Oops. I may have fallen in love.

Berlin. What an awesome city. If there was a city I could spend days upon days in, it would be Berlin. It may have topped my list of favorite cities. I will have to spend more time in it to be certain but that won't be hard for me. Thank goodness it is cheap to get there.

I could not have asked for better weather. When we left Burg a slight drizzle had begun. When we got to Berlin, the skies threatened with the same weather. The entire day was overcast and foggy, almost macabre in some way. We went on a city tour in a tour bus. That is the most touristy thing I have ever done and it was spectacular. I got to see places I want to go back and visit; pretty much every stop.

I don't really remember what we immediately did after that, the day was a bit of a blur. We did however go to the mall and eat some amazing Turkish food at the insistence of our professors who said Turkish food is the real Berlin food. If that is how Berlin food is then count me in. Over my face being stuffed with yumminess, I managed a hearty "Das schmeckt sehr gut!" a phrase one learns quickly in Germany. I we had some free time to go explore the mall, maybe get dessert, or whatever we wanted to do. Dessert? I just had heaven in a pita! I don't want that to go away so fast. Besides, there was a massive electronics store I saw that caught my fancy. It didn't disappoint either. I could have spent hours (and thousands of Euro) there had I been rich and had no pressing engagements.

After we left the mall we went to Berlin Cathedral. There we got to climb to the dome and look out across all of Berlin. Remember the mist and the cloudy day? It made the colors on the changing trees so saturated and luminous. It also added an awesome atmosphere to the pictures. I cannot wait to see how they turned out. The inside of the cathedral was mind-blowingly stunning as well, the ornate designs and nearly ostentatious gold layering in the main sanctuary area threatened to occupy the rest of my time just snapping pictures. 

We then journeyed on to the Brandenburg gate. It's a massive gate that is super cool. On the other side there was this walkway that had all the fall colors lining it in perfect mixes of fall colors. There was also a man blowing giant bubbles along the sidewalk. This fascinating activity prompted more clicks of the shutter. The bubbles with the fall colors in the background have the potential to be really cool pictures. I was on the wrong lens and we were very pressed for time so that is just one of many excuses to go back there really soon.

Berlin Hauptbahnhauf is a fantastical building. Massively tall, it is the main hub for all the central public transportation in the region. The U-Bahn (subway or metro) goes through the bottom levels and the trains go on the next few levels. It was a bit peculiar to think of a giant glass building having trains running at different levels through it, but then I remembered that I am in Germany and they are genius engineers. I have decided that one could spend an extremely long time in the Hauptbahnhauf without going through the same area. It is massive and it's just such a cool building.

That sums up the day. I feel asleep on the train, first in the standing position, because I'm a ninja, and then on the seat. I was really tired because we had an awesome day. Berlin, I will be back, you have something of mine and I want it back. You stole my heart.

Candy Canes and Garden Gnomes

They say that after a few weeks of living abroad the euphoria goes  away and reality kicks in. For me, that happened this week. I realized that living here wasn't all about candy canes and garden gnomes, but that its like any other place and I would have to work hard to make it work. I have already adapted in many ways but there is still work to do.

Since the last update I have been traveling a bit, but because my life has settled into more of a routine, it hasn't been so mind-blowing and exciting. Don't get me wrong, it has still been awesome, and I wouldn't trade this for anything, but my perspectives are shifting now. It's really cool. Instead of sharing things that have been super exciting, this blog will be more about things I have learned.

I have learned a lot in a short time. Things like the trains really aren't that punctual, always carry coins around with you, and some Germans are really good at picking out Americans, to name a few.

When one hears German trains, the first thing one thinks about is punctuality. People even say "He is as punctual as  a German train schedule" it's not a compliment anymore. Of all the times I have ridden the trains, which is pretty frequently, they have been on time three of those times. Usually this is good because we aren't usually that on time ourselves, but it has been a point of amusement for us. We then find out later that it's not entirely uncommon to find them late. The busses are on time though.

You would think that after the first time or two of not being able to use the restroom because I didn't bring coins that I would remember to bring coins. Sadly this is not the case. I still forget sometimes. This can make for a very unpleasant day. Places they have free bathrooms: trains, the place you are eating at for lunch (sucks if you are having a picnic) and back at Friedensau. That is about it. There really aren't free bathrooms anywhere. This is why one would think that I would remember coins. After forgetting two or three times, I am probably going to forget once or twice more, but probably not much more than that. Days are really long when you have to pee.

I can fool a lot of people into thinking that I am German by simply not saying anything and walking around. However I have been getting better at German and I have a decent accent so sometimes I can say things like a German person and still fit into the mix. For the most part this may be true. Friday I was in Magdeburg buying pants because I tore my other ones in Burg (funny story). I was wandering around a mall because we had time to kill and I became hungry so I went to order food. I asked for the food in flawless German so I thought, and the man replies to me in English. What a demoralizer. Apparently my German was bad enough that he knew I was American. He was speaking German to everyone else. Oh well I guess I need to practice more. I can't complain too much, I got my food and it was tasty so I still came out with a win.

Okay the pants story. I actually had forgotten about it until I just wrote it a little bit ago. We were in Burg going on a tour of the towers there. It was fun because we got to go up into the towers. Yes I definitely brought my cameras. After one of the towers I walked outside to the basement area where they kept the cows. There weren't any cows there anymore, but I was curious what a cow holding area would look like in a tower. There were several steps, no big deal I am not an uncoordinated youth anymore. Irony isn't my best friend sometimes. On the last step I managed to sit down at 9.8m/s^s. Gravity, you are heartless. I loved those pants. I stood up from my ever so graceful encounter with cobblestone and walked it off like nothing happened. To my knowledge nothing did. Then one of the girls laughed and pointed at my behind.  I could make some comment about how that in itself is a downer when a girl does that, but in this context I knew it was probably from the fall. I didn't know what was up so I asked. I tore my pants from the belt line to middle of the hamstring region. I wasn't really embarrassed that I was walking around with a giant hole in my pants. I was sad I ruined my pants. So Friday I went to the mall to get new ones.

The past few days have been eventful. We've had a holiday in the middle of the week, I have gotten information about my internship, and I have had two tests, gone to Potsdam and Berlin, and encountered many people in various situations. My time in Germany has hit the stage where its not candy canes and garden gnomes, but it is the learning stage. That to me is more exciting. I am one step closer to becoming a fully assimilated German.