down a gorgeous road, with trees arching over the top creating a beautiful green canopy (you're getting this much description because I didn't get a picture of it). Then, we arrived at the Soviet Memorial. While I was hoping my first trip to a memorial ground from a war I actually care about would be moving in some way, it's almost impossible to be moved or feel anything much when you are surrounded by 109 other people, and are trying to listen to one person on a microphone. Still, it was pretty incredible to look at. All of the granite used to build the monument was originally quarried by the Nazis, who were planning to use it for their victory monuments in Moscow. As Dirk, our ever so awesome director, put it, this was the Soviets "big F you to the Nazis."

One of the two framing pieces of the monument.

 The view from in between the two framing pieces. It was

pretty breathtaking.

There is no other way to describe this sculpture than

badass. That it one epic man holding a child

and a sword.

Later that night, we headed to Kruezberg to check out the bar scene. We were unimpressed. 4 trains is about 3 trains too many to take, and everything was super crowded. Plus, I was in a horrible mood. All of a sudden the stress of moving to a new country, trying to deal with technology, and all of the crazy emotions just laid down upon, and I freaked out. Which I've already written about, so there's no need to go into further detail. I think it was good for me to have that freak out because it released so much pent up emotion, and now I'm having the best time :) Though I still have to deal with the stress of the internet....

If you want to check out more pictures, you can see my public album on facebook

The Tumultous Tale of Attempting to Acquire Internet.

The morning after Karaoke (26/8), we had a hugely long meeting with all of us FU-BESTers. Dirk, the program director, is probably one of the coolest people ever. He's originally from Holland, then spent 25 years in the US, and now lives and works for FU as our program director. The meeting was boring, logistical stuff, and went from 9-4:30 with an hour long break for food. We did set up our laptops to use the campus internet, which rocks, and is how I was finally able to add pictures and videos to the blog, because my goddamn internet at home is too slow. And now onto the stress of setting up internet:

We got to the media markt and fortunately met a group of people who were also buying their surfsticks, so we just tagged along with them, and bought the right thing. Then, we headed downstairs and purchased the 30Euro package, which is supposed to be a month's worth of internet. According to other people, that is actually a by-bit charge, and it runs out in 2 days. More on that later. Once we got everything, Mo, V and I broke off from the group and started setting it up. It was in German. And once we'd installed it, it kept yelling at us about something, but it was in German, so we didn't understand. After about 2 hours of trying to set it up, we headed to the O2 store (the company who the sim card is from), they told us that since so many people had bought surfsticks that day, it would take a couple hours for the card to get registered. Finally, it was registered - at like midnight - and we could finish setting it up. I entered my code for the 30Euro purchase, and then waited until the next morning for authorization.

I was stoked to have internet, but it was painfully slow. But hey, better than nothing! Then I headed out for the day (campus tour day, 27/8). I came back around midnight hoping to talk to some people from back home, and the goddamn internet wasn't working. At this point, it had been such a crazy few days. I was jetlagged, somethings were really exciting, somethings were insanely stressful, and I was homesick. And now the goddamn internet wasn't working. I stayed up until 5:30 a.m. trying to get it to work, the whole time crying my eyes out. Turns out, for some reason, my 30Euro had already been used up. I had a 5 day free use thing, so I entered one of those codes, and got the internet back. I only have one more day left of those, so we'll see what happens the day after that. This is the toned down version because right now the internet isn't stressing me out (it's so fast on campus!), but let me tell you... getting internet is perhaps the single most stressful thing in the world. I think if it is a pay-by-bit  system, I'll only use it at my apartment once a week, and the rest of the time I'll just use it at school. So if you want to skype with me or something, you should tell me when, and I'll try to be on campus or have it be on the day I'm using internet at home!

