End of my journeys

Well it's officially time for me to sign off for this Berlin blog. I am now safely back at home in Southern California and returning to the routines and habits of life in America.

Of course there will be things that I miss about Europe. The biggest one will probably be the cafe culture and the slowed-down lifestyle. I really enjoyed sitting in a cafe and ordering a drink and then just taking my time having conversations with the people I was with or just sitting and reading a book without being disrupted by the cafe waiters. In Europe you are allowed to take your time and enjoy the moment that you are spending. I feel that in America we're a little more rushed about things. This isn't to say that Americans don't also enjoy their time and relax, it's just that Europeans have a different style.

I miss that everything was in walkable distance. It's just not possible in America to depend on your own two feet to get you places. Walking to the grocery store may be possible only if you are lucky enough to live within a close distance, but other places, like shops, restaurants, church, etc., are usually not within a small radius of where you live. This is a major difference between America and Europe, due mostly in part to Europe's older foundations.

Overall, however, it has not been difficult for me to readjust to live back at home. This is always where my heart will be and living with the people that I love makes it easy to become reacquainted. I will always hold such a special place in my heart for Berlin and the semester that I spent living abroad. It was a great time to experience a different way of living and to make friends and explore new places. I think that I now realize how important relationships are in my life: whether with family, or Paul, old friends, or now even the new friends that I made in my program or my host family from this semester. It has been important for me to realize what a difference having meaningful relationships makes in life, and especially relationships with people difference from myself. We may all come from different backgrounds or even cultures, but we all share the human desire to have people to close to us that we can share our lives with.

Maybe someday I will write from Berlin again.... Until then, thank you for reading and following my experiences. If you ever travel to Germany or Berlin, shoot me a line. :)

Rowing on Lake Zürich

Now I have a blood-stained shirt, aching muscles, several blisters, but a great memory.

Yesterday I was in Zürich for the day and had the amazing opportunity to row on Lake Zürich with a local rowing club. I must apologize to you guys because I have yet to write about my experiences Couch Surfing while on this traveling vacation. I'll write just a short explanation now.

Couch Surfing is based on an internet network where people can offer travellers their `couches´ for those travellers to stay for the night whenever they are going through different cities. On the website you are able to create a profile explaining things about yourself, you can add friends from within the network, and you can also have other people `vouch´for you as a means of extra security. I think that the network is a fantastic idea because it gives travellers the opportunity to experience local life and meet people who actually live in the city.

This is what I decided to do for my stay in Zürich (I was also motivated for this option because hostel prices were out the roof!). So yesterday I stayed with a Swiss girl named Suzanne who works and lives in Zürich and is also a member of a rowing club. I noticed that she was interested in rowing by looking at her couch surfing profile and explained to her that I also was a rower. Once we worked out the details of meeting up in Zürich, she invited me to row with her team during their practice on Tuesday nights. I was hesitant because of my lack of skills and also out of my desire not to ruin their practice, but Suzanne insisted that everything would be fine.

Yesterday evening we met together at their boat house on the shores of the lake. The club team is a mix of people with ages ranging from 20s to probably 60s. It was great to see people doing what they love to do, regardless of their condition. I was put into a sculling boat with 4 men. It was so daunting! First of all, I had never really sculled before, I was just used to using one oar at a time. Second, these were all strong men!

It was an exhausting practice that lasted about two hours. I was totally out of shape, needless to say. Through prayer and concentration I was able to mostly keep up with the rest of the boat. In the process, the knuckle of my right thumb got ripped open and I bled all over my shirt. My leg muscles are now moving only very slowly and my back is killing me!

I loved the experience although while I was in it I was praying for it to be over. But now I have a great memory and a completely ruined shirt.

Bonjour from Nice!

Bonjour friends, this is my last morning in Nice, France. As I mentioned earlier, this is now the second country on our trip and we will be in France up until Saturday. This morning my friend Anja and I are taking a train to Paris, which is about a 6 hour ride. I'm hoping that it will be beautiful because we'll be traveling through the French countryside.

Anja and I have decided that the overall purpose of our trip is to be outside as much as possible. We both love the outdoors and it was difficult for us to manage in Berlin because we didn't go outside very much due to the cold and yucky weather. Now that it's spring, we've decided to try to be outside and enjoy the beautiful weather whenever it finds us.

So for Ireland our big plan was to travel by bus from Dublin to a small town called Glendalough which is situated in a valley with sloping hills and lots of moss. We escaped the city and were able to enjoy nature. The town was so small that all there was was a little hostel, a hotel/restaurant, and the visitor's center to the hiking trails. It was a great retreat for us! We hiked both days that we were there and it was very pleasant and relaxing. The weather in Ireland was a little disappointing because it was rainy and windy, but not too cold. We were ready for the warmth of the French Riviera.

So on Monday morning, after sleeping all night in the airport, which turned out to be more amusing than uncomfortable, we arrived in sunny Nice. The weather was so beautiful when we arrived: sunny, warm, and beautiful blue water! Nice is a pretty big town on the Mediterranean completely surrounded by hills. I think that's what I love most about this place, there are beautiful orange-roofed houses and villas covering all the hills overlooking the water. And the water here is so crystal blue! It's a bit cold but at least I stuck my legs in!

Anja and I have been staying in an amazing hostel which offers just about everything and has made it super easy for us to travel around the area by providing detailed maps and instructions. On Tuesday we took a bus to Monaco and laid out on the beach and yesterday we took another bus to the little mountain village of Eze. We've gotten a good taste of the Riviera and I can't wait to come back.

The weather here has been up and down. Monday morning was great and beautiful but by the afternoon it was rainy and windy. On Tuesday it was sunny and warm and I got a tan/burn. Yesterday was cloudy and cold again. At least we had one day of warmth.

