Currywurst und Doener Kebop

Hello from Berlin! I'm still absolutely freezing, but I am quickly getting much more acclimated to the city.

It has finally hit me that I am in a foreign country. This partially has to do with the fact that I've been speaking a lot more German recently, but also just the fact that I realize how long I will be here. The other night I was laying down getting ready to go to sleep and the thought went through my head of, "Oh my god I'm going to be here until August 3rd." I haven't been abroad long, but I already have the feeling that one of the most challenging things about studying in a foreign country is that it forces you to be more self-reliant. When I went to Transy, I made mostly all new friends and that was definitely a new experience, but being here and being thousands of miles away from a single familiar face has really given me a new perspective on myself, and I've only been here less than a week! I can only imagine what it is going to be like to experience this feeling for five more months.

Anyways, the past few days have been great. We have gotten to experience almost all that Berlin has to offer. Yesterday we slept in, waited forever in line to get some currywurst, and then visited a Modern Art museum in Potsdam. We tried to find a shopping place that we thought we remembered going to, and that venture took us all over the city. We stopped in at a few stores and then got on the bus to head back. We hung out at the hostel a bit and then decided to get a little cultural experience by going out to a club. The big "party" spot of Berlin is in East Berlin, so we took the U-Bahn really far out and then went to a bar on the strip that a girl from our hostel recommended. We got drinks, and unfortunately mine ended up being whiskey, which I wasn't anticipating, but I couldn't read the menu so for this I guess I can blame my lack of German skill! Then we left and walked towards where we thought the Watergate Club was. Unfortunately, we got lost and we ended up going to this Rock club. What a riot. But it ended up being a really fun night. We met a few really nice Germans who hung out with us and we ended up going to a bar afterwards together. They are meeting us tonight to get some coffee and dinner. It's nice to meet people who actually live here and can give us some tips. We are badly in need of information on how to be more German! We may or may not have been out until it started to not be dark anymore, but I guess I should let there be a little mystery as to what I'm up to over here!

Today we ate Doener Kebap, another Berlin favorite that made its way over here via Turkish people. We hadn't eaten anything besides a snickers for over 24 hours, so I was absolutely starved. We had to wait over a half hour for it while standing in line outside, but it was so worth it. It was absolutely one of the best things I have ever eaten. We spent the day (or what was left of it after we woke up so late :)) at the Judaische Museum. It was very interesting and unlike anyplace I've ever visited. I took a few pictures that I'll try to put up later. Meanwhile, here's a picture of Doener and currywurst:

Tonight, like I said, we are heading out for coffee and dinner. Tomorrow is our last day in Berlin before we catch a train to Regensburg overnight. I have a few days to get situated in Regensburg, and then classes begin Monday (the same day I get my LSAT score!!)

Auf Wiedersehen,

Ashley

Here is a picture of me and Morgan with a lego giraffe!

Ich bin hier!

Hi! I have finally made it, albeit however miraculously, to Berlin!

I am sitting up in our hostel with my friends Morgan and Liz. We might be feeling a little of the jet lag, because we were exhausted the past two days at 4pm but totally up at 1am. Jet lag or not, we are having a great time. I am really enjoying just being in Germany and I am so excited to get down to Regensburg on Monday and get situated.

The flight over wasn't too bad, save for the screaming 5 year old who never managed to fall asleep. I landed in Frankfurt and then got over to Berlin by 9:30. I was really really overwhelmed when I arrived at the airport while I was trying to figure out where the busses were and if I could even get on the bus with all of my luggage. Finally I stumbled on to one and made my way to the train station. The first thing I noticed about Berlin is the schrecklich (terrible) weather. It was, and still is, absolutely freezing. I had stood outside searching for my gloves for only five minutes, and by the time I found them my hands had cracked and were bleeding from the cold. When I arrived at the Hauptbahnhof, I was extremely sad because the entire thing is just like a big open warehouse. It actually felt colder inside! I had all of my baggage and was lugging it around until I found a checked luggage office and I dropped my suitcase off. I then learned a second lesson about Berlin: Don't hang around train stations. Crazy people kept coming up to me asking for money. I was already absolutely terrified that I would be mugged and have all of my stuff stolen, so I was having a fit. I wandered around the station until noon, when Morgan and Liz finally met me. I was so happy to see them and know that I wasn't completely lost. We walked FOREVER (seriously, like 3 miles or so) back to the hostel they had stayed at.