It's Hard to Get Home When You Don't Know Where You Live

The following day (25/8) a group of us - Tall, Curly, Mo, J, Br, and BB - went to Alexanderplatz to get cell phones. I really didn't realize how incredibly stressful trying to get a cell phone (and especially internet, but that comes later) would be. I mean, think about it, it's stressful enough trying to make sure you're not getting screwed over on a phone plan in a country where you actually speak the language. Now try doing it somewhere where the person helping you only speaks broken English, and for some reason refuses to go into any details because apparently everyone in this country knows how prepaid phones work. Anyway, we managed to get our phones and headed to an internet cafe to use the internet to start them up. And of course, all the installation things were in German. Fortunately Br is pretty good at German and was able to figure it out. I just waited until he could show me how it worked, and it only took about 10 minutes (unlike the goddamn internet...)

After we were all set up, we strolled around Alexanderplatz, which is absolutely beautiful. It's where the cathedral is, as well as museum island (there are at least 30 museums on this little island in the middle of the city).

The cathedral at Alexanderplatz

Mo and I decided that we were exhausted from the long morning of stressful phone shopping, so we broke off from the group, who were going to check out a museum, and headed home. Here's where things get interesting. We had both just been following the group, but I thought I could get us home. Turns out I was completely wrong. We knew we had to take a train back to Freidrichstrasse, and that was easy - it was only one stop. But then we couldn't figure out what train to take from there. Neither of us had any idea what the name of our stop was. We knew we came in on an S-bahn, just not sure which one. 

We got on one train, realized we didn't recognize the area, hopped off, went back to Freidrichstrasse, and hopped on one that sounded right. Turns out it was. But we didn't recognize the area, so we got off and headed back to Friedrichstrasse. So ensued a good hour and a half of trainhopping. Eventually, we were both getting cranky and irritated (we were still super jetlagged), so we found a train station with an info center, and managed to communicate via broken English and German that we needed to get home, knew we lived on Celciusstrasse, but had no idea what stop that was. The woman told us we wanted to head back to Freidrichstrasse (we'd been there at least 10 times that day changing trains), and take the S25 to Osdorferstrasse. We finally made it home! And when we got there, we realized the group of people we'd left earlier were on the exact same train. That was embarrassing. But now, both Mo and I are wicked good at navigating the S-bahn and U-bahn, so hopefully we won't get lost again!

Later that night, I was exhausted from the day and didn't feel like going out, but Tall and Curly came to my room and demanded that I come to Karaoke with them. So I did. And it was so much fun. I was so happy I went. I think it's going to be our new thing to do on Wednesday nights. The only issue is that the bar allows smoking inside, and all the workers were smoking, so when I got home my clothes just reeked of cigarettes... not sexy. The guy hosting the Karaoke was hilarious. He sang country music with a perfect country accent, and when he wasn't singing, sat behind his equipment smoking like a chimney. I don't think I ever saw him without either a cigarette or a microphone in his hand.

A Tour.

So this is just a brief little video I made of my apartment. You should keep in mind that it’s mirrored since I took it using my webcam. Also, sorry about the squeakiness – apparently my microphone is wicked sensitive. And how quiet it is. It was late, I didn’t feel like talking too loudly (apparently the mic sensitivity doesn’t contribute anything when I’m talking quietly). 

Oh and btw, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm giving everyone nicknames (Mo, Curly, Tall, L, B, etc - I've now established the nickname "Larry" but I don't think I'll refer to myself as that). If you see an LP, that's the same person as Mo.

(That's not a cute freezeframe...)

Butter Goes on a Diet, and Milk Comes From a Bag.

Once we had settled into our individual apartments (I'm still working on getting a video of mine uploaded - probably by Tuesday), Mo and I decided to do a little bit of grocery shopping so that we wouldn't have to eat out all the time. I had no idea how intensely stressful grocery shopping could be. But, when you don't know the language, and you don't know what packaging looks like, it can be one hell of a task. We didn't even know where a market was! We just strolled down the street, and found one about half a mile away - since then, we've found one about the same distance, but much cheaper! The first thing we had to deal with was getting a shopping cart. Apparently, it costs 1 Euro to use a shopping cart, the logic of which I just don't understand. If it's a strategy to make more money, all it really does is detract people from wanting to use one, and therefore they buy less stuff. But, whatever, I figure it's best to just not ask questions.

