2nd Entry

---

Dienstag (oder fruh Mittwoch), 3.6.2008 (Tuesday, or early Wednesday, June 3rd, 2008)
So at the end of my last entry, I said I was starting to hallucinate because I was so tired. After I got off the internet, I decided to go outside and get some fresh air for a few minutes before bed. A lot of people from the hostel were drinking outside, and two people came up to me and started talking to me - a girl originally from Melbourne, Australia who now lives in Dublin, Ireland, and a guy originally from Pretoria, South Africa who now also lives in Dublin. We made some small-talk, like where we’re from, why we’re in Berlin, blah blah. Then they asked me to come play pool with them, and even though I was beyond exhausted, I thought I should take the opportunity to mingle with people. The girl explained pool rules to me and showed me how to hold the stick and all that - and it was really cool because she had a little bit of an Irish accent because she’s lived there for 5 years. Apparently pool is huge in Ireland, which I didn’t know. I actually knocked a few balls in (it must be in my blood!), and after the game we went outside to mingle some more.
Outside I met two guys from Dusseldorf, Germany who were actually Polizei (policemen, and off-duty of course, they were visiting Berlin), three guys from NYC, and a guy from Malaysia who is now a medical student in Cork, Ireland. The two Germans were really nice, and one could speak perfect english, and they bought all of us three rounds of beer. I talked to the Malaysia/Cork boy for a really long time, and he told me all about the school system and medical school in Cork - he got all A1’s, the highest grade, on his last batch of finals, so he was obviously very intelligent. And then, one of the Germans (Christopher) asked me something that I have been dreading ever since I knew I was going to Berlin - he said “I have a political question for you” (I have been preparing and going over in my head what I would say if someone asked me about my opinion on Iraq). And then of course he asked my opinion about Iraq/Bush. And I said I don’t approve of the war, and I’m not fond of the negative portrait of Americans Bush is painting with the war, etc. And I was SO relieved when Christopher said he agrees (as 99% of Europeans, probably more, do). And then he asked me, in kind of a joking tone whether I think America won or lost the Vietnam war. That was pretty funny - I thought it was common knowledge that the Vietnam war wasn’t a success in any way, shape or form - but apparently they had encountered Americans before who argued that America “won” it.
I felt so relieved to have had my first political conversation with a German go well - I was advised by my study abroad program to read about politics and prepare yourself for questions about the war, Bush, and the upcoming elections, because Germans (especially University students) are very politically-minded. When one of Christopher’s other friends came outside, he introduced me to him as a “very nice girl” - awwww! And we all talked/drank until sunrise (the sun comes up at about 4 or 4:30 in the morning here), and said goodnight (and I hugged a German person!). Then I passed out in my bed - and three girls from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were my roommates that night, but I didn’t talk to them much because we were never really in the room together besides when we were sleeping.

Mittwoch, 4.6.2008 (Wednesday, June 4th, 2008)
I woke up and checked out of the hostel at around 11, and lugged my luggage one street over to Johannisstrasse 6 for my program check-in. The staff, who are all German and extremely nice, took my luggage and I went into a room with some fellow students for the first part of my orientation. We did some paperwork and got more information that we needed, and then we had some free time until 4, when the people we would be living with would pick us up. I walked around for a little while with four other people - everyone else had just gotten there, but I had been exploring since Monday, so I led the way to the Berliner Dom. We had some ice cream and then headed back. Then we all waited nervously for our homestay people to pick us up. My host, Sylke Richter, picked me up at about 5:15, and drove me back to her apartment in her car (yes, I got to ride in a tiny German car! It was a really old one too). And Sylke is very nice, is in her 40’s, is a therapist and can speak barely any English, so I’ll be forced to speak German when she’s around, which is great. The apartment is only a 15-minute walk from where my classes are, so I won’t have to deal with public transportation. And the apartment is really nice - it has a standup shower (!!!!) that is barely any different from my shower at home - some students here only have a really little sit-down bathtub with a hand-held shower thing. And her friend, Diane, is 28 and staying here until early June when she’s going to Mongolia. She can speak pretty good English, but a lot of things I say she can’t understand, so we mainly speak German to each other too. And they have a Katze (cat), Jimmy, who is very friendly and comes into my room every once and a while to rub against things, sometimes “things” being me, haha. That’s pretty cool that I “have” an animal - I already really miss my dogs, and think about them every time I see one on the street. And my room is really big (probably the same size as my room at home), with a very comfortable bed, a TV, dresser, desk, and lots of German CD’s and books to listen to and look at! My window has flowers in it, which makes it look quite German, and my window overlooks a courtyard thing, because the apartment is set away from the street.
That night, even though I was still super tired, I stayed up until about 3 watching TV - Sex and the City, Germany’s Next Top Model, and a stand-up comedy show all about making fun of George Bush, all in German!!! I filmed little snippets of each show with my digital camera, and I’ll post them here soon so you too can bask in the glory of Television auf Deutsch.

