Almost home...

I've got a few more good stories to blog about from my last few weeks in Berlin but am currently in Hour 40 of my journey home... a journey that was supposed to be only 26 hours long.

I left my apartment at 04:30h on 22 December to take a taxicab to the airport. My 07:35h flight to London-Heathrow was delayed one hour because of heavy fog in London... of course, we boarded on time and then waited in the plane for the extra hour. I was worried getting to Heathrow because that cut into my time to make my connection. I rushed through security and made my connection with about an hour to spare. Boarded the plane for an 11:35h departure and waited about an hour on-board for a spot to take off during some incredibly heavy fog. The fog was so heavy that it was difficult to see the end of the plane from the terminal!

At about 12:30 we finally started to push back from the gate and then all the power failed on the plane. Suddenly the plane was surrounded on the ground by an assortment of fire engines, police vehicles and ambulances/rescue trucks. One of our engines had caught fire and was being extinguished by ground crews. Despite being only 20 meters from the gate, we had to wait about 30 minutes before we were told to evacuate back to the terminal "for a few minutes" as a precaution while the mechanics checked out the engine. The captain explained that a "slight technical malfunction" had occurred and the power system failed, throwing sparks in the engine that ignited the jet fuel. Oh boy!

After another 45 minutes, we were allowed back on the plane in small groups to retrieve our hand luggage but advised to stick close because we could be getting a new plane soon. A couple hours later, we were told we had a new plane but it was at the opposite end of the terminal... so off we all headed, hoping for the 16:30 departure. After waiting another hour or two at that gate, we were told that due to "airport congestion" (and probably the still dense fog) our plane was rerouted to another gate... back on the original (and opposite) end of the terminal. Oh, and a new departure time of 17:50...

This time we actually boarded the plane for a one hour wait on-board for a slot to take-off. Finally, at about 19:00 we took off for Chicago... only 7.5 hours delayed from our original time.

Very bumpy flight but no one complained because we were all so fortunate to just be on our way. By the time we took off, I knew I would miss my 8:00 PM connecting flight home but figured there'd be others later in the night. We landed at 9:00 PM in Chicago (rather than the scheduled 2:00 PM). After a long wait through passport control and Customs, I got to speak with a customer service agent... who gave me the news that I wouldn't be flying any more that night! They gave me a hotel voucher and two meal vouchers at the Westin near the airport. I waited about 30 minutes in the very windy and snowy cold Chicago air for the hotel shuttle and finally got to my room at about 11:45 PM. The hotel restaurant was closed by then but my voucher was also good for room service... a turkey BLT and bottle of water filled up the $30 voucher.

This morning I started the day with another room service-delivered and British Airways vouchered pastries and fruit. I left for the airport at 8:00 AM for a 10:00 AM flight to St. Louis and then a transfer on to Nashville. While I waited in a seemingly never-ending line for the ticket counter, my flight's departure got pushed back to 10:40... which made for a very tight 25 minute window to make my connection. At 09:15, when I finally reached the ticket counter, the woman was very nice but didn't want me to even try for the 25 minute connection window. She told me my bags certainly wouldn't make it and if I missed, I'd have to wait until 9:00 PM for the next flight from St. Louis. I explained my "sob story" about the plane catching fire and the agent called someone who miraculously found a seat on a direct flight to Nashville. It was originally supposed to leave at 2:20 PM but they just announced our crew won't arrive until 2:45, which probably means a hopefully 3:00 PM departure. At this rate, I could care less so long as I'm out of an airport ASAP! I'm so tired of traveling and just want to be home. Ugh.

Drowning in an endless sea of schoolwork...

Since there's now only two weeks of school left (followed by two exam weeks), I'm starting to focus on my schoolwork and work on papers. One of my three term papers is already completed and handed in and a second will be finished this weekend. I've currently finished two of nine museum visit papers but have been to five more that I'll write this weekend also.

Today I went to all three of my architecture course sites. This morning started with the Olympia-Stadion (Olympic Stadium) where Germany (under Hitler's control) hosted the 1936 Olympic Games. This is a spectacular example of Hitler's vision for Nazi architecture to leave "beautiful" ruins that would outlast even his Thousand Year Reich. It had all the classical elements complete with heavy(-looking) and imposing stone façades. It was very interesting to note the many places that looked like they were missing a significant symbol... and then to find small markers with old photos during the Olympics showing the structure with the swastikas intact.

This was also a personally interesting site to visit because in a previous job I've held, I worked on preparing and listing a collection of prints about the 1936 Winter Olympics (also in Nazi Germany). While they weren't held in Berlin at the Olympia-Stadion, they had a very similar appearance of stone architecture. I couldn't help but recall those photo prints showing the Olympics all dressed up with swastikas and Nazi materials everywhere. Also, to see the location of the Fuhrer's Box in the stadium and just imagine him sitting there, watching the games that were supposed to prove Aryan superiority and then have Jesse Owens prove him wrong.

So, after the Olympia-Stadion tour, I went on a walking tour with a couple other people from my architecture class looking at some buildings in the Embassy Quarter near the Tiergarten. Finished up with a museum visit inside the Bauhaus Archiv which was all about art and architecture of the 20th century.

Now I need to write up two page papers on all of those, plus the other two sites I've been to already. And tomorrow I'm going to the Deutsche Historishe Museum and the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum to finish off all my museum visits. Hopefully I can finish all those papers this week (plus a paper on German history and culture related to my personal experiences). Then next week I'll only have a paper due on the Horseshoe Development in Berlin-Neukölln by Bruno Taut due.

Wish me luck!!

Dankegeben und der Hahnchenmann!

Yesterday was just another typical Thursday in Berlin. No holiday here. But, I managed to still have a fun Thanksgiving (That's be Dankegeben auf Deutsche). Six of us got together and put together a Thanksgiving feast complete with too much food and three roaster chickens. It was really funny when I went to the Chicken Man who parks on my street every Thursday to buy 3 whole chickens. It went something like this:

"Drei Hahnchen bitte. Komplete." | "Three chickens please. Whole/complete."
"Dreeeiii?!?" | "Threeeeee?!?"
"Ja, drei." | "Yes, three."
"Kompleeeete!?!?" | "Whoooooole?!?"
"Jaaaa..." | "Yesssss..."
"Whoa... okay." | "Whoa... okay."

Maastricht

Despite the Strike, I made it to Maastricht this weekend only about one hour later than I planned. I was to take the 08:51 ICE train to Düsseldorf and wanted to take the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. I was at my S-Bahn station at 07:41 and heard an announcement saying the next train was coming at 08:31!! I freaked out momentarily before heading for the bus shelter to take buses towards the Hauptbahnhof. Instead of two fast S-Bahn trains, I took three different buses but made it to the Hauptbahnhof with about three minutes to spare. Fairly uneventful rest of the day was spent on five different trains... and only one was cancelled from Düsseldorf. That forced a rerouting but the Deutsche Bahn self-help terminals are easy to use and it only cost about one hours delay. Not toooooo bad considering this was the "worst strike ever".

Friday evening in Maastricht was spent touring a little of the town with Lea and dinner. Then I pretty much fell asleep at a bar and we went back to go to sleep. Saturday we started the day walking around the mines/caves in Kanne, Belgium. Kanne is very close (less than 4 kilometers) to Maastricht and Lea lived there last year for her first year at the University. The mines were closed to touring but the day was nice and I enjoyed walking around the hills. The mines are supposed to be famous because of a special stone there that was crucial during World War II... but Lea had no idea what the name of the stone was and I still don't.

That afternoon we went back into Maastricht and walked around the city-center. Maastricht was preparing for their Winterland festival and had some, uh, let's say highly politically-incorrect characters walking around. There is a tradition in Limburg (the region of Netherlands Maastricht is in) that Santa Claus is assisted by a small, dark-skinned elf who carries a bag with presents for the good children and space to stuff the bad children to carry them away. Because this tradition is so special, all the children in the town were dressed in the special costume of this helper. Some adults were even dressed as the helper, complete with black-face makeup! That was incredibly shocking to see considering the history of blackface in the States and I took several pictures--including of several blackface actors on the city's town hall!

While still shocked about the blackface, we moved away from the Winterland area and got some famous french fries of the area. I got mine with a warm peanut butter sauce that my language teacher recommended... they were incredible!! The best, thick-cut french fries covered with warm and slightly spicy peanut butter... mmmmm, that's making me hungry just thinking about it!

That evening Lea had a volleyball match and I stayed in her apartment to work on my essays that are starting to be due this week. I had to finish a lot of reading for a paper that is due this Wednesday and I got a lot finished (totally finished on today's train rides). After she returned, we had dinner before going over to her friend Julia's apartment. There, we had tea and talked about the European Union and the United States' role in it. Needless to say, this is what my paper is about and it was a great help to hear the opinions of two Germans taking advantage of the EU's lack of internal barriers to education in other countries.

Another very nice benefit of the EU was I never used my passport on my entire trip this weekend. I crossed from Germany to the Netherlands on Friday via train without any border control. On Saturday we drove from the Netherlands into Belgium and back without me even realizing we'd left the country (until I asked where we were). Sunday, I took a train from the Netherlands into Belgium, then another train into Germany without any controls. Made for a very seamless experience and just makes sense... which is one way to explain a lot of European integration thus far.

This morning was uneventful and I made my first train at 12 to Liège in Belgium. From there a transfer to an ICE to Köln and then the IC to Berlin-Südkreuz that I've already described... all around a great trip and wonderful break from my classes. My last day of regular classes is 5 December and I have many, many papers to write before then!

Survival

Okay, I survived... and am finally back in my apartment. And wow is it colder in Berlin than Maastricht!!

And now the little girl is laying on the floor screaming and kicking her mother's legs. Only one more hour...

Oh, and Mom and Dad, I'm sorry!

Germenglisch?

It's very interesting to hear the significant differences between the German announcements and English announcements by the Deutsche Bahn conductors on the trains. The German announcements as we approach stations generally announce the station and tell what some of the major transfers are with their destination, train number and platform location. It always closes with a thanks for riding and wishes of good day/evening. The English ones are always "Laaadies and Gentlemen. We are in a few minutes arriving in Wolfsburg station. We taaaank you for riding Deutsche Bahn. Good bye."

There's a big difference between IC and ICE...

