Comings and Goings

I finally have a few moments to write a blog, so here's a little update on all the comings and goings of life in Berlin. This week hasn't had too many extraordinarily exciting things happen, but it's still been amazing. We went out to a club on Friday, and it was absolutely amazing! It was in an old post office (or train station, not sure), and had three different dance floors. At first, it was pretty lame because none of the DJs were very good, but then we found a room with a bunch of people and an ok DJ. He kept doing 30-45 minutes of great music, then 30-45 minutes of terrible music. Around 2 am we were about to leave, but then he started a really good session, and we ended up staying until about 3:30. One thing I've been slowly learning is that I really need some flat boots to wear out to the clubs. Wearing boots with heels is horrible. Dancing for 3 or 4 hours in heels is not good for my bad knee. It's even worse for my worse knee :)

On Saturday we went to the best Doner place in Berlin. For those of you who don't know, Doner is one of the most delicious things in the world. It's one of those foods where you seem how it's made and think to yourself "That's disgusting." And then you eat it.... and suddenly it's the only thing you ever want to eat.

Doner meat log - gross looking

Durum Doner (how I always get it, but you can get it in bread too) - Absolutely delicious

Most Doner comes with onions, lettuce, that purple lettuce stuff, and assorted vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, etc). But the Doner from this one place had roasted potatoes, and roasted vegetables on top of all the other deliciousness. And, they put all the sauces on it, not just one. I didn't get one because I'd already eaten dinner, but I wish I had. I can't wait until we go back there again! After that we headed to Oranienburger Strasse to meet up with some German people my friends met. Oranienburger Strasse more than lived up to it's reputation - as soon as we walked up from the S-Bahn platform, there were just prostitutes standing around. I was not expecting it to be so obvious. The funniest part of it all was that they all had fannypacks on, presumably for their money. It just seemed such a strange combination - possibly one of the least attractive things ever (a fanny pack) and a presumably attractive sex goddess. (My apologies to the more sensitive readers!)

Que Pasa, where we went to meet the German girls, was pretty fun. But just a word of warning to anyone who might come to Berlin: do NOT order a classic margarita from Que Pasa. I think about 5 or 6 of us ordered them, and it was the single worst margarita I've ever had. They mixed the salt into the drink... and rimmed the glass with salt. As LH put it, it was like drinking sea water. So bad. Fortunately, the Long Island Iced Teas were delicious enough to wash the horrible salt taste out of our mouths! 

The rest of this week, I've had school, so I haven't been going out too much. Though last night (Tuesday), a group of us went out to a Mexican restaurant, Maria Peligro. It was delightful! I haven't had Mexican food in so long (like 3 months), and I was so excited because this was relatively legit Mexican food. At other places in Berlin, the guacamole is some strange puree of avocados, but not here! I got the fish tacos, and they were amazing. Everything is relatively cheap (about 5-8 Euro per plate), and they have 2 for 1 margaritas during happy hour. I'm pleased to say that this margaritas were infinitely better than the others. They had just the right amount of salt on the glass, and none in the drink! Tonight, after class, I believe we're going to play poker in someones room, which should be fun :)

Oh yeah, and the goings. P and I just bought our tickets to Poland today :) We head out on Friday 1/10, and come back Sunday 3/10. Our tickets were only 95 Euro each, which is less than people's tickets to Munich :) It's going to be a crazy trip. We leave Friday afternoon, arrive Saturday at 18:00, are headed straight to Auschwitz, then are hanging out in Krakow for the rest of the day, and heading back to Berlin at 23:30, arriving at 13:15. It's going to be crazy! But I'm so excited :)

And then for mid-semester break my plans have completely changed. Originally I was going to go to England and visit my family, but some issues came up, and now that doesn't sound feasible. Instead I'm joining a group of friends and we are headed to Norway and Sweden! Two countries I never even thought of visiting, but am really excited to. We're spending 5 days in Norway and 3 days in Sweden. It should be absolutely amazing. More updates will come once I figure out where and when I'm going places. Oh, and there will be so many pictures from Poland, so look forward to that (except no pictures are allowed inside Auschwitz)

Bus Ride to Paris

As promised, here is the stop motion that I made on the bus to Paris. Yes, it was so deliriously boring that I made a stop motion of it. It was pretty much the only thing to do. Music is "The Woods" by Portugal, The Man.

Changes Lead to Challenges

This is another one of those "my feelings" posts, so go ahead and skip this if all you're looking for is details on how awesome Berlin is (though there will be lots of those in here too).

