June in Berlin- the Summer finally arrives

The week after Kaunas wasn't too eventful, but I got my visa so that was good.

On Friday (6/18) we went to a beer garden to watch the Germany and US games. the American game was really exciting, ending in a 2:2 tie when it should have been a win 3:2 but the ref made a bad call on the last goal so it didn't count. That night we had a girls night and we all got dressed up and went out for cocktails. We were going to go dancing afterwards but we ended not because Esther's back was hurting her, because on top of her previous back problems she had gotten hit by a car while riding her bike the day before. Luckily she didn't have any serious injuries but it did aggravate other problems. caroline had to get up early the next day, and anna, saskia and marjolein were all tired, so with ellie and i as the sole remaining girls, we decided to just call it a night after cocktails.

Saturday Ellie, Anna and I went to a market in prenzlauerberg and had some amazing food. We started with a bratwurst wrapped in bacon and cheese, so good. This was followed by Golzome, which is a turkish dish somewhere in between a tortilla, crepe and croissant, depending where you get it, but they made them fresh there, rolling out the dough and everything, and it was sooo good. and then for dessert we got nutella crepes. Afterward Anna and I walked through the Christopher Street Day Parade (CSD parade) which is a gay pride parade that started in New York in 1969. it was kinda crazy and everyone was dressed up in angel outfits or in womens clothing or half naked. We just walked through, but i think if i had been more prepared and had a bit more energy i would have liked to stay around and party and dance with everyone. In the evening, Ellie came over and we watched its complicated and had a nice night in.

Sunday I tried to do a bit of homework and then played soccer with my roommate Gary. We went to a field not to far from my house and played a little 6 on 6 game going with some guys that were there. I was the only girl there, and Gary was a bit surprised that I was good at soccer, so i'm guessing women's soccer just isn't very big here. They also play on this turf gravel stuff in stead of grass so its kinda like playing indoor.

Monday and Tuesday went to uni and studied. Monday there was an all day free music festival throughout the city. Its called fete le musik and it happens around the world every year on the first day of summer. My roommats Celine, Gary and I went and walked around a bit to see what it was all about, but we got out a bit too late because all the music ended at 10. however on the train ride home we encountered a man with a beer bong with a kazoo inside that he played as though it were a tuba, and got everyone to join in in singing TEQUILA. Tuesday night went to my advisor Maggie's house with a few other girls from my program and we learned how to make mexican food. We made tortillas, refried beans, guacamole, and meat. It was soooo yummy, and now i'm super excited because I know how to make it! Tortillas are pretty tough. we had already prepared masa that you just add water to, and then you form it into balls and then flatten it out by throwing it in between your fingers and its really really hard to do without a tortilla press.

Thursday I gave a presentation in German for one of my classes and it went pretty well. We struggled a bit in responding to questions but it was still alright. Afterwards we went out for drinks at que pasa and madame claude and then went to karaoke. It was so much fun, we rented a booth so we could all just sing for each other and we rocked out to songs like "Baby Got Back" "Beer for my Horses" "American Boy" and then an epic group rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It was a really great night.

Back in Berlin: world cup fever

Sunday night, after our trip to Kaunas, we went to Olympia Stadium to watch the first Germany match against Australia. Well first of all the venue is HUGE!!! its essentially the giant walk way to the stadium and there were at least 8 big screens where you could watch the game, plus tons of food and drink spots, plus souvenir stands. It was nice though, cuz even though it was this huge event not all the prices were jacked up so it wasn't too expensive to eat and drink there.

Well Danny was like a little kid at Disneyland. He was just running around in excitement. I think there was something like an estimated 30, 000 people there, it was a bit insane. and the crowd was definitely pumped after the 4-0 win.

To Lithuania We Go

So the next adventure was Kaunas Lithuania (June 11-13)

Well, Friday morning was filled with travel. Woke up at 5 am for a 7:50 flight. When I got to the airport, Dan and Ted said that Lance had just called them saying he just woke up and that Jack had realized his passport was expired and that he couldn't come. Both of these were lies, Lance was a little late but not bad, and Jack barely made, the real reason he wasn't there on time was he had missed his bus. Anyways the flight was fine, but we were really packed in there. Take a southwest plane, more the seats 4-6 inches closer and then pack in a few more rows and you have a ryan air flight. I don't think I would be even able to get my head anywhere near my legs incase of a crash. But we arrived safely in Lithuania, 1030 am local time, and then spent an hour on a bus to get to the city center, then 20 minute walk to another bus stop, 30 minute wait, then 20-30 minute bus ride, missed our stop by 2, so another 20 minute walk to the hostel. All of this in 90+ degree heat and high humidity, and very crowded buses. Needless to say, we were a little bit miserable. We finally arrived at our hostel around 1. It was actually a 3 star hotel that had a few rooms that had more beds to cater to students. It was a nice place and the only downside was we were about 15 minutes outside the city.

After getting settled in and cooled off we went to a super market for some snacks. We got lots of weird looks as the 9 of us sat outside in the parking lot eating an assortment of lithuanian junk food.

We spent the next few hours walking around Kaunas. We caught a mini bus back into town, and it felt like we were on some sort of lithuanian safari. The Town Square and main street were a bit unimpressive. They were quite empty, especially for a staruday, but there were some cool looking shops. We stopped at a cafe for beer and to cool off and while we were sitting there some amatuer opera singers set up a little stage and we got to enjoy a few diddies from them, including a song from phantom of the opera.

After a bit more exploring we went to dinner at this nice little steak house, and though we had to wait a while for our food it was delicious. I should mention that Kaunas is ridiculously cheap, because most of the prices look like normal prices for something, but the exchange rate is like 1 euro to 3.5 Lita, so everything is really the third of the price. For this dinner I had a steak with mash potatoes and steamed veggies plus a beer for 10 euro.

After dinner we encountered a thunderstorm. We headed to a club called B.O. (blue orange, not bad odor) and grabbed a drink. Ellie, Anna and I were tired so we left the boys to their own devices and went home.

