My Great Weekend in Berlin

Wow, what a weekend. I had such a blast that I didn't even have time to blog yesterday. I'm not sure I'll remember to include everything, but I'll do my best. Lots of pictures.

First, yesterday (Saturday) morning, I joined the UW students at the Pergamon Museum for a tour of my favorite museum in Berlin. I hadn't been since my original trip in 2007, so I was excited to go back.

However, the tour guide, just like the one I had two years ago, talked forever about every detail about everything. Yeesh. Besides the Pergamon Altar and the Gate of Ishtar though, I am glad I got to see the Gate of Miletus since it was all covered in plastic wrap when I came last time. Check out a few pictures...

After the museum, a number of us wanted to go to the Hertha BSC season opener against Hannover 96 at the Olympiastadion. The only other soccer game I'd ever gone to in Berlin was a Hertha BSC game two years ago against Wolfsburg, so I figured it'd be the same process for buying tickets, etc. as last time.

Sure enough, we were able to walk up to the ticket window outside the Olympiastadion and purchase tickets; however, they didn't have any more of the 10,50 Euro tickets I'd bought last time. We paid 18 Euro instead. Oh well.

The game was exciting, and Hertha won 1-0 with the winning goal coming in the 83rd minute or so. I also had a liter and a half of Carlsberg beer. Carlsberg!! Why do they only serve Danish beer at a German football match?? Corporate sponsorships are ridiculous sometimes...we had fun anyway though.

After the game, I went back to Ronny's apartment and then took a bus and U-Bahn from there to meet up with my friend, Steffen, in Schöneberg. Then we met up with the rest of the crew at their apartments and then headed to Berlin's oldest beergarden, Prater Garden.

By the time we arrived, it was around 10 pm, but we were lucky enough to find a table in the outdoor beergarden--the string of lights and large trees reminded me of Disneyland actually. I had been there two years ago with some of the Euromasters students, and last year, during HIA, we went but weren't able to find a spot. So I'm glad we could enjoy some delicious German beer on tap this time and eat a bratwurst or two.

Prater closed at midnight, but since the night was still young, we met up with a few others who came out later and headed down the street to the Kulturbrauerei, which is another Berlin favorite site for bars and clubs. We had celebrated Steffen's birthday there last year and watched the Dutch-French soccer match during the 2008 Euro Cup. Good memories.

We had a few more delicious beers there, and I also had the tastiest cheeseburger I've had in a long while as well. At 2 am!! I wish I would've taken a picture of it now. It even had a mini German flag sticking out of it. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun.

After everyone left around 3 am, Steffen and I stayed to finish our last beers and just catch up by ourselves. It's been a ton of fun seeing Steffen during my trips to Europe. Last year, we got to explore all of Rome together last year, and this year, we met up back in Germany. Can't wait for more in the future!

Finally, around 4 am, we headed for our homes since we both had to wake up relatively early--him to catch a train back to Konstanz; me to meet up for lunch with some good friends. As I walked home, the night sky was already turning a lighter shade of blue, so naturally, I snapped a picture. Nice, eh?

After a few hours of sleep and a nice shower this morning, I headed out and hopped on a bus towards my friends' place. Funny story--the bus driver who picked me up was the same one who dropped me off just a few hours earlier.

I had a lot of fun catching up with Kerstin, Holger, Aaron, and Joshua--and even got to meet their neighbors! Before I left Seattle, I saw an action figure of Barack Obama and thought Kerstin and Holger might like it, so I got it for them and stuffed Husky dogs for Aaron and Joshua. I think they enjoyed them very much.

Kerstin has often written to me in German to help me practice, for which I am very grateful. So today, she spoke to me mainly in German, so I had a bit of a challenge carrying on a longer conversation without speaking English. All turned out well though as we ate pancakes (yes, they were delicious), and my German listening/understanding got better. It's always great to see them again and spend a few hours together.

My plan after that though was to head to the student apartments and see if anyone wanted to join me for my stroll through Berlin. Only Robert had responded by email, so I figured I'd swing by and knock on a few doors. Although everyone had lots of blogs, postcards, and assignments to write, I was able to convince Amy, Anna, Fan, Elroy, and Trang to join us as well.