When I first moved to Berlin (just over a month ago!), I was so homesick. Everything was new, different and terrifying. I became dependent on the internet because it was my only connection to my friends and family back home. Connecting with them made me feel less alone. It gave my days some sense of normalcy. But it also proved to be a hindrance. Now, I realize that people from home are the main ones reading this blog, and are probably a little offended, or hurt by my saying that, but it's true. I was so wrapped up in trying to feel normal that I never even tried to make Berlin become my new normal. I was so reclusive the first two weeks, and instead of attempting to make friends and feel at home, I chose to spend my free time talking to people from home and going on solo excursions. And as much as I enjoy the occasional solo excursion, there's just no way I could go 4 months feeling lonely and missing home. And then came France.

The France excursion completely changed my outlook on everything about studying abroad. I had absolutely no alone time (except for my one solo excursion), extraordinarily limited access to the internet, and new exciting things to do every day/night. I found an amazing group of friends, as well as made some really good ones who tend to lie on the periphery of the general group, which is just how I like to have friends. I was essentially forced to fully embrace the awesome-ness that is studying abroad. And I couldn't be happier. Since we came back from France there's hardly been a dull moment (those mostly come when waiting for the train in the middle of the night). I've been having such a blast. Here's just a few of the amazingly fun things I've done this week: Trip to the Film Museum (which has so many fascinating rooms, and is uber modern), going to 12 Apostles and splitting a ginormous pizza (at least 3 feet in diameter), going to the stock market bar (where the prices are based on demand), and going out dancing until 5:30 in the morning. It's truly been one of the most amazing weeks.

 This wasn't our pizza... but it's exactly what it looked like. So good

However, having this much fun means that I don't have the time I had before to keep up with people. Hence the sudden drop in my blog posts. It's proves challenging for me now to prioritize my time. Currently, Berlin and my friends here are my top priority, which means my friends back home are falling to the wayside. And this isn't because I don't love them, or want to talk to them, it's just that I'm trying to have the best time I can here, and I don't want anything holding me back. I know people back home will understand this (hopefully), but I feel bad because my first few weeks here I was making such an effort, and now I'm making almost none whatsoever. I just don't want anybody taking it too personally. From now on, most updates about my life will be coming on the blog (unless you're my parents, in which case you get your own emails :) ). So don't take it personally if you don't hear from me for a while, I still love you, I'm just busy falling in love with Berlin.

Notes on the French Excursion

I thought I would have more time to go through and write really detailed blogs about each day in France, but I'm back in Berlin now, which means lots of school work and now a more exciting social life. Therefore, I'm just going to post the little bullet points that I made about every day in France. I probably forgot a few things, and if you want more details about certain things, feel free to ask :)

Day 1 – bus trip

-       So long. 9:15 – 11:36

-       Sitting at front of bus awesomeness/terror

-       Too many stops

-       Gorgeous country side

-       P forgets her name is P

-       M and Br join the front

-       Stop motion

Day 2

-       Boat tour

-       Gorgeous weather/sunburn

-       Walking to Champs Elysees

-       Eating at that Italian place

-       Going up Arc de Triumph

-       Strolling to the Eiffel tower

-       Drinking at the Eiffel tower

-       Grabbing gross dinner followed by delicious crepe

-       Going to a fail bar, then finally going to a club and dancing for 2 hours!

Day 3

-       Left for Notre Dame just in time to catch a little bit of the sermon while wandering around the cathedral

-       Wandered around a bit, made our way to the Catacombs, but decided it was too expensive and too long of a line

-       Headed towards Napoleon’s tomb, which is gorgeous! Saw the tomb then strolled through the World Wars museum. Got in for free for being an EU member

-       Delicious Pho with P and L

-       Solo walk around town… sketch area. Random man, probably trying to pick pocket me, asks if I'm a painter.

-       Delicious Crepes with P and L

Day 4

-       Chartres --- most boring tour ever. Don’t care about stained glass windows

-       Exploring around Chartres rocked. Delicious Indian food lunch (the cheapest real meal I had in France)

-  Don't remember what happened when we got back. 

Day 5

-Versailles – huge, lame ass Japanese art everywhere, ‘sploring the gardens

- going to a club, only a few of us getting in, walking around paris at 4 in the morning in the rain

Day 6

-       Cathacombs, my leg dies

-       Miss out on the Louvre

-       Real French dinner at Bastille, so tasty

Day 7

-       Leave for Caen, so much better than Paris, at this point we all know to sleep when we get on the bus

-       Caen-Normandy Memorial Museum, lame movies that I slept through, taking the city bus home instead of walking

-       Falling in love with “menus” – tasty Salmon pasta dinner

-       Exploring around Caen with M in the middle of the night, finding hooker ally

Day 8

-       Omaha Beach – gorgeous!

