Remember that time I said I had internet and was really excited and it was really cool? Yeah, apparently not so much anymore. It just randomly went away and now no one can get on it. Bummer.
I'm at a cafe down the street now, just hanging out with some people and taking advantage of the free wirless. Well, free I guess if you buy something. It's a beautiful afternoon here, like absolutely perfect weather and it's quite nice to just sit and chill outside. Very European of me, I suppose. Classes are over for the week, which is pretty sweet as it's Thursday afternoon. Saturday I'm going to Dresden with the program (for only 5 euro!) which should be really cool. I love living in places where I can go on day trips to other really cool foreign places. Europe, you rock.
So I've definitely settled in here, gotten used to the commute to the TU and settled into classes. For our Berlin Since the War class, we actually go to a lot of museums, and just today went to the Deutsches Historiches museum for free! And we get a tour included in that and everything. This program is pretty awesome at subsidizing everything. Just yesterday we went on a guided tour of our neighbourhood (Kreuzburg) and had a subsidized dinner at a Turkish restaurant (it's like the Turish capital of Germany), which was cool. We visited a Mosque, and it was the first time I had ever been in one, and not actually what I expected. It was interesting, albeit a little long, and I would have preferred to hear more specifics about the area and where's cool to go and stuff as opposed to the history, but it was still neat. The point was that it was free except for the really cheap dinner. This program really has their stuff together. I'm all about it.
The weather here has been fairly spring-like. Not exactly hot, but pleasantly warm and cool at night. The sun rises at about 4 something, and I generally get woken up sometime in the 5 am hour because it's so sunny. It also means it gets warm in my room in the morning (Germany does not believe in air conditioning or ice), which is too bad, but leaving the window open at night generally solves that.
I have a bunch of pictures of my place and my neighbourhood, and hopefully I will get them posted at some point. The neighbourhood is probably not at all what you would expect when you think Berlin. It's very open, with lots of trees, and tons of grafitti. I'm compiling pictures of all my favourite graffiti throughout Berlin (of which there is like a neverending supply) and will put them together and post them at the end. It doesn't mean the same thing here, it's more like an artful expression as opposed to a sign of a degraded neighbourhood. In some places it can be really interesting. It really adds to a place, I think in some ways. It makes just walking down the street very interesting. There's so many just neat and different things to look at, as in the graffiti and just people and stores and cafes.
Berlin sort of reminds me of Philadelphia. In that not really kind of way, but there's just a few streets you walk down and look at and just have that same feel. I can't really describe it, but out of all the cities I've been to, that's the closest comparison. Although, let me say right now that there are like 3 black people in Berlin. Everyone calls Berlin very multicultural, but I'm not sure I'm seeing it. Compared to London, it's just seriously lacking. There is a Turkish sector, and more Jewish areas, but not much else. Germany has yet to really be or see itself as a land of migration. This is pretty evident.
Classes have been going well. I have been really picking up on the German, but the classes are intensive and the teacher is really good. After 8 hours in class, I feel much better about my German, although, I've got a lot of words and things down, but sentences and things like that have yet to really happen. Hopefully this will come soon enough. It's making things really difficult, just simple things. Everytime I go to the internet place, I always do something stupid, and the guy probably thinks I'm an ass, but part of it is that I don't speak German, and I also do not know internet cafes. They are almost as foreign a concept to me as the language. That's sort of the gist of how things have been here.
The other class, Berlin since the war has been interesting. Like I said, there will be a lot of cool museum visits and projects and things like that. I think both classes won't be too difficult, but they also will be serious. More so than London, I think. It's weird because every once in awhile I'm reminded that I don't need the credits and it's all just extra for me, but don't worry parental units, I'm physically unable to not do the necessary work. I also think that after London, I'm sort of ready to be more serious about stuff. It would be cool, even if I don't really need it, to get good grades and have success with Duke.
At school we also have a plce to go to use the internet, but the printing there isn't free. And we're expected to print a lot of stuff, which is annoying. It's an expensive hassle, and not necessary on top of the annoying lack of internet. TU also has a cafeteria that we got a card to use and we heard a lot about how great it was from the faculty, but nay. We went there the first day and it was a completely overwhelming experience. Any college cafeteria is when you don't know the layout or the whole process, but obviously, when you don't know the language and can't readily identify the food, even more so. Also, it was not nearly as cheap as they said, and not that good at all. When I saw a bunch of German kids with a plate of mashed potatoes topped with green gravy and two hard boiled eggs, I was just sort of like, umm, I'll go for the pasta. It could definitely be better. I don't think I'll be hitting that too much, if ever again. It's just easier, except on Tuesdays when I have afternoon class, to come back to my place and cook something.
I'd also like to say that people in Germany are really nice (usually), and quite helpful. Their English is excellent and people just seem to be more welcoming. I knew things would be different from London on my flight from Dusseldorf to Berlin when as soon as I sat down the guy next to me gave me a smile and said "guten morgen!" It was just nice.
I've also gotten really cheap since I"ve been here. I already was in London, but now it's like, my first thought when I saw my bathroom was "oh good, a bathtub, it will be easier to wash my clothes in it than the sink" I guess after London, I'm just like, yeah ok, enough. I eat less and cook less, and I've really put a stopper on going out to eat and going out much at all. I got my fill of European night life in London, and I'm kind of over it now. I'm sure I will, but when I think about the hassle that goes along with a night downtown, I'm just like, ehhh... been there done that. A lot of kids are doing quite a bit of it, which of course I udnerstand, but idk, i'm just sort of over it. That should be a good money saver!
The one thing I am spending too much money on is gummy bears. Haribo, which we all know and love, is a German company. And the gummy products are almost as plentiful as beer here. And cheap! Well, sort of. So not good for me, but damn, I love gummy bears.
Well, I guess I should get back home, Julie and I are going to do a bit of grocery shopping and then go explore Berlin a bit. No idea when I'll be able to post again... damn internet!
Tschuss!
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