Somethings I Normally Wouldn't Do...

Thursday night, I went to the Philharmonie.. and I was dressed up! In my  host mother's dress because she's small. But I decided I can't be serious all over so I wore cool socks and converse. Typical. It was for sure interesting, mostly to watch the composer and how his body moves. The music isn't something I'd typically listen to, obviously - Bach and Beethoven.

                                                                                         

    The way I used to cam-whore myself^^

Friday, was our Abschluss/placement test, which I actually did better on than expected. I headed back since I got a visit from my ma for a couple days. It was unusually beautiful outside - I could go out in my t-shirt! And of course, went to the Turkisch markt for the third Friday in a row to stock up on lots of fruit and veggies. We also sat down for some dinner at this Restaurant by the river. The people who sat behind us, arrived after and finished eating the food they ordered and left BEFORE we even GOT our food. Ach Deutschland, why so cruel? I also had no idea what I ordered. I just "vegetarisch" written in the description. I ended up getting a really yummy surprise.

Later that night, I went to Weinery Forumn to meet up with a couple people. You pay 2 Euro and can drink all the wine you want! They have so many different types to try. I enjoyed it. The next morning was a little bit iffy, but I got over it fast enough.

I decided to play tour guide and went all around Berlin. First, Checkpoint Charlie and what's left of the wall. Then walked to Potsdamer Platz, the Jewish memorial, Alexanderplaz (went to Alexa, a huge mall, and bought actual clothes that are classy enough to go out in... that includes Lady Gaga's face!), Museum Insel, a tour of where my classes are... etc etc. I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow.. Later that evening, we went out to this really cute cafe called "Bilderbuch" (Picture book) and the menu items are named after fairytales! Two bands performed, one of which was Acappella. I found it to be interesting, especially since they sang a song I would expected from such a band - Babara Ann. What acappella band DOESN'T do that?

Sunday was mostly a lazy day... it started raining (and hasn't really stopped) so I watched the german version of Phonebooth, went to the gym (which still smells like sweat and ass) and then did yoga. This week is bound to be boring since most of the IES students are going on trips since we have no classes. Only one that I know of is still staying, so yaay not completely alone! It will sort of nice to take a break from everyone. I should try meeting new people though, who are actually German since I need to get better at speaking - which I think I've slowly, but surely been accomplishing. I can read faster already! A lot of times when I hear languages being spoken, it doesn't even register to me WHAT language is being spoken, just what's being said - all three languages are getting to be first nature.

Hast du gut gemacht

My decision to stay home on Friday was a good one, since I had to be up at around 7 or 8 AM to get to a group field trip to Postdam. The people that went out seemed pretty miserable to be there, but alas, those troopers toughed it out! It was strange to be back on a regional train, but it felt right! Only time, I didn't get kicked out of my seat and my trip was less than 90 minutes one way.

These kids were singing "We Will Rock You"

Postdam is a cute, dead little city. Our tour was pretty short and very, very cold - the place lacked the tall buildings that would normally keep the wind to a minimum, and I made a poor judgment in choosing the amount of layers I'd wear. We wandered through a huge park/backyard of some crazy king to see Frederick II, King of Prussia's Schloss Sansouci (Castle). We got to wear huge slippers while in there! NEATOOOO.

We headed back to Berlin Mitte and on the way I got to experience one of the classics - no seats left on the train and having to stand/sit in the asiles. Oh the treacherous joys of traveling! We arrived back before we expected and the plan was to see a play, "Der Besuch Der Alten Dame" by Dürrenmatt. It was awkward timing to go home and come back, so I decided to stay, eat my first McDonalds in Berlin (they replaced Mayo with Hot Sauce... interestingly yummy) and walk around a huge book store called Dussmann. It's bigger than those damn Barns and Nobel, or whatnots I believe. It's got floors of music and books. I read a couple of short stories (mostly Grimm fairtales) and sampled the new Blind Guardian disc.