-       Caving and eating McD’s for lunch because the line at the other place was too long

-       US cemetery at Colville-sur-Mer, really emotional

-       Exploring the blown up bunkers

-       Back to Caen, more delicious French “menus”

Day 9

-Bus home…. Everyone sleeps for the first 5 hours, so much better than the first bus over

General stuff

-       France is wicked expensive, Paris smells awful, would have much rather stayed in Caen longer and missed a day or two in Paris

-       Finally finding myself a great group of friends, beginning to feel more at home now that I have good friends. Beginning to feel less homesick, but still craving delicious Chinese food

I'll be posting some pictures and my stopmotion of the bus ride in a day or two!

Paris Excursion

On Friday (10/9) I leave for France for a week! The entire program is headed out bright and early on Friday morning, and we won’t return until the following Saturday (18/9). This means I won’t be posting for a while, as I have no idea what the internet access will be like. But, for now, here’s a brief little overview of what we’ll be doing!

Friday – Sunday:

Leave for Paris, arrive Friday night. The only program things we have going on during these days is a boat tour along the Seine, which sounds delightful. Otherwise it will just be adventuring around the city!

Monday:

Head to a tour of the Cathedral at Chartres in the morning, return to Paris in the evening.

Tuesday:

Head to Versailles in the morning, return to Paris in the evening.

Wednesday:

Free day to explore!

Thursday:

Leave Paris for Caen in the morning. In the afternoon we are visiting Caen-Normandy Memorial Centre for History

Friday:

Go to Omaha beach in the morning, plus an opportunity to visit the D-day beach, followed by a tour of a few more D-day related places.

Saturday:

Head back to Berlin in the morning, return in the evening.

So, if you find yourself missing me terrible, and wondering what on earth I’m up to on a given day, there you have it! I’ll have my computer with me so I can upload pictures each night, but the internet is very iffy, so it may be a few days before I have any more posts/pictures!

Self Discoveries

While the main point of this blog is to fill people back home in on my goings-on in Germany, it is also a place for me to work through any emotional issues I may be facing. I tend to be a person who needs to process and analyze everything, and I feel that this personal insight will prove to be an important aspect of my time here in Berlin. When I first got here, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think. I thought it would be some incredible, life-altering experience, but it just felt normal. Perhaps that was the life-altering aspect. The fact that I feel so comfortable here it’s not even exciting. I’ve been waiting for my double rainbow moment, but it just hasn’t come yet (here’s the video link if you don’t get the reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI&feature=PlayList&p=FB5AAA911FADF219&index=0&playnext=1 Pops, this is the video I was telling you about the other day). I think that maybe I’m just a European at heart (well, I mean, I am) and so being here just isn’t that exciting. There were a few times when I had a brief “oh my god, I’m in Europe" moment, but they were never as strong as some others I had witnessed from my friends. I just accepted my new life, in a new city, in a new country without fear, anxiety, excitement or anticipation.

The first few days here were also incredibly tiring and stressful. I didn’t know anyone, and doing the simplest things like ordering food at a restaurant was the most nerve-wracking thing in the world. I found myself feeling exhausted after just one outing. However, I’ve discovered a few things through all of this stress and ambivalence. Until recently (about a year ago), I was always the type or person who needed to be surrounded by people, or one person. I was terrified of ever being alone, and even refused to eat in restaurants alone. One of the upsides of getting your heartbroken though is the positive changes it forces you to make. I spent the last year and a half working on my fear of being alone. And perhaps it has gone too far. I realized the other day, on my excursion with L, that I do much better in a smaller group, with only one or two people, than I do with an entire mob of people. I find it exhausting to be around that many people – not to mention it is impossible for a group to ever come to a conclusive decision, and I truly despise indecisiveness.

I was beginning to feel like I was missing out on truly experiencing the city because I was often turning down opportunities to be with people and see things, or simply not seeking them out. However, I have learned that I’m just the type of person who needs to be alone every once in a while. Part of my feeling so at home in this city involves me needing to maintain a few of my usual habits. The thought of going out and being surrounded by people everyday for the next 3 months tires me. When I went on a solo adventure around Alexanderplatz the other day – just strolling around for a few hours, with no real direction – it dawned on me that it’s okay for me to not be surrounded by people constantly, and that just because I haven’t done everything I want to do yet, it doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do it before I leave.

This trip is about me, and what makes me happy, and sometimes staying in and watching South Park in German is what makes me happy, and that’s okay. The only issue with this is that I can tend to be anti-social, and completely avoid social contact for weeks at a time. Fortunately, it seems that the people here are not the type to let that happen. Take tonight for example, I was planning on going to Karaoke with some people, but when I got home, I was too exhausted to go out (for no reason, I only had one class all day). But P and M called me and told me to get my butt over there because it wasn’t the same without me. And while these were probably just the words of some drunken friends, it’s reassuring to know that people will make an effort to try to get me to come out. I feel like I’m finally starting to make some friends here. The good kind, who understand when you don’t want to go out, but will force you do when they know your reasoning is irrational.