We took the U8 to Alexanderplatz and then, after I ate some chicken nuggets because I was starving (others had döners and potato wedges), we walked towards the World Clock in Alexanderplatz and then from there toward Unter den Linden.

Since I hadn't taken many pictures with my penguin or with my face-on-a-stick, I employed the help of our group and managed to get a number of pictures. 'Twas fun, I'd say.

We took pictures by the World Clock, the TV Tower, Poseidon fountain, in Nikolai Quarter, near the Berliner Dom, and eventually on the space where the Palace of the Republic used to be--it's now just grass, which is incredible since I saw it go from being a building skeleton two years ago to a large open square of grass now.

After chilling on the grass for a while, everyone but me and Robert headed back to the apartments. I was determined to get a few more pictures with the penguin and the face-on-a-stick by the Brandenburg Gate, so we hopped on a bus down Unter den Linden. One new thing I noticed is the top of the Berliner Dom has been mended, so it now looks complete. Except I thought it looked better without a shiny gold top...like in my old pictures of the Berliner Dom. This angle's not bad though.

There was a bunch of construction guys setting up a stage or something near the gate, and it seemed like there'd be a concert soon. I managed to snap a few shots around the area though.

After I decided to call it a night for the picture taking, Robert and I headed for Hackescher Markt for my favorite Döner place. Deeeeeeeelicious! I want another one right now actually...should've taken a picture. Sorry, forgot.

Finally, we headed back to the apartments. Originally, I had planned to go to Bar 25, a seemingly hip (or so I've heard) bar across the water. But everyone seemed busy with their homework and pretty tired out from the night before, so Elroy, Robert, and I decided to just go buy beer at the corner market and head back to their apartment for a mini-party. We invited others to join us as well, and soon enough, we had a nice little get-together.

I had already taken a bit of nap at Robert and Elroy's that evening, although on accident...so I decided to head home a bit earlier than I normally would've and crash since I am flying out to Athens in the morning. I got home around 11 pm and, after brushing my teeth, started blogging. I finally finished this long blog and also just finished watching the Mariners beat Tampa Bay handily by a score of 11-2. Thank goodness for live streaming sports. : )

In less than 12 hours, I will be leaving Berlin and flying to Athens. I am quite sad to be leaving this beautiful city and also because I have to leave behind a new group of friends with whom I thoroughly enjoyed spending time at our various events and activities. I know they will enjoy the rest of their time in Berlin though. As always, I intend on returning at some point, perhaps sooner than later. We shall see.

For now, it's time for bed since I still need to do a bit of packing tomorrow morning. The next time I blog again, I will probably be in my apartment in Athens, staring out my window at the Acropolis in the sunset. Sounds heavenly, doesn't it? Let's hope it is.

Farewell (for now) from Berlin,

Sam

Museum Visit Yesterday, Museum Visit Tomorrow, and Fun Stuff In Between...

I did it. I took a picture of my döner. The one I had after I last blogged. Deeeeeeeeeelicious!

In fact, so delicious...a bird wanted some too. So I fed it crumbs.

Well, I was on my way to meet the students in the Honors Berlin program for a tour of the Jewish Museum, which I had still not visited in my two previous trips to Berlin. As I walked, I saw a basketball court, but of course, there were soccer goals at each end. Two boys were playing there, and they were playing soccer on the court. I was disappointed they weren't shooting hoops. haha.

The Museum was pretty neat though, although the tour guide talked on and on and on. My goodness, man! I had to leave immediately after the tour since I had a dinner in southwest Berlin to get to, but I hope to go back sometime and just explore on my own.

Dinner last night was great though. I spent the evening with a family introduced to me by another friend, and we had a great conversation about all sorts of things, including their recent trip to Oregon and their son's hopes to study for one year of high school in either the US or New Zealand. Where would you choose?

The food was delicious--we had Indian curry! Meeting people is part of what I love about international travel, and especially when you get a glimpse of their daily lives. Anyway, I had a great time, and I made it home just after midnight. Still I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the full moon. (The light in the middle--the other one is a street lamp).