I'm writing this from my train returning to Berlin. I took a local regional train from Maastricht (the Netherlands) to Liége (Belgium), transfered to an ICE train to Köln (Germany) and am now on an IC train to Berlin-Südkreuz. Regional trains are basically commuter trains and there is not the option of reserved seats. They're fine for short distances of up to about an hour but otherwise they stop too frequently to take. The ICE trains are InterCityExpress and, like their name sounds like, are high-speed trains that travel up to 250 km/hour and only stop at (generally) major stations. Sometimes they stop at some random smaller stations that don't really make sense until you realize the federal states in Germany subsidize some of the costs and obviously want some benefit from that.

But I'm on an IC train. IC is simply InterCity. I took this because it is going directly to Berlin-Südkreuz which is a train station on my S-Bahn line in Berlin and easier to get home from than Berlin-Hauptbahnhof. Unfortunately, it stops about ever half hour (or less!) and doesn't have nearly the same amenities of an ICE train. On ICE trains, I prefer to reserve a window seat in the open saloon area that is much like an airplane--two seats on either side of a main aisle. I usually don't have anyone next to me and can read, listen to my iPod or just stare out the window in peace. This IC train doesn't have open saloon seating. For the last four hours I've been in a closed compartment with six other people and seats for just five. When I boarded in Köln, there were two others arriving and we all took our reserved seats. Two stops later, a family of three boarded and the little girl started screaming when the mother left to sit in another compartment. So the mother wound up staying.

Of course the little girl wasn't done acting spoiled and when her father won a game of Go Fish, she really started screaming and crying. That was lots of fun while I was reading my text for class. After a while, one of the other two passengers left the train and everyone at least had their own seat (don't worry, I didn't give up my reserved seat... the family had enough seats somewhere on the train). About forty minutes ago, the other passenger left and it's gotten a little quieter in here--I think the little girl is finally getting tired. I'm sure the father hopes so... he's been trying to nap for the whole ride and is not getting the chance!

Alright, I only have another 1,5 hours of this... at 20:04h this train is scheduled to arrive at Berlin-Südkreuz and I cannot wait to get back to my apartment... of course that's assuming the Deutsche Bahn's unions are all back to work and the S-Bahn is running to my home station.

Yet another Deutsche Bahn Strike...

This is going to be loads of fun... yet another strike on the national rail system. This one is supposed to be the worst one in modern German history because of how long it is going (Thursday at 02:00h until Saturady at 02:00h) and because of how many trains it affects. According to the Bloomberg News article, "About two-thirds of long-distance passenger trains nationwide and 50 percent of regional trains in western Germany were running as part of an emergency schedule. The railway was operating only 15 percent of regional traffic in eastern Germany." [Check out this map if you want a clear illustration of the division between East and West Germany--the new Federal States (East) have a higher proportion of union members resulting in significantly higher numbers of striking train operators.]

Not only does this mean that the S-Bahn is highly unreliable and has extremely restricted service, it also affects the regional/intercity trains... which I need to use to get to Maastricht tomorrow. I'm supposed to take five different trains beginning in Berlin-Südkreuz to get to Maastricht and the chances of me making all those trains on time is severely diminished now because of this strike. Hopefully this strike won't be extended and I can get back to Berlin on Sunday... wish me luck!

Less than a month of school!?

Wow, I just realized, my last final exam in on 13 December and that is less than one month away. I feel like I've been here in Berlin for a while but I also feel like I should have a lot more time left. I got a call today from a background investigator for an internship I'm applying for next semester and an email from my new boss for another job I'll have... several reminders of my return to the "real world" of my home university. Then, of course, it's just one more semester before Graduation and the true "Real World" of needing to find a job... anyone?

Hmm, that's strange...

I caught the 08:31 bus from my apartments this morning (running a little late for my 09:00 class) and the bus driver greeted me with a very friendly "Guten Morgen!" as I stepped on-board. Quite unexpected but I quickly overcame the shock enough to mutter a "Morgen" back to him before scurrying to the back for a seat next to a more-typical grumpy old Berliner woman. She certainly didn't greet me and didn't even excuse herself when she nearly pushed me out of my seat when we arrived at her stop... okay, I'm still in Berlin.

Schicksalstag

9 November is a significant day in German history... it's also the day I attended a session of Parliament (Bundestag) at the Reichstag.

Quick German history overview:

1848: Robert Blum was executed in Vienna which was a symbolic end to the revolution of 1848 which sought more democracy and freedoms.
1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne, ending monarchy in Germany and establishing the Weimar Republic.
1923: Adolf Hitler leads a failed coup attempt in Munich (Beer Hall Putsch) that helped establish the Nazi Party as an important player.
1938: Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) occurs where the Nazis lead a pogrom against Jewish businesses, synagogues and homes. First example of radical Nazi anti-semitic beliefs.
1989: The Berlin Wall fell and started the process of Reunification.

My observation of the session of the Bundestag began with the end of debate about creating a public memorial to mark Reunification/German Unity. This debate was closed within a few minutes of arriving in the chamber. The second debate I saw was on the Green Party's proposal to implement speed limits on the Autobahn. The Green's (environmental party) belief is that a speed limit will help reduce harmful emissions that are causing global warming. The controlling CDU/CSU and SPD parties do not support this proposal. Although I obviously couldn't understand more than a handful of words, I got the general gist of the speeches. The best part had to be when the CDU speaker (I believe) made a joke that, especially on a day like today (referencing when the wall fell), how can the Green's propose this--their Trabis can't even go that fast on the Autobahn anyway.

After the session, we went into the dome on top of the Reichstag. The Reichstag was renovated (totally rebuilt inside) during the 1990s (after Reunification for the move of the government back to Berlin from the former West German capital of Bonn). The top of the Reichstag has a huge glass dome that visitors can walk through and see some spectacular views of the city. I'm going to go back at night before I leave... and if you're ever in Berlin, I highly recommend a visit.

Following the Parliament tour, I went with Marion and Jill to the Humboldt Universität Mensa (cafeteria) and had a great hot meal (turkey) for only 2€. Then I went to the DDR Museum for one of my class projects. It's a very fun museum where most of the exhibits are interactive and you're supposed to touch and use the artifacts. I had a lot of fun sitting in the Trabant and playing the driving simulator... of course, the Trabi took several tries to start and broke down pretty quickly after I started "driving". The museum has been designed as a very light-hearted look at the realities of life in the former East Germany and I also recommend going there.

Stupid bus drivers...

My elbow really hurts right now.

It's been raining throughout the day today and my the steps were pretty slick on the bus home from class tonight. There was a new bus driver (didn't quite have the chops of the rest of the drivers) but she figured out a great way to get back at the riders. I was making my way down the steps from the top of the double-decker as we were approaching my stop and the driver decided to play some jokes. She stepped on the brakes, pretty hard, several times... and I managed to slip down three or four steps until I slammed into the front wall of the stairwell.

After bouncing off the wall (with all the force into my left elbow), I bounced down one more step into the main aisle of the bus to see lots of old German women staring at me like I was an idiot. I played it off with a short Berlin-style laugh and walked to the exit door.

I think I did a good job masking my pain but damn it hurts now!

Bombs Over Berlin

Tonight I went to Potsdamer Platz to go to the movies. I have four free tickets provided by Deutsche Bank because I brought a new customer to them and figured, since I have no money, now would be a good time to use them. Marion told me that the cinema I had tickets for (Cinemaxx) wasn't the English-language one but would only have dubbed movies. I told her she was wrong and we took the S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz to see who was right.

We were walking out of the S-Bahn station and were surprised by the sounds of fireworks bursting in the air. Today was the kickoff of the Berlin Winter World (Winterwelt-Berlin) where there's a gigantic snow slide (with real snow!) in the middle of Potsdamer Platz. We stood for a few minutes to watch the fireworks and contemplate on the large crowd of Germans gathered in what was No-Man's Land just 18 years ago. We were standing maybe 5 meters from a standing section of the Wall. Then there was the booming echoes of the fireworks exploding overhead. So much history there, eh?

After the bombs stopped exploding (okay, sorry, last time), we went to the Cinemaxx... where everything was dubbed. Which brings me to a major issue I have with Germany/Germans. Why the hell do they dub every movie/television program broadcast in this country!? The many cultural/linguistic nuances and references in the original productions are, quite simply, lost in translation. It's a pain to see The Simpsons in German because all the voices are wrong and some of the subtle humor is lost. Same thing with movies--the director's vision is lost when the actors he/she chose lose their voices and pick up a random German's voice.

So, since I strongly disapprove of dubbed films (even into English for showing in the States), we didn't watch any movie at Cinemaxx... and since I can't spend 7€ on a movie at the "OV" (Original Version) movie theater, we just took a bus back to the apartments. At least the fireworks were cool.

No Travel this Weekend

I decided to cancel my plans to go to Maastricht, the Netherlands, this weekend because I need to save the money and just do schoolwork. I have a presentation on Wednesday in my Architecture class on the Hufeisensiedlung or Horseshoe Development in Berlin. It is a large apartment complex built by Bruno Taut centered on a pond and shaped like a horseshoe. I need to go visit the site so I can include my own photos in the presentation--I need to work on improving my grade in that class. I got my midterm exam back yesterday and I, uh, should work harder in there. :)

Aaahhh, Euro!!

Well, the Dollar has struck yet another all time low against the Euro. It now takes $1.44 to buy just 1,00€. Check out this graph to see just how much stronger the Euro has gotten in the two months (exactly today) that I've been in the Eurozone. Or look here for a one-year comparison chart or here for a two-year comparison chart.

Edit: And after posting, I realized that today is the same day as Black Tuesday in the Wall Street Stock Market Crash of 1929.

Genocide & Germans... Vergangenheitsbewältigung

I need to post more about this weekend but I visited a friend of mine that did study abroad at my high school. I stayed at her house, with her family, and had a great time with one rather special moment...

Tonight I was having dinner with Lea, her mother and her 14-year-old sister. Her mother asked me which side of my family was Armenian and I told her it was my father's. She asked if I'd ever been "back" to visit and I told her that I hadn't but figured I would at some point. She was very surprised and couldn't believe I hadn't been to Armenia yet. She thought it was especially strange that I hadn't visited any of my family that lived there. I told her that I didn't have any family and she absolutely did not believe me. After I told her a few more times that I really didn't have any family, she asked me why.

[Do a quick Google search on the Armenian Genocide now.]