So now we're off to Paris until Saturday. We're going to be going at whirlwind speed because Anja has never been so we have to see everything in 2 and a half days. Wish us luck!

Travel Travel Travel

I was officially finished with my Berlin semester last Thursday night. Since then I have begun traveling throughout Europe.

My friend Anja and I started our journey in Dublin and Glendalough, Ireland this weekend and this morning we arrived in Nice, France. From Nice we will later travel to Paris, Interlaken (Switzerland) and then I'll continue to Zurich, Salzburg, Vienna, and Budapest.

I"ll try to keep my blog updated when I can.

Oh döner, wonderful döner

I just wanted to write a quick little post dedicated to the wonderful food that is the döner. A döner is a Turkish specialty in Germany (the best are in Berlin) and they resemble a Greek gyro.

You can have it filled with lamb, chicken, or falafel (those yummy chickpea patties). My personal favorite is lamb, but the falafel is also amazing. Along with the meat of your choice, you add lettuce, red cabbage, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers, and a choice of sauces (I usually mix the spicy and garlic sauces).

The students in my program have a favorite döner place located under the S-Bahn at Rathaus Steglitz. It doesn't look like anything special but it's cheap (at only 2 Euro) and delicious. Even though I have tried döners in other parts of the city, the stand at Rathaus Steglitz still remains one of the best.

I really love döners. It's trivial but it's one thing that I will definitely miss about Germany, and Berlin in particular. Döners are delicious no matter the weather, even the ridiculously dreary winter that I've encountered here. Döners are just wonderful all the time.

Learning to be Happy Despite the Gray Weather

Today was an unexpectedly gorgeous day. The temperature was probably around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the skies were blue, the birds were singing, and there was a nice breeze. Everything was perfect and I was even able enjoy the outdoors today because I didn't have classes. I got a haircut this morning in a cute part of town (Prenzlauer Berg), walked under the newly leafed trees, and finally made my way back to my school building to spend time studying with other students (I have two finals tomorrow). We took a short break from studying and walked to a nearby grocery store to get some chocolate. Walking back to school I realized how happy I was today and how happy my friends were. There was really no reason for us to be happy because of our looming finals which we are all under-prepared for. But I figured out that the weather made me happy. I couldn't get angry or frustrated when it was so beautiful outside.

I have probably mentioned this before, but the weather is Berlin has been terrible. For most of my time here it has been gray, cold, windy, and rainy. I see the sun maybe every few weeks and usually for only a few hours. Needless to say, it's been depressing.

Today it fully dawned on me that my mood is dependent on the weather. Maybe it's because I grew up with the sun of Southern California, but I just feel more alive and more like myself when it's sunny out. Sure there is winter in Virginia, but it's usually just sunny and cold, so I'm able to handle it better than I can here.

I shouldn't let the weather control me. I had a really great weekend this weekend (especially since it was my last in Berlin). On Friday afternoon my friends and I got amazing falafels in Prenzlauer Berg and then found an adorable cafe that served homemade waffles with ice cream (check that off my list of things to do before leaving Berlin). At night we had a program party at a hidden basement in Neukoelln with lots of dancing, drinking, and fun. On Saturday I visited Nikolaiviertel which is the historical center of Berlin and then got a great ice cream sundae at Potsdamer Platz. At night I joined 30,000 other Germans in watching the German soccer championship on a big screen hung from the Brandenburg Gate. On Sunday I walked through Tiergarten (Berlin equivalent to Central Park) with my friend Anja and then made tacos for my host family. My weekend was eventful and fun.

But the weather was bad this weekend and I think I had a bad attitude that effected how I appreciated all those activities. I even noticed that I was a little more negative with people and not as loving. Yet today I felt normal, I felt like the happy person I usually am.

I think the beauty of today was an opportunity for God to show me that I shouldn't be dependent on such silly things like weather. Today was really a gift and I can't say enough thanks for it. I want to be a happy person even if the weather is terrible and Berlin has definitely shown me how easily affected by gray weather I can be. But it's never too late to change and I'm going to pray that I can be happy even with bad weather.

Hertha Hertha!

I am now officially European. This Tuesday I went to my first soccer game which was Berlin Hertha vs. Hamburg. The game was held at the newly remodeled Olympic Stadium and it was huge!

As I mentioned previously, at the beginning of the semester each student from my program had the opportunity to select tickets from a variety of events, such as opera, ballet, or soccer. I had already gone to two operas and a ballet and had saved my last ticket for a soccer game. Coincidentally, many of the other students had the same idea in mind. There were probably about 40 students from my program at the game on Tuesday night and that made it all the more fun. We all had seats about mid-field on one of the upper levels. Not quite nose-bleeds, but almost.

I'm not a professed soccer fan but I was excited to experience the European soccer madness. I learned from my friend Phil, who is a huge fan, that Hertha isn't that good of a team. They're ranked about number 12 out of 16 for the German league. Hamburg is more highly ranked and were expected to win the game.

I had high expectations for my first European soccer game, I expected lots of action, lots of attempted goals, lots of steals, and the typical fan frenzy in the stands.

But that's the soccer of my imagination, not of reality. The final score ended up 0-0 which makes no sense to me. How can you finish a game with no scorers? Well, that's soccer.

Even though the game itself was slow, I had a great time cheering and mildly following the game (at least I'm honest). I admire these athletes because they are able to move constantly for 45 minute halves and to concentrate on passing, kicking, and positioning.

Now I've got that under my belt and I feel like a true European who loves soccer, or as they say, football. Oh and I really like the uniforms!