Well, this morning, I woke up around 9:30 am and planned out my goals for the day--visit the Hertie School of Governance (potential graduate school for me), have lunch with Manuela and Ronny (both from Humboldt and good friends--I'll explain another day), and then meet up with whoever would like to grab food or a drink.

Instead, I got out late, so I went straight to lunch with Manuela and Ronny near the Humboldt campus, and I remembered that I needed to take more pictures with my stuffed penguin--Fredolyn and I got penguins so we could take them around the world to take pictures with.

Someone inside saw me and laughed. Jerk.

Oh well, lunch was fun. We all spoke in German at one point in the conversation (well, I mostly sat and listened but I understood at least 90% of the conversation, so that was good). I said a few words here and there in German, then back to English.

After lunch, we went up to one of the professors' offices where Manuela works. Nice view of the Neue Wache.

In the office though, I saw a hilarious puppet that I wanted to take a picture of. Awesome, eh?? It's name is Ginger.

Since I didn't make it to the Hertie School before lunch, I headed there after and snapped a few more pictures of familiar places along the way. I have taken considerably less pictures in Berlin each time I come back, because it'd feel the same way I feel when I take pictures in Seattle. I'm trying to take more though so I can document my trip. Greece will be a different story; not to worry.

Once I got to the Hertie School, I went to the receptionist and basically asked if she had any info for a prospective student. Turns out they are pretty quiet during the summer, so no one was around. Plus all my friends who graduated from Hertie were not around either.

The receptionist was extremely nice though and made a few calls to see if anyone could show me around. When it became clear that people's schedules were busy and since I hadn't made an appointment, she basically put up her away sign and said, "Let's go, I'll show you around." Talk about great first impressions of the school.

They recently moved to their new offices in the few years, so it's a nice place. I took a few pictures.

I eventually even got to meet up with the recruitment officer, who gave me another extended tour and then challenged me to a game of Foosball, which he barely beat me by one goal. I also got to meet up with the Career Services advisor, and we had a great conversation about what I see for my own future, both academically and professionally. Still working on that...but he thinks there's plenty of great opportunities internationally.

Two hours after walking in with no appointment and a simple idea of just touring the building, I left with a number of contacts, plenty of helpful information, and a great feeling about the institution itself after such a warm reception.

Anyway, the rest of the night was mostly running quick errands (Fredolyn, I have your flag!), and then meeting up with the others for drinks and a bit of a bar outing. I took another penguin picture on my way.

Then I ran into a few of the Honors Program folks near Alexanderplatz, and they kindly helped me out with another first I'm trying on this trip--one of my high school teachers' face-on-a-stick idea. She took a goofy picture of herself (she's a phenomenal teacher and person) and sent one to me on a stick so I could "take her around the world." I have to admit, I haven't been able to do it quite yet on my own in Berlin--I'm waiting for some help from others, but don't worry, D-Ro, I will get there. Muhammed helped me out this time. :)

I headed to the students' apartments and met up with a few before heading to Kottbusser Tor for dinner at my favorite burger place in Berlin. I even got a "Turkish Sprite" to go along with my two burgers and fries with mayo and ketchup. I was stuffed! Not a bad deal either--only 5 Euro.

After a short break at home (dropped off my backpack with all my Hertie brochures), I headed out to the apartments again to meet up with a few friends to hit up a beach bar nearby.

Berliners don't usually party till late at night, so we were a bit early. But we had a few drinks before we left, and soon enough, it was dark enough and a decent time to head out.

The bar was called Kiki Blofeld and was on the bank of the Spree River. It was pretty fun. Plus I got to use my night scene function on my camera. I have enjoyed getting to know most of the folks in the Berlin program, although I'm still struggling to remember everyone's names. Getting there slowly...it'll be sad to leave when I fly to Athens as I've enjoyed my time with them very much. If only I had Hermione's Time Turner, so I could be in Athens and Berlin at the same time...

Anyway, I finally headed home around 1:15 am and got back in just 15 minutes. Record time, I think! Thank goodness for U-Bahns and busses.

Tomorrow is another packed day, so it's time for bed. But I'm going to join the group at the Pergamon Museum (my favorite in Berlin) and then head to the Hertha BSC season opener against Hannover (hopefully, we will get tickets...keeping my fingers crossed). Then tomorrow night, Prater Beergarden with my buddy, Steffen, and anyone else who wants to come!