In the morning we awoke to some very interesting stories from the boys. Ted had apparently started making out with a girl and then once they were outside he found out she was a hooker, or may have been since he wasn't entirely sure if the men telling him to pay money were actually pimps or not. Not wanting any part in that he, david and lance left shortly after this revelation. Danny, Dan and Jack ended up meeting some Lithuanian girls and going with them back to their apartment where they were served cold cabbage soup, bread and cheese and played with their rat Pupa (the lithuanian word for bean). They said the apartment looked just as shady and broken down inside as it did outside. haha

Later in the day we went back into the city for some breakfast and to explore some more. My new favorite salty snack is Lithuanian fried bread. its so good. its essentially fried bread with melted cheese with mayo in it. mmmmmm! Then the girls split up from the guys and just strolled the city while the boys visited the sport and circus museums. That evening we watched the US-England game at an outdoor viewing. It was a very exciting game ending in 1-1 tie. Afterward we went back to BO and when it failed to get going by 1 am, we headed to Latino, which promised black music and a good time. While Anna and I were dancing this old man with a big beer belly who looked like he could barely keep his eyes open came over and said "I am the only man brave enough to come talk to you." We didn't respond and then he came back a minute later and said "Nobody likes you" haha. And then later in the night, seeming to have forgotten that he had insulted us earlier, he came dancing over and asked "where are you from?" then danced 5 paces away and then back towards us and asked "how old are you?" repeated his dance walking and then said "yea I know". Anna and I never said a word to him, it was really funny though.

We left the club around 3 and then headed back to the hostel, caught cabs at 345 to go to the airport, arrived around 440 caught a plane at 640 got to berlin at 730 and i was home and asleep by 9. It was a long 48 hours, but it was a good time, but i don't think i need to go back to kaunas in the near future, haha.

Jackie Comes to Visit

so to everyone who is reading, i apologize for the month gap in my posting. A week after my last posting I bought a journal and I have been writing in that instead of this blog.

OK so last time Jackie was about to arrive, and she stayed for a week, so here goes:

Friday: before picking up Jackie from the airport i explored my neighborhood a bit and found some great little restaurants and boutiques in the area. After running into multiple problems on the way to the airport, including a late train that forced me to reroute myself and switching to a bus, but having construction at the bus stop and having to search for its temporary location, and then finding it just as the bus pulled away, i arrived to pick up jackie. We spent the afternoon doing a bit of sight seeing at alexander platz, followed by lounging by the river at hackescher markt. While we were at Alex, we got a bratwurst, and Jackie mentioned how disproportionate the bun was (the size of a dinner roll) in comparison to the wurst (a good 10 in wiener). The guy must have noticed her comment because when he gave her her bratwurst he had broken it in half so that it fit more nicely in the bun. For dinner we met up with Danny and his friend Anna-Sophia who was visiting as well. (Danny, Jackie and I all work at Coho together back home). We went to a place I had discovered on my earlier exploration called Pizza Dach, which had 3-5 euro pizza and pasta entrees and 350 cocktails. Afterwards we met up with a few more friends, went for a drink and then went home.

Saturday: Summer had finally arrived just a day or two before Jackie came, so we all decided to enjoy the sun and the 80 degree weather out at one of the lakes in southwest berlin. The lake was a bit crowded and we stumbled unknowingly upon quite a few nudists. We also saw one of our professors there with her naked children, thankfully she was not naked as well because that would have made for an awkward next class. we found a beachy area and settled in there and enjoyed the afternoon lounging by the water. That night I took Jackie to one of my favorite bars in Friedrichshain called Kapitan, which serves these amazing rhubarb vodkas. On the way to the bar we came across a squatter street party that looked like it had been going on all day. The crowd was mainly anarchist-punk types but they were dancing to eighties pop and raggae music. Walking through i had to avoid getting whipped in the face by a man's 3 ft long dreads. Later on we met up with my friends Ted, Jack and Katie and we went to a club called Villa. Apparently its kinda underground, you have to know the DJ thats playing that night to get in, and they close during the summer as to not attract too much of the tourist crowd, so this was their last night until september or so. We ended up not leaving there until 6am and I felt like a vampire walking out of that club.

Sunday: We got a pretty late start and didn't leave the house til 4. We grabbed some sushi nearby and the cutest dog came and sat by our table, so of course i pet it the whole time it was there. I was in heaven, haha. We went over to east side gallery to check out the wall and all the artwork it was pretty cool. Then I took her to mauer park to see bear pit karaoke, and then we went and got mexican food at this australian owned place called Maria Bonitas in Prenzlauerberg. It was amazing! it actually tasted like something you would find in California.

Monday: We did a free walking tour of the city and it was pretty good, though our tour guide was not as enthusiastic as the guide we had in prague, but he set a pretty high bar. The most interesting story was the one that closed the tour, the story of the fall of the wall. So for about a month leading up to the fall, people had been gathering at monday night meetings, in a church in Liepzig, to talk about their discontent with the current system. Churches were the only places people could congregate in groups of more than six without raising suspicion. Anyways, as these grew in intensity the government had a meeting deciding what to do about it. They essentially decided to just say that they would reassess the government and tracel restrictions at some point in the future. Well at the press conference, the press secretary had not been present at the meeting, and did not read the minutes that were given to him and he essentially opened the borders without government approval. That night we went and saw a production called "Shut Up and Dance!" It was experimental ballet, and some of it was ok, but 2 or 3 of the performances were really weird.

Tuesday: Jackie joined me in class where I gave a presentation about media coverage and in the impact of television on american presidential elections. I took her to the Mensa for lunch and then we went to the turkish market. That night we went to Weinerei, which is a place you drink all the wine you want and then pay what you think you should. They also had a little bit of food there, salad, bread and potato salad. the potato salad was amazing, it was the best potato salad i've ever had- potatoes, parmasean cheese, parsley, garlic and a little bit of milk. mmm. Afterward we went to a club called White Trash to meet up with my roommates. It serves american food, but had signs like chinese takeout and a very creative menu, with very funny/sexual descriptions of their beers. They also had a bucket o' beers, which obviously we ordered, because it was so white trash. We got 6 becks beers but they came in a corona bucket which just made it that much better.