The play itself was pretty interesting. It's probably not the best thing to watch for students who aren't too informed about theater or aren't fully fluent in German. They had many things going on at once and talked quite fast. Ayee.

Right after that, me and some friendies headed to another person's house, who was celebrating his birthday! We hung out at his house for a couple hours, had a decent sized group - we eventaully left to go out in the town. Half decided to go crazy for some clubs, while the other half went to a chill rock n' roll bar called Doors. I personally don't want to waste money clubbing all the time, so I joined the chill. We sat around, had a beer, talked about Minnesota and played Uno. Of course, I got home after 4AM... I left that morning at 8. Being out for 20 hours makes me smell funky.

Sunday was mostly a lazy, relaxed day. I went for a little bike ride around Tempelhof (my favorite place to people watch!). My Gastmutter (landlord/host mother/whatever you want to call her) hosts yoga every Sunday, so I joined her and a friend of hers. I need to do it in my free time more often. The problem is, I live in the attic and am scared of making noise O_o

Later on, I headed to Starbucks to work on a presentation with my group - all of us were affected by a long Saturday night, but we still got a little work done...

Yesterday, Tuesday, seemed like a good day. It was like "make Gala feel good" day. Our presentation went pretty decent. We bought food for our fellow students so that they could guess how much it cost and to make our talking more interesting. Our topic was homelessness in Berlin so we discussed Hartz IV, Obdachlosezeitungen and Arche. We had some extra Brötchen left over, so I took them home. Getting off the U-bahn, I saw, of course, a homeless man (there's an abundance of them here) and gave him a piece of bread. He, like many others, had a dog with him and they both seemed extremely happy - I felt unbelievably good after. A random man then told me I did a good thing (in broken German) and we talked... I realized he was kept following me.. And wanted to have a drink with me... and wanted to be my friend. So I as politely as I could got myself away from him.

On Tuesdays, there's a language exchange at a little bar called Travolta. I went with a few friends from class and talked to some strangers in German. I think I'll keep going because I can help them with English, they speak to me in German, it's overall good company and atmosphere. I was actually told that "Sie spricht schon gut Deutsch (she speaks good German) and "You sound fluent". I've noticed quite an improvement since I've been here and already am even reading faster.

Today was another long day in Mitte Berlin. I biked to school because it was finally "warm" out. After class, I hung out at Starbucks in hopes of observing their barista lingo. No huge luck because they were so so busy. I did buy a drink - with the whipped creme. Oh man, it's not sweet here at all! I like it, no sugar overload.

Some of the group visited Reichstag - the German parliment building. Our tour guide had a sweet sense of humor. We also went up the dome and observed Berlin from up high. It was kinda cool, I was just getting to the lazy mood part of day. The way back on my bike was a bitch. A cop saw me riding on the sidewalk (Which, like in MN is illegal). There was lots of construction and cars and people - biking is impossible in downtown here. I also almost got run over and to try to prevent that I ended up falling off my bike in the middle of the road. DANGER! DANGER!

Sieh Jung aus, Sei Berlin

Time seems to fly in Berlin.. in Europe in general! For the most part at least. Seriously, time speeds up... maybe because I am seven hours ahead, lawl. I don't even know what I've been doing...  After class, which I personally think should be more intense and less filled with little busy-work projects, we either have orientations about our classes or people wander off to get food. Because people buy expensive food at restaurants when they're bored. People of all cultures seem to do this and it's interesting. Or maybe I'm just weird cause my metabolism keeps me full and I hate spending money!

Wednesday's class, we visited the wall's remains. The guide was silly and explained everything perfectly for people of our German level in a timely manner. The night was a random "night out" in which we went to this restautrant, mainly for drinks (I only mooched because I wasn't in the mood for a five euro cocktail on a school night) I still got a free shot of mango schnapps. The night mostly consisted of IES groups walking around Berlin Mitte area. Everyone was about to buy drinks (again!) at another bar and the bartender asked if everyone was of age.
"Yeah, we're all 20"
Then he points directly at me
"Not her"

Thanks

Thursday, we made a trip to the Deutsches Historisches Museum - this turned into total chaos. People were late to class, there were multiple organizations/groups/clubs/classes trying to get through, we didn't get tickets, we rushed through everything... Then afterward, were expected to do a structured presentation - with half our group not there to prepare.