When we finally figured out that we would have to carry all our groceries, we got to work going around the store. I tried to buy the cheapest of everything I bought - and was successful - but this particular store was a little pricey. We spent about 5 minutes trying to find the milk, and just could not find it. Finally, I saw a bag with a cow on it filled with liquid. Upon closer inspection, it did indeed read "Milch 1.8% Fett." Milk comes in a bag. It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen. But it's actually quite cool.

(picture coming soon!)

When looking for butter, we discovered that the word for margarine is sometimes translated to "diet butter." Which is possibly the most hilarious thing in the world. I didn't get a picture of that though, so you'll just have to take my word on that :) Towards the end of our trip to the market, we couldn't find eggs. Both Mo and I are huge fans of one eyed egyptians/eggy bread in the morning, so eggs were essential. Mo speaks enough German to ask the woman behind the meat counter if she spoke english, which she didn't... She started going on about something in German, and we just stood there feeling awkward and confused. Finally, someone who worked there who spoke English came up and showed us where the eggs were. He was incredibly sweet and incredibly German (blond, tall, jovial, and spoke great English). Checking out was pretty easy because in Germany certain things aren't considered rude, so it was ok when we only said "hallo," and "danke" to the cashier. Also, apparently you have to bring your own bags, or they charge you. So I had to buy a reusable bag, which is fine because I hate having a bunch of bags just lying around my apartment.

After the market, we hung out for a bit, made a little dinner, then joined about 25 other FU-BESTers to the bar. There is this tiny little dive bar a 4 minute walk away from our apartment complex, the literally only serves booze. No food at all (though after you've ordered enough drinks, they bring you little snacks). It was pretty fun. Ordering drinks is not as exciting as I was hoping. The drinking age here is 16, so none of us are ever going to get carded, so ordering a Sex on the Beach (my new favorite drink) is just the same as ordering a Coke. I don't think this bar was prepared for 25 Americans to show up since there were only about 4 people in there before we got there. But once they got over the initial shock, they were very nice. The next day, a group of us went on an epic quest to acquire cell phones... more on that adventure later.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Endless waiting.

Once our fantastic cab driver dropped us off, we were at the FU-BEST program office (that’s the name of my program, by the way). We once again had to lug our luggage down stairs, but fortunately there were some of the teaching assistants around who helped us to put our bags in the basement – I didn’t even have to carry anything :) Then we went inside this house – it’s really the only way to describe the building – and stood around awkwardly, not sure of what to do. Finally, someone told us to give our passports to someone, then to wait for the next meeting to start. The meeting was super brief. We received a few really important cards – printer card, meal card, U-Bahn/S-Bahn ticket, and most importantly a card to get into about 30 museums for free!! I thought we had to buy this card ourselves, so I was beyond excited when they provided it for us!  

After the meeting, we were told to go upstairs and get our picture taken, then pick up our passports, and then bring the printed picture to the director’s assistant, who would let us know if we had sent them too much or too little money (I was really hoping that I’d paid too much, but alas, I’d paid the right amount). So, we waited around for about half an hour, gave the photographer 5 Euros for the picture, and then continued to wait around. Eventually, I got my passport back, and was informed that since I’m a member of the EU, I didn’t need to get my picture taken (apparently the pictures were for visas) but that they couldn’t refund me the money because of some weird reasoning. I was not amused. I was all done at that point, and could go to my apartment if I so desired, but I decided to wait for Mo to get all her stuff done. While I was waiting, I met Tall and Curly (this is how Mo has been referring to them for the last few days because she can’t remember names). They’re pretty awesome, and rode with us to the apartments. While we were waiting around in the office/outside waiting for a taxi, we met a whole bunch of people. So far everyone seems really awesome. Everyone’s pretty laid back, and really excited to be here, which is delightful :)