Wednesday: Kinda a low key day. I had doctor appointments in the morning. I went in because i had a bug bite on my foot that got infected and my foot swelled and changed colors, plus i had lost my voice for the 4th time since coming here. She referred me to an ear nose and throat doctor and he said that there is something on my vocal cords which is causing the problem, and too try not to strain my voice too much and come back in a month. Wednesday night we went to Burgermeister for dinner. It had great burgers and is actually a converted public toilet under the Ubahn station. weird but delicious none the less. Next I took Jackie to Madame Claude, and on the way we met up with Danny and ICED him. (ICE-ing someone is when you suprise them with a smirnoff ice and they have to get down on one knee and chug the drink right then and there, danny had iced me on tuesday when we went to weinerei, so it was payback). Later on we went to Bar 25 which looked like a giant fort from the outside. It was pretty cool inside. its an outdoor bar right on the river, it has a photo booth, swings and a little mechanical pony like you find outside grocery stores. We tried to fit 5 of us in the photo booth, and while successful in getting us all in there, we failed at getting all 5 in the photos and Jackie, who was infront, pretty much took up most of the picture, but it was good. On the way home at the Ubahn station we ICED ellie, her reaction "Fuck you guys! I'm gonna spew now on the way home!" PRICELESS.

FAIL... theater, movies and wg party

I know I fail at writing a blog. I guess I feel that exciting things aren't happening on a regular basis so I don't write very often. But here goes...

So in the last few weeks I have experienced the theater of Berlin. A few weeks ago I saw a play called "Alya, Alias Tochther" (tochter means daughter). It was a play that confronted the issue of Turkish families assimilating to life in German. Alya, a german born turkish girl, falls in love with a german boy, however their love is forbidden, due to the cultural values of her family. Well her parents find out and try to betroth her to her brother's best friend, and she acts out during on of the rituals, and shames her family. When this happens in turkish culture, the daughter is to win back her family's honor by dying. Her would-be fiance gives her father a gun to kill her with, which he gives to his son. The son returns and says that he couldn't do it, and then the father recieves a letter from Alya, stating that it is her life and she deserves to choose how to live it, and then he kills himself. Pretty heavy stuff, but a very interesting play.

Last Friday I also saw a play called Marlene, which documents the late career of Marlene Dietrich. There wasn't too much plot, it was mostly just a sad representation of a woman whose career has died, yet she still tries to keep it alive and also portrays her emotional and erratic outbursts. Then at the end there was about 25 minutes of Marlene's songs.

Last thursday I went to see sex and the city 2, auf deutsch. Now that was a novel experience. When we got there and bought our tickets, they asked us where we would like to sit, apparently they assign seats for movies, which is weird. then at the concession stands they sell beer and wine, which of course i got a beer, for the simple fact that we cannot do that in the states. well we went in for the movie and the theater was empty, so Esther and I decided to sit more in the middle of the row than our assigned seats. Well as the theater filled up, the people with tickets for those seats showed up. So we gave them their seats and took ours, but it was silly because they were a large group that was split in two, and if they had just let us keep their seats and taken ours, they would have been able to all sit together. But instead a woman decided it would be better to sit apart and continually walk between the two groups throughout the movie. lol. she was blonde. then the movie was set to start, but it began with a good half hour or so of commercial ads, followed by another 10-15 minutes of movie trailers. so 40 minutes later the movie actually starts. It was good, and fairly easy to follow, but i didn't understand all of it. Then halfway through the movie, the screen goes black and then "PAUSE" appeared. Yes we had a 10 minute intermission for a 2 hour movie. ridiculous. haha. well that was definitely an experience.

This past Saturday my roommates and I had a party at our apartment (WG=wohnung). it was a great time, and we had alot of people show up. Our apartment was definitely trashed, but not wrecked like houses often look after american parties. My friends and I spent the afternoon searching out materials to build a beer bong, and finally decided upon some ribbed green hosing and the cone from a zuluu, aka noisemaker for soccer games. My friend caroline painted the funnel part with "America FUCK YA!" and some big green eyes to make the beer bong look like a snake. Lets just say, my beer bong got a lot of action that night. lol. the party was good fun, and sometime around 3 am my friends and I decided to get doener, aka best drunk food ever. my house had been decorated with british flags for some reason, not entirely sure why, but of course Jack, a brit, brought one with him. haha. Outside my house we found a shopping cart from Netto, and decided to take it along to get doener. After returing home from our delicious drunken adventure, we hung out in my room for a bit, but then around 4 am the cops came, in riot gear, and shut us down. The party was still packed at 4, so that was pretty cool. As for the riot gear, I later found out its pretty standard stuff for breaking up parties, because you never know how drunk people will act, especially in the close quarters of a WG.

Well my friend Jackie is coming to visit for a week starting tomorrow, so should have some good stories there. Bis dann!

PRAGUE!

Ok so here we are two weeks later. lol

well in the last blog I failed to mention that I had also had an excursion with my program to an asparagus farm (here it's called spargel). We went an hour on the train outside the city and were treated to an amazing lunch with lots and lots of spargel. The farm was cool, and reminded me alot of a place you would take the family for a sunday outing. They had a petting zoo and bounce house, a few big buildings that looked like barns and some other activities you could also take part in, like zip lining in the woods (which i really wanted to do but we didn't have enough time, nor did i have the money to do so). They also had little booth like shops where you could buy all different varieties of spargel as well as other homemade keepsakes.

For lunch we had all you can eat spargel with potatoes and an optional schnitzel (which yes, I opted for). You had the choice of one of 3 sauces: butter, butter with bread crumbs or hollandaise. On the plate you got like 8 spears of spargel, that were quite big, and I didn't think there was a need for all the extra plates of spargel they kept bringing, because the amount we started with was quite enough. The spargel is different than what we think of asparagus in America, its not those tiny green stalks. these are big white stalks, all about 8-10 inches long with bases about the size of a quarter. They are also sweeter than the green asparagus. Anyways the meal was absolutely delicious, I definitely stuffed myself to the max.

Ok well then that takes us to

PRAGUE!!!!