I realized just how bad this was going to get and said rather softly "because of the Genocide." Lea's little sister than asked (in German) what "genocide" was... this was followed by about five minutes of rapid German speaking where I only understood a couple words... "Hitler" ... "Holocaust"

I just wanted the ground to open me up and swallow me then and there.

Thoughts on Labor Unions and the French Difference

Two things I need to "analyze" for you all: Labor Unions (and their strikes) and the different "approach" to the environment in France.

1. What sense does striking make to have politicians support labor unions plans? The Deustche Bahn had been striking during morning rush hours for a couple weeks now... which has inconvenienced (at the least) thousands of commuters and possibly cost many lots of money. (I could've easily missed my flight and had to pay to rebook.) The French rail strikes that have closed systems actually cripple many peoples' abilities to get around which can lead to (especially poorer) people loosing their jobs since they can't get there. How exactly does this garner popular support for the strikers? When I walked into the Köln Hauptbahnhof after paying 30€ for a taxi, a striking Bahn worker offered me a leaflet on their strike. I didn't take it and, if I'd known more German, wanted to tell him to get back to work. Besides, who seriously expects to strike for a 31% pay raise!? That's ridiculous.

2. I am still pretty shocked about the lack of environmentalism in France. I guess I really have come to expect minimal packaging and a plethora of recycling options from my time in Germany. It seems like everywhere I go in Berlin there are four different types of trash cans for paper, glass, packaging and waste but in France there was just one type: waste. It also felt somewhat odd to receive free plastic bags with anything purchased. I guess it's much more American in that regard but I've grown accustomed to the German way of minimizing waste and recycling as much of whatever is leftover. It's going to be a strange adjustment back to America--hopefully I can maintain the German concern for the environment when I'm back in the States.

European Union

I've been catching up on the last week's news today and am pretty excited for the new developments within the EU. The European Council met in Lisbon late last week and finalized the draft of the Reform Treaty which is remarkably similar to the failed EU Constitution from 2005. It will introduce some much needed reforms to the governance and structure of the EU. It's especially important considering the much greater number of member states (now at 27 but only 15 when the Constitution was proposed in 2004).

The other good proposal is of the "Blue Card" to allow easier immigration of highly-skilled migrant workers from outside of the EU to come into any EU member state to live and work. This is also needed by the EU to support current living and social welfare standards (particularly in the older, Western members) and to continue to support the EU's ability to compete in fields where China and India are rapidly gaining ground. (Of course, the US should also work on increasing the numbers of highly-skilled and educated workers... but that's another story. Meanwhile, good job EU!)

Boo on NBC

So I just got back to Berlin from Paris last night and am spending today lounging around. Since I've finally got DSL in my apartment, I thought I'd catch up on episodes of one of my favorite shows: The Office. NBC and Apple got into a pissing contest over fees for selling the latest episode on iTunes and NBC withdrew from the store. Which means I'm not able to buy a season pass to season four on iTunes. Instead, I thought I was stuck with only being able to watch it from NBC's "Video Rewind" website where I'd have to be on a constant internet connection to watch.

So, I was very excited to pull up the page and start watching the first of now four episodes of this season... only to find a page saying "We're sorry, but the clip you've selected isn't available from your location. Please select another clip." And that's the same no matter what clip I select. I guess in some way it makes sense for NBC to restrict it's products to the US market... but that leaves US expats to find other means. I'm now googling to find any sites that are hosting the current season.

Home in Berlin

I just got home to my apartment from Paris. I took a 12.55h train from Paris through Belgium (so I did see Brussels) to Köln Hauptbahnhof at 15.45h. Then I waited an hour for 16.49h train to Berlin. I got to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 22.20h. My iPod's battery gave out halfway to Köln and I'd finished reading my books during my night in Frankfurt... I'd slept too much the past few nights to sleep on the train and just spent the time sitting. Pretty bored. It sure made the 9 hours traveling go a lot slower.

Once I got to Berlin Hbf, I noticed that the S- and U-Bahn system maps were all covered with sheets of computer paper that showed a "strike" system detailing what lines/stations would be affected by the ongoing strikes. Fortunately I could get from the Hauptbahnhof to Friedrichstraße station, where I could transfer to my S25 line. I got on the first S25 that came in my direction, even though it was stopping about 4 stops short of my station--I figured if I needed to catch a taxi, it'd be better to go a shorter distance. Once this train ended at Priesterweg, I sat out on the cold platform for about ten minutes before another train came to go the rest of the way. Not so bad really. And that concludes my trip to Köln/Frankfurt/Paris.

Paris, Part Deux

Today I slept in far too late (to be traveling on a short time period) and got up around midday. Lunch was a quiche at the University cafeteria before I left on my own for the Paris city center.

I walked around the Tourist's Paris for about 6 hours before heading back to Karen's apartment at the Cité Universitaire. I started at the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral and wandered among the many roads until I finished at the Tour Eiffel. I think I heard more English spoken on the streets than French... the English national rugby team may have lost its match last night but many of the fans remained in Paris for the rest of the weekend.

After getting back to Karen's apartment, I fell asleep for about an hour and then we left to find dinner. We wound up going to a Japanese restaurant in Luxembourg--not quite the independent nation but still just a couple hours away... :)

But now it's off to bed--I'm still feeling really tired (and a little cold) from Friday night. I'm going to forgo the trip to Brussels in favor of some rest and relaxation in Berlin and am heading to Berlin tomorrow.

Paris!

I survived the night and made my train to Paris!!

At 08.00h I went into the shopping level of the station to the Euro World store and bought a scarf and gloves for 1€ each. I wish I'd had those last night! After getting those, and a cup of coffee, I saw my train had arrived. I boarded and absolutely loved the warmth from the heaters but stayed bundled up in hat/gloves/scarf and two jackets until well after we were under way. Deutsche Bahn pleasantly surprised me by providing a rather large breakfast to all passengers going to Paris--I guess since it was a 4,5 hour direct train, a meal made since... but that's not something I'd expect in the States... at least without an extra fee!!

The train ride was rather uneventful but I got some much needed rest before getting to Paris Est. I'd been texting Karen and apparently the French rail strikes were worse than German--many rail lines in Paris were totally closed down! She recommended that I try to take the Metro as far as I could towards her and just let her know how far I got!! Fortunately, the Metro line 4 made it far enough and I met up with her rather quickly.

I was going to explore the touristy sections of Paris this afternoon but wound up joining Karen while she went to north Paris to try to find a man selling a bicycle. It sounded really sketchy at first and I was more than willing to join Karen as she searched for this mystery man. Once we got there, it turned out to be a massive flea market of many of the Parisian immigrant groups all peddling their wares. We never found the bicycle man but spent several hours wandering the many kiosks. As we were leaving, we bought a roasted ear of corn from a man on the sidewalk with a charcoal grill. Again, that sounds pretty sketchy but it was really, really good!

Tonight's dinner was a my first experience with a European McDonald's. It tasted pretty much the same. :P Although, I was shocked by how environmentally unfriendly the store was! Maybe I've gotten so used to the German obsession with minimizing one's environmental impact, but the amount of waste created just at the McDonald's in serving product to be eaten there was shocking. I can only imagine how weird it'll feel once I return to the States! I've grown rather accustomed to having four different trash cans everywhere I go and having to bring my own bags to buy anything. I'm always impressed in Germany when someone freely bags something for me. (Which reminds me, I got a really cool gift bag from the European Central Bank because after I bought a Euro knit cap and the cashier offered to bag it for me.)

After our McDonald's dinner, we went to a movie (I can't recall the name) that was about a French army unit operating in Algeria during the independence struggles there in 1959. It was a good movie (despite the lack of subtitles!) but I unfortunately full asleep halfway through because of my lack of sleep the night before. Now I'm going to bed after staying up far too late catching up with Karen. (We worked together last year as RAs and she's now in Paris attending law school.)

Frankfurt (and its Hauptbahnhof!)

Welp, I'm up pretty early today... right? I didn't really get any sleep last night--I had to spend it in the Frankfurt main train station. But we'll get back to that... let's go chronologically. :)

Yesterday morning, I woke up very confused about where I was, why an alarm clock was sounding and who was talking to me, telling me to wake up. Then I realized it was 03.15h, I was in the house on the Mosel, and that was Mark talking to me. I got up and helped load the car so we could leave just before 04.00h for the Frankfurt Airport. Two hours on winding roads and a stretch of the Autobahn and we were at the airport before 6 and I said my goodbyes to Ginna.

We drove to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof where I attempted to purchase reservations on the trains to Paris for that afternoon... but they were all sold out. The Rugby World Cup is being played this weekend in Paris and apparently a lot of Frankfurters were going! So, I bought a reservation on the next available train... at 08.30h the next morning!

That day was spent exploring Frankfurt (including its Cathedral and the European Central Bank with its massive Euro symbol). I liked visiting the ECB but wish they'd lower their interest rates to help stem the rise of the Euro to the Dollar... the exchange rate has hit 1.43 dollars to the euro!!

Last night we went to dinner at a surprisingly expensive (compared to their posted menu--false advertising maybe?) but very tasty Lebanese restaurant just a few blocks from the Hauptbahnhof. Then it was back to the Hauptbahnhof for more waiting. Mark and Julie had an overnight train to Salzburg that left just before 23.00h but after that I was on my own in the station.

I wandered around that station some but didn't find anywhere that was particularly warm (it was a cold evening and could only get colder). I wound up back in the public waiting area near the center of the station that had many benches and some wind screens. I managed to get about an hour of sleep around 01.00h but was shivering far too much after that to sleep. At some point, I think around 3 or 4.ooh, I looked in my bag and saw my bottle of water was forming ice... So I decided to look for a warmer place and walked into the closed U-Bahn station underneath the main level and leaned against a wall for a while. After I started to feel a little better, I went back upstairs and miraculously found a very warm hallway (maybe 45ºF!) and sat on the floor. I noticed that some other people (both obviously homeless and travelers) had flattened cardboard boxes to sit on and I decided to find one for myself. After a brief search, I pulled a box from a trash pile (it was clean!) and that greatly improved the situation on the floor. About half an hour ago, I got up and went to get my baggage from my storage locker to avoid paying for a second day's storage. Now I'm in a relatively warm but phenomenally expensive (3€ per hour!) Internet Café in the station. My train leaves in about two hours and I can't wait!!