 The side of the FU-BEST house

Dim Lit Hostel

When we arrived at St. Christopher’s Hostel, we almost walked straight passed it. The hostel has a bar attached to it, but we assumed that it was two separate buildings that were connected by a hallway. Fortunately, some nice people who were sitting outside of the bar told us that we were in the right place and to just go inside. We struggled with our bags, and finally made it to the check in area. Both Mo and I had two huge bags, as well as a heavy carry-on – plus I had my camera case to lug around. This is a critical part for later in the story. We checked in, and were a little confused at the fact that everyone working there was British. They were all very helpful and nice. However, according to the website our room was supposed to only cost 17 Euro each, but the total came to 47 Euro, which didn’t include the $10 deposit we had already made. At that point though, Mo and I just wanted to lay down, eat some food, let people back home know we’d arrived safe, drink a beer and go to sleep, so we paid the bill with no question. What we didn’t take into account was the tiny elevator.

Now, as I’ve said, both of us had two huge bags – mine both rolling duffels, hers regular suitcases – as well as relatively large and heavy carry-on bags. The elevator was about 3 feet by 2 ½ feet (this may be an exaggeration – but it was tiny!) So we decided that it would make sense if I went up first and then have Mo meet me at the room. She told me our room number was 14, and I saw no reason to disagree with this. Once I’d struggled to get my luggage in the elevator, I determined that I needed to go to the second floor (as per the check-in guys instructions) to get to room 14. When I got up there, I had to struggle with my bags up three stairs and through a door that simply refused to stay open. I held the card up to the door scanner, and waited for the light to turn green. It just blinked red. It was then that I realized the check-in guy had said room 16, and Mo had given me the wrong room number through no fault of her own, it was just a byproduct of our mutual exhaustion.

             

So, I had to get my bags back down to the elevator, wait about 10 minutes until it was free (this elevator liked to go straight passed your floor, even when it was empty). I finally found Mo and we managed to both get to our real room, and finally put down our luggage. Exclamations of  “I fucking hate luggage!!” were disbursed into our conversations quite regularly for the next day or so, until we were finally able to move into our apartments. We went off to find the showers because quite frankly neither of us had showered in over a day, and the humidity combined with all the luggage lugging was not a combination for smell success. The shower was a complete fail though – for me at least, I think Mo was able to get her shower to actually work. In my shower, you had to push a button to turn the water on and, just like those annoying sinks, it only stayed on for about 13 seconds. And rapidly fluctuated between burning and freezing. I managed to shampoo my hair, and just gave up. I had no energy for trying to figure out this crazy contraption.

             

We then tried to get the internet to work in our room – since the guy had given us the log in code, and told us to just enter it in when prompted. He forgot to mention that the internet only works in the bar. So we headed down to the bar, sent a few emails, caught up on gossip, and decided we didn’t really want to have our laptops down in the bar area. We put them back in the room, and ordered a drink and some food. Mo got the most delicious currywurst I’ve ever had. It was huge! And the third cheapest thing on the menu… Absolutely delicious.

           

When we came back upstairs, we realized how incredibly creepy the hostel was. The lights were never turned on in the hallways, so it had this insanely eerie vibe about it.

This was the hallway in the morning. Yes, it was that dark

The next day however, our cab driver completely made up for the many misfortunes of the previous day.He was an absolute riot! He spoke English, thank God, and as he was driving us through Berlin (a much nicer area than the previous trip) he was telling us all these fun things about the buildings we were passing. “Back in the olden times there was a castle across from that cathedral,” “I grew up on the East side of the wall, and that regime was just stupid. It wasn’t even that evil, just a stupid system” – just a few of the great things he shared with us. He seemed genuinely interested in what we both were here to study, and had a pretty firm grasp of Berlin history which made me really happy. I’m so sad we didn’t get a picture with him though! Oh well, maybe one day we’ll see him again