This post is probably of no interest to anyone but myself, but it’s also my only way of keeping track of this journey. And every aspect of the journey is important. It’s not just about the sites I see or the people I meet, it’s also about how the journey changes me.

Trials and Tribulations of Attempting to Wash Clothes

Most of my issues in this realm could be very simply solved by just going to the hausmeister and purchasing tokens for the washer/dryer. However, I have no desire to spent 5 Euro (at least) to do my laundry. There’s a lot of it, and judging by how small the washers look, I would probably have to do laundry once a week, and use two machines. Further upping the price of doing laundry. I would much rather take that 10 Euro I save a week and spend it on something fun, like food or museum tickets! Thus, we have the many trials and tribulations of attempting to hand-wash everything I own for the next 3 months (yes, that’s right, it’s already only 3 months!).

The first issue I faced was detergent. As in, I don’t have any. It’s a little difficult to clean your clothes by just getting them wet. If I followed that logic, I would have run out into that rainstorm and “washed” my outfit from the day. As it is, I learned from Mo that I can just use dish soap and it works just as well as detergent. Problem solved. I need dish soap, therefore I have it, and so it’s no strain to use just a little to wash my clothes.

The next issue I face is drying my clothes. This is one I’m still trying to figure out, even though I’ve already done 4 or 5 “loads” of laundry (the loads have to be small when hand washing). The first issue within this issue is where to hang my wet clothes after they’ve been soaped, soaked, rinsed, re-rinsed and strung out. I don’t really want puddles of water all over my apartment, and my balcony faces the street, so I really don’t want to hang it out to dry out there (I’m on the first floor… also, have I mentioned the random rainstorms?). There is a little towel warming rack in the bathroom (or perhaps it’s a radiator, I’m not quite sure). In any case, it’s the perfect length to fit 4 days worth of socks and underwear and 3 tank tops/shirts. Provided I’ve already taken my shower for the day (and if I haven’t, I do while the clothes are soaking) I can hang two more shirts on the shower rail.

But this doesn’t quite solve my problem. My clothes always end up with creases from where they’ve been hung, which is not cute and makes me wish I’d bought that clothes steamer from the in-flight magazine. Not to mention how starchy and nasty feeling my socks get, but I’ll discuss that later. Today marked a first in my drying techniques. Until today, I had been draping my clothes in the bathroom for a day, and then hanging them around my apartment until they completely dried (about one or two days). However, yesterday I needed to wash my jeans. I haven’t done that since I’ve been here, and I don’t want to be forced to wear skirts when the weather is this fickle. I figured out that if I hung them up in the bathroom all day, I could then use my blow dryer to finish, or at least aid along, the drying process. It worked surprisingly well. I now have one completely clean and dry pair of jeans, and another on the way (as well as a completely sopping wet pair hanging in the bathroom). However, I haven’t figured out yet whether this drying process actually shrinks my jeans back down. The main reason I have to wash them isn’t because they are dirty, but because they stretch out after a few times of wearing them, and no longer look as good. So tomorrow, we shall find out if this new drying process actually works. I think the blow dryer will also help with the creases in my shirts, as I can attack them before they completely set into the shirt.

Now, about the socks. I absolutely hate wearing socks more than once. Simply cannot stand it. I’m sure my dad remembers when I would make him buy me a new packet of socks every week from Costco because I just couldn’t stand the thought of wearing my socks more than once, even if they’ve been washed. I just do not feel like washing socks ever gets them clean enough, even when you’re using a washer and dryer. Unlike shirts and jeans, socks never return to their “just purchased” feel. Once you’ve worn them, that’s it, they’re now gross. So, in an attempt at self-exposure therapy, I only brought seven pairs of socks with me (as well as a few pairs of winter socks). In retrospect, it was a horrible idea. Hand washing socks is awful. They just don’t get clean. And they dry rock-hard and starchy. It’s terrible. I’m honestly considering asking someone to mail me some Costco socks. But I won’t, because that would ruin the whole exposure therapy thing (though I would absolutely love anyone forever if they were to send me new socks).

Such are the trials and tribulations of attempting to hand wash everything. I end up doing some form of laundry, whether washing or drying, at least every other night. But that’s ok. I would much rather do this than spend my money on tiny washers and dryers.

Flea Market Adventures

The morning after our Potsdam excursion, L and I headed down to the Flea Markets. The only one I knew for sure would be going on was at Museum Island, and it was one I had really wanted to see. Originally, I was planning on strolling around the market, then going to check out a museum – since they were all right there! But instead, we ended up exploring around in between Friedrich Strasse and Alexanderplatz, my favorite part of the city so far.