So last Thursday was a holiday so my friends and I decided to go to Prague for a long weekend. After a 5 hour bus ride we arrived in Prague and headed over to our hostel. The hostel was really nice, and since there were 10 of us we got our own dorm to ourselves, which was great so we didn't have to worry about locking up our things. After dinner at a little pizza and pasta place on the corner, we headed to downtown prague for some drinks. Danny had heard about this place called "The PUB" which stands for Pilsner Unique Bar, so we found our way there. However we ended up at the wrong place first, a similar venue known as the Beer Factory. After some savvy iphone-ing we figured out where The PUB was and headed in that direction. However, my friend Ted was on crutches so we decided to try and get him a cab. i told the cabby's the address and no one seemed to know it, and then even with my iphone map they still didn't understand where it was. We finally found a guy but then he wanted to us 8 euro (200 krowns) to go around the block. So instead Ted hobbled along with us down to the bar. The place was pretty cool. It had big tables and at each table there was a tap with 3 heads, so all you had to do was get glasses and then you could drink however much you pleased. They had a little meter that kept count of your table. They also had this big screen wehre they showed what tables at each of the four places like this around prague had drank the most. It was pretty cool.

On friday we did walking tours of the city which were really great. We did a free tour (I highly recommend doing these, because the people are always enthusiastic because they were solely off tips) first of the actual city of prague. We went around the old square, new square and jewish quarters. Old and new town are relative terms because the old town dates to 13th century while the new town is 14th century. The guide we had was named Keith and he was american. he moved to prague to be with a woman he fell for while on vacation, and they now have a baby. Anyway he was really great and gave us alot of fun history that you don't always read in books. On the clock tower in old town square they have a dial with names and each day has 4 names. If you child is born in prague, they have to have one of the names on that dial, you're not allowed to name them anything else, but you don't have to name them with a name that is featured on their birthdate. Instead those names represent whose Name Day it is, which is celebrated like a birthday in Prague. There are also alot of astrological clocks and such around Prague, which I found really interesting. They had rulers during the middle ages that were far less concerned with religion and more so with astronomy and sciences, which was something i didn't expect.

On this tour we also visited st. James Church which houses a mummified thief's arm. Legend has it that they used to store lots of gold in the church and one day a thief came and hid in the church til the priests left and then began to gather lots of gold artifacts. He went up to the virgin mary and as he lifted her gold medallion over her head the statue came to life and grabbed him by the neck and then turned back to stone. The thief remained there until the priests returned in the morning. When they found him they decided to cut off his arm as punishment for his crime. When the saw had cut through the last bit of skin the statue released him and went back to her original form. It is said they mummified this thief's arm and hung it near the altar as a warning to all other criminals not to steal from the church.

After the tour of the city we decided to do a second tour of the castle with the same guide. The castle in prague is not your traditional idea of a castle. It was built for function and not grandeur. However it was very intersting tour. they have a monastery on the grounds that brews its own beer and the palace today is home to the czech government and president. When the czech flag flies above the castle that means the president is in the country, and if there is no flag then he is abroad. The church on the grounds was built over the years between 871 and 1927, and one of the steeples is in the baroque rather than gothic style, because by the time construction reached this point, gothic was out of style. Famous middle ages astronomer Tycho Brahe also lived on the grounds and apparently kept a pet dwarf (yes a little person) under his dining table as well as a pet elk, which died one night from a fatal fall down the stairs after having drunk too much beer. Brahe himself died of mercury poisoning which they believe could have entered his system in one of 3 ways: he ingested it himself as medicine; it entered his system slowly via his scientific work; or that he was murdered by his apprentice Kepler, who later claimed fame with his law of planetary motion, but the world will never know.

On these tours we met some really cool girls from Washington state that are here for 13 weeks just travelling throughout europe. They were both really cool and i really enjoyed talking to hilary about all her adventures in travelling as well as her experience with couch surfing.

Friday night we stayed near the hostel for dinner and drinks because ted was not very mobile. We ended the night at a bar just up the street from us called "As soon as possible". Danny fell in love with the waitress and we all danced the night away to euro oldies music. Best song of the night: Disco song with the lyrics "I'm crucified, crucified like my savior." Never thought i'd see the day that i would be getting down to jesus music. Enjoy the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYT2aWavXlc

Saturday we headed out to a town outside of prague called Kutna Hora, which has the Bone Church and Silver Mines as its claim to fame. The Bone Church featured bones of over 40,000 people, included in six large mountains of bones, two of which were used for the church's artwork. The bones were the remains of people who died in the plague in the 15th century and were made into the current church in the 1870s. The artist felt that the use of the bones was a good metaphor for the eternity of the sole that extends beyond this world.

Saturday night we went on a pub crawl throughout prague. it was pretty cool, but a normal pub crawl. the last bar we went to was a 5 story club, that had different music on every floor and was really cool. On Sunday morning we headed back to Berlin. Overall the weekend was a great success.

As for this week, classes are becoming a little more difficult as I have work that I need to turn in. I've been feeling a little under the weather this week, but after a trip to the doctor today, i'm hoping to recover quickly. On wednesday I went rollerblading with my roommates Juale and Celine. I can't remember the last time i was on rollerblades. it was fun and i got the hang of it after a little while and only fell once. Last night (thursday) I took the girls that we met in prague out to a favorite bar of mine, madam claud, cuz they are here visiting berlin for the week.

Well this weekend is another holiday and the cultural carnival in berlin, so i'm hoping it will be a good weekend. I think that's it for now. Until next time, Aufwiedersehen!

how time flies

So i think this blog will have to be a weekly thing, since I clearly cannot write for it more frequently than that. Well this week was kinda uneventful compared to the past weeks. But here goes:

Sunday I moved into my new place. I absolutely love it, and it definitely feels more like home. Everyone is super great and really nice.

Gary is working in some sort of public relations job. I'm not really sure, but he has already completed his studies. He studied at San Jose State, so he knows a bit more about California than everyone else, so its kinda like having someone from home which is nice.

Jens is a student studying economics. He's the oldest of the house (32 i think) but it doesn't really show. He likes to hang out with everyone just as much as the other roommates. He cracks me up cuz his english is the worst of the roommates, but he just has really great expressions and is always excited to talk to you.

Julien is from France. I haven't really gotten to know him much, because he has been in away in Paris this past week. He is the only other person in the house that is not fluent in German.

Juale is super nice. She is studying something with the environment and she just come back from a business trip where she was working with a team of people promoting new electric cars.

Elvira is from Switzerland and is studying in Berlin for the semester like me. She studies english and german literature I think. She's really sweet. She and I bonded a little bit on Wednesday when the house went out for drinks. We talked to each other the whole evening about a little bit of everything. She's very open and welcoming and I really enjoy being around her.