Departures and Arrivals

Arrive SFO at 2:00 p.m. August 22^nd, Depart SFO 5:00 p.m. August 22^nd. Don’t sleep. Arrive London-Heathrom 11:20 a.m. August 23^rd. Consume delicious English breakfast and cider. Depart London-Heathrow 3:20 p.m. August 23^rd. Sleep 2 hours. Arrive Berlin-Tegel 6:20 p.m. August 23^rd. Arrive at St. Christopher’s Hostel 7:30 p.m. Consume food and drink. Send emails. Finally sleep at 11:30 p.m. August 23^rd.

This is a very basic summary of my flight over to Berlin. Notice how there is very sleep involved? That’s because I didn’t sleep for about 30 hours, with time changes accounted for. It was quite possibly the most exhausting trip I’ve ever been on.

I met up with Mo in SFO, said good-bye to the parents (was confused that Muth didn’t cry, because she normally does at things like this), and made our way through security. It only look about 10-15 minutes to get through, and then the waiting game began. We had about 2 hours until our flight departed, so we sat at the gate, reading each other random German phrases from our respective phrase books (hers, something helpful like grocery items. Mine, the Dirty German book that awesome Isabelle got for me). A few minutes later, we heard these three people talk about classes, and one sounds exactly like the class both me and Lana are taking, so our ears perk up, and we finally ask if they are also going to study abroad in Berlin. They were, and that’s how we met L, B, and J! (I so hope someone gets that obscure history reference)

The first hour of the flight went by super quick. I read about 40 pages of Homo Faber, which was finally beginning to pick up… but then I did something stupid. I checked the time. Having realized that an hour had passed, I managed to convince myself that the rest of the flight would go by wicked fast. Why is it that the delusions we tell ourselves are always the hardest to face once their entire falsehood comes to light?

Three and a half hours into the flight, the lights turned off and people shut their windows. Darkness. No more reading. So, I turned to the TV and watched Invictus – which was incredible, both Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon were spectacular, though Matt Damon seemed to have a hard time sticking with a South African accent, and occasionally sounded British and/or Irish. The movie was made worse by the fact that the woman in front of me had leaned her seat back, however I could not lean my seat back for some unknown reason, so I had to scout down in order to see the screen. Alas, two and a half hours passed, and I could see the sunlight peaking out from the windows, though no one was opening them. I got irritated by this lack of light, and opened the window on the emergency exit. Being surrounded by people sleeping soundly, and not being able to sleep yourself is quite frustrating. Eventually, the lights came on and we were served breakfast. At that point, it was about 18 hours since I had slept, and I started to feel nauseas, so I skipped the airplane breakfast (and rightly so according to Mo). We made a rather shaky landing a little over an hour after that, and had finally arrived…. In London.

Our layover was only supposed to take 2 hours. And we were not prepared for having to take a bus to our terminal, or having to go through a very hot, sticky room to go through security again. We met up with B in security, but had no idea where L and J were. The three of us went to a pub and I ordered a real English breakfast. As Mo can attest to, I was thoroughly enjoying my meal. At one point I was so immersed in the delicious foods, I completely missed about half of the conversation. This was also the first time the three of us had legally ordered alcohol – which was thoroughly unexciting. I got a Blackthorne Cider because it was the cheapest drink by volume, and it was British. It was also one of the most delicious things I have ever had to drink!

Unfortunately, after our meal, we discovered that our flight was delayed, and that no matter where we went in the terminal, we would have to pay for internet. So we rushed to try and get all three of our parents/loved ones emailed before rushing off to our gate – our flight decided to arrive about three minutes after we discovered the 10 minute computer stations. On the flight from London to Berlin, I had probably been awake for about 26 hours, and so I was able to sleep. And by sleep I mean surreptitiously pass out for minutes at a time, while still being alert enough during moments of consciousness to assure my German neighbors that I would be able to move out of the way should they need to leave the aisle. At one point, I woke up and everyone had sandwiches. When I woke up again, all the sandwiches were gone. Perhaps the sandwiches were just a figment of my delirium.

