Artsy

If you haven't gotten sick of my blog posts and want to read more about Berlin, here's the link to my roommate's blog. (we're only almost the same person, no worries).

http://rebeccably.blogspot.de/

Life Points

Okay, so I’m basically going to update you for the past week…disclaimer: this post might be a little lengthy, but hey—my life is awesome! How am I supposed to shorten it? haha :)

I’m also going to create a list of things I’ve learned about Berlin/Germany/Germans and will put them sporadically throughout my posts. Just a heads up.

Things I’ve learned about Berlin #1:

U-Bahns are great but sketchy places—especially at night. Becca and I saw a drug deal go down on our U-Bahn.

The weather here has been beautiful! It rained this weekend, but it was still nice. Okay, REVERSE!

Wednesday: First day of my 4.5 hour long German class at the Goethe Institute. It was way too easy, so I’ve since then moved up to the next level, but the Goethe Institute is really an international university. I’ve met people from France, Poland, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Venezuela, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, England, Sweden, and Israel to name a few. I’ve only met one other American who wasn’t with our BYU group. So that was pretty cool! It’s really neat to hear others speak German with their accents (even though it’s really hard to understand them sometimes). Becca, Kristen, Katelyn, and I after class stumbled upon this beautiful graveyard. 

And then we found this old church and sat in the rafters. It was gorgeous! 

 

Thursday: My new German class is much better. Still not difficult, but much better. I think that us as BYU students who have had German instruction for a while have the grammar (pretty much) nailed down. I mean, I’m not even close to perfect, but I’ve pretty much learned all the grammar concepts. My struggle is with vocabulary and being able to speak and discuss (not small talk). So maybe that’s why the class feels a little slow sometimes when we’re reviewing grammar concepts. But I do learn lots of vocabulary, which is good. After our German class, we had our Art and Architecture of Berlin class. We went to the Neues Museum. It's on a Museum Island! Here are some of the neighboring buildings.

Post-modern architecture (my favorite—Hundertwasserhaus in Wien, anyone?! Look it up)! The whole city of Berlin’s very post-modern, too. The Neues Museum has the bust of Nefertiti! There’s security guarding it all the time, you can’t talk in that room, and you most definitely cannot take pictures. So no pictures of that L The museum also has a bunch of Egyptian art and artifacts and sarcophaguses!

Someone had fun in the gift shop :)

If I were Egypt, I’d be like, “Hey! Give us all our stuff back!” We had institute as well. I stayed in the class taught in German—Isaiah. I can’t even understand Isaiah in English, so that was fun! (But really, it was). We got dinner for 1 Euro! Bargain!

Things I’ve learned about Berlin #2:

I’m always hungry, always thirsty, and always have to use the bathroom. Also, Apfelschorle might be my favorite drink ever.

Friday: Each day feels like a week long! But a good week-long day J In my class, we listened to this “rap,” but it was quite possibly the most horrid thing I’ve ever heard in my life. “Hey, du, wie war dein Hamburg-Trip?” (Hey, you, how was your Hamburg trip?) and the guy starts talking about his trip, but he doesn’t know the past tense, so he needs help. He says a verb like “ankommen” and the girl responds with the past participle “angekommen” and then the guy says “an, an, an, an, angekommen!” Basically, the guy went to Hamburg, got wasted at a bar, passed out, woke up, and all his money was gone. Great song, right? Haha Anyway. For lunch, Becca, Kristen, Katelyn, Colter, and I all went and got Currywurst and Pommes! J We all went home for some “me time” as I dubbed it, so that was enjoyable. But we discovered that in our shower, there’s a window that you can TOTALLY see in and out of. The Germans really need a word for “awkward” because “peinlich” and “komisch” just don’t mean the same thing. So showering is quite the adventure. Everything’s an adventure! We were going to go to an opera—Die Zauberfloete—but even with the student discount, it was still 50 Euros, so we temporarily postponed that excursion. So instead, Colter, Katelyn, Kristen, Becca, and I (The Fantastic 5 is how I’ll refer to us from now on) went to this salsa dancing party under a bridge! It was “sup totes” fun in the words of Becca. 

Kristen and Colter received life points for running through the fountain. 