Celine is German and is here until the end of July. She is not a student and just works. She's also very cool. In August she will be going home to visit family for a month and then in september or october she is going to Australia for a year, that will most likely be followed by 6 months in New Zealand. I think its so cool that she's doing that. She is just going for the sake of going and seeing where she ends up. She has a carefree attitude and is a free spirit and its the type of person I think I would like to be.

and finally there is Eli. She is the youngest in the house, having just turned 19 earlier this year. She is actually still in Gymnasium (German high school) and will need to take an extra year to graduate because she switched schools. Shes really nice and kinda a goth/punk with her look, but we get along quite well.

I really love it here. Everyone is so nice and welcoming. They invite me out with them and include me in whatever there doing. It is a really great house.

Other big events of the week include my first real class in German. I had my grimm brother's class this week and its my only class that is with other german students. It is really hard. We had class for 4 hours and I pretty much didn't understand what anyone was saying. It worries me a little bit, but at the same time i think it will be ok, because all I have to do for a grade is a group presentation (in german) and a 3-5 page paper. And I really only need to just pass the class to get a decent grade back home so i think it will be ok.

Thursday night we had a british election party. It was good fun to hang out with everyone, but the actual election coverage was a bit boring.

Other than that its been a pretty quiet week in comparison to the previous weeks. Next week I will be going to Prague so I am quite excited for that.

Well I think thats about it. More to come in another week's time.

another week gone by

So i told myself I would write sooner, but once again another week has gone by without me writing.

Well, the night after Danny's birthday I just stayed in and watched Princess and the Frog, which was pretty good.

Saturday we went to a Beirgarten in Prenzlauerberg and it was pretty cool. The weather was gorgeous so it was a really nice day for a beirgarten. After a few hours we all left and got dinner. We went to this mediterranean place that had big portions for like 5 euro of schwarma and falafel. so good. it was also a shisha lounge (hookah tobacco) so we ordered one of those as well and all sat around talking and smoking. It was a nice time. Saturday night Danny, David, Jack, Ted and I went to friedrichshain to some more clubs. Primitiv was really cool. It was just a loungy like bar, and they had eighties music playing and an eighties john travolta jazzercising movie projected on one of the walls. Astro was also cool, they had a good mix of music and we got to enjoy the beatles and bob dylan whyle we were there. We ended the night at Lucia's in Kreuzberg. It was kinda dead when we got there, not too much going on, but the bartender was quite interesting. She had a very angry resting face, it was quite the scowl, and was only enhanced by her eyebrows which were thick, close set and had an angry arch. She reminded all of us of Frida Carlo, though Danny tried to convince us that she was a mix between Frida and Megan Fox. So that was definitely a success.

Sunday we went to Mauer Park for the Flea Market (Flohmarkt in german). The weather was gorgeous and they have this amplitheater type thing at the park where they do karaoke all day long. It was absolutely huge and jam packed with people. If you ever had a dream of performing infront of a stadium of people, here is your chance. Most of the people we saw were not that great, though this man Sketch was quite good, though I can't remember what he sang. We also got to enjoy a group of 14 year olds singing "girl i want to make you sweat, sweat til you can't sweat no more, and when you cry out, im gonna push it some more more more" a good song, but one that I really didn't need to hear a 14 year old sing. I now have the image of a young boy humping and slapping the air in front of a good few hundred people. however best performance of the day was a young kid who sang Michael Jackson's Billy Jean. he had quite the moves and then these two black guys came and joined him on stage as back up dancers. I have posted the video of this performance.

After enjoying karaoke for a while, we decided to venture into the flohmarkt. My friends and I had a competition to see who could find the best thing(s) in the flohmarkt for 3 euro or less. My friend jack bought at condom box that was in the shape of a bed with a little man chained on top and it said "CONDOMS" on the headboard. Very german. haha. My friend Ted bought a clockface made out of a round saw blade and with his additional 50 cents, a book about sexuality and communism, apparently the first documentation of sexuality behind the iron current. That sounds like a interesting time guaranteed for all. I bought a fish fossil of a Piranha from 1972. I left it at the Flohmarkt cuz i really didn't want to take it home with me.

During the week I went to class, but really only had 1 class this week, because one of my classes is every other week, so this was an off week and the other classes were cancelled because the professor was ill. I spent my time looking for a new apartment, and not doing any work. haha.

Thursday night was another night at our favorite bar Madame Claude. As it always seems to happen, we were having a good time and then suddenly it was 3 am, so we all went and got something to eat while we waited for the trains to start running at 4am. However our last 20 minutes or so in the club were spent making fun of this girl that was wearing a sailors cap. We were all thinking up nautical based pick up lines the best of which include "Can I go down on you like the Titanic?" "I'd like to dock my ship in your port!" and "I'd like to drop my anchor on that ship!" yes it was all good fun and then we called her over to our table and started talking to her. Ted spent the entire time dropping the previously mentioned lines on her, but to no avail. She either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. We did momentarily steal her hat and passed it around the group and everyone got a picture with it. good stuff good stuff. On the train home the Brits were all being super loud, and at first I was embarrassed because most of the time the loud drunks are the Americans I'm with, but then I realized, that ALL of them were British, and they were representing the queen and not America, so I was no longer embarrassed, haha.

Friday I saw two apartments, one in Neukoelln and one in Friedrichshain. The latter was really cool, an 8 person WG, and I really wanted it, so I made a point to talk to every roommate there. They were all super stoked to hear I was from Cali, cuz one guy studied at San Jose and they had also just had a roommate not just from CA, but get this, UC Davis. Yea definitely tried to play that up, and it must of helped, because 2 hours after I left, they called me and said I got the place. STOKED! So obviously I said yes and then went out with some friends to celebrate. I was pretty wiped but they were going to a club that promised Indie music, so I forced myself to stay awake. We went to this place called Magnet and it was Swedish night, ie lots of Brit pop from the 80s and 90s. FANTASTIC, definitely had a good night, but at 430 had to call it quits cuz i was just sooo exhausted. I actually fell asleep on the train ride home and woke up at each stop to see if it was mine. haha.

