First Full Week in Berlin

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Hello again everyone! I apologize for the late nature of the blog, but it's been hard to find time to update. So, I have now officially finished my first full week in Berlin, and what a week it has been. Let me explain:

The Classes:
After a day of interviews, waiting around, etc., I got placed in the B1 group, which is a beginning intermediate level. This is both good and bad-let's just say I'm challenged rather than bored. I know I'm going to learn so much in the next three weeks, and I already have. At least when teachers etc. are speaking in German, I pretty much get the 'gist' of everything they're saying, even if I don't understand every word. (The different accents are still throwing me off a little around town though!) And I've already gotten better about speaking up in class and just going with the flow, even though I know I must be murdering the grammar. Ah well, hopefully that will become more automatic in time!! We haven't actually focused on that much grammar at all-only one 'new' concept this week, and I'd already learned about it at Oberlin (go Prof. Boos!). HOWEVER, we've already done a lot of speaking, interactive exercises, and we're completely immersed in German while in the classroom, no English allowed. As over half of the students are from Romania/France/Ukraine/Spain/Taiwan/Holland/Netherlands we wouldn't be able to understand each other anyway. It's SOOO much work, but I came here to learn German, and by golly that's what I'm going to do. We've already gone to a museum and gave a group presentation on an artist (our group's was Käthe Kollwitz), been assigned our first essay, and we give our first of two ten minute long oral presentations on Monday. Heinrich Zille anyone? (For those who don't know, he was a lithographer/caricaturist/photographer in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Berlin). Everyone in the class is really friendly and nice, and while I'm way behind compared to some of the students, I feel like my German is at a reasonable level for the course.

The Excursions/Outside Activities:
--Wednesday: River Boat Tour down the River Spree
This was a really fun excursion, and a great way to see most of the main sights in Berlin's city center. We all met down by the docks, and travelled via a double-decker open-top boat along the river. You could buy ice cream, beer, etc., but I just stuck with the bottled water I brought along-5 euros for one scoop of ice cream! As we meandered down there was a commentary on the things we were seeing in German, but it was so fuzzy it was too hard to understand. Occasionally, though, you would be able to hear a baby's cry or a train horn or other random background soundtrack, which everyone found rather funny. We saw the Berliner Dom, Museum Island, the Tiergarten, the Reichstag, and the oldest bridge still standing in Berlin. Travelling along, it's truly amazing to see the old/new contrast. On one side of the river, you'll pass by a beautiful Baroque piece of architecture, then you'll glance to the other side of the river and see a wall of concrete doubling as an apartment building. Overall, I would recommend this in Berlin if you're not doing a bus or walking tour-Berlin can be quite a hard city to get orientated in.
--Thursday: movie screening (One Day in Europe)
While this was grand fun, and everyone was laughing throughout, this is one weird movie. I would highly recommend it if you want to see how people get robbed or pretend to get robbed all over Europe, and how the police react to it, but not if you want to experience such minor things as character development, cohesion, or anything resembling an ending.
--Saturday: day trip to Dresden
WOW!!!!! And let me just repeat, WOW!!!! Dresden is a drop-dead gorgeous city (at least right around the center, since we firebombed the heck out of it in World War II). While this trip required waking up at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning, it was completely worth it. We all met at the uni, then drove for around two and a half hours to get to Dresden. We then went on a guided walking tour around the Zwinger and through the Altstadt. The Zwinger is a collection of Baroque