After class, me and Emily decided to just walk around. We found this cool second hand shop where I bought a Germany mug, a baby doll backpack (which I named Johannes Wilhemm Schmitt) and very purple pants. Edeka has a great going on, get a card, buy fruit, get a discount on it! YEEEE! Except the woman asked us both if we were at least sixteen :( At least she spoke German to us (which doesn't happen too much) after finding out we're from the states! There is an amazing mall, which I believe to be larger than the Mall of America. It's called Alexa and not only does it have a basement, it has a sub-basement!

A viewing of a few "Arrested Development" episodes followed and that was awesome for a while.

Today, a few presentations were given... then a field trip to another museum - Pergamon Museum on Museum Insel. It was really cool!! It was basically a lot things from the middle east - columns, statues, pots, jewelry.. the upstairs was an Islamic art museum - carpets, glass art, etc etc.

After the museum, we headed to the Turkish Market! I LOVE ITTT. The fruit is so fresh and so so inexpensive. I really like Berlin. I want to live here, in a way. I mean... singles and atheist capital of the world? Openness, muti-culti, parks, bike friendly, good bands and moree. I just really want to meet more german people. Some Berliners.

It's Friday night and I couldn't be more content with staying in. Peace

Übung Macht Perfekt

Das ist wahrscheinlich die falsche Interpretation von den sehr bekannten amerikanischen Satz, aber ich hab zu mir gedacht, dass ich einen Eintrag auf Deutsch schreiben soll. Ich denke, dass es eine Leute gibt die blogspot besuchen die Deutsch wissen. ACH SO, JAWOHL.

Meine Gedanke im Moment:
Es riecht nach Apfelkuchen in meinem Zimmer.. ich wundere mich ob meine Vermieterin was backt.
Wenn Leute sich betrunken in Berlin, dann fangen sie an zu singen... amerikanische Weinachstlieder... auf Englisch. Vor einigen Tagen, habe ich "Jingle Bells" auf meinem Weg nach Hause gehört. Eine andere Nacht, habe ich "Walking in a Winterwonderland" bei einen Curry Laden gehört. Dieses Volk ist voll interessant.
Ich habe vergessen, wie mein Badezimmer aussieht
Ich wurde einen Sprachpartner bei IES suchen, weil ich zu viel Englisch hier spreche. Eine HU Gruppe vertragen konnte auch gut sein.
Leider, habe ich kein Bock zum fotographieren diese Tage. Touristische Gebäude sind mir nicht ganz attraktiv.. vielleicht wenn ich ein "Model" finde, wurde es mehr Spass machen... besonders beim Graffiti.
Das Wetter ist total Scheisse.. ich mochte zum Tiergarten gehen! Aber zu erst, muss ich jemanden finden, der mit mir gehen will.

LOFFELCHENSTELLUNG

Ich brauche mehr Freunde die mit mir Deutsch sprechen. Hoffendlich ist dass ^^ nicht zu furchtbar geschrieben...

lol.
lol.
lol.
lol.


gefuckingnau

Big Booty Bitches

I honestly wish I had an explaination for the heading of this. German boys are interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctVmNbVu2KA&feature=related
BIGBOOTYBITCHES

All night long

Anywho, on Friday, we had this ridiculous assignment to do throughout the day - go to various places in the city and find out random facts about Berlin. Some of these included asking strangers (in a place full of tourists... ) about the fall of the wall - either no one wanted to talk about it, or they knew nothing because they're tourists! AND we were expected to take pictures with them! Our group didn't do that though, because it's a bit much.

DIE POST!