Saturday: the first of May is a big deal here in germany. I think its celebrated throughout the world as well as a worker's day. However, it has also become a protest day for political extremes, that include both anti-Nazi and neo-Nazi demonstrations. In Kreuzberg they have a huge block party during the day so my friends and I went to that for a couple hours. It was really cool, but you could tell just from the music (mostly rock, metal, and punk) as well as the atmosphere that there would definitely be riots later. We stayed until 6, but then decided to leave because last year thats when some of the riots started and they disrupted the Ubahn so we didn't want to get stuck there. After returning to schoeneberg we all went out to eat and had some delicious tibeten food. I had been craving curry so it definitely hit the spot. Next we went to this bar called Slumberland which has sand on the floor and maps on the tables, and a foozball table. I ordered a banana beer and Ted got a mango beer. They served them to us in "coconuts" which were essentially half spheres of wood. haha. both were good, but were definitely one drink only beers because they were so sweet, it was like drinking a cocktail. After sucking at foozball I decided to go home and get a full nights rest.

Sunday: MOVING DAY! today i moved to my new place. The trek on the ubahn across the city was a long on but I made it. My new place is in Friedrichshain, I live with 7 other people, 3 guys adn 4 girls. Everyone is really nice and welcoming. My room is the perfect size and has everything I need, bed, desk, chair, and closet. The living room is awesome. We have this huge couch, that is so deep its pretty much like sitting on a bed, plus a plasma screen tv with a sound system, a big table that everyone can eat at and a foozball table. I'm so excited to be living here, I think now I can finally relax and really begin to enjoy my time here in Berlin. WHAHOO!

so its been like 2 weeks

Ok so it's been like two weeks since my last post so i suppose i really should write some more. Chronological oder might take too long so we'll go by topic:

Classes:

So I have decided upon 5 classes of which I think I will take 4. One is taught in English and is about American culture and Media. I think it will be a bit of a theory class and may end up going off topic quite a bit. We spent a good 20 minutes discussing humans need to break free of wires and in the future you will not have any wires to your electronic devices and to listen to music you will have a nano chip installed in your ear. WEIRD. but yea the class is supposed to discuss the role and development of media in American culture, but we'll see. Then I am taking 2 erasmus courses, which are courses taught in german about germany but are meant for non german speakers so they are a bit easier in workload, and you can feel more confident to talk because other people don't know the language perfectly either. The two topics: "the other germany (GDR)" and "aura and diziplin" which is basically women in berlin. I like both these classes alot and I think they will be really interesting. Then I am also taking a Sprachkurs, which is a german language course. I feel like its a bit elementary, but I might stick with it because it will force me to be more disciplined with learning my german, but we'll see, I have 2 weeks to decide if I want to take it for sure. Then there is a course on the Brother Grimm stories and how they have been transformed in different cultures as well as how they have been used in Germany (like by the Nazis). So all of them sound super interesting, but 5 classes is alot to take so I am not sure what I will do. It will come down to either the sprachkurs or the grimm brothers course.

Housing:

So my house is pretty cool, but the social aspect is non-existent. I don't talk to my roommate at all and he stays in his room watching tv all the time, and if i go in to ask him something, I feel like I am intruding... SO i have begun to look for other housing. I'm hoping to find a place that is more social and with more people, so I will keep you updated.

THE ZOO:

Last saturday my friends and I went to the zoo and it was quite a day. The day began with interracial llama sex and only got better from there. We saw a stoned looking camel who we believe was having a staring contest with a metal pole, as well as a monkey's ass that looked like a face. We also got to watch them feed the tigers and one of them roared and we were inside a buidling like right infront of the cage and it was scary, definitely wouldn't want to hear that in the wild. Love was in the air that day, and in addition to the llamas we also saw some chickens making some chicklets. But the winner of the day was the beaver gang rape. I am trying to post the video on either facebook or youtube but it seems to be taking forever to do so, so it may not happen. But yea basically there were like 5 beavers chasing this one little girl beaver and they were just jumping on one after another. One of them just started humping the air and then realized she wasn't in front of him so he then ran after her with the rest of the guys. but yea sad but funny.

the next day:

on sunday after the zoo, caroline, nathan and I went and saw a movie called the Weisse Band. It was weird and in german so i didnt really understand it, so we'll skip that part. But after we went to a flohmarkt at teirgarten and then walked around the park. We decided to sit for a while and I took a nap. I woke up with a dog in my face, it startled me but it was cute. then the dog ran over to another group of people and stole this kids ball, and then the little boy protested with "Nein, das ist mein Ball!" AW adorable. Little kids speaking german just gets me everytime. haha. so yea that was a good day.

Danny's 21st:

So last night my friend Danny turned 21 so we took him out. We began the night at madam claude's, i think we are becoming regulars there, but its a cool bar so whatever. Then we went to this club called ADAGIO. Most ritzy place I've been to yet. It was much more like an american club and it would be perfect in Vegas. It looks like an old church on the inside and we really cool and gothic. But there was like no one there, so it was really funny that we showed up in this huge group. But the few people that were there were quite interesting. There was one guy who was wearing white pants, white shoes and a white shirt with dark pinstripes. Then there was a cougar, who was going after this young guy in a polo shirt and the two couldn't keep their hands off each other. But the best part was, was that they would break away from each other and just walk around the dance floor, eyeing each other across the room and then they would come together again and just start going at it. My friend Ellie said the woman pulled the guys pants down and Ellie got a view of his butt. SO GOOD.

So that is a synopsis of the past two weeks, all the highlights anyway. I will truly try to be more on top of this.

2 entries a bit too late

So I started my blog on livejournal, but then realized that livejournal only lets other livejournal users read your blog and there was no link, so here is my new blog, below are my first two posts from April 9 and 12. I am not a very good blogger, and I will sincerely try to do my best to blog more often, but lets be honest you'll probably get a weekly update. But anyways here it is:

April 9:

Ok so I am finally getting to writing a blog about my experiences here in Berlin. I will do my best to make sure they come more frequently than every 2 weeks. So here we go:

March 25: Left California, just as hard emotionally as I expected, maybe even a tiny bit worse, but I got through it and once I was on the plane I didn't cry once. The flight was uneventful, I slept for a few hours and watched Twilight New Moon. It was ok.