Saturday: Berlin Zoo! I was here 17 years ago (wow, that’s weird to say) but I obviously don’t really remember that too well. Becca started tearing up (with happiness) when she saw the elephants just because she loves them so much! I brought tissues, so we’re all good. As far as life points go, this elephant is winning: 

He’s got talent. So here are some pictures from the zoo: 

Now, we really want to go to the AquaDom because Erdtiere (if that’s even a word? haha) land animals are cool but sea life is even cooler! I had to cave and pay to use the bathroom, so that goal failed. But it was 30 cents, so whatever. Becca and I came home for a little while, had lunch, napped, did homework, and went to leave, but alas, we were locked in. Yes, locked INSIDE our apartment. It’s happened once before, actually. I just didn’t write about it. So I called our host mom, Petra, and got to use one of the words I learned on Friday—“eingeschlossen” (locked in). Colter and Kristen said we’d get life points if we kicked down the door or jumped out the window…sadly, as we are on the 3^rd floor (according to American standards, not German) we didn’t want to take our chances and jump off our balcony…after we were rescued by our host mom, the Fantastic 5 went out to dinner and had Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln! Oh, I also bought a Ritter Sport bar the other day—Karamell Nuss. It turned out to be INCREDIBLY delicious. J Adventure that’s going to occur sometime soon: Ritter Sport chocolate factory. YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN CHOCOLATE BAR! Colter made one that had banana and cornflakes and something else, and he was kind enough to let us try it: HEAVENLY! So I’m excited to do that :)

Things I’ve learned about Berlin #3:

Beer is an acceptable drink at any time of the day. Even Breakfast.

Sunday (today): Becca and I left for church. We have to take the U-Bahn and the bus to get there. You’d think from the looks that people gave us that they’ve never seen two girls wearing dresses on a Sunday. So many stares! Maybe they were just jealous of our vibrant youth J So we got off the U-Bahn, and I saw all these words on the screen that usually lists the buses and the times. Feeling at that moment: dread. I saw the words “außer Betrieb” meaning out of order. There was some sporting event. So we took another U-Bahn line to get as close as we could. I’m horrible at reading maps and sometimes I forget that some people can actually read them (aka Becca) and get frustrated with people (aka me) that always doubt and second-guess the direction the map reader (aka Becca) leads the lost (aka me). But we got there by ourselves (10 life points). Along the way, we ran into Colter and Brett and crossed (well…jaywalked) this big street to get to the church building (10 more life points). The elephant’s still winning.

Also, we gave (finally) our host family the gifts we brought them. They left a little note for us on the table that I just love: 

They’re so cute!

Okay, sorry for so many words! If you made it to the end of this post, 2 life points for you! (If you’re curious about life points, Becca’s going to author a philosophical book about them one day, mainly addressing the question, “If I’m about to die, can I exchange 1,000 life points in order to stay alive?” Coming soon to bookstores near you).

Es ist mir Wurst!

Okay! Finally got internet access...we don't have it at our host's house, so we'll have to use it while at the Goethe Institute or at a friend's apartment.

Sunday: Flew to London. Heathrow airport--nonsensical. We got off the plane, walked down 3 levels, had to take the transit to all the connecting flights, then took a massive elevator, THEN had to go through security again (I still don't understand why), and then you're at the terminal. BUT the gate for your flight isn't posted on the screen until 40 minutes before your flight leaves, and you might have to take the transit to a different terminal, which could take up to 20 minutes. So that's not stressful...but all went well.

I'm loving Berlin! It's gorgeous.

Our apartment is so cute! There's a balcony by our room, which is fantastic:

Monday (which I can't believe was only yesterday): We are discovering the wonderful U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and Bus system here. They're awesome! Though my hands feel super grimy afterward. Becca and I went to the Goethe Institute and took our test/interview to see which class level we belong in. But first, we got lost after coming out of the Bahnhof. We had a map but had no idea which direction was North. So that was fun! (it really was, actually). My interviewer, Heidi, was really friendly, and I understood almost everything she said to me (there were just one or two phrases that I had to ask her to clarify).

Kristen, Katelyn, Becca, and I went to the Brandenburger Tor--so cool! And Unter den Linden. And the Reichstag. And the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. We got asked to be on this German TV show to discuss politics for 45 minutes--I don't even think I could discuss politics in English!

Unter den Linden is gorgeous! A camera can't really capture what it feels like to walk along that street, but here's an attempt:

For lunch, we had Döners--an oh-so-delicious Turkish food. Döner macht schöner! We had FHE at Institute, where we were fed delicious (and free) food! And we played volleyball for a while, which was really just so much fun. We're probably the next Olympic team, no big deal or anything ;)

We went back to the Brandenburger Tor at night, which is really beautiful, both day and night. We came right up out of the U-Bahn stairs, and the Tor is RIGHT THERE!

We went to the Holocaust memorial, which turns out to be really creepy at night. These tall, cement slabs, some up to 15 feet tall, narrow passageways, uneven cobblestone floors...kind of eerie...