And most of these places were under construction! Ya think we can find things when the streets are under construction? Nope! After these pictures, one of the girls got caught "Schwartzfahren" That is, riding public transportation without a ticket. Our teacher said we didn't need out stuff so we didn't bring it - turns out, we had to ride the U-bahn. And she got checked... Her only fine is 7 Euro because she can prove that she has a ticket elsewhere.

Afterwards, fed more pigeons again! They walked on my feet and ate out of my hand :)

This here, is my host cat, Flora. She's a tease. "MEOW COME PLAY WITH ME. COME PET ME. OHHH YEAHHH PURRR.. PURRR... REOW GO AWAY *claws away*"
After feeding the birds, I went to the gym and got ditched by plans... so I joined the IES-ers at a hookah bar again and just chilled for a few hours.

Saturday was a big day and night. Since it was gorgeous out and not freezing for one (Thank you Berlin) I went for a bike ride! THE PARKS HERE ARE FUCKING AMAZING!!




















I went to one and there were PONYS there! And and puppy parks! And drug dealers (according to Uschi) It was needed since my host left me "Amerikaner" and "Berliner" for breakfast... I was being a fatty O_o. But Saturday night was epic. Basically, bought a ticket for Clubnacht for 14 Euros and had access to unlimited clubs from 11PM until the morning... I got very very lost trying to find a park that the rest of the crew was hanging out at. I walked/S-bahned aimlessly for about two hours. Oh Berlin, you would be so much more beautiful and easier to navigate if you didn't have so much construction... what is this place, Minnesota? Srlsy.

I just ended up meeting people at Alexanderplatz, which is sort of like a part of downtown. They had shuttles going all night! I did something I'd always to do... pull ups on a moving bus!Those bars have always called to me. I am not sure how many clubs we went, or the names of half of them. I know we went to Club Soda first, where our group started dispersing - we just happened to leave right as everyone starting coming. In Europe, the partying doesn't start til after midnight. Damn.

We spent a lot of time just wandering the streets looking for clubs. I got ID'd at a couple of them, which is sort of strange in Berlin to do. We also met up with some random guys (those that kept singing Big Booty Bitches) who guided us to some clubs. We spoke some German and some English. I'm sure they made fun of us... but that's okay! In one of the clubs, me and Erin decided to jump into some sort of body of water.. probs a canal. So we stripped down and froze. It was a fun experience though. We visted M-Bia, Tresdor, Fritzclub, White Trash Fast Food... uhh what else?! I have no idea, but all I know is, I was walking home with the sun up, so I can only assume I got back at about seven in tha mornin'.

Due to my early arrival, Sunday was a lazy, but nice day. I went for a walk, took a few naps, ate some Brötchens (too much goodness to be true...) watched Dexter and another series with my host.

School today was another sort of BS day. I mean, it was better than what I had expected it to be - we did a workshop in a theater on a piece by Dürreman. I think I recall reading one of his plays my second semester at the Uni. Our teacher kinda forced us to do some acting... which.... eh. Blegh. It was entertaining because we all kinda sucked at it, but had a good attitude.

There appears to be no totally fat-free milk here. I just found some ,3% milk and it tastes great. I also fail-read a bottle of bubble bath soap (I think) and bought it, thinking it was lotion. Durnit. I should really try to speak more German... and read more German.I'll just say "genau" a lot. Because that's the thing to do.

Begin Class...

Monday was when our German intensive classes started. They are about 4 hours long every day. Time actually goes by pretty fast and we do get homework, which looks easy until I start doing it. After classes, random groups of people usually split off and eat or something - then head to IES for some random orientations.

Yesterday, we made a short trip to Alexa because pants needed to bought for one of the guys. Berlin is a cold cold city - the fact that Europeans like to air rooms daily, doesn't help. I'm dying! But Brötchens here are being amazing. I tried bits of pastries and they too are amazing. Sweet, but not like in the states. Here, it tastes like real food.. just sweet real food.

