So it's been two weeks and not one, but on my watch that is pretty much the same thing. So the first weekend in Berlin, I pretty much just chilled with my host dad Gerd, who is one of the most interesting people I've met, but in a good way. The first Friday, we toured some of the old bunkers from the World War II and Cold War eras in Berlin, which were surprisingly inefficient, but anything to placate the masses I suppose. Anyway, they were really cool and we had this awesome short little Welsh guy as our tour guide. After that we went to a burrito place, which I thought would be exciting seeing as I ate burritos at least twice a week at UGA. Burritos were in fact eaten, but they made Chipotle taste good, which Samantha and I determined this summer was definitely not the case.
Anyway, so I came home and ate dinner with my host mama and then went to "Sport" with Gerd. What exactly is "Sport"? I honestly had no idea before I went....Gerd described it as gymnastics and kept telling me that if I got tired I should just take a break and sit out....which was fairly harsh coming from a 64 year old man. So I go, expecting to be participating in bars, horse, floor, balance beam etc type activities, which I have not done on the norm since I was about 10 years old. But no worries my friends, "Sport" ended up being some jogging, 80s style dance aerobics and pilates with a large group of older German teachers, who had absolutely no problem stripping and changing in the gym, which may or may not resulted in me awkwardly laughing and people staring at me. However, it was good to bond with my host dad, who thankfully kept all of his clothes on. Afterwards me and Gerd went to an Irish pub in our sweats and had what he likes to call guiness chili, thus making our 2 hours of 80s dance aerobics/pilates absolutely useless. On the plus side, the bar tender there is a sweet Irish lady who wanted to speak English with me, which is nice because my host family sticks to the whole no English thing. She told me to come back with people my own age.
Saturday me and Gerd pretty much toured the city of Berlin, something I would have to do Sunday with FU-Best anyway, but still it was decent and he liked telling me about all the history and showing off what he knew. Then we went to dinner and I had some baller curry chicken soup (btw, there are so many curry-style dishes in Germany and it makes me so happy), some salad, and russische schokolade, which I thought was maybe hot chocolate with Russian chocolate, but in actuality is hot chocolate made with vodka. That in mind, I passed out at 7:30 when we got home and once again slept the whole night. Sleep is fantastic.
Sunday was a tour of the historical district of Berlin and then that night we had a meet and greet at a bar, which was good fun. I left at 10:30-11ish, which was a great decision, which I did not make later in the week.
Monday through Wednesday was pretty much just all school stuff. I placed into intermediate 3 German, which seems like a good place and a ton less stressful than advanced :). My "Themes and Issues in Transatlantic Relations" professor seems legit, he was a former diplomat, so I feel like he'll be a lot more relaxed. "Security, Integration, and Conflict in Europe," seems interesting and the Program Director teaches it, but I literally learned nothing new in our class this past week...so hopefully that will change. My "Islam and Europe," class should be interesting...I hope. I get the feeling it will either be a great or terrible class, and no in between really. Other than the usual, routine shananigans, I managed to get lost for the first time. Count that friends: Jenn is Lost #1. I'm trying to not let that happen more than 5 times. I took the wrong bus one day, got off at a stop I thought sounded about right, had no idea where I was, decided I needed soda, and then wandered for a good 15 minutes, figured out where I was, and walked a half an hour to my s-bahn station. On the plus side, I now know the area of Lankwitz incredibly well.
Thursday we had toured an area of Berlin right off of Friedrichstr with a large Jewish presence. It was really cool and the only synagogue that survived Reichskristallnacht before getting bombed in 1943 in the war was there (an rebuilt). There are a bunch of pictures from the neighborhood on my facebook so check it. Thursday night we had our first Stammtisch, which was good fun. I had a possible Jenn is lost #2 moment, but I was saved by another guy on the program so, win! While the Stammtisch was fun, I didn't leave until like 1:30-1:45 in the morning. After trying to figure out the night bus (the u-bahn closes from 12:30ish-4am and the s-bahn until 6am) right to my house, I decided I was just going to go to this place near our school, where I could easily transfer. After taking the wrong bus with a group of people, then waiting for another bus, then deciding we might as well just wait for the u-bahn to start working, and then trying to hail a cab, I finally got to near the university at 4:30am. I made my first connection, and while walking to the bus stop for my second bus, the bus driver pulled over and told me to get on the bus. He is officially my favorite person.
Friday we went to the Chancellery, which was pretty cool in that we were at the Chancellery, but the tour itself was just so so. Friday night was the welcome dinner with our host families, at which I discovered that nearly everyone else's host parents speak English with them at least 50% of the time. After the initial jealousy wore off, I'm glad my family just speaks German to me.
More typical college weekend shanigans occurred this weekend. Ruth, Laura and I went to a club Friday night with free admission and 3 free drinks for ladies before 1, which as a poor college student I love. Saturday we went to the German History Museum and saw the "Hitler und die Deutschen" exhibit, which was interesting enough. It looked at the Third Reich from more of a societal perspective, but it was still a lot of hard history, which was not what I was expecting. At night, I got to watch the Ravens-Steelers game, which is why I love technology haha. Despite how terribly the Raven's played the entire second half, I was still happy to be able to watch the game. AND I did not punch the Steeler's fan in the face....in fact I didn't even curse at him. If you are not impressed with my civility, you should be :).
Here is to hoping to another good week! (and hopefully not another "Jenn is lost" moment)
Jenn
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