29 Juni-- Day 5

Today, we got to wake up half an hour later, which was nice, because our culture class is at 9:30, always (yay!)

I think this prof was able to instantly win everyone over, by bringing us coffee, Berliners (ich bin ein Berliner) and Amerikaners. They're actually doughnuts, and excellent ones at that. Also, Haribo gummy bears (Berlin's symbol, those bears are everywhere) and souvenirs.

Drinking so much coffee wasn't a good idea though. Combined with my morning coffee (not that it wasn't morning), I was so caffeinated that my usual "pre-speaking in class at all" panic combined with my "speaking in german" panic and my caffeine. I literally thought my heart was going to explode at one point. I'm rather surprised that it hasn't yet.

Class ended, and our "wednesday excursion" wasn't scheduled to start until 13:30, so we decided to use our extended lunch break to go to a museum. There was one about 3 U-bahn stops away, so that seemed like a good choice. However, we got lost, ended up getting school supplies, and as it turns out, walked around the museum twice while never passing the actual entrance. Whatever, all in good fun. Back to Rüdesheimer Platz to meet our prof for the trip.

Today's trip was a boat ride along the Spree, which is a river that runs through the middle of the city. As I've been told many times now, Berlin is actually a very watery city, with more bridges than Venice (but no gondolas, so alas) We got to see some of the sights that we saw earlier on the bike tour, and more. Lots of the Tiergarten, and a nice look at the different districts of Berlin.

The architecture is both old and new, which I really like a lot- the same building can have different facades, showing the way that architectural styles changed over time. From what I can understand, Berlin used to be a bunch of Bezirke, which were sort of like smaller "states" in they way their political system worked or "cities" in terms of their size. Sort of like the 5 boroughs, I think. At some point not too long ago, they were merged into one huge city called Berlin, but each area retains its own character.

Along the river, there's also Biergartens (not sure if it's still a garden if they import sand though) with folding chairs and people tanning on the bank.

Pictures to follow
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Bode-Museum

Graffiti is practically an art form here


Looks comfy


self explanatory


Again, that contrast between new and old


By the Tiergarten

28 Juni -- Day 4

Not too much to report. We had our lit/history course again, and our language course today. But everything's taught in German anyway, so calling it a language course seems like a bit of a tautology. I now have a lovely list of irregular verbs and their 3 different tenses to memorize. We discussed the history of the Weimar Republic, and other 19th and 20th century political whatnots.

During lunch, we went to the local farmer's market. So many raspberries-- I was an instantly a fan. Ended up getting some little rolls to eat (Brötchen)-- I have an endless supply of cheese, fruit, and bread here, so I'm happier than a, I don't know, a goat in a trash pile or something.

After class, I went off in search of a converter-- note to anybody who needs to go to germany... make sure that your converter can fit into a circle. Don't bring one that's square shaped. It will not fit. Also, don't do what I did and buy a cheap converter that won't quite fit your laptop and camera chargers. Not that it doesn't charge. But it kinda doesn't fit.

Went to this huge shopping district and found myself the equivalent of a 2 story German Best Buy. And a (not so) surprising amount of places for people to sit down and drink inside the mall. So many stores. Also, H&M is huge here too. (Haa und Emm) Some part of my brain keeps on trying to convince myself to buy things other than shorts (because they're really nowhere as common as they are in the US, and obviously pretty much all that I packed)... but no.
Took the S-bahn back for the first time! It's a little slower than the U-bahn, but faster than a bus, so that's nice. And you can see so much from the window-- I'm a big fan

Met M's children. Two daughters and one son- the eldest daughter is already married (met her husband as well). They all speak such good English... I don't think my German can compare at all hahaha.

Jetlag finally hit me. I was laying on my bed, trying to learn these verbs... next thing I knew, it was like 2 hours later. Hopefully my host brother/sister weren't like "well this host student is really anti-social, glad I'm not living at home anymore."

And a random picture for you!