Köln and the Mosel

I started Fall Break today. I was at the S-Bahn station for my 04.51h train to the airport at about 04.40h... and no trains came until 05.32h. I'd only given myself a one hour window to make my flight and was starting to really worry! When my train finally made it to Unter den Linden station and I started waiting on the express bus to Tegel, I saw that the Deutsche Bahn strike was back on--from 02.00h-11.00h. German law prevents unions from striking enough to "cripple" the nation and the rail strikes are typically structured (it is Germany--they're carefully structured) to affect only the morning rush hours and result in severely limited and delayed services.

I got to Tegel Airport at 06.40h for my 06.50h flight but wasn't too worried because of the incredibly small size of the airport. Tegel is a bizarre airport to American's because you go directly to your gate to check in, check your baggage and pass through security but then walk directly from security to your plane (less than 10m). I started to check-in and the airline agent started to lecture me on how late I was and the trouble it could cause--I simply cut her off with a "yes, yes, I know, blame the strike" and she let it go. After her attempt at a lecture, she still checked my bag and handed me my boarding pass and told me (one more time) to hurry. I walked the few meters to security (no line!) and then got on the plane. As soon as I was seated, the plane started to pull back from the gate and took off.

Once I got to Köln, I had to take a cab to the central train station (Hauptbahnhof) because I was meeting my Aunt Ginna and two of members of her church--Mark and Julie. A fun attempt at a conversation in the cab about how annoying the bahn strikes were and how bad traffic construction was. After waiting a few minutes at the Hauptbahnhof, Ginna, Julie and Mark arrived and we began our exploration of Köln.

Immediately outside the station was the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) in all its Gothic splendor. I absolutely love the Gothic (and Neo Gothic) style of architecture and such a magnificent example was wonderful. It was built from 1248-1880 and then it's been under restoration pretty much ever since. It was nearly totally destroyed during the War but was quickly rebuilt afterwards.

After that was a lot more walking throughout the city center and just enjoying the city. In the early afternoon, we got in the car and drove out to where Mark and Julie had rented a house in the Trier area along the Mosel River (Landal Sonnenberg). This area is most famous for Riesling wines and the land was covered in vineyards along steep hills leading to the river. All the little towns in the area were in the postcard-esque half-timber style with narrow, winding cobbled roads. Absolutely beautiful. The afternoon/evening was spent in the little town of Bernkastel-Kues. After a great dinner in Leiwen where a cat randomly wandered into the restaurant, we called it an early night. We needed to leave the house by 04.00h the next morning to make it to the Frankfurt in time for Ginna's flight to Wien.

Success!!

I finished all my midterms... and I think I did really well. My second exam today (on Contemporary German History) was on one of the prep questions I'd worked the most on. The architecture exam was significantly more challenging but wasn't so bad... plus there were around only 20 questions.

The most exciting part of this evening was when Dirk, the program director, came into my Architecture exam to give me the package I'd just received from Alice with my DSL modem in it!! I guess I'd been asking about packages so much the past few days that he thought it was best to hand-deliver it to me! So now I'm posting this blog post from my own apartment!! How exciting, and it only took me 5 weeks to be fully online! Unfortunately, none of my other friends that ordered DSL have been fully hooked up... and I feel I'll be sharing this connection for a while. Ah well, it's all good.

Well, I need to get to bed soon... I have to get up quite early tomorrow to catch a 04.51 S-Bahn train to get to Tegel Airport to begin Fall Break.

German Exam--Not So Bad

I finished my German midterm in less than an hour and I think I did pretty well. It was a mix of listening (Hören), reading (Lesen) and writing (Schreiben). Again, I'm optimistic about my grade there and am feeling more confident about my later exams today--Contemporary Germany and Berlin Architecture... although Architecture might kick my ass. I figure if I don't know anything about the building, to just go with Karl Freidrich Schinkel and say it was built in the early 1800s. Or say it was reconstructed after the War. That pretty much covers every architecturally significant building in Berlin!

Creativity in the Küche/Kitchen

Last night, out of sheer culinary boredom and a lack of proper ingredients, I conducted a little experiment with my dinner. I had a couple chicken breasts that I need to eat before I go out of town and decided to cook it. But, I didn't have any oil and just margarine to fry it in... didn't like that idea so I looked around my kitchen. Then I decided to try fry/boiling it in beer. And I also had a container of chili pepper flakes (a rare spicy find in Germany), so I sprinkled a lot onto the chicken. It actually turned out pretty well. I paired it with some pasta I'd already opened and some cheese sauce that was also already open. I always have a hard time with cooking far too much pasta and last night was no exception... but since I don't have any plastic storage containers, I just have to keep eating to prevent waste. It's not always fun but it works.

First Exam Down, Three More to Go

I just finished my first exam--on Integration, Conflict and Security in Europe. The exam consisted of eight identification terms and an essay on the process of integration in Europe from 1945 until the modern European Union. We were given a study guide with 5 possible essay topics and I really focused on the right one! Yay! So, I feel very confident on that exam... but tomorrow morning I have my German language midterm, at 13.30h I have my exam on Contemporary Germany and at 16.00h I have my midterm exam on Berlin Architecture... I'm truly looking forward to a long night of studying. :)

In other news, I stepped in a pile of Hundscheiße after leaving German class this morning. First time since I've been here, despite the German obsession with letting their dogs crap wherever they choose. It's so strange--Germans have such an obsession with following rules and a seeming love of order but they allow (very well behaved) dogs to go wherever the owners go and to crap anywhere with no need to clean up afterwards. Also, this German love for smoking everywhere is starting to get on my nerves--I really like clean air!

Ah well, wish me luck on my exams tomorrow! And then Thursday morning, I'm flying to Köln/Cologne to begin my fall break. Brussels may have fallen through (at least my free housing) and I'm not sure if I want to pay for a hostel. Maybe I'll just take an early train from Paris and just spend the day.

Let's stick with the important things, okay?

I just got back from getting a backpack from Camp4 (That'd be pronounced Camp Fear in English) in Alexanderplatz. Not as cheap as I'd wanted but pretty low priced and it'll be a good "investment" purchase for future travels. But the important thing is from the S-Bahn ride back home. I was sitting in the very front of the front car, just behind the driver's cabin. My foot was on the seat and, at one of the first stops after I boarded, the train operator stepped out of his cabin and yelled at me to move my feet from the seat. Okay, fair enough, I shouldn't have had them up there... but should he have been smoking cigarettes the whole time I was on the train? I'm pretty sure there's no smoking on the trains or stations here.

An Attempt at a Haircut

The other day when I bought my camera, I also picked up a low-cost beard trimmer that I was hoping would work to cut my hair myself--in order to save money. Well, this morning I cut my hair... and realized just how narrow a cutting width of 22 mm is (an inch is 25.4 mm). It took me about forty-five minutes before I realized I just couldn't finish it all on my own and called Marion for help. She came over and finished it up for me... although I may still be wearing hats more often now!

And speaking of needing to wear hats, I just saw on BBC News that the high temperature today in Berlin is 11º C (51º F) with a low of 0º C (32º F)! That's cold!!

But now I'm off to try to find a cheap and, hopefully, used camping backpack to use on my fall break trip and other trips this semester. I learned during the excursion to Wien that using a duffel bag is a pain when you have to walk many kilometers to get to train stations, a hostel, etc. Hopefully I can find something good in the many Flohmarkts (flea markets) of Berlin.

Not quite...

I found the plug adapter at Saturn, another tech mega store on the Schlossstraße in Rathaus Steglitz and have everything hooked up... but it's still not working. I'm just going to return everything to their respective stores tomorrow and just wait until Monday/Tuesday for the package to arrive from Alice. I'm just really hoping the "not working" has to do with the cable adapter I bought (maybe the wires don't correspond correctly or something) and it's not the Telekom connection... if thats the case, I'm really just going to give up and cancel the service (or lack thereof).

I think I've figured it out...

I showed the man at Media Markt a camera phone picture of the wall plug I have for my phone line and he told me that there was nothing I could do but wait on the package from Alice because I needed a "splitter" of some type. Not wanting to give up after getting this far, I went to an Internet Café and did a little research... apparently my apartment has a "BT" type of connection and I need an "RJ-11" jack for my DSL modem. I can buy those for under 5€ shipped from the UK but I want something sooner. I'm going to go back out in a little bit to a different technology store and see if they have the adapter. I think I'm also going to look around Media Markt some too because I don't quite take the Alice man's word that they're entirely unavailable.

T-Kom Success??

The Telekom technician came earlier today... he spoke about as much English as I speak German--that was a lot of fun. But, he got whatever (nonexistent?) problem with my line fixed. I just got back from Media Markt where I spoke to the Alice guy (once again) about the postpackage with my DSL modem. He reordered it for me and will be shipping it to my school building rather than my apartment. Hopefully it'll arrive by Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, the Media Markt man suggested I just buy a DSL modem and return it within fourteen days. Once I got back home I opened up the box, started to install it... and realized that the telephone jack on my wall wouldn't fit the cable from the modem... now I'm going back to Media Markt to talk to the man about what I can do now.

Waiting on Telekom ... Again

Deutsche Telekom is supposed to come to my apartment again today to finally hook up my phone line so I can have DSL. I spoke with the Alice (DSL Company) salesman at Media Markt several times this week and he told me that if this technician tells me he can't make the connection I should get his name so Alice can "put pressure on them". And I'm going to try to find the closest Deutsche Post office to see if I can get my DSL modem that was supposedly shipped to me on Monday... but the post person never leaves a notice and I have no idea if it's there yet. Speaking of which, I'm going to sit in the lobby to wait on the post person... then I'll try to ask her about my postpackage. Hopefully this'll work out well.

Hahnchenmanntag

Yup, wonderful Thursday must mean it's Chicken Man Day! It's always a wonderful sight to see the Hahnchenmobile "Gaumen Schmaus" at the end of my street when I get off the bus. I just had a delicious half-chicken for 2,60€ in a nice break from my typical pasta and Nurnburger Rostbratwurst sausage dinner. Now I'm boiling the bones to make chicken stock so I can have some good rice for dinner tomorrow... probably with sausage.

For dinners, I typically cook some pasta and sausages. I found some very cheap sausages that taste pretty good and pasta is always cheap here. I usually mix it up with a variety of sauces--right now I have four different kinds of sauce in my refrigerator. I also tried something new with the sausages last night--instead of just cooking them in a frying pan with a little water, I used a mix of water and Potsdamer Rex Pils bier... so much more flavorful. (Can you guys tell that I'm getting really bored/creative with my meals now?)