We were able to find a cab at the airport, though he didn’t speak any English, so it was a rather awkward cab ride. We were driving through a pretty industrial part of Berlin, so there was nothing too exciting to look at. Though I do think that my favorite part of Berlin, so far, is the vast amounts of architectural styles. Every building has a different style, from a different era. Almost all the buildings are either disintegrating, being remodeled or are brand new and modern. It’s fascinating. As I learned from the cab driver the next morning, this is because the war ended for Berlin in 1989, and they are still trying to rebuild the city from then. However, the tale of the incredibly awesome cab driver will have to wait… Until next time…

Preparations for the Departure of the Journey

I think one of my favorite things in the world is when I have a To Do list that seems utterly impossible to complete, and yet somehow I manage to find the time. I'm sort of feeling this way today, but at the same time, I feel like I haven't done enough. Allow me to explain, I set myself a pretty hefty To Do list for the day (call doctor, work for 3 hours, clean room, wash sheets, update computer, finish packing list) and I was able to finish the whole list! However, that last item - finish packing list - proved to only perpetuate that sense of needing to complete things. I now have a (hopefully) completed packing list of all the things I will need on the Journey, color-coded to indicate what's going on carry-on & what's being checked, as well as a list of things I still need to buy. I even started to pack some of the stuff. So I'm insanely happy to have finished everything else on my list, but since that list only led to another (and another), I don't feel as accomplished as I should. I've been wanting to pack for weeks.. but it's pretty silly to start packing that much in advance when you're planning on bringing almost your whole closet with you! So until tomorrow, or possible a few more days, I can just relish in the fact that I finished everything off of one of my many lists!

Ok, right now, I don't have the energy to flip this. But the list

contains some gems like: "blue lacy tank top" & "belt from 

anthro dress." I'm probably the only person who can decipher 

what any of this means

Page 2 of the packing list. This has more reasonable stuff on it, like

"passport & green card," "toothpaste," & "Address of hostel"

This picture is just adorable. Apparently Sean wants to come with me!

Impending Emotions to Expect on the Journey

According to my program guide, there are four stages of culture shock: initial excitement, irritability & hostility, brighter outlook, and finally enjoyment of differences. Essentially, what I can expect is a cornucopia of crazy emotions, and finally I'll settle down and get comfortable... only to all to soon be sent off home, where I get to experience re-entry shock. Which is the reverse of culture shock. These aren't exactly things to get too excited about!  But, then again, I would much rather be aware that these things were going to happen than be surprised about them.

During the 2nd stage of culture shock, I have all these lovely emotions to watch out for: "frustration, loneliness, homesickness, depression, irritability, and loss of appetite." Seemingly simple things, such as doing laundry or food shopping, can apparently entice so much stress that one finds themselves flung into the 2nd stage. If the culture shock is really severe, then I have uncontrollable crying fits, compulsive eating, and inability to work/study to expect. Now, this post is making it seem like I'm trying to find reasons to not want to go, which could not be further from the truth. With 7 days until I hop on my flight with my lovely travel companion, Lana, I'm going through phases of extreme excitement, and extreme anxiety. The point of this post, is to warn you (the lovely readers) that some of these blog posts will be erratic, emotional, and probably a little whiny. However, I think going through culture shock is going to be an integral part in making my whole experience in Berlin.

I'm just hoping that I'll be able to communicate with people from home enough to help my keep my head together. My main fear is that I will get stuck in the 2nd stage, and be completely unable to enjoy myself there. I'm going to try my hardest to not let that happen, but it might. I think if I can't find a way to pull myself out of that stage the whole journey will have been for naught. Fortunately, I already have a friend on the trip who I will feel comfortable talking to about this stuff, as well as another friend who is off gallivanting in Nepal (!) being a volunteer. So hopefully talking to those girls will help me keep my head focused. It'd better, because as I've already said, the food in Germany, not so healthy... I really can't afford to get into the compulsive eating stage for long!

