What an adventure...

The view from my window when we got home this morning.

What a day! It is currently 4am. The moon is out, and the sun is rising. Did you know there’s only about 3 hours of darkness in Germany? It doesn’t get pitch dark until around 12:30am. We just got home about 20 minutes ago and I just couldn’t attempt to go to sleep without writing everything down that I can remember from the day. When we landed in Berlin, all 6 of us quickly went through passport control and went to meet our advisors. We were all in separate houses in this apartment complex, so my roommate Lindsay and I were driven by our new friend, and TU Berlin student, Benny, to our house. He specifically brought his “big car,” I think a Toyota Prius or something, as opposed to his regular ride of a 2-seater Smart Car so that we could fit our bags. Even his big car could fit in the trunk of my Jeep at home. The ride from the airport to the house was about 15 minutes, and we talked about school and things to see in Berlin.

When we got to our apartment, Lindsay and I were shocked at how big it was. We have a double, which has two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Our room is also a handicapped room, so although we have to crouch down just to open the door and use our fridge, we also could have a dance party in our bathroom.

My room

After we unpacked and were just trying to figure out what to do, we got a knock on our door from Benny and two other UM students, Colin and Ben. We met up with a couple others and walked around our neighborhood of Wedding (said like Vedding) and ate a traditional German dönner. Then Lindsay and I bought some towels and household stuff for our room at a Target-like (not quite) store on the main street in our neighborhood. After that, a small group of us was taken to the main train station in Berlin and we walked around the central downtown and sat by the river people watching. We saw the parliament building and a bunch of sweet museums. Berlin is such a neat mix of modern and traditional architecture, perfectly blended together. We’re planning on going back during the week.

After our quick tour, we went back and met up with all the rest of the UM Students who were all finally in one place. We got our local cell phones and set up texting and calling amongst each other. After that, Lindsay and I went to an Internet café about a block away from our building. I finally got to email my Mom and Skype with Matt for a few. They were so worried because I have no phone or internet, and had no way of getting a hold of me. Matt’s working hard at studying for finals, but it was still great to talk to him for a little bit. Everything here reminds me of him, I know he would just love it! After a quick Internet session, we went looking for some good German beer and found some at a little hole in the wall convenience store. After clinking to a fantastic trip, Lindsay and I headed back to the room to get ready for the night.

Our advisor decided to take us out for a night of dancing and drinks. I guess nobody shows up to clubs until at least 12:30am, probably because it’s still light out then, so we just hung out in front of the train station talking and laughing. About an hour into our conversations, Benny was like “Oh ya! I forgot to tell you that there is the Berlin Wall!” We were all like "WHAT!??!?" Sure enough, about 100 yards away there was the largest remaining piece of the wall that divided east and west Berlin for years. How could he just forget to mention that!? We didn’t get to go much closer because it was across a highway, but it was still a ridiculous moment. After that, we went into this old train station, which has been turned into a dance club. There were three floors, and majority of the music was American. We all danced around in a circle and were just messing around, which I guess really upset the Germans. Apparently, Americans dance much more obnoxiously than they do as we were jumping all over the floor. Well, regardless we had a great time until some angry German girls started pulling on Lindsay and I’s ponytails. I guess that meant it was time to go.

My roommate Lindsay and I

A great first night though. SO much more to come. We are meeting for breakfast in approximately 6 hours, so I best be getting to bed. We’re headed to the beach tomorrow, because almost all the shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays. We start school Monday, with a German class at the Berlin Zoo. How cool is that? Until next time, I miss and love you all!! Auf Wiedersehen!