Digitalkamera ab Media Markt

Today's been a very productive day for me. I just got back from Media Markt where I bought a headset for using Skype on my computer plus a new digital camera. I decided to go with a Kodak brand camera because they're a very respectable camera company (and the camera I got can use the SD memory card I'd already purchased for my now-deceased camera).

Earlier today, my language class took a field trip to the IKEA near Sudkreuz where we had to answer different questions about furniture (Möbel) in German (auf Deutsche). We also had to ask random people questions about their shopping in IKEA and their apartments. It was similar to what we did a few weeks ago when we went to KaDeWe, the largest department store (and possibly most expensive) in Germany.

The "experience" of talking to Germans was useful (except I think everyone that anyone in my class talked to wound up just reading off our sheets) but I think the better part was that I was able to buy another duvet cover and pillow for the second duvet that I have in my apartment.

Fall Break/Semester Travel Plans

Somewhat unbelievably, my semester in Berlin is almost halfway over. My fall break begins in slightly over one week. Next week is midterms and then on Thursday morning I start my fall break travels. I'm flying to Köln/Cologne early Thursday morning to spend the day with Ginna and some friends of hers while exploring the city. That night I'm staying with her friends and then heading to Frankfurt very early in the morning. I'll spend that Friday exploring Frankfurt and then that evening I'm catching a train to Paris. I just received in the post today my Eurail pass with eight travel days on it--enough for fall break plus (hopefully) two more weekend trips in the France, Benelux, Germany region.

In Paris, I'm staying with my friend Karen, who I used to work with as an RA. She finished law school in the States earlier this year and is now working on her LLM (European equivalent of a JD) in Paris. Once she finishes she'll be able to practice law in both the USA and the EU, and will be fluent in three languages! I'm going to spend the weekend there through probably Tuesday. Tuesday evening I'm going to take a train to Brussels and am (hopefully) going to be staying with Matt--another former RA who is spending the semester studying in Brussels. I'm probably going to spend just a couple days there exploring all the institutions of the EU headquartered in Brussels. As much as my classes focus on the EU, I figure I simply must visit!

Probably on Thursday I'm going to leave Brussels and head back to Berlin. That weekend I might go visit my friend Lea in Nord Rhine-Westfalen or I might just stay in Berlin and knock out some more of the museums that I need to visit. The next weekend I might be visiting Lea in Maastricht (The Netherlands) where she goes to University. And that should leave me with just enough days on my rail pass to go to Bayern for another weekend to visit a friend there.

Depending on money, I may also try to get a plane ticket out to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, to visit Fernando... but it's rather pricey. I really want to go because the photos I've seen of the islands make it seem so beautiful and, from what Fernando tells me, it's really fun too.

Otherwise, I'm hoping that Lea, Fernando and Diana will come to Berlin to visit me. That would save me money (haha) and it would be fun to show them around this city since I don't think any of them have been before (or at least recently).

Dead Camera

Welp, the camera I bought a couple days before coming to Berlin has died. Then I did some research online... apparently this model camera only works about a month before dying. Don't buy a Casio Exilim EX-V7!! It took about 1000 great photos and now it's absolutely dead. Apparently my only recourse is to mail it, with my now-long-gone proof of purchase, to their repair facility in New Jersey. Or, now I just don't have a camera and will be looking for really cheap ones at Media Markt now. I'm just not doing too well with technology lately.

Bachelorette Party and a Fox

Well, tonight was certainly interesting. I went to Potsdamer Platz to see "The Brave One" with Marion but had some time to kill and sat in the plaza with my computer, using the free WiFi. After I'd been there for a while, a group of about 12 German women came up to me and started talking at me in German. (Yes, speaking "at" me, not "to" me.)

After they talked for a bit, I said I spoke no German (Ich spreche kein Deutsche) and thought they'd leave me alone... no, one of them (who was wearing a painter's jumpsuit painted with glitter pens and colors) told me she was getting married and that I had to buy something from her. She had a tray with some condoms and a tube of some kind of makeup. I was laughing a lot because I had no idea what was going on but they said to just give a few cents. I put a bit of change into her pocket and she gave me the condoms and the makeup. Then she made me pull a Kinder egg off of her jumpsuit. I still had no idea what was going on but then she drew a smiley face on my hand and then they all lit sparklers and stood around talking to each other for a few minutes before wandering away.

I'm not really sure what was going on but now I have some condoms, some face cream something and a plastic egg with a mini-lipstick, some hair holder things and a little ring. Plus a smiley face on my hand. I really need to ask some Germans about bachelorette parties.

Then, after I got home from the oh so good Jodie Foster movie, (Go see it!) Marion and I heard some movement in the bushes outside the apartment house... and a fox walked out. We just stood there watching it for a few minutes while it tried to get into a trash can and then it just wandered off down the street. Oh Berlin...

Maybe Internet Monday??

Media Markt man called me back tonight... now he says I just need to reschedule my appointment with Telecom and I'll be okay. When I told him that I spent the whole day waiting on the package delivery without success, he told me that if I come to the store tomorrow he can also take care of that. So basically, I wasted the entire day waiting on the package delivery and still don't have Internet. And now I'm sitting in the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz trying to kill some time before my 22.30 showing of The Brave One with Jodie Foster... pretty exciting!

Updated w/Excursion Posts

I finally uploaded the blog posts about my trip to München, Wien and Bratislava... they're all post-dated below.

And still no internet... :'(

T-Com showed up about 10:45 but there's something wrong with the phone line between my apartment and the main box in the basement... preventing me from having Internet. He said that hopefully it'd be fixed by the Hausmeister once I spoke to him. I found the Hausmeister and kind of explained to him the situation and he said he understood and would take care of it (his English actually isn't that good...).

Then I went to Media Markt about the Internet and they will be sending via courier my DSL modem today (I need to hurry home from the school building with Internet). I must be there to receive the package, which was the problem last time. But, even though I will have the modem now, I still don't have a working line. The Media Markt man said that he would call me this afternoon to tell me what the problems were and then I could try to reschedule an installation time. So frustrating!!

Waiting, waiting...

The Hausmeister came by at 9 this morning to fix the towel warmer in my bathroom. There's a new Hausmeister and he really seems like he's on top of his game. The old one didn't really seem to care about anything.

Now I'm just sitting around, waiting on T-com to come. I was told that they typically come between 8-12 but the SMS said they'd be here between 8-16h ... I might be sitting here for quite a while!

Deutsche Post

So I'm kinda mad at the post service here! I got a notice card from the Post on Monday that a package was waiting for me at the Customs office. Once I had the time (today), I took the bus to the area and then walked several blocks to the office. I knew where it was because I'd had to do it a couple weeks ago for another package. Once I got there and handed over my paper (and a little waiting), I was told that the package had already been picked up... momentary confusion, then I realized it was likely this card wasn't delivered and my package two weeks ago was the one from this card. Total waste of time and pretty disappointing that I didn't actually get another package.

After that, I went to the Media Markt to talk to the guy that sold me the home DSL since I still hadn't received the DSL modem in the mail. The Telecom company is coming tomorrow to activate my line and they aren't supposed to do that until I have the modem. The DSL man at the store told me that if I still don't receive it by tomorrow to go back and he'll call the DSL company for me. Once I got home, I found a card from DHL sitting on the floor with my name on it. (Deutsche Post turns packages over to DHL when they aren't delivered on the first attempt.) It said something about a package for me was in a "Packstation" on the main road near my apartment. I read the address (Osdorfer Straße 98) and started walking in that direction... after I wound up a couple kilometers down the road in the middle of some farms (likely outside the city limits of Berlin) I decided that it couldn't be that far. Once I turned around and started walking back, I saw a Deutsche Post person on a bike and asked him where I should go... it turned out that the Packstation was only two blocks from my apartment. Apparently the house numbering went up on one side of the street until 90 and then went back down the other side (including 98). So... quite a walk and then the DSL modem, right? No. No, it was movie tickets from Deutsche Bank that I'd "won" because I brought a new customer to the bank. Of course, I still haven't received my bank card in the post, but I have movie tickets... go figure.

Tomorrow, once T-com comes to activate my phone line, I'm going to the Media Markt to find out about re-ordering my modem and also to the Bank to have them resend my bank card.

German Unity Day

Today's German Unity Day... 17th anniversary of the formal, legal reunification of the FRG and DDR on 3 Oktober 1990. Which basically means a holiday to everyone in Germany but not much celebration... they are absolutely terrified of nationalism/patriotism in this country. Certainly no one walking around with the German flag on their shirt like it'd be in the USA. I went to a museum earlier this afternoon and then to the Unter den Linden/17. Juni Straße area and to a free concert sponsored by Coca-Cola at the Brandenburg Gate. I had no idea what was being said but it was pretty fun.

Ahhh, German Class

I'm in a break during German class and just played Chamillionaire's Ridin' Dirty for my teacher because someone brought it up in class... then I tried to explain it somewhat. The she said that she didn't understand why he was singing about drinking and smoking weed while driving because it wasn't so bad here in Germany... ahahahahahah.

I'm alive!!

Sorry for the long absence. I was on a week-long holiday to München (Munich), Wien (Vienna) and Bratislava. I was keeping track of what I was doing and will be slowly filling in the missing days on my blog... they'll be postdated but that just means you've gotta keep reading! :)

Return to Berlin

At 10 o'clock in the morning, we began our train ride back to Berlin... possibly the longest 10 hours of my life! It was a better trip than the ride to München but I once again couldn't spend the time in peace, reading and sleeping. One of the highlights (in a very silly way!) was that the train went through the Czech Republic and I got a lot of stamps in my passport! Czech Republic is not party to the Schengen Agreement and required passport control from both Austrian and Czech border control officers. It was kind of funny the difference in stamping between the Germans, Austrians and Czechs that I've seen: Germans stamped in the first available space, right side up. Austrians stamped on the first available page, not too concerned with orientation. The Czechs flipped to any random blank page and my entry and exit visas are stamped on different pages--the second to last and fourth to last pages of my passport. Go figure!

At about 19.30 our train finally arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and we were on our own once again to get home. Despite how dreary the weather is and how grumpy the people are here in Berlin, it was so nice to finally get back "home" and to my own space! Great trip but equally great to be done.