Today after class was a bit of adventure. Me and one of the guys went hunting for a grocery store. Found one with outstanding bread prices and fed some pigeons! I love those birds. They're so silly, they ate bread crumbs off of my shoe. I would for sure this every day... 19 cents for some bread!

I also joined a gym. It isn't even too expensive and the facility is huge and lovely. Very close too! So if I wanna go in the rain, an easy half mile with a bike. Open 24 hours a day for the times I want to go at 1AM. I don't think that will be happening because I live with a family that likes to go to bed early. I don't want to wake themmm. 

The First Weekend

So, Friday we all took our placement tests to be put into proper "sprachkurse". In a way, it reminded me of the tests we took in high school. But at one part, the listening part, I'm sure many people didn't do so hot. It started off slow and easy to comprehend, but as the big words came up, the reader sped up! Oh dear. Tomorrow, Monday, I start with those Kurse... I'm curious as to what level I'm placed in.

The verdict on best grocery store so far issss Lidl! Or maybe the Aldi by my place is just too ghetto. But seriously, cheap EVERYTHING.

We did some group wandering and shopping. We also go free lunch, consisting of pasta and pizza. So yummy... curse my tiny stomach. I wanted to eat so much moreeee... and I stayed full until I went to bed.

There was a bit of a get together close to Charlottenburg, I believe. I think I've learned how to operate the Ubahn.... But it seems that everytime I bike somewhere in this city, I get lost.

At least I got to hang out with Dennis! An old friend from high school - he was an exchange student for a year. I never thought I'd see him. In Berlin. And have conversations with him, in German. Whatever it was cool.

Today was just a chill day, mostly. Went on a bus tour with some of the IES group - but sadly, my audio guide headphone failed to work most of the time. But I got to see the awesomeness art on the wall.

Back at my Berlin home, I went for another bike ride, mainly to see where the venue is where Blind Guardian will play. It's super easy to find and less than four miles! There are also many bike friendly parks. The weather, however, is not all too friendly.

Flat Tire

 Here is my room! The whole attic!




 <

View from my room >>


Yesterday was another day at the IES. Me and my neighbor/fellow school mate decided to commute together. It was fairly simple considering it was our first time. Although while looking for a street, we asked two people where it was. Neither knew and when we looked up from our tourist-y maps, we saw that street right in front of us. Even the residents here can be blind.

It wasn't too eventful - most of the day consisted of filling out forms, visas, all those awesome international things. Afterwards, we went for a walk around town and chatted with each other. I like these people for the most part! There is one of those interesting odd ball people here as well... In many ways I am one too, so it's okay. I didn't take too many pictures of the walk (of buildings and such) because those can easily be googled.

The lovely people of IES got us dinner at some restraunt. I went to order a white russian since I never had one and was asked for my age.. oh come onnnn.

After dinner, most of the group headed out to a hookah/cocktail bar. It was pretty awesome! One of the hookahs was bigger than me! I took the Ubahn back, by myself (it's close..) but made up a hand shake with some person, who was probably male, drunk/drugged and confused.

I decided to try to bike to school today. Google maps has been good to me in the past, but I guess Deutschmaps doesn't like me much. SOOO I got scheiss lost. I didn't miss anything important though, so that's always good. On the way back, I also got lost, but realized that my back tire was completely flat!! I totally wondered why the resistance on this bike was so high... and why it was so bumpy and unsturdy...

I got back and right away went to a friend's of my aunt's pizzeria that he recently opened in Berlin (other locations are in Vic and Zagreb). It was about a 25 minute walk. He doesn't speak German so we spoke in my home language, which I for some reason find hard to do with people other than my parents. It was super nice, but empty. Good pizza, good wine and I got to take pictures of the place.

I also made my first grocery shopping trip to Aldi! Uschi (host) told me to help myself to food/left overs if I'm hungry as well. I should be set for a while with my fruit and cereal.

Tomorrow is my placement test. AYEEEE

And bikes here have stop lights. Score.