Beer Showers & Crusty Hair

So it's been awhile and I'm so sorry! These past 10 days or so have been filled with school and trying to enjoy our last two "official" program weeks of Berlin. Zermatt feels like so long ago, but I guess that is where I left off. Last Tuesday, I spent the day with Aylin, Matt's Uncle Mike's German exchange student, and I had a great time. She picked me up from my apartment after school and we went a couple of train stops to see her school. Then she took me out to eat in the Turkish neighborhood of Kreuzburg. Her dad ended up stopping by and picking me out the best meal on the menu, and picked up the tab before I could get a word in edgewise. He didn't speak a lick of English, mostly Turkish with a mix of German, but we traded multiple smiles, nods, and simple German phrases while Aylin was our translator. After dinner, her dad drove us around the city and showed us some remains of the Berlin wall. Her family lived on the West side when the wall was in place. (I have yet to meet anyone who lived in the East!) After that, he dropped us off at Potsdamer Platz, which has a mall, theater, and little cafes. We had ice cream and just hung out and talked for a couple hours. It was fun to hear about what she experienced in the US and to compare that to my experience living in Germany.

Aylin and me in front of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz

On Wednesday, we had class all day and then I just did laundry, went to the gym, and did homework. Thursday about five of us went out to a bar in downtown Berlin for the night. The bar was on a terrace above the dance floor, so Zach, Adam, and I spent the night sitting up there and laughing at everyone dancing below us, making up life stories for each of our favorite characters. Although we were having a great time, we decided that we were ready to leave around 2:30, but to our surprise, we found out that all of the trains stop running at 12:30 on weeknights. There are hardly any busses back to Wedding, so we were forced to keep ourselves awake until 4:30am, when the first train started up again! It was crazy! I didn't get home until 5 and then had to wake up for class at 6:45. Not fun. I did make it through class, just to come home on Friday and nap from 5:30-11:30pm. 6 hours! After being suddenly woken up by Zach and Adam furiously ringing my doorbell, I went downtown with a couple of them and we just walked around and ate döner for most of the night! :)

Saturday was a crazy day! I woke up around noon and began getting ready for the World Cup quarter finals Fan Mile! The Fan Mile is this huge festival put on by FIFA in Berlin where they play all the Germany games and have tents of food and beer. They have a stage and feature different artists, as well as huge TV screens to broadcast the game.

The front of the FIFA Fan Mile Berlin

Lindsay's boyfriend, Hendrick, was in town, so Hendrick, Adam, Zack, Lindsay, and I went to the beer garden around 1 and then headed to the Fan Mile for the 4pm game. When we got there, we ended up getting pretty close to the front, but the entire mile filled up quickly after. I guess the 90 degree weather didn't stop people from coming, although I wish that it had.

The view behind us at the Fan Mile

Adam, me, and Zach at the Fan Mile

Lindsay and me

Within the first 5 minutes of the game, Germany scored!!! It happened so fast that all of the Germans had yet to finish their beers, so they ended up just throwing them all in the air. They were freaking out and I was drenched in warm beer! Pretty disgusting way to start off a long game. After halftime, Lindsay and I were overheating, so we went to go take a break, get some water, and sit in the shade. As soon as we stepped to the side, Germany scored a goal and the Fan Mile went crazy! We were super bummed that we were to the side of the action, but figured there would be another when we got back. About 5 minutes later, while we were still sitting to the side, Germany scored again and we missed it! Go figure! Just our luck.. Regardless, it was kind of cool to watch the crowd go crazy from the outside.

The crowd during the second of the 2 goals we watched from the side

After we cooled down, Linds and I headed back toward the center and anxiously awaited the next goal. With about 10 minutes left in the game, Germany scored again and the crowd went CRAZY! (check out this you tube video to see what I mean...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkQJZc10rBo) In the end, Germany beat Argentina 4-0 and it was a great game and an amazing atmosphere!

Hendrick and Linday at the Fan mile
Check out the guy in the backgroud.. super happy they won!

Deutschland hat gewonnen!!

After the game, we just hung out and ate and then went downtown to the casino for the night. I didn't gamble, but just watched some of the boys play poker. One lost 150 Euro in 13 minutes. We timed him.

It was a pretty good weekend in Berlin, so I'm happy we didn't make plans to leave the city. I'll update about our 4th of July and so on tomorrow, but I am pooped tonight! School wore me out this past week, but we only have 3 more days to go! I've gotta push through.. Missing everyone lots! Love you! Auf Wiedersehen!