Bratislava, Slowakia

I'd left the windows slightly open overnight (I'm starting to like this German obsession with fresh air) and woke up to the sounds of rain outside. It rained for a little bit into the morning but cleared up while our entire group was walking to the boat to Bratislava. We took a high-speed hydrofoil down the Danube River for 1,5 hours to reach Bratislava. When we boarded the boat, the Austrian officials stamped our passports no Slovakians seemed to care we were entering their country. The boat ride was pretty fun because you could actually step outside into a sheltered area on the side and try to stand up in the very fast winds. It was really hard to keep your eyes open facing into the wind and I was afraid I might lose my contacts... I've got some funny pictures from that.

Once in Bratislava, I went with Marion up to the Castle that dominated the skyline from a hill overlooking the city. We wandered around the grounds, took tons of photos and had a good time. On our way back into the city, we stopped at a Lebanese restaurant for lunch. We both ordered Slovak beers... and I gave half mine away because it was 12% alcohol with 1/2 L for about 1€--very, very cheap! Bratislava was very cheap, in general, and it seemed like the Slowakians were very excited to accept Euros as currency since Slowakia isn't a "Euro Land" state and it's official currency is the Slowak Kröner. The exchange rate was about 33 SK per 1€ ... and things were just very cheap in general!

As we were about to leave the restaurant, a terrible storm blew in and the waitress invited to stay and go back to our table, even though we'd already paid. The wind blew the rain sideways and I felt a little bad sitting in my comfortable, dry space while watching some other program participants running down the streets, getting soaked, while their umbrellas were flip-flopping and wrapping around on themselves.

Once the storm stopped, we left and wandered around a bit until we ran into our program leader, Dirk. He strongly recommended going to the "Hall of Mirrors" museum and we decided to go. Fortunately it was free! Once inside there were about 20 paintings of old leaders of Slowakia and maybe 20 other random paintings that were nice to look at briefly but not something to spend the afternoon on.

After that museum, we went to the Bratislava Municipal Museum because Marion had read in our information packet that it included the old torture chambers that the city used to use in the Middle Ages. We paid our 20 SK (about 60 Euro cents or 85 US cents) and went in. At first, it was just a bunch of old (like 6000 BC old) artifacts, labeled in English with such helpful labels as "Artefact from sand pit". We thought this museum was a bust until we moved on a little bit more... into some very cool rooms from the original city hall (Rathaus) that were designed/built/decorated in vastly different styles--neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance, etc. Those rooms were a lot of fun to walk through until one of the museum attendants came up to me and started talking to me in Slowakian. I obviously had no idea what she was saying and kind of gave her that look but figured out she was trying to usher us out of there and finally said the word "tower". I just went were I was told and then she pointed at the clock tower that we were supposed to climb.

After climbing up several flights of steep, narrow winding staircases, we reached a door outside of the actual clock on the city hall. We spent several minutes out there (in a strong wind!) looking across and down on the city. I was really hoping we'd see someone from the program to call out to and to have them get pictures of us up there, but no one was to be found. After several minutes, one of the museum ladies started yelling at us from below and we thought we were in trouble for being there so long and hurried down.

Once we got down, more Slowakian was spoken at us until they said "prison" in English and pointed down some stairs. I took that as another clue like "tower" and went down the steps... several flights down and we were in the torture chambers/dungeon of the city. It still smelled very strongly of death and pain. There were a lot of original artifacts, including axes used for beheadings, masks used to torture people, ball-and-chains, finger presses and the grounds had many deep pits that I can only assume people were thrown in with God knows what else! There were also lots of images on the walls showing medieval drawings of the acts being carried out--people being sawed in half and rows of people waiting to be beheaded with the executioner just walking down the line with his ax. After about ten minutes, it got so creepy that I hurried back up to fresh air.

After the torture chambers, the museum moved on to show the way normal Bratislavan residents lived during the 1920s and 30s... basically an entire house of rooms preserved/setup in that historical period. This was possibly the best museum I went to, especially considering the price!

After that museum, we had some time to kill and Marion and I wandered around and came across an Antique shop. The shopkeepers were very, very nice and had some very interesting items for sale... Marion wound up buying a small bust of Franz Josef that was produced in the 1914-1916 years as "Patriotika" to stir up citizens' interests and pride in the military efforts of the First World War. I got a belt buckle of a WWII Luftwaffe crew person... that got carefully wrapped up and buried in my bag before returning to Berlin. (Think about it for a minute and you'll understand!!)

On the train back to Wien, most of my classmates were complaining about how boring Bratislava was and how they wished they hadn't gone. I couldn't really understand that other than they didn't realize just how incredible a "city history museum" could be!

Once back in Wien, we all went with our fearless leader Dirk to a wine tavern (Heurigen) on the northern edge of the city. I didn't stay very long because I was very tired but it was actually a lot of fun to be with the group (for a change!).

OSCE

This morning my Integration, Conflict and Security class went to the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in a part of the old Hapsburg palace in Wien. Because there weren't any delegates present, we were allowed in without any security checks--despite having to bring our passports for ID purposes. The OSCE works to prevent conflicts from occurring, promotes democracy and seeks to protect the environment. Its member states include pretty much the entire Global North from "Vancouver to Vladivostok". I'm not sure how effective it really is since all its decisions are made by unanimous decision of its 56 member states. When we went to the main meeting chamber, I got to sit at the Chairperson, Secretariat, US and Armenian delegations' seats. (I'm starting to collect a number of "important seats" I've sat in... haha.)

In the afternoon, it rained. First time during the whole excursion that the weather wasn't warm and beautiful. It'd been such a nice break from the grey Berlin. While it was still raining, I went to the Military Museum in the old city Arsenal with a few other people. I spent several hours there and thought it was great. The museum covered the military history of Austria since the Middle Ages through the modern era. Once again, no English signage but a good audio guide and low-priced student admission (only 3€).

Rain cleared up by the time I finished the museum and I went back to the hotel. Once there, I did a little laundry, since I was running out of clean clothing, and then went to an all-you-can-eat Sushi bar (with revolving bar of Sushi). It was 15€ but really good. Stanislava, Paulo, Kim and I made sure to get our money's worth!

More Hapsburgs

After breakfast, our whole program went to the Hofburg (main Hapsburg palace) in the city-center. The program paid for our admission to see both the Royal Silver Collection and the Palace with Residential Apartments. The silver collection was interesting but went on for far too long. It began with some very interesting and intricately decorated dishes made by certain special people... and it wound up being just a lot of dishes from this ridiculously wealthy family. I had an English-language audio guide but skipped most of the descriptions because it was seriously just more dishes.

The tour of the apartments was much better. I learned even more about my friends Maria Theresa, Franz Josef and Sissi. I thinks it's so cool to be in the actual space where major historical events happened. That palace alone included the room where the Hapsburgs forever renounced political participation in Austria and went into exile and another room where President Kennedy met Khruschev for talks in the 60s.

After finishing the tours, I had about an hour to kill before picking up tickets for a guided tour of the Parliament. Marion and I just wandered around a bit and then just sat down for the rest of the time. When we were sitting, another woman sat on our bench and, after overhearing us talking, asked us if we were Americans. After acknowledging that we were, she told us she was too and was here on holiday and then listed all these places she visited and was planning to see. It really made me appreciate the fact that I'm here for long enough that I'm not forced to rush through everything and can actually take the time to just sit on a park bench and wait. I'm also glad I'm not bound to a camera everywhere I go. I'm certainly taking a lot of photos, but when I was at the concert last night I wasn't like my very rude seat-neighbors who were taking photos and videos throughout the performance with noisy cameras.

In the afternoon, I went to the Royal Jewel's museum and saw a lot of old crowns and royal coats. None of this museum was in English except limited items included on the audio guide. Part of the museum was an exhibit on the Order of the Golden Fleece... but I almost missed that since I don't understand the German I was trying to read.

After that museum, I went to the Parliament for a tour. Part of the building was destroyed in the Second World War but one of the wings was untouched and remains in the original style/construction of the first Austrian Parliament during the early 20th century. The second wing was rebuilt after the War and wasn't as stylistically spectacular. We toured one day before Parliament reconvened after their summer holidays and when we got to the main chamber, I randomly sat in the Madam President's chair... unfortunately no photos to prove it but I certainly felt special! Since it was the last tour of the day, I may well have been the last person to sit there before the President herself sat there.

Tonight our whole program went to a performance of the operetta "Gräfin Mariza" by Emmerich Kalman at the Volksoper Wien. I read the synopsis before I went but, since it was performed entirely in German, I really didn't understand anything that was going on. During the second and third acts, there was some dancing that was fun to watch and overall I enjoyed going. I'm also really glad that the program paid for this because Wien is a very expensive city! Museums ranged from 6-12€ with the student discounts. Food were also really expensive and I started buying food and drinks at the grocery store next to the hotel--trying somehow to save money and kind of keep to my budget. (I'm still more than willing to accept donations!)

Beautiful Wien

Today started with a really good city tour beginning at the St. Stephan's Cathedral in the city-center. The old city is very small (and also easy walking distance from the hotel), so getting around is not a problem at all. The tour hit most of the historic buildings in the area, including the Parliament building, Chancellor's house, old Hapsburg palaces, etc. Also, in the middle of the city, there's an uncovered excavation of some Roman ruins... a reminder of really just how old these settlements are!

In the afternoon, I went to the Schloss Shönnbrun with Marion. That was the Hapsburg family's summer palace just outside the city. After wandering through the gardens for a couple hours, we coughed up nearly 12€ each to tour the palace. The palace was absolutely amazing inside with such a mix of styles from each of the different generations that ruled (or vacationed) there. I also began learning far too much about the Hapsburg dynasty in general--go ahead, ask me about Maria Theresa, Franz Josef or Sissi!!

The evening consisted of a Strauss & Mozart Concert in the Stadtpark. It was a very small concert with some fun musicians--you could tell that most of the audience was tourists and the musicians really had a lot of fun with that. Afterwards I went to an Australian Pub with Kim and Mackenzie and had some terrible Aussie beer... made me miss Germany and Augustiner a lot!

Wien!

And we're moving on from München... to Wien, Österreich. Train ride from 9:30ish to about 2 p.m. Unfortunately, no stamps for my passport because we stayed in the Schengen Agreement Zone of Europe. This train was different than the ICE train from Berlin and was individual compartments of six people each in the cars. It helped quiet things down a bit (I don't know if anyone broke any glasses this time) but this car didn't have working air conditioning. I was so tired when we finally got to Wien from the heat that I really just wanted to sleep.