The flea market was pretty interesting, there were so many books and so much soviet memorabilia for sale! This specific flea market, whether because it was Saturday or because of its location, seemed to be a little touristy, but it still had some really great stuff! I fell in love with all of the vintage cameras and typewriters. There was also some beautiful jewelry too. I almost bought some for people back home, but I think it’s a little too early in my trip to start buying presents for people! Here’s a couple pictures of the gorgeous things they had:

Such gorgeous cameras. I almost bought the one on the left, but it was too expensive

Amazing typewriter! I probably would have bought it if getting it home wasn’t such an issue…

When we got to the end of the flea market, we decided to just wander around and head towards Alexanderplatz, as L had never adventured around there before! We also wanted to check out the Neue Synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery. We were able to find the Synagogue, but because it was Saturday, it was closed L It’s the most gorgeous building though! And I will definitely be heading back there soon to check out the inside! There were guards standing behind a rail going around the whole building to protect it from neo-Nazis, which was rather intimidating, but also an incredible experience to see the city actively fighting against any more persecution and desecration of the Jews and their property.

Such a beautiful building.

As we continued down, trying to find the cemetery and failing miserably, we stumbled into a kind of high fashion district. Some of the stores were from Berlin-based designers, which was insanely cool. The prices, however, were not that great. I feel in love with a pair of jeans and a dress, but both were about 70 Euro, and therefore not worth the money. We also found a cool, kitchy basement souvenir shop that had a whole bunch of interesting and funny things. L got super excited because there was a family speaking Hebrew in there! I was excited by all the crazy stuff.

The entrance to the store

We continued along, and found ourselves in a park across the Spree from Museum Island. I think the most exciting part about this, besides the absolutely glorious weather, was finding an Ampelmann café! We are determined to go back there one day when we’re actually hungry. For those of you who don’t know, and I didn’t before I went on the history tour, Ampelmann is one of the only relics of Eastern Berlin. He’s the “walk” sign man, and is the cutest thing in the world. When he’s indicating for you to “walk,” it looks like his hat is about to fly off his head! He’s now a sort of pop icon in Berlin, and there are a few stores that sell everything from bags to sponges with the iconic image embossed on them.

 Ampelmann!

We then made our way all the way down to Alexanderplatz, where we strolled around, acting like tourists, and trying to find clothing stores that had cheap, but quality, stuff. When we were determined that that was just not going to happen, we decided to stop and eat at Back-Factory, a bakery. It was delicious, and so cheap! I got an amazing salami sandwich and a drink for only 2 Euro! I’m slowly beginning to learn that delicious food is insanely inexpensive in this town. The best part about my sandwich was that it wasn’t in a regular roll, but the roll was made out of pretzel dough. SO tasty! Oh, I forgot to mention this in another post, but after an excursion with my German class, we all got Falafel from this place called Dada Falafel. It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten! They fry up the falafel right after you order it, and put so many delicious veggies in. It’s incredible! If you’re ever in Berlin, get off to S-bahn at Friedrich Strasse, turn left and keep going until you hit it!

Anyway, back to the real story. After lunch, we were going to go home, but got distracted by the store C&A, which has really cute clothes for super cheap. I ended up buying some tights because I didn’t bring any with me, and while the weather has been beautiful lately, it’s quite chilly and wearing skirts or dresses without tights is just out of the question! Overall it was a great day! And it was so nice to do something with only one other person. Lately the eternal stream of people who go out together has become tiresome. It’s hard to have a good time when everyone is trying to figure out what to do, and no one wants to make a decision. I’m a much bigger fan of doing things in smaller, little groups than huge groups! It was a nice break from that group mentality. Another great part about the day is that when I got home, about 5 minutes after walking in the door, and huge rainstorm started! It was the most I’ve seen it rain here since I got here! I was so happy to have completely avoided the storm J

Damn.... Potsdamn is gorgeous.

So on Friday (3/9), we had a program excursion out to Potsdam. It was insanely stressful, and exhausting, but ultimately well worth the trouble. My group was supposed to meet at 10:40, so I left for the train at 9:30, assuming that would be enough time. It wasn't. We had to take three trains to get to Potsdam, and randomly one made us get off, and transfer to another train to continue down along the same line. We didn't end up getting there until 10:50. There were even some people with us who were supposed to get there at 10:20. Needless to say, the 11:00 group was huge! We had to take two buses because we couldn't all fit on one! I was on the first bus, and we waited around for people outside of Rathaus Potsdam, which is gorgeous!