The hostel is interesting. We are in the dorm room, so we are staying with strangers, but its turned out okay so far. We have lockers for our stuff and then our own bed with fresh linens. A strange couple who we have lovingly renamed "Big Boy and his Wife" showed up and that's when we weren't so into the hostel thing. He was very large, made grunting noises, wore all black with chains, and had an interesting hairstyle. However, all turned out well and we survived the night in the hostel. We had spent the afternoon just making our way around Berlin and navigating the subway system. Eventually we got hungry, so we looked for a traditional German place. We stumbled upon this tiny little place where we awkwardly walked in and tried to figure out how to get food. This table full of German 50 something men and women immediately gave us the stink eye and we were so uncomfortable the whole time. We ordered something that we thought was wurst, which ended up being pork schnitzel. I ordered the only beer they had, which I hated, but I drank it anyways. After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and relaxed until Morgan and Liz's friend Rene came and took us out for a drink and a short tour of the city. It was really fun and we figured out some more places to go in the city. We headed back to the hostel for a lovely evening with Big Boy and his wife.

This morning we got up, showered in the strange hostel shower, ate free breakfast, and headed out on the town. We found a great subway pass and then spent forever trying to get to the Museuminsel. We went to the Pergamon Museum first and got a great deal on a 3day museum pass- only 9.50 for over 60 museums! The Pergamon, quite simply, was the best museum I have ever gotten to experience. I was in awe over everything we saw and I luckily took a lot of pictures so you can see some of them soon. The museum houses the Pergamon Alter and a huge collection of artifacts, constructions, and artwork from classical antiquity. I just took a class at Transy similar to this called Alexander to Cleopatra, so it was absolutely amazing to see all of the things that had been a part of the lives of the people I studied. We also saw the Ishtar Gate and a lot of other great things. We saw the Egyptian Collection at the Neues Museum, which was also fantastic.

We wandered around looking for a place to eat wurst, failed again, and ended up eating a strange sausage roll thing. It was pretty… mediocre. After dinner we got absolutely lost. It was just fantastic. We ended up at the Brandenburger Tor and then got on what we thought was the U-Bahn, ended up at the Hauptbahnhof where I decided to check out my luggage, and then ended up walking over a mile to find a U-Bahn station. About an hour and a half later we made it back here. We went out with another friend of theirs for the night and had another relaxing evening.

Things are great so far, but it is definitely a challenge. Speaking German here is so difficult, because as soon as people pick up on the fact that you are an American, they either act rude towards you or switch to English. It makes it hard to learn and hard to be confident in speaking, but hopefully this will change at school. I am looking forward to a great weekend and then Monday we head to Regensburg!

Love Ashley

What? Less than 12 hours?!

I would definitely be lying to you if I pretended that I am one of those people who never stresses over anything. You can ask anyone who knows me, because they know that whether it is deciding something as important as what Transy classes I am going to take, or as seemingly unimportant as picking out a toothpaste (I know people are always saying Crest is better. but I think Colgate has its own pros!), I stress. So you can imagine how I feel at this moment knowing that I have less than 12 hours before I will be leaving for Germany for six months. My room is an absolute disaster area of suitcases, backpacks, and clothes/shoes that just didn't make the final packing cut, and my parents are threatening me if I don't get a move on getting my stuff together. Not to mention I worked 6am-5pm today which seriously cut into my preparation time!

However, it is all coming together and I can always sleep on the plane, I suppose! The last month has actually gone pretty quickly. I finally took the LSAT and now I can breathe again (until the results on March 7!) Now it is the night before and I am feeling rather anxious. It is so exciting to think that I will have the next six months to experience something completely new, but I can't help but have a little apprehension about being thrown into a foreign country and being expected to actually survive until August. I know that everything will be fine and that there is no way that I can manage to make this experience not a positive one, but I'm still freaking out a little bit.

I am planning on staying up late-ish tonight and getting up around 5 or 6 before Dad and I head up to the airport. I have two connections before I get into Berlin around 9am (German time) Thursday. So my next update will actually be in Germany! I am so excited I can hardly stand it, but it's really unbelievable that it is already time to go.

Bis spaeter (and in Germany!)

Ashley