Steffen, who visited me in Rome last August, is in Berlin from the University of Konstanz again, and so for the second summer in a row, I will get to hang out with my good friend from HIA.

Ok, bed time. Sorry for the long post. Hope you enjoy it. Gute Nacht!

Sam

Berlin Again

Well, hello.

I arrived in Berlin almost 24 hours ago after nearly 24 hours of travel due to a 3 hour delay in Toronto when lightning strikes pretty much shut down the airport.

The delay caused me to miss my Frankfurt to Berlin connection, so Air Canada (thankfully) rebooked me for a later flight to Berlin...only to leave my luggage in Frankfurt.

Oh well...they just delivered it to me a few minutes ago, so now I have all my stuff again.

I'm starving for a döner, so I'll keep this post fairly short. Besides, I don't have much to update on at the moment.

If you're wondering why I'm in Berlin again, I'm just here to visit a few friends, join some excursions with the UW Honors Program, and connect with a few folks for my Fulbright Scholarship application and potential graduate school application to the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

It's also been nice to practice my German. I'm quite rusty after not taking it for six months, but it's coming back quickly. In fact, I tried asking a question in English at the airport info desk, and the lady couldn't understand me. So I thought, "Screw it, I'll just ask in German and hope I get it right."

Whatever I said, it worked. : )

Ok, a few pictures before I leave for the day.

The travel agent in Toronto printed off all flights from Frankfurt to Berlin for me and basically said, "Here, take your pick." Thankfully, I got the first one right after I got to Frankfurt.

I wasn't the only one stranded either. So that was mildly comforting.

I hopped on the U-Bahn to get to my friend's apartment and thought to myself, "When is Seattle's light-rail going to post times of when the next train is arriving?" Seriously.

Last night, I joined the Honors program for dinner. 'Twas nice to see everyone. Surprisingly, I stayed awake the whole time and even enjoyed a nice tall glass of beer. Yummm. Oh, this picture I snapped on my way there.

Then, there's my nice room where I'm staying. My first German TA at the UW was from Berlin and basically said, "Hey, if you ever come to Berlin, you've got a place to stay." I am so grateful. Ronny rocks.

I am heading to the Jewish Museum this afternoon. Finally! After two trips to Berlin, I never saw it. Now I will!

Then later tonight, I'm having dinner with a family who are friends of one of my aunt's friend who now also happens to my friend. Confusing? : ) Should be fun.

Alright, I'm very hungry now. So I'm off in search of a nice, tasty döner. If I'm not embarrassed enough, I may even take a picture of it for you later.

Tscüss!

Sam

P.S. I am wayyyy behind on email. I caught up on about a dozen this morning but still a ton to follow up on. Sucks. Don't email me unless it's something nice or interesting. :P

Weekend Adventures in Canada

Summer equals travel time. I am in Canada! Woo!

Actually, Brukab, Fredolyn, Manmeet, Joanna, and I are in Canada. We drove up to Vancouver, BC, for the weekend just for fun.

We drove up first to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I hadn't been there since about first grade so it had been at least 15 years since my last time there. Thinking about that made me feel very old...

It was fun to walk around the park though and climb up the little suspensions above the trees.

After Capilano, we headed to our hotel in Burnaby. It's pretty awesome!

We headed to dinner across the street at the mall where I ate Japanese food that was way too expensive and also got some yummy curry and chicken.

My sister had been planning for a while to go watch Les Miserables since it's playing in Vancouver, so she got a ticket to go watch. I went and bought myself swimming trunks for $5 at Old Navy so we could go swimming!

Anyway, we'll go pick up Joanna soon and then head out to explore the town a bit. We want to go check out the night market in Richmond, which is supposed to be pretty neat.

Tomorrow, we're heading to the Vancouver Art Gallery where there is a current exhibit on Dutch art including Vermeer and Rembrandt. Can't wait! Should be fun. Then we'll probably check out the latest on Olympic Village downtown and maybe walk around Stanley Park a bit before grabbing food in Richmond and then heading home.

What a nice weekend after a hard week of work. : ) Toodles.