Outside the Train Station... so beautiful

Rathaus Potsdam

While we were waiting, we saw a couple who had just gotten married, and we cheered for them from across the road. She was incredibly preggers! Anyway, we made our way to another bus (this time we all fit!) and traveled down to Cecilienhof, where Truman, Churchill and Stalin had their Potsdam Conference in 1945. Cecilienhof is called a "schloss," or castle, but really, it just looks like a nice bed and breakfast.

Cecilienhof - twas boring.

It probably would have been more interesting if there hadn't been so much waiting around to see the place, or if we'd been told why this place was important before we got there. They charged 3 euro for pictures inside the "castle" and it was definitely not worth it. So no inside pictures, sorry!

After that, we made our way back to the downtown area of Potsdam and grabbed some lunch. We only had 10 minutes before we had to leave for our next Schloss, so I just grabbed a mozzarella baguette. It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. It had mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar. Soooo good. I wish I'd gotten a picture or gotten the name of the cafe. Needless to say, I may find myself making my way back into Potsdam just for that sandwich!

Our next stop was Sanssouci, the palace of Friedrich II. It was his pleasure palace, and no women were allowed (I'll let you draw your own conclusions on that...), but it was absolutely stunning! Again, no pictures of the inside, though this one may have been worth the 3 Euro. Here are a few pictures of the grounds:

The Garden was phenomenal. See what I mean about

Potsdam being beautiful?

The Castle. This one was way more castle-y than the last

Gorgeous windmill

The Courtyard from the street

It was all-in-all a good trip. A little stressful at times, but the beauty at Sanssouci, and that delicious sandwich made it completely worth it. After we got back, we had a welcome dinner with the entire program. The food was delicious, and free! Everyone dressed up a little, and we were all happy to be fed after such a long excursion! The next day, I checked out the flea markets with Liva, so look forward to a post all about that!

Oh, and on Friday morning I'll be headed to France for the week, so don't expect too many posts. There will be tons when I get back though!

For Everett

Who probably doesn't read this blog, but told me I wouldn't be able to make/find/buy good food. Neither tasting nor health-wise (tasting because I don't like heavy foods). Here's a few pictures of the delicious, semi-healthy, light foods I've been making/eating:

 Delicious pasta sauce I made. That's at least 4 types of vegetables, btw!

The final product. Relatively healthy for only spending 1 Euro

I love sandwiches. This city knows how to make amazing sandwiches.

Though I didn't get a picture of the healthier one, that had

Balsamic instead of mayo

More delicious sandwiches. I got a pretzel sammich and L got a spinach croissant

So there you have it, you can get delicious, moderately healthy food in Germany. Not that it matters too much, there's so much walking to be done every day you could eat curry wurst all day and not gain a pound!

Unanticipated Expectations for the Journey

Today (2/9) marks the last day of my first week of classes. It was a pretty boring week, since most of my time was spent either sleeping or in class. I only went out one night this week, and the other nights I just spent at home cooking dinner, or hanging out in someone's room. Nothing too terribly interesting. But I'm sure some of you would like to hear about my classes (or at least now feel obligated if you've already made it this far into the post).

So, right now, my schedule is:
Monday: 
German 9:00-12:00
Modern German History In European Conext: 13:30-16:00
German Cinema Before 1945: 16:30-19:00

Tuesdays:
German: 9:00-12:00 (these days are typically excursion days, and aren't every week)

Wednesdays:
The Human Condition & the Totalitarian Experience: 16:30-19:00

Thursdays:
German: 9:00-12:00

With the exception of Mondays, it's not too bad a schedule. I know a few people who have these huge gaps between their German class and their 16:30 class, so I'm really glad I don't have any of those! Though Monday is a killer. I made the rookie mistake of not bringing food with my this week. On Monday, my internet still wasn't working at home, so I used my hour and a half break to catch up on blog posts/emails/etc, without thinking about the fact that I had to be in class for another 7 hours... I was so hungry by the time I got out of class, my stomach had literally inverted. Mo told me I looked disgusting haha

Anyway, onto class details. So, from what I can tell, for each class (not German) I have to do some weekly thing (turn in a paper, take a quiz, etc), give a presentation on the reading, take a midterm, write a term paper, take a final, and go on & write about two excursions. That's kind of a lot. While almost none of my professors can agree on how many class meetings we have (somewhere between 10 and 14), it still doesn't seem like enough time to get everything done, while still having an amazing time and being able to travel. I think these four days out of the week are just going to have to be exhausting, and anything I can't finish during those days will have to come with me when I go places!