Once we got off the train and on to our hostel, we realized it was a lot better than a hostel. This was more of a hotel that actually had double-occupancy rooms with in-room restrooms. Very nice! After a refreshing shower and change of clothes, I went out wandering through the city with a handful of other people. Wien is such a beautiful city! All the buildings look very old (really many are 50-130 years old). In the 1860s-70s (?), the Austrian Emperor ordered that the old city moat be turned into a Ringstraße (ring street) and he ordered the construction of several hundred buildings in various architectural styles. A lot of neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance, neo-Classical and neo-Baroque buildings made the street a lot of fun to just walk along. (I'm really starting to both appreciate and like my architecture class!)

Slow Day

I slept a lot today, all this traveling is tiring! I went out for dinner to "Rick's Café" near the hostel and then wandered around the actual Oktoberfest in the early evening. I wasn't really feeling well and didn't even try to find a seat in the tents but can now say I've been to the 'Fest.

BMW/Olympiazentrum Park

This morning I went with Marion to the BMW museum and factory. Unfortunately, once we got there we found out the real museum was closed for renovations until Spring 2008 but there was a temporary exhibition in the Olympic Park across the street. We went there, paid out 2€ and got to see about 25 BMWs throughout the ages. After we finished, I bought my first BMW straight from the factory... a scale model of an E92 (I think) 2006+ BMW 3-Series Coupe. Even if it did fit in my bag, I still bought my first BMW from the factory, right?

After BMW we wandered around the Olympic Park (site of the 1972 Summer Olympics)... it was funny how it was designed to look "natural" but still had a lot of very German order to the locations, arrangement and shapes of the lakes and trees. Those orderly Germans!

In the afternoon, we met up with the rest of the program for guided tours of the central city. It was supposed to be a three hour tour but our tour guide wasn't really saying anything that wasn't readily apparent ("This is a market. Villagers and visitors can buy fruits and vegetables here.") After about half an hour, I got so bored with the tour that I left with a couple other people. We wandered around the city some more before meeting up with our tour group again at the end.

That night we went back to Augustiner Keller and after a couple Maß a group of Americans at another table invited us to join them. I don't have any idea who these people were or even their names but it was pretty fun to just randomly join with other people like that.

Train to München

Today my whole program began our week-long excursion to München (Munich, Germany), Wien (Vienna, Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia). Our train left from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof at about 9 a.m. and we didn't arrive in München until almost 3 p.m. ...

It was a terribly fun train ride... six hours of all of us stuck in the same train car with a lot of people drinking and them all breaking glasses. I thought I would try to catch up on my reading for classes... that didn't really work out too well.

Once we got to München, I dropped my stuff off in the hostel and found food/drink at the Augustiner Keller Biergarten... Augustiner is quite possibly the best beer I've ever had. Delicious. And this place only served Augustiner. 6,30€ per 1L Maß and oh so worth it!

Laundry

I absolutely hate doing laundry here. You have to buy tokens from the Hausmeister during his office hours of 18.00-20.00h Mondays only. The tokens cost 3€ for each washer load and 1€ for dryer. The dryer fits about 3 times more stuff (at least) than the washer so if the prices were reversed it might make more sense.

But my biggest issue with the laundry is that it's in the basement of another building. The buildings are connected but I have to walk into building 12 which doesn't really keep it's hall lights on. The lights are on timers but in 12 they are very short times and you could be halfway down the hall and the lights go out... plunging you into total darkness in an already rather creepy building. But the laundry is behind a couple more locked doors at the back of a creepy hallway in the basement... those lights are also on timers and I know to just hurry as much as possible when doing laundry. I'm just very scared that the lights will turn out when I'm in the laundry room and I have to just feel my way back to the outer door with the light switch. Of course, I also got quite startled by another person coming into the room to do his laundry... I may have scared him more than me when I jumped.

Ah well, I've already done two of the three required trips... and I think I finally figured out the dryer--full-Sun should be heat... right? Otherwise I'll just hang all my clothes throughout my apartment again.

Friendly Berliner??

Just got home from some bars tonight... when I got on the first bus I said "guten Morgen" to the driver... and he actually replied "Morgen". I'm shocked! No Berliner that I've spoken with thus far has actually been kind back... maybe it was because it was 4 in the morning?? But still... I'm kind of excited! :)

Mosquitoes

All these damned mosquitoes buzzing around my apartment!! I learned in my architecture class last week that Berlin was built on a swamp/swampy grounds and that would certainly explain all these mosquitoes! I've been keeping my window open (but covered with the curtains) because the air gets so stale inside but then I get attacked by bugs. I'm almost ready for a quick hard freeze just to kill them all off! Looks like Wednesday's forecast low is 38º F ... will that be cold enough??

$$$ < €€€

Oh yay, BBC is all about how the dollar is hitting record lows to the Euro and how it is expected to just keep falling in value... that's just great. My budget already looked bad in Euros at the 1.35 conversion rate. Today it hit 1.40 for the first time in history and the rate difference is expected to just keep growing. Maybe I should go ahead and convert all my money to Euros before it gets worse?? I really have no idea about these things.

I forgot to mention earlier--tomorrow everyone's going on a day excursion to the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen for a tour... this'll be interesting.

I don't have any class today... very nice feeling! My language class meets 2-3 days a week and this week we only met on Monday and Wednesday. Other classes meet every morning Monday-Thursday. My class is an "Experiential Beginners" for people who don't intend to major/minor in the language. We're supposed to be getting a basic crash course in the German language so we'll be able to live with more than just pointing and nodding. There are 10 of us in there and I'm the only one who isn't in the UC (California) system... which means many of them are putting Spanish accents/words in for German since that's the other language that they've learned. It's kind of funny but also kind of frustrating because the instructor doesn't really correct our pronunciation much. I'm also a little disappointed in the pace of the class because several of my classmates don't seem to have picked up any German on their own by just living here. I guess I have an advantage because I'm always going out with stronger German speakers who refuse to speak English but it is frustrating to hear how much further behind than me they are already in the second week of class. Although, I won't lie... Bingo was pretty fun yesterday... :)

I'm taking three other "content" courses (thankfully in English!). On Tuesdays, I have "Integration, Conflict and Security in Europe" taught by the program director, Dirk. It reminds me a lot of what I liked about the IR major before I switched to Justice. Right now it's covering the history of European governments/integration (supra-nationalism) post-World War II and after the midterm break it will focus more on conflict/security issues that have occurred after the end of the Cold War. During our class trip to München and Vienna in two weeks, we're going on a tour and presentation of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Vienna. We also have to independently go to the Allied Museum, the German-Russian Museum in Karlshorst and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and write papers about our visits.

My second class is also taught by Dirk on "Contemporary Germany in European Perspective". So far it's been about the history of Germany from 1949-1990 with a basic overview of the leadership/policies of both German states before Reunification. Something I never really thought I'd study! Because the whole program is a more European Studies focus, this class spends a lot of time applying Germany to Europe and making sure that everything we're learning about Germany is integrated to Europe as a whole. Our independent course projects are on the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum showing both the FRG and GDR from 1945-1990), an exhibition in the Deutscher Dom called "Wege – Irrwege – Umwege", and either the Erinnerungsstätte Notaufnahmelager Marienfelde (memorial site that used to be used to process East German refugees to the West after 1953) or the DDR Museum showing what "typical life" was like in East Germany.

My third class (along with Contemporary Germany on Wednesdays) is on "Architecture in Berlin from the 19th Century to Today". This will probably be my most challenging class... I don't know anything about architecture and our exams will be recognizing building styles, historical significances, etc. So far we've gone over the history of Berlin's growth from the Middle Ages to the post-Reunification growth projections/realities of today and looked at both architectural terms and a quick history of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The best thing about the class (I think) will be the walking tours we're taking throughout Berlin. Next week we're starting at the Old Museum (Altes Museum) on Friedrichstraße in Mitte and looking at several of Schinkel's buildings in Berlin. Other walking tours include tours on Onkel Toms Hütte, Hansaviertel and Pariser Platz/Government Quarter area. Our independent course projects are visits to the Bauhaus Archiv's exhibition on "Berlin Settlements from the 1920s", the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 Berlin Olympics) and a "self-guided walking tour". I also have to write a paper and present on Bruno Taut's "Horseshoe Development" housing complex in Berlin-Britz... I have no idea what that is (I've seen a couple pictures) but I'm sure I'll know a lot more pretty soon. :)

Second night of birthday festivities is over. On Tuesday, seven of us went to Tarons (an "international" restaurant) in the Rathaus Steglitz area and I had a "Georg Pizza". The pizza has "Schmandsoße, Käse, Paprika, Champignons, Zwiebeln und Peperoni" on it... I still don't know what some of that is but it was really good. It's also amazing how cheap pizzas are here--you can get two meals out of a really good 3-4€ pizza. It's just a pretty significant shift for me to go from using my hands to eat pizza to only using knife and fork (and not in the American switching-fork-and-knife manner). Because it took us so long to find somewhere to eat (accidentally got on an Express bus that went a reallllllyyy long way before stopping), after dinner we called it a night.

Tonight Kim and Shannon bought a cake and we (along with Jill, Marion and Stanislava) had that in Kim's apartment. Good times. And no class tomorrow, so I get to sleep in some! :)

Weekends

The weekends are so nice and restful for me here. Saturday I slept in, cooked some lunch, took a nap, fixed dinner, then went out at about 22.00h. We went to a bar somewhere in the East called Point of No Return which was pretty boring and then to an indoor beach bar with sand on the floor. That was more fun but I think most of us are still really tired and we were all back home by 4.00h.

Today was another restful day and after fixing lunch, I went to Balzac in Rathaus Steglitz where I saw three other program participants on their laptops. Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to the Deutsch Bank to get an account and then purchasing DSL for my apartment. It takes about 2-3 weeks after that but I really can't wait! It really is amazing how Internet-dependent my generation has become... not having the ability to look up information on the fly feels so limiting but also results in some nice spontaneous discoveries. Friday night, for example, Jill, Marion and I were wandering around somewhere northeast of Friedrichstraße and came across an outdoor market in the courtyard of several clubs and bars.

That night was also a lot of fun because neither Jill or Marion wanted to speak English... so I got by with a strange mix of German, a little Spanish and even less of Arabic. We also were going by "German" sounding names (or at least less-American) ... Jill became Yulia, Marion got a slightly different pronunciation and I became "Georg" with two hard-"G"s. I guess I am picking up the language here pretty quickly... I've had a couple successful food/drink interactions entirely in German!