The backyard

27 Juni-- Day 3

First day of classes-- a short walk, one stop on a bus, and a couple of subway stops away, and I'm at the IBZ. After class, we did a little tour of the area around the school, and we were introduced to the Dömer. Google it! Sehr Lecker (very yummyyyyy) Afterwards, we decided to sit in Rüdesheimer Platz, the name of both the U-Bahn stop and the actual Platz (square).


There is an awesome bike tour that you can do in Berlin (and also in London, Barcelona, and Paris) with this American company named Fat Tire Bikes. So 7 /10 of us did a 4.5 hour or so bike tour (don't worry, Berlin is very flat) of the main attractions in die Mitte (the middle) of Berlin. Things like the TV tower, Reichstag, Siegessäule (Victory Column (which I believe was constructed after all those Germanic states were united?)), Checkpoint Charlie, remmnants of the Berlin Wall, and my favorite

Der Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate)

And here's some other pictures, because I liked the way they came out.

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The huge green field that you (mostly) can't see used to be the site of the Palast der Republik, and the Stadtschloß (which used to be the huge huge huge palace that the Prussian Kings got to live it up in)

Humboldt University
The top of it. Look at that sun.

And I just thought this was funny because it said "The World"

And on the way back we stopped at a Biergarten. Then we got back on the bikes (good idea? Surprisingly so) And then long story short... We can't understand construction warnings, and it took us from 9:45 to 12:00 (or rather 21:45-24:00) to get home. Let's just say that I'll definitely keep an eye out for U-Bahn work signs from now on.

26 Juni-- Day 2

After not waking up in time to go on M's (my Gastmutter, or host mom's) (both host mom, gastmutter, and her actual name are too long to spell out sorryyyy)
morning run (thank you jet lag) , we went to the IBZ, this Internationales Begegnungszentrum, where they like to shove foreign professors who are staying for extended periods of time. And where they like to hole up Dartmouth students for their classes apparently. Good thing is, it's been in renovation for around 3 months now, so we can definitely use "sorry i can't hear you, there was a construction noise" as an excuse for not immediately understanding some German word or another.

Anyway, we went there and had Kaffe und Kuchen (coffee and baked goods) with all the host families and kids and whatnot. M had to go to the appointment that she had rescheduled yesterday so she could pick me up from the airport... which i felt kinda guilty about. So I watched some Deutsche Fußbal and hung out with this lovely lady right here--

Sati
eyes like headlights
I'm gonna admit, kinda freaky at night seeing those things shine through the dark

M: I'm so sorry that I have to leave you alone tonight!
Me: No problem, i'm so jetlagged i can barely talk- I'll just relax tonight
M: I left some food on the table. I hope you like it

My feast.
This was possibly the best salad I've ever eaten. I credit M and the raspberries (die Himbeeren)

So I watched the Sleepover Club on TV ( auf Deutsch: Der Sleepover Club) . Not sure whether I really understood what they were saying, or whether just saw through the cliched plot...

25 Juni-- Day 1

not actually my plane. But I think my point was made

Well, I've made it to Paris. My flight from JFK was delayed and took off at approximately 1 in the morning. Missed my connection, but met some very lovely people on the plane. I love that moment of questioning, where you're like I wonder if these strangers that I'm going to be stuck next to for the next 8 hours will be normal? Sucks when they turn out to be absolutely nuts though.
Can't get in touch with my host mother... so I just bought a wifi connection and figured that I'd update this! Of course, with my luck, all my electronics will die and I'll be stranded here foreverrrrrrr the end. Battery life is at 1:00

I should be in Berlin by this evening though. Yay!

You'd think 7 years of "French" before college would allow me to get around in the airport. You are mistaken. Nothing makes sense. But it all sounds very pretty. Thank goodness for bilingual signs (and bilingual customer service people)

People here are beautiful, and much too stylish for their own good (read: my sanity) .
I want to steal all their clothes.

Also, there's little birds in the airport... But when they land, their little birdie feet can't seem to get a grip on the tiles and they glide across it like little ice skaters. I think they live in the ceiling.