My German class is great! Our teacher is crazy, and enthusiastic, which is awesome. She always looks so shocked and impressed when we actually pronounce something correctly on the first try. And she never makes us feel bad when we can't figure out how to say something. I think the best part about her teaching style is that she shows us where in our mouth or throat the sound is supposed to be coming from. It's beyond helpful! We've only had two classes, and I already feel like my comprehension - though not necessarily my speaking - has increased dramatically. I even overheard and understood my first all German conversation the other day! (One woman was thanking the other for the cake, and the 5000 calories, and then they said goodbye to each other. Twas awesome)

My Professor for History is kind of difficult to understand. The class seems as though it's going to have some great content and be an interesting and new view on German history, but it is really hard to understand the professor. But, he's aware that his accent is not so great, so he's totally fine if we ask him to repeat things, or explain further. The other issue with that course is that I'm not sure if we're supposed to be taking notes on what he's saying, or what's on his slides. They don't always mesh up. Oh well, hopefully the reading will help to supplement anything I might miss in class.

Cinema seems like it might be an interesting course... maybe. I'm not sure. I really don't like cinema classes. I love learning about movies and watching them, and seeing the reflections of society come across on screen... I just cannot for the life of me write papers about films. My academic papers are always so matter of fact and argumentative, but film papers are all about analyzing the film and agreeing with the argument that such-and-such was reflected in such-and-such a scene. Or at least that's been my experience. The good news is that I've already seen a few of the films we are watching, and have even written papers on a few, so hopefully it won't be too hard a course. Also, it's my last class of the day on my hell days, so by that point I'm normally too tired to pay too much attention, so it's probably a good thing we'll just be watching films. The professor is a really cool, excited German guy. His English is much better than my history professor's.

Totalitarian seems like it is going to be a wicked interesting course. The professor is this really old guy, who used to live on the East side of Berlin while it was still divided, and his parents had first hand experience of living in a totalitarian state, so it sounds like he's going to have some fascinating insights. He reminds me a lot of my professor from Santa Cruz. Really slow and boring to listen to, but once he gets to the point of his story, you're really happy you stuck around to hear the whole thing. The class is probably going to be pretty easy for me, since it is basically a summation of all the things I've been focusing on for the last two years. But this is the first class where there has been a distinct combination of psychology and history. It's my first psychohistory course, I suppose.

For all of my classes we have to go on excursions, which at first sounded like a drag, but now that I know what they are sounds interesting! Here's a quick list/description of each excursion (I put links to the websites on the ones that I could find):

German (on these ones we are limited to only speaking the German we know - no English!):
- History City Center (we did that today... a scavenger hunt around the historic district, all in German!)
- Ikea (we have to approach people and ask them about furniture or something)
-Kreuzberg
- Walking tour of Friedrichshain/Kreuzberg
-Eating at a German Restaurant
- Breakfast - absolutely no English - at my teacher's house after the final

History:
- German Historical Museum
- German Russian War Museum

Cinema:
He didn't go into too many specifics, but I know we'll be going to a museum (probably the Film Museum at Potsdamer Platz) and going to a cinema.

Totalitarian:
- The German Resistance Memorial Center - where my professor works!
- The Topography of Terror Memorial Center - if you haven't heard of this, go check out the website. It's insanely cool! I've been wanting to go since I heard about it a few months ago :)

I think most of those websites have an English version, if you don't speak German. I'm so excited for all of these excursions. Most of them are places that I wanted to go regardless, and so it's kind of nice that now I don't have an excuse for not going.

So yeah, that's my school work. A whole lot more work than I had anticipated, but I'll take a tip from Tim Gunn and make it work :)

Discovering Things I Already Knew. But Had Forgotten.

The day after the walking tour (29/8), I slept in. It was delightful. Since I'd gotten here I had only slept a few hours a night - probably no more than 7 hours. And there was so much stuff going on. After only sleeping 2 hours the night before, I ended up crashing around 11, and didn't wake up again until 1:30. It was glorious. Technically, I did wake up at 11:30, when my slew of alarm clock went off.... but after half an hour of snoozing, I just decided to sleep for the rest of the day. Someone rang my doorbell at 1:30, and I decided that maybe I should get up and do something. I didn't answer the door though because I spent about 5 minutes lying in bed debating what my next move would be, so I assumed the person had left by the time  decided to get up.

I lulled around for a bit, watching some German MTV (which is fabulous), making breakfast, and showering. Pretty boring. I could feel that I was likely going to get really depressed if I continued to do nothing and see no one. I was still emotionally exhausted from the day before, and I knew that if I let myself dwell on it, I'd fall into a big depression spell, and I wasn't about to let that happen! So I called Mo, and we decided to go shopping. This was on Sunday. I wanted to get a better jacket for the weather, as my sweatshirt wasn't exactly working out with the rain, and some flat boots that would be good for the bipolar weather. Mo wanted a pillow, so she was down to join. The pillows that our apartments came with are awful. They are the flattest things ever. No matter how much you ball it up, you will wake up with absolutely no head elevation.