Expectations for the Journey: 7, 8, & 10*

With only 15 days until I board my plane, I thought it might be a good time to finish up my expectations for the Journey since I have been dreadful and neglecting this blog for the last month or so. To be honest, I haven't wanted to think about the trip. It's a terrifying prospect. I know I'm going to love it when I'm there, but currently, I'm freaking out! Anyway, moving onto the expectations!

7. Trying New Food
Now, I'm not exactly the most adventurous person when it comes to food. In fact, when I go out to eat, I only pick from about 6 different restaurants, and at each restaurants, there's only one or two things on the menu that I'll order. It's not that I don't want to venture into new flavors, I'm just a creature of habit, and when something tastes good and is cheap, I tend to stick with it! So, for the next four months, I'm resolving to be more adventurous when it comes to food. I'm going to try the local cuisine in every country I visit. I have it on relatively good authority that the food in Germany is awful, and that I won't even be able to find ingredients to make something tasty. This person obviously doesn't realize that my diet is essentially based around toast. And sandwiches. And Chinese take out. Also, food that is phallic in anyway will at the very least amuse me to no end, even if it tastes disgusting.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the food I can look forward to:

 See what I mean about phallic food being endlessly amusing?

 Fortunately, I was raised on meat and potatoes because that's all 

that appears when google-ing "German food." 6 pages of pictures

and not a single fruit or vegetable... 

8. Shopping at Flea Markets

Almost every single book/article/blog/info packet I've read about Germany in the last six months has dedicated a fair amount of space to tell me all about the Flea Markets. Apparently, they are quite spectacular. Now, of course in December I'll have the Christmas Markets to go to (I don't have a choice, my Mum's making me). But, to hold me over until then, there are a bunch of flea markets going on all the time in Berlin. Spot Cool Stuff has a great list of the flea markets, as well as what type of things are sold there, and when the markets are. From what I can tell, the flea markets are open every weekend, typically from 9-4. None of this waiting for the first Saturday of the month, and having to get up at 7 in order to get 8 towns over for a flea market! I'm planning on buying a whole lot of jewelery and props for shoots. As well as taking a bunch of pictures! I'm probably going to have one suitcase just filled with things I've bought at the flea markets :)

If there's one thing I love in life, it's rifling through random crap,

and finding something spectacular :)

This one is right outside of a museum, so when I'm done buying

random crap, I can go check out a museum. Pretty much the best day

ever.

 10. Taking More pictures than ever before :)

Originally, my plan was to start a 365 project on the day I leave for Berlin. But, I realize that I don't want to put too much pressure on myself to do that, seeing as I'm trying to cram so much traveling into 4 months, and keep forgetting that I actually have to do school work while I'm there! (For those of you not familiar with a 365 project, it's a project where you take a picture a day, and there can be limitations for it if you want them, i.e. a self portrait a day) So, I probably won't start that, but I do plan on taking so many pictures! I'm bringing my digital SLR, as well as my super old school film camera. I just bought an 8 GB memory card for my camera yesterday, and have another 7 GB in assorted memory, so hopefully I won't be in too short a supply of memory. The one thing I'm really concerned about is my battery. I've only got the one, and I don't know how available power supplies will be during my weekend trips. Hence the film camera! Which, now that I think about it, I should really get a new battery for too...

So that's it! Those are all my expectations. I'm sure when I get there I'll realize about a thousand things I didn't even realize I was expecting to happen. For now though, I've got 15 days to pack, freak out and say good-bye! Future posts will likely include pictures of me surrounded by clothes, looking sad and pathetic at the camera, as if pleading for someone to take the responsibility away from me :)

*I decided that the ninth expectation I'd written down was lame, and no longer relevant, so it doesn't exist. Not that I imagine anyone was really keeping track of the numbers.