March 26: Arrived in Zurich in the afternoon and had literally 30 minutes to catch my next flight, that was a bit scary. i had missed breakfast on the other flight because I was sleeping so I was a little hungry, lucky for me Swiss Airlines rocks and they had nice little cheese sandwiches and drinks for everyone on our little hopper flight to Berlin (southwest should take tips from them). When I got to Tegel Airport in Berlin I was preparing myself for a long wait in customs and also a chance to pee (I had now been holding it for like 2 hours) and change my pants, however there was no customs when I arrived, the luggage carousel was directly in front of the exit gate and then you just walk out to the taxi line. Needless to say I was a bit flustered and confused, still really needing to pee, still in my sweats, and having difficulty managing my bags and catching a cab. But I caught one and got to my hotel quickly and safely.
The hotel room was small but comfortable and I had all I needed. After I got settled in and had skyped Tyler and my parents, I ventured out to find something to eat. I had previously heard that in Berlin, every other shop is doener kebap or a bakery, so i figured it wouldnt be hard to find something quickly. Well KuDamm (short for kurfurstendamm) is not such a place, as it is more of a ritzy shopping district. But I managed to find a little place that sold Currywurst, a traditional Berliner meal, and decided to get some. Ok so currywurst is a bratwurst with some sort of tomato sauce on it, topped with curry powder, and that is exactly what it tastes like. I wasn't horribly impressed but it was ok. On my walk back to my hotel it began to rain and by the time I reached my room it was pouring and i walked into the hotel lobby with my face dripping.

March 27: Toady I got a phone, not too challenging and then used it to call people about housing. Saturday night I went to see a place in Kreuzberg and they were having an open showing. I got there at 6 and there were lots of people there, so I sat chatting with them and finally left at 10. It was nice just to hang out and meet people. I have realized I don't do well being on my own, I am not a fan of solitude. Anyway, I met this guy Marcus, and American from Denver who has been teaching English in Berlin for almost 3 years now. He invited me out to get a drink, and he took me to some really cool bars. One was called Madame Claude, and its very eccentric and quirky and everything is upside down and they have tables and chairs glued to the ceiling so you feel like your on the roof of the room. Then we went to another bar that had kinda a cool vibe, it was very typical loungy bar upstairs and then in the basement it had dancing and candles and it was pretty cool. Then the last club we went to was in Neukoelln, and didn't have a name. It was a little sketch, but once we got inside it was really cool. It was another basement club, and they had a huge basement, with red lights and candles on the bars and they were playing kinda jazzy swing blues music from the 50s and 60s and i felt like I got transported back in time. It was really cool. (Oh and on the way to this last bar we passed a fox running through the streets, random). I left the club around 330 or so, and it took me like an hour to get back, so i thought i was getting back at 430, but it was daylight savings time so it was really 530, however I didn't know this so I was kinda freaking out when none of my clocks matched.

March 28: Slept most of the morning and then went and saw more apartments. The first one was in Friedrichshain and all the people were really cool. Michael is from Austria, Rasa from Lithuania, and the other, whose name I can't remember, was German. All are young and they were all very nice, and they offered me the room, however I didn't take it for 2 reasons, I couldnt move in for 2 weeks, and they smoked in the house, which i felt would not go well for me. The other rooms were not too great.

March 29: Orientation Day 1: Went to orientation, met the other EAP students. There are about 13 of us total. Everyone seems nice, and we spent the orientation time filling out forms. Can't remember if anything great happened this day soooo......

March 30: Orientation Day 2: Learned about academic stuff. That night Danny and I met Caroline and some of her friends for drinks in Kreuzberg. Caroline is from Santa Barbara, and is really cool, we've been hanging out alot since we met.

March 31: tough day. Registered with the school and then saw 5 apartments, after having lunch with caroline, keighlie and paloma from my program. Definitely felt discouraged when none of the apartments seemed like they were going to work out. Really missed home today, but I got through it.

April 1: Saw an apartment in Schoeneberg in the morning and by 2 pm got a call that I could have the room. YES YES YES! CELEBRATION! I HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE! So now all I needed to do was find a place for a few days which was easily done with the help of craigslist. Huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally relax and enjoy the city. Went out with danny and Caroline that night, felt great to have a place to live.

April 2: today is good friday so all shops in berlin are closed, although most cafes were open. I moved into my temporary place in Prenzlauerberg today. just kinda hung out. can't remember what I did.

April 3: today's mission: grocery shopping and finding a hairdryer and curling iron. I went to alexander platz to The Galleria, to find the last two items. The Galleria is a giant department store that has everything you could need. Its 6 stories high and is like a mall all put into one store, a bit overwhelming. But I found what I needed so it was a success. Went grocery shopping for a few things and then walked around prenzlauerberg. That night I went out with Marcus again and Michael (from friedrichshain) joined us. It was another "Berlin Night" as I have deemed them. A night where you go from bar to bar beginning somewhere around midnight and returning home when the sunrises. the memorable bars of the night were this little Austrian pub we passed. It had a sign with the Austrian Flag and said "No Kangaroos," since when people say they are from austria it is often misunderstood as australia. The bar looked like a little Tavern inside, with ski lift chairs serving as bar stools. It was made from wood that came from a 400 year old cabin in Salzburg. We drank Austrian beer and ate some Austrian dishes, such as kaisekrune, i don't think that's spelt right or if that's even the right name but it is a bratwurst that has cheese in the middle that melts when you cook it, and then you eat it with bread and mustard. Very Yummy. But the best part was that the hallway to the bathroom was made to look like a forest, with green lights and a soundtrack that included birds chirping, sheep baahing, and cows mooing. AWESOME, haha. I ended up out til 530 in the morning when I decided to go home. Once more it took me an hour to get home and then I slept all morning.

April 4: Woke up about 1. Michael called me at 230 and I met up with him and Rasa and another friend of theirs at Alexanderplatz. We went to the flea market (Flohmarkt) at Mauer Park for an easter egg hunt. You had to go around and find easter eggs at the different stands and take pictures of what you saw. I found 3, Michael found 25. haha. That night I went out with Danny and David, both from UC Davis, and we went to this huge Easter party. It had like 8 different clubs in two buildings with a kinda courtyard area in between. There were tons of people there and it was really fun. It reminded me more of American clubs with crazy lights and djs and how people were dancing, but it was really fun. Danny and I were on a mission to find "black music" which is what they call hip hop here. I think part of the appeal is how politically incorrect it seems to call it that. Over all a good night.