So we hopped on the S-bahn and went to Ikea. Closed. Then we went back to Friedrichstrasse. Everything was closed. Except for food. We took a little break at the Fish and Chips place at the station, which is currently my top choice for fish and chips in the city. Their tartar sauce is incredible! And it's only 3 euro for more food than you could ever finish. So delicious! Plus they have this cherry slushie thing. It tastes nothing like American cherry flavored things. I don't quite know how to describe it other than absolutely freaking amazing! After lunch (or I guess it would be dinner, since it was like 6) we just decided to head home. Neither of us were in the mood to go out and do anything, so that was a boring night.

The first day of classes was the next day, so I just chilled in my room for a bit. I headed over the hall for about an hour, but then came back to my room and did my usual day-before-the-first-day thing. I went through all my syllabi and made a list/calendar of all the reading and papers and midterms for the semester. Yes, I do this at the beginning of every new school quarter/semester. I'm a nerd haha.

I've got one more class to go to, and then I'll have been to all of them. So stay tuned... probably later tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll have a post about all my classes!

It's a Good Thing I've Got Walking Shoes. And an Umbrella.

So after our disastrous night of trying to go to a club and taking about a thousand trains, we had to be up at 8 for a walking tour of the historical district at 9. I had been up all night dealing with the goddamn internet, and ended up only getting 2 hours of sleep. I was beyond exhausted. Tall and Curly were completely hungover, so the train ride there was pretty boring, and spent trying not to fall back asleep.

 Curly didn't do the best job not falling asleep. 

Neither did Tall, that's his arm resting on the seat.

We got to the Brandenburg Tor station and got suited up with our delightfully touristy headsets. Because, when traveling with a group of 50 other Americans, it's best to just make it as obvious as possible that you're tourists, and the best way to do that is with matching head sets! Fortunately, I had my iPod with me, so I used my own headphones, and looked slightly less touristy than the rest of the group. Though I suppose being in the group likely gave me away.

We headed up the stairs, and wouldn't you know it? Literally 200 yards away was the Brandenburg Tor! I thought we were going to have to walk a while to get there, but no. The train station is right underneath it! Dirk, our lovely tour guide, told us a whole bunch of information about the gate. Like how it was build in celebration of finally defeating/surviving Napoleon, but then Napoleon was the first to enter the city through it. All sorts of fun stuff like that.

I think for the rest of this post, it'll just be pictures. That's better than me trying to explain everything :)

The Brandenburg Tor

 

The back of the Tor.

The British Embassy

I honestly don't remember what this was. But in the

center of these buildings was a memorial to the

book burning that occurred. It's pretty moving. It's

a glass sheet, and underground is just a bunch of empty

bookshelves. It's intense.

The Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny.

 

Check this picture out on flickr to see 

more details about the memorial

Close up of the statue

We took a break about an hour into the tour just on

the outskirts of museum island. That's the Cathedral

you've seen before, and to the left is an Art musuem

where I think I'm going this weekend :)

 

Tall and V being ridiculous. Her food confused

me. It was a kebab in a hot dog bun. But it still had the 

stick in it. It look hard to eat. I had some of the meat

and it was delicious though!

This is where the Castle used to be. They had to tear

it down because they found asbestos, and now there's

a big debate about whether to rebuild it or not

That big, boring, brown building is where the Nazis

formerly had their headquarters. The architecture in 

Berlin is all so fascinating because it really does reflect

different historical moments, and there are so many 

different types of buildings. The Nazis had the most

boring architecture ever.

Goebbels former office

 

 Hitler's former office is now a Peking duck restaurant, and a 

children's playground.

This is the street where the final battle for Berlin

happened. Hitler's bunkers were all underground here.

His personal bunker now has a parking lot sitting

above it. Apparently, the German government did 

this because they did not want a place for neo-Nazis to

meet and glorify Hitler. Kind of ruins it for us historians.

Our final stop was to check out a section of the wall.

So there you have it! My walking tour, all in pictures. It was positively exhausting. I highly recommend anyone interested in German/European history to do it though. I wish I had been better rested, because I feel like I would have felt a deeper impact from everything I was seeing. But that's ok, I've still got three and a half months left to go back and explore :)

On a related note, the weather in this town is insane! This whole tour took about two and a half hours. In that time it switched from cloudy and warm, to cloudy and cold, to sunny and cold, to raining, to sunny and raining, to just gloomy. It was nuts! You really do have to be prepared for any kind of weather here. Strangely enough though, I don't mind it so much. Unlike back in Santa Cruz, I really don't mind the rain here. Perhaps that's because I know that within about 10 minutes it won't be raining anymore. Or because the clouds are just absolutely stunning. And the move so quickly! When it starts to rain, you can look up and see that it's just one cloud, and if you move towards a blue part of the sky, you'll be out of it soon enough :)