YAY!

Last mention, I promise! I have hot water!!!!!!!! I'll be taking a wonderfully long and hot shower tonight and again in the morning!

So today we went to Sanssouci for the morning and toured the gardens and the palace. I accidentally left my camera at home so I don't have any photos... plus they were forbidden inside anyway. It was amazing how much wealth was visible in the designs of the area!

After a Döner lunch in the Mitte of Potsdam, we toured the Schloss Cecilienhof which was the site of the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945 between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Much of the site is now a hotel and the tour consisted of just a handful of rooms. It was absolutely fascinating to see such historical sites and to actually be there! One room held the desk where Stalin sat and planned his work, another room held the massive round table where none of the three parties could be at the head. It was also fascinating to look out the windows to the nearby River Spree that less than twenty years ago was hidden behind an extension of the Berlin Wall.

It is so amazing that so many major historical events occurred in the places I am visiting. Where today I walk across a street to get from a café to a movie theater, 20 years ago people would've been shot dead crossing the No-Man's-Land of Potsdamer Platz. Or even to use those U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations because many in that area were the Geisterbahnhöfe (Ghost Stations) that were closed by the East German authorities in the 1960s. Potsdamer Platz has been completely rebuilt and modernized but Unter den Linden is still in much the same condition and appearance as it was in the 1930s when it was built. And for 28 years no one could use those stations. And it's all right here... truly living history.

Wow, I just looked over at my clock radio and it read 0:00 ... I kind of freaked out, glanced at my phone, saw 00:00 and was really startled. Then I remembered where I was. It's those little things that really remind you where you are.

So I just took (hopefully) my last cold shower... and I'll stop boring you with those matters!

Tomorrow our entire program is going to Potsdam to visit Sanssouci and Cecilienhof. A huge group of 70+ Americans... oh wait, not going there. I believe we're going to the palace and site of the Potsdam Conference at the end of WWII. I'm sure I'll take plenty of pictures. (Once I get some time online, I'll start posting pictures on the blog directly.)

Speaking of the Internet, I'm going to be getting some help from Jill to set up a German bank account so I can have DSL in my apartment. If all goes as planned, I'll get the accounts created on Monday and have the Internet installed by the end of the month. Having the Internet in my apartment obviously isn't essential but it would be a lot more convenient than hauling my computer off to an Internet café or the school building for simple email (or posting photos!).

Maybe I'll get that hot water soon...?

I spoke with Dirk and Marie today and if my Hausmeister doesn't have my hot water fixed by tomorrow (while I'm in Potsdam) then I will have a key to a new apartment. I'm kind of settled into where I am but would gladly give that up for some hot water! But apparently it just took a couple people to call and make some noise to get me some help. Just like in America, hahaha.

But enough of that...

Today for language class we met with an Intermediate level class at the Humboldt Universität for a scavenger hunt in the Mitte/historical city center of Berlin. Let me just say, if I were on Amazing Race, I would win! We finished about half an hour before anyone else! (Of course, at a certain point we just gave up on one clue and kind of filled that in later...) So tonight I don't have any plans yet but tomorrow the whole program is going to Potsdam to spend the day.

So I just had a great time at dinner at a German-Chinese restaurant with Kim, Shannon and Stanislava... but once I got back to my apartment and realized I still had no hot water... end of my happiness. Am I being really impatient or is the lack of hot water actually an important thing for an apartment manager to take care of!? I'm going to try to visit him tomorrow to find out if he realizes it's still not working and if he knows when it will be fixed. I'll write out a note and hopefully he can write down whatever his answer is so I can have someone else translate it for me. This is absolutely killing me!!

In other news, thank you to everyone that responded to my email!! And especially thank you to any of those (and others) that are actually reading my blog. I'll be working on posting photos as soon as I figure out an easy way to do it! But don't worry, I'm taking a lot of photos!

And did anyone else see about the alleged terrorists the German police arrested that were supposedly plotting to blow up the Frankfurter airport and the Ramstein US Army Base!? Ahh well, I did used to live in DC for a few years, right? :)

Cold, cold water! :'(

I still don't have hot water... :'( The Hausmeister came today and replaced a light bulb and hopefully at least figured out what was wrong. I was so heartbroken once I knew he'd been here but it wasn't fixed. I know it will take some time but it is still so hard to just not have a hot shower in your own place. I was able to take a shower at a friend's apartment today but I can't keep asking that of people. Everyone pray tomorrow I get hot water!!

So a dog just barked in the Balzac Café that I'm in right now... so different than the USA. I didn't have language class this morning and slept in some. Very nice! I went to the Brentanostraße building to meet Kim and Shannon for lunch and as soon as I got off the bus the skies opened up and it poured rain!! I was totally soaked after my 1,5 block walk to the school building. We had lunch in the FU Mensa and then I took the bus back to Rathaus Steglietz to meet Jill to figure out how to get Internet in the apartments... there's a way to have DSL for 24,95€ per month but you must have a German bank account. Jill set up a bank account just for this and I was going to share her account but that is not allowed... so many restrictions and regulations in this country! Yet the term "red-tape" was invented in the USA!?

Yesterday was my first day of classes... despite the holiday in the USA. I had my first "experiential German language" class and the professor is very nice. I'm not too thrilled about some of my classmates because they didn't seem to have learned anything at all in the last few days of being in Germany. I have at least picked up some language and pronunciation clues... I think I'm learning about 5 new words per day. Slow but steady, right? :)

In the afternoon I had a Modern German History class that I may wind up dropping. It seems like it will be interesting but I'd prefer taking another German History class from Dirk, the program director. I was signed up for two history courses that may be very similar and I'd prefer taking a class on Integration, Conflict and Security in the EU. I may have to give up my spot in that class for someone else that needs it to graduate on time.. I'm so nice. :P The Conflict & Security class is my only one today... 16.30-21.00h.

Oh, an important update: I went to the Hausmeister yesterday and handed him my note about the hot water... he said he'd come by today to repair it... or at least I think that's what he motioned. :) Part of my telling him was by shivering to show him it was cold... ahhhh, it's soooo difficult not knowing the native language of a land! I'm really hoping it will be fixed when I get back because the yucky rain today is really making me crave a hot shower! Last night I also figured out an important „feature" of my apartment... since I am on the entry-level floor, my balcony has some very heavy metal shades that pull down outside my windows and I can lock from within. I used those last night to help block the morning sun... plus those combined with the double-deadbolted door lock makes me feel very secure. Germans absolutely LOVE their locks!

Well, I must be going, my battery is dying and I need to get on the bus for class. More later.

Tschüß.

Today I finally got to sleep in!! It was wonderful! :D I woke up at about 13.00h and just lounged around until about 14.30h. I still don't have any hot water in my apartment (going on 4 days now!) and cleaned/shaved myself very quickly! (Don't worry, as soon as I'm out of class tomorrow I'm going to the Hausmeister to get help... I've written out a note explaining my problem.) So after eating an orange I went took the bus to Rathaus Steglietz and used the free Internet at the Balzac Café... I bought a 2,80€ latté and spent three hours online... fair trade, right? :) It was very nice to get online and get up to date with my emails. (BTW, I'm typically writing my lengthy blog posts from my apartment without Internet and uploading them later. But the time-stamps are corrected to match when I wrote them.)

After I returned from Rathaus Steglietz, I went by Marion's apartment and we decided to go find some dinner. We left at 18.30h and went all the way to Alexanderplatz on the S- and U-Bahns. Once there we wandered around some before finding an Italian place... they had some delicious pizza although I wasn't feeling adventurous enough for the tuna and onion pizza. I, of course, had a Berliner Pilsner with dinner. :) We finished dinner and were back at the apartments on Celsiusstraße at about 22.00h... I really need to find some good and varied food shops closer!

Yesterday I went on a group tour of the Potsdamer Platz and Alexanderplatz areas of Berlin. We began at Brandenburger Tür and went to one of the Soviet war memorials in Tiergarten. We also saw many former Nazi and DDR structures that were under „memorial protection" and couldn't be destroyed and were turned into current German or EU government buildings. We also saw the parking lot where Hitler committed suicide... or the grounds where his bunker was. I took a great photo showing that site with the modern cars and two children playing on the grounds. It is simply amazing that all these terrifying acts and actors that I've learned about on the History Channel and in school were actually here. On our tour of the main FU campus the other day we visited the main administration building of the school which used to be the Allied Berlin district administrative building. We also saw the building where the Nazi eugenics studies were conducted.

After visiting Hitler's parking lot, we went to the Holocaust Memorial where I took some great photos showing the cold stones of the memorial with the lush green trees of the Tiergarten and the glass dome of the Reichstag behind it.

After the tour was over, I went to Alexanderplatz with Marion and Paulo for lunch. I took a nice photo of the top of a section of the Berlin Wall with the very modern Deutsche Bank building behind it. It is fascinating that the hugely commercial areas of Potsdamer Platz and Alexanderplatz are all less than 15 years old. Prior to Reunification the areas were totally desolate and either in the path of the Wall or in the No-Man's Land. If you don't look, you won't even notice the subtle markers showing where the Wall formerly stood. That seems to be the common theme of memorials to the terrors of Germany's history: very subtle to draw as little attention as possible both to prevent glorifying memorials and to limit an historical sense of shame.

Later yesterday evening, I went out to a couple bars with a lot of people, including Kim, Jill, Marion, Liz and Sarah (there were more who I don't recall their names). On the S-Bahn ride to Potsdamer Platz for our transfer, there was a group of about eight 60-70 year olds who were very drunk. Two of the old men were making cat calls and yelling at a young German girl who passed them in the car. One of the men also got up to dance on a pole. When one of the old women said something to them the woman sitting next to her covered her mouth with a Band-Aid. It was absolutely hilarious! When we made our transfer, several of us purchased a Pils from the train platform kiosk... so different than the conservatism of the States. Overall, a great night and I'm looking forward to some sleep tonight before classes begin tomorrow. I have my first language class (Deutschunterricht) and a class on Modern German History in the European Context. Classes from 9-16h tomorrow but other days I have fewer classes. Some weeks I don't have class on either Thursday or Friday... can't wait to start traveling! So far, I am planning a trip to Paris to visit Karen, Netherlands to visit Lea, the Canary Islands for Fernando, Munchen/Regensburg for Diana and I also want to go to Greece and Italia. We'll see how much I actually do though, eh?