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[Jul. 16th, 2006|11:41 pm] |
Today I went to the Wannsee, which is a beautiful lake outside of Berlin. I saw an old man with a handlebar mustache wearing a speedo, but I didn't take a picture of him. Yesterday I went to the Love Parade and I'll dedicate an entire post to that after I've gone through the hundreds of photos I took. On thursday I took the final for my politics class. I come back next sunday and I can't believe it.
Under the cut:
1. Pictures from the world cup finals
2. Pictures from the zoo
( more more more ) |
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| Wir bummeln durch den Stadt |
[Jul. 12th, 2006|11:54 pm] |
( What I've been up to in Berlin! )
What I've done that I don't have pictures of: Yesterday I went to an open-air movie theater in Volkspark Friedrichshain. They were showing a french movie about a lighthouse, dubbed in german, and I could only understand a little bit of it so I was kind of bored. The set-up was great though and I wish there was something like it in Boston. I also watched "Sonnenallee" in german class yesterday and that was in German and I did understand a lot of it. It was teen-riffic and about life in East Berlin during the cold war and I loved it.
Last night I had my first night bus experience. I didn't realize that the trains have only been running all night because of the world cup. It's kind of a bummer, but the bus is actually pretty convenient and takes me right to the station near my house, so I shouldn't have any complaints. |
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[Jul. 10th, 2006|11:17 pm] |
Today in german class Dan made a german pun. The professor asked us to pass in the postcards we were supposed to write for homework, and he said "Mine is a little brief!" Brief means letter in german. LOL!
( Poland Trip ) |
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| EY ZIDANE VAFFANCULO EY!!! |
[Jul. 10th, 2006|12:22 am] |
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I just watched the world cup finals in this giant warehouse or something next to Olympia Stadium with a bunch of Italians. wowie-wowah! |
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| Haben Sie eine Flasche Wodka? |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|08:18 am] |
Pretty much everyone in Berlin speaks english, so even when I try to speak german to them they usually hear my accent and respond in english. In Poland it was nice to be able to use my german when I needed to because a lot of older people there (especially in the countryside, which is beautiful by the way) don't speak english but do speak german.
More about Krakow, Pope John Paul II's church, a riverboat ride in the pouring rain, my thoughts on overnight trains, and the trip to Auschwitz later. |
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[Jun. 24th, 2006|11:05 pm] |
I went to the Jewish Museum today and the lady at the door wouldn't accept my Brandeis ID for the student discount because it doesn't have a date on it. I wanted to be like, "Did you see? I go to BRANDEIS! Jews LOVES Brandeis, you should let me in for free."
I think my host mom has a boyfriend. A man in leather pants came over today and they rode off on his motorcycle. |
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[Jun. 24th, 2006|12:03 pm] |
About 35 of the 40 or so people on my program went to Prague this weekend. I'm a little bummed they're not around, but I'm using this as an opportunity to do the things I want to do and not just go to the internet cafe/beer store or a pool hall or the irish pub because that's what everyone is doing. Also, we leave for Poland on wednesday and after that we only have three weekends left, and I'd like to go to Holland one weekend to visit Mike, Andrea, Rachel and Marnee. I want to spend time in this city. When I explained this to one guy on my program, he actually said, "We've been in Berlin for a week and a half, what else is there to see?" I thought he was joking, but nope! I don't dislike anyone, but I think a lot of them came here more for the World Cup than for Berlin itself.
I had a really nice day yesterday. I hung out with Alex, a guy on my program who also decided not to go to Prague. We drank beers and lounged around in this park:
Ok, so I don't have any pictures of the park, but you can tell from that sign how big it is. Later on we ate indian food and I discovered that Alex has a swing in his room! He hadn't noticed it because it was tucked up in that rafter.
( Here are some more pictures of what I've been up to. ) |
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[Jun. 18th, 2006|10:05 pm] |
On Saturday I went on the IES field trip to Potsdam. Potsdam is located to the southwest of Berlin and was part of East Germany after WWII. The city is interesting because it has these beautiful old Prussian castles and historic buildings that went unmaintained for years while it was occupied by the Soviets. Even where there have been renovations, the Soviet style architecture of all the post-war buildings makes it a really strange looking city.
