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!

Countdown to the end

My time here is really winding down. At first it went by pretty slowly but for the past two months it's been on hyper-speed. I only have one more week of German class and one week and then finals for my other courses. I finish school on April 24th.

Since I have very limited left in Berlin, I'm being to feel a little frantic about getting to see and do everything before I leave. I think it would help if I created a list. These are my objectives:

• Find a perfect, cute little cafe with good desserts
• Go out dancing at one of Berlin's many clubs
• Walk around the Wannsee district (lots of little lakes)
• Bike through Tiergarten, but only when it's a sunny day
• Walk around Prenzlauer Berg and find cool shops
• Go back to the German History Museum

Looking back at this semester I'm a little sad because I feel like I haven't really walked around Berlin enough. Why didn't I? When I actually think about it, I have a perfectly legitimate reason: the weather has been SO terrible for most of my semester! It's always grey, usually wet and rainy, and is pretty cold and miserable. It makes me sad though to think that I haven't enjoyed discovering the secrets of Berlin just because the weather hasn't allowed for a lot of outdoor activity.

I want your opinion now. What do you think I should do in Berlin and Germany before I leave in a few weeks? Is there anything you guys want pictures or souveniors of? Are there any questions you still want answered concerning German people, German life, or my adventures in Berlin?

I'll be writing again soon to catch you all up on things I haven't yet mentioned.

FREEZE!

While we were watching the change of the guard at the Royal Palace in Copenhagen some hippie-looking guy rode in on this bike with a huge wood box attached to the front of the bike in which some other guy was sitting and riding. It was a really strange sight. They parked the bike close to us and started looking around and watching the guards. After a while the hippie guy heard us talking and asked where we were from. So we started a little conversation and the wood-box-riding-guy joined in. The box guy was "couch surfing" at the hippie guy's place, which means that the hippie was giving his couch up for someone to sleep on for the night. The box guy was American also. He let us know about this "freeze" happening that evening at the Central Train Station in Copenhagen, which was right next to our hotel.

A freeze is when people go to a public place and just freeze for a certain period of time. Some of us had just learned about this type of "art" during our art history class the week before. We thought this a really awesome opportunity because we had just learned about it and so we thought we would stop by and join in. The freeze was set for 6pm, with a short meeting at 5:45 next to the station.

At 5:45 we met at this little square and the organizers explained what to do: we were to position ourselves all around the station and freeze for 5 minutes straight. We synchronized our watches and headed into the station. I also learned that about 5 other cities around the world participated in this freeze at the same time as us, thus the NYC freeze was at 12 noon EST.

We got into the station and decided on poses and location. Laura and I decided to look like we had just greeted each other and were waving and smiling with a distance between us. Casey and Anja decided to lean against a wall and look like they were in conversation. Tim and Alberto were fighting over a shopping bag. Audrey, Jamie, and Scott were all arguing and about to hit each other. It was so fun!

Fortunately it was all caught by someone on youtube (link here). Look for me at 5:09 on the left (towards the middle-left of the screen, wearing my black jacket) and also see Anja and Casey against the wall at 5:02.

This was the coolest thing I have ever participated in! As you can see from the youtube video, it was an amazing sight to see so many people frozen in such a public place. Thank you Mr. Hippie and wood-box-riding friend.

Trains on boats and so much more!

I just return this evening from my adventures in Hamburg and Copenhagen. We were gone Friday, March 28th, through today, Saturday April 5th. I traveled with 75 other students from my program and we stayed 3 days in Hamburg and 5 days in Copenhagen. Almost every day we had some sort of tour or activity planned but we were also left with a lot of free time.

Our hostel in Hamburg directly overlooked the port on the river Elbe. Hamburg is a port town and the second largest trade port in Europe. It does not lie directly on the sea, however, but on two rivers, the Elbe and Alster, which give Hamburg access to the North Sea. On Friday evening we took a walking tour of the city lead by some local guides. On Saturday we had a free day and then went to the opera at night. Some of us explored a cute little shopping/artsy area around Sternschanze and I ended up buying an adorable dress. At night we went to this small opera house and saw a modern adaptation of Orpheus and Eurydice and it was.... interesting.....

On Sunday morning we took a tour of the harbor and looked at all the docked ships and masses cargo containers. It's always so cool to see how many containers can fit onto the huge ships. There was also a carnival taking place in Hamburg, which resembled something very similar to the types of county fairs we have back in America. Food and goody stalls lines the walkways and I ended up getting a delicious banana and Nutella crepe. Yum!

On Monday morning we left and took the train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. We were unexpectedly surprised to learn that our train would roll onto a boat and the boat would cross the waters to get onto the peninsula of Copenhagen. So yes... I have traveled on a train, which went to the bottom on a ferry, which took us over the waters of Denmark. That's pretty sweet! If I didn't actually experience it I would think that someone had made it up. But no, it totally exists!

Copenhagen was excellent but ridiculously expensive. We took a gorgeous boat tour, saw an operetta at the magnificent Opera House, visited the alternative community of Christiania, took a short train to visit Kronberg Castle in Elsinore, or a.k.a., the castle where Shakespeare's Hamlet would have lived, and then some of us took a little trip to Malmo, Sweden on Friday. My time in Denmark was really a whirlwind and I'll be writing again soon to describe some of the little details of the trip.