April 5: Monday after easter, everywhere is still closed, but Danny and I got together in the afternoon and went to the Charlottenberg Palace. Its kinda Berlin's version of Versailles. It was really pretty, but we didn't go inside because we didn't want to pay the 7 Euro fee. Then we went to the Gedaenknes Kirche, which was an old church nearly destroyed in WWII. It main tower remained standing so they have preserved the church in its curmbling state as a reminder of the past. They also built a very modern church that is an octagonal building with little 5x5 inch squares of stained glass making up the walls and there is a big "floating" jesus at the front. It was pretty neat to see it.

April 6: I MOVED INTO MY NEW HOME TODAY!!!! it was so nice to finally unpack and have a place to call home. I spent most of the day running errands, which included an afternoon with caroline in the Kreuzberg turkish market. it was a good day.

April 7: So my roommate Renee said that the room was bright in the morning cuz it faces east, and he wasn't kidding. Woke up to a very bright room at 6am this morning. It was so bright it even penetrated my sleeping mask at the edges. Today I had my first orientation at Free University with the other international students. It was a cool day, I met a few girls during one of the talks, Cecile is Swiss, Maria Finnish, and Anna Australian. All were very nice. I also made friends with this guy named Jack from the UK. Tonight I made a curtain for my bed so its not as bright in the morning, using a sheet and some tacks.

April 8: Second day of FU orientation. Pretty boring for the talk part, but I met more new people. 3 girls from holland, Marjolien, Esther, and Sestia. All were really nice, I really like Esther, she reminds me of a California girl. haha. So last night I coordinated for everyone to meet and go out. We went to Madame Claude's because it seemed like a cool place and they had 2 for 1 drinks and ping pong last night. We had quite a few people show up, and we were all able to speak in German with each other for most of the night. It was a really great night. Lots and lots of fun.

April 9: So today I am finally writing this blog. Tonight I plan on going to a screening of independent films so that should be interesting I will let you know how it goes.

And for more of your viewing pleasure:

April 12:

So starting from where we left off...
Friday night I went with Caroline, Danny, David and Jack to Friedrichshain to see a screening of 2009 european independent film winners. I think they were student films but I'm not entirely sure. So I wasn't really sure what to expect about the films or where we were viewing them. Well we get there and its in a bar with a projection screen, so very laid back. We saw four films:
1) a cartoon film involving a veternarian with a broken heart who had to kill a pig, milk a cow, deliver puppies and save a fish, and somehow they all came together to mend his broken heart, it was kinda weird.
2) From Istanbul, it was a story of little boys who would all pool their money together so that one of them could go to the movies and then come back and describe the film to everyone else. On the 3rd day one of the dad's comes and takes them all to the movies. However one of the boys has a little sister who always sits on a bench at the playground and listens in on their tales of what they saw and is not invited along on the group outting, but is still happy to hear her brother tell her about it as they walk home.
3)A film based in Sweden about 3 illegal immigrant workers: a gypsy, a chechnyan and a russian, and their lives together doing manual labor for low pay and without work visas.
4) was a film called "I AM GAY" and was about a greek young man at the breakfast table with his parents and brother and it is his thought process of how to tell them he is gay and the imagined scenarios of what would happen.

I liked the last film best. Afterward we met up with some of Caroline's friends and went out for drinks, it was a fun night.

Saturday April 10: Today was our Boat Tour of the city. It was really fun, but by the end I was sick of being on a boat. It was cool to see the city from a different point of veiw. They have a lot of places along the river that have Beir Gartens and lounge chairs that will be great once it gets a bit warmer out. It was interesting to see how modern certain parts of Berlin are. You could be walking through an ok area and then 10 minutes later your in the middle of these skycrapers made nearly completely out of glass.
After the boat tour we went to dinner and got some traditional German food. I had schnetzel and it was delicious. Also had the best beer I think i've ever had: Erdinger hell Hefeweizen (hell is the german word for light). It was absolutely delicious.
That night I went in search of the Real Madrid vs Barcelona game with 3 friends, but we ended up walking the city because we couldn't find a pub playing it.

Sunday April 11: Finally got myself to run today. Ran for 25 minutes and did an ab workout. Woo GO ME! haha
After my run I decided to have a day of culture instead of a day moping on the couch, so I went to the Deutsches Historishes Museum. I spent most of my time in a temporary exhibit in which they had photos from their archives on display. It was the 20th century in Germany through photos. It was actually quite interesting. I found one picture of a little girl in a polish ghetto, that kinda looked like me when I was little, it was weird, but made it a bit more personal. After an hour and a half there, I pretty much just browsed through the permanent collection, but it did seem interesting, I don't think I gave it the justice it deserved, perhaps one day I shall go back. But anywho, the permanent collection is a 2000 year history of Germany and the Germanic people.
One interesting thing I found in both the temporary and permanent collections were pictures of Adolf Hitler. In some of them he was posing in traditional German clothing: a button up shirt, with suspenders attached to long shorts and then some laced shoes with socks up to his knees. I know it was the fashion of the time, but something about how his knees were exposed made him look like he was in his underwear and far less intimidating.

Today I had my first day of classes. So for foriegn students you don't really have to follow the german model and you can take a sampling of classes from multiple areas (kinda like in the states) and you have much more freedom than the German students. So with that in mind our advisors said to go to as many courses that interest you in the first week and then pick from those. So today I went to 3 classes. One was a critique of American culture that focused on theory and how certain theories such as manifest destiny and the self made man came about and how are they exclusionary as well as how do excluded groups use them to make them inclusive. I'd like to take this course, but it was a bit over crowded so I probably will opt out. Then I went to a german literature class on Labyrinth, but took on look at the page long list of german texts and decided it would be far to difficult and left. My final course of the night was an erasmus course (meaning it is based for international students, the term erasmus refers to a program in which EU students can attend universities in other EU countries). It was about the culture and politics of the Weimar Republic and sounds very interesting.

I suppose that is all for now, I will write more later on.