( Potsdam Day Trip ) |
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[Jun. 18th, 2006|08:41 pm] |
HEY DAD, HAPPY FATHERS DAY! I found your store in Potsdam. |
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| WELTMEISTERSCHAFT VERRUECKTHEIT |
[Jun. 15th, 2006|06:42 pm] |
Germany won its second game in the first round last night, which means that they'll move on to the second round. They scored in the 91st minute, putting them ahead 1-0 against Poland. It was a great game, so of course Berlin was kind of wild last night (Don't worry Mom and Dad, wild in a nice and friendly way!) I took this video in the train station right outside a part of the city where a lot of people go to watch the games. |
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| There is a specific kind of funny reserved for germans singing american pop music. |
[Jun. 14th, 2006|10:12 am] |
I've only seen one bee since I got here and I can buy two beers for a Euro. There are also amazing flea markets all over the city on the weekends. I love Berlin.
Yesterday my politics professor took us on a short walking tour of the city. Croatia played last night, so at times it kind of looked like Berlin had turned into a Where's Waldo? puzzle with a bunch of people dressed in red and white to throw you off from finding the real Waldo:
Most of what I do here revolves around soccer games. Most of the plans anyone on the program makes begin with meeting somewhere to watch a game, then ending up at a bar or just walking around the city because it stays light until around 11pm (and then gets light again around 3:30am!) I've met a few german people and talked to them in some sort of English-German hybrid about anything from Spongebob Squarepants to George W. Bush to how they struggle with having been told since they were very young that their grandparents were murderers. Berliners have been very friendly, except for one group of drunk guys who threw pebbles at our table and started saying "god save the queen!" We told them we weren't British but they didn't understand.
Classes started last friday. German class is kind of a mess because the teacher speaks very little english, but I've found that you can get points with language teachers for being enthusiastic and having no shame when they make you do silly things like sing the "Der Perfekt Hamburg Trip Rap" (an-an-an-angekommen!) Anyways, because she speaks in german the entire class, I'm sure my german comprehension will get better, so at least that's good.
Last but not least, ( here are some pictures of my penthouse apartment! ) |
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| I have to change these blog colors soon |
[Jun. 9th, 2006|03:47 pm] |
European people have such a great way of wearing hats. Take, for example, British Airlines:
Also, the U-Bahn employees here in Berlin wear berets and look really sharp. It's almost too fancy.
But enough about hats, I love this city. Today was the kick-off day of the world cup. Germany won the it's first game against Costa Rica. I bought a Deutschland flag and went to this huge amphitheater to watch the game with two girls on my program from Brandeis, Nadia and Nikki, and a girl from Georgetown named Marie, but my knees were getting sunburnt and we wanted to be drinking cold german beers, so we left. We found this Vietnamese restaurant in Mitte where the owners were drilling holes in the wall to install a newly-purchased tv just in time for the game! Ubertoll!
My apartment is amazing. I live on the sixth floor and my room has two huge skylights. There are no curtains though so I woke up at 3:30 this morning beause it was getting light in my room. I've solved that problem by just getting a skarf and wrapping it around my head. My host mother said she would get curtains soon. My host mother is a typical tall, thin, blonde and somewhat private german woman. Her tall, athletic, blonde son came over for dinner the other night (he doesn't live here, he's 26) and made fun of me for not being able to pronounce his name (Mauriz, pronounced Mao-r-r-r-itz or something). They're both very nice and speak english very well, so I haven't really been speaking that much german. There is a french girl who also lives in the apartment, and because she speaks no english and I speak no french, we have to speak german. I haven't seen her much because we're on different schedules, but I feel like it would be really good for my language development if I sat down and talked with her.
I'm going out again in a couple minutes. I'm going to the Prenzlauerberg in the northeastern part of the city with a few people to see what's around there. Oh, and did I mention I'm being really friendly? This kid on my program came up to me and said "You're the friendly girl, what's your name again?" I'm almost surprised by myself, go me for not being awkward. I just don't want anyone to feel left out because we're only here for seven weeks, so what's the point of not asking someone to come along? Wow, Berlin is so fun. And this paragraph is so disjointed, so I think it's time for me to go. Tsusch! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 2nd, 2006|12:40 am] |
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This is my journal for my study abroad trip to Berlin! |
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cour_in_berlin's journal