Tuesday (today): May Day! Wow! The days really seem so much longer--maybe that has a little to do with jet lag, but I really don't feel jet-lagged very much, thank goodness. Katelyn, Kristen, Becca, Colter, and I went to the abandoned/old airport and had a picnic/hippie/indie fest with a bunch of other people from our program. We wore dresses (well, not Colter. He wore this creepy/interesting shirt that had a female's face on it), made flower crowns, ate lunch, etc.

Afterward, we went to our professor's apartment for lunch and information about our Art and Architecture class. We wanted to go see the Avengers afterward, (yes, it's already been out in Germany for a week!) but it cost 13 Euros--about $20! So that didn't happen. So we went to Potsdamer Platz and saw remains of the Berlin Wall and the line through the city of where the wall was. So we explored the area a bit.

We had ice cream! My first Eis in Germany this trip: 2 scoops of Waldmeister. What does Waldmeister taste like, you ask? Well, how would you describe chocolate? or vanilla? It's really it's own flavor, but it's so delicious! It's kind of bitter, I guess, but not really. Just trust me. It's delicious.

Kristen, Katelyn, Becca and I got together and had our own homemade dinner and hung out, relaxing before school starts tomorrow.

We've used public transportation so much and have walked so much in the past 2 days, it's pretty awesome. Though my U-Bahn/S-Bahn map is seriously deteriorating, and it's only been 2 days!

As for the title of this post, it's a new phrase I learned today. I already knew "Es ist mir egal," which means, it doesn't matter/I don't care. And "Es ist mir Wurst" means the same thing, but I just love that idiomatic expression!

Okay, I'll end this post now. But just so you know, I could seriously keep writing and writing about the things we've done and seen and noticed so far, and still not cover everything. (very cliche, I know. I'm ashamed. But it's true)!

goodbye, camry

18 hours until I leave for the airport!! I still have trouble comprehending the fact that by this time tomorrow, I'll be in Berlin! And I'll be in Europe for 3 months. I won't be back home until August!

And by the time I come back in August, my first car (well, my parents', but the first car I ever had the pleasure of driving), will be gone. Retired. After 20 years. It's been through a lot:

Now, contain your jealousy. It's a looker. (Maybe for different reasons, but still)! Goodbye, ghetto-multi-colored-and-über-quirky-yet-reliable camry! You will be missed greatly.

As for packing, I'm pretty much finished...pretty much ;)

unpacking...so I can pack?

Well, the time has come to do two of things I detest: unpacking and packing. This is what my room looks like during this process: 

A disaster zone. Disclaimer: my room only looks like this right after I come back from Utah. So I have a very specific pathway to my bed and closet and that's about it...

So that's my task for the next 2 days. Wooh!

This morning, I went to get my hair cut shorter for while I'm in Europe and decided to do locks of love!

 Now I feel like I'm bald! But I really like it--and my thick hair did give the hair dresser a good bicep/tricep workout. :) And it was a free haircut!

U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Everybody-Bahn!

So I e-mailed my host mom today about when I'll be arriving at her house on Sunday. In order to determine that, I had to research the U-Bahn/S-Bahn (subway/train) system in Berlin:

By the end of June, I should have this memorized. Well, at least the stops that I'll be using frequently. I hope. :)

Tomorrow, I'm going shopping for some things that I need to get before I go. I'm not a fan of shopping, but I have to do it!

I'm still living out of my suitcase from arriving around 2 AM on Saturday morning, staying at my grandparents' house, and then just today, moving back to my house. Though I'll only be kind of unpacking as I repack for Berlin. Thankfully, I'll get to unpack for real while I live in Germany! Because I don't enjoy living out of a suitcase...

But I do enjoy spending time with friends! And since none of my friends from high school are finished their semesters this early, I spend time with my little toddler friends!

They're just the cutest! :)

And I'm going to see two more of my little toddler friends tomorrow! (After I force myself to do some shopping). 

Ich freue mich schon Berlin (und Wien) kennenzulernen!

I'm really going!

At church yesterday (and at Rustin today), I kept getting asked when I was leaving for Germany, to which I responded with, "...Saturday. I'm leaving on Saturday." It doesn't seem real! I can't seem to quite grasp the idea of being in Europe until August. Just to think, "Oh, on Monday I need to stop by the Goethe Institute and take my oral exam. Then I'll swing by my professor's apartment and then go to institute--ALL IN BERLIN!" No big deal or anything, right?

I'm so glad to have this opportunity to go to Germany and study--I'm so blessed! Ich kann es kaum erwarten!