Donnerstag, 5.6.2008 (Thursday, June 5th, 2008)
Did I mention that there’s a whole lot of ridiculously attractive guys in Berlin? Well, now you know!
Today we had another orientation-type deal. It started at 11, and we registered with the local police, since that’s a requirement here if you’re staying for more than a month (I think it’s a month?). Then we split into two groups, and my group went with Jana, a staff member, to buy our cell phones to use while here. We took the S-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, a well-known shopping area, to buy them. When we got there, there was a Scottish festival going on with people playing bagpipes and such - wouldn’t have expected to ever see that in Germany! I haven’t figured out my cell phone yet, which is kind of really frustrating, but I’ll get it working by Sunday when we go on a city bus tour and I can ask one of the staff members for help. We went for a lunch break to the Humboldt Universitat cafeteria, and I had some sort of fish/broccoli deal with noodles, rice and sauce of some sort, and was pretty tasty.
I made a few friends also. The girl I talk to the most is Laura - she was born in Colombia, moved to NYC/Long Island when she was really young, and moved to Georgia three years ago where she now goes to school (took me a while to get that straight!). But she can speak fluent Spanish, is in my German class here, and can speak some Chinese. I’m so jealous of multi-multi-language people! I also made friends with Inhae, who’s originally from Korea, and also Anna, another Laura, Sam, David, and a few others whos names I honestly can’t remember right now (but I’ll get them, it’s been a long past couple of days!). Sam told me that my last name sounds like something from the Lord of the Rings, hahahahahaha!!!! I love that so much.
Apparently I have a really thick Chicago accent - sometimes it seems like people (American people) can’t understand what I’m saying, and every time I say I’m from Chicago they make a face, like “yep, Chicago”, because I must say “Chicaaago”, haha. Also my three hostel mates on my first night here told me I had an accent that definitely ‘let them know’ I was from the midwest.
That night we had a welcome dinner at a restaurant. I had pasta, rice with some really good chicken and sauce, a selection of cheeses, vegetables, and a Heineken! Then a group of us decided to meet at 9:30 to go out, and I did just that after I went back to my apartment and freshened up. I got there kind of early, and while waiting for the others some of us walked around the corner to get beer from a stand outside - I got a gigantic bottle of Warsteiner. Oh, and by the way, it’s legal to drink pretty much ANYWHERE in Germany! When everyone got there and we left for the bar, we kept sipping our beers whilst walking on the sidewalk, crossing the street, entering the S-Bahn station, getting on the S-Bahn, and riding the S-Bahn!
James and Charlie, who are spring-semester students here (they’ve been here since March, and are leaving in three weeks), were with us the whole time, so they were like our tour guides. They know Berlin very well and know German pretty well by now too. We got to the bar, which looked typical Berlin-grungy, and had a taping of a German metal concert on TV’s all over the place. Weird Al videos were playing on one TV too, haha. We played a little introduction game, drank 2 beers (Berliner Pilsner and some Czech beer), and then headed back after about two hours. I went up to the bartender to pay my bill, and attempted to say what I drank in the past tense, which I was nervous about - and he understood me!!! I said, “Ich habe eins Berliner Pilsner und eins Czech bier getrunken, und ich will jetzt zahlen, bitte” (I had one Berliner Pilsner and one Czech beer to drink, and I want to pay now, please). I think the ‘habe’ maybe should’ve been ‘haben’ or ‘hat’, but the important part is that the guy understood me!
Before I left to meet everyone that night, I wrote a note to my hosts in German that I was going out with my new friends and what time I expected to get back - and when I got back, there was a note for me from Sylke in German (which I could completely understand!), and that made me smile. It said that she hopes I sleep well, and that I had a fun evening. And I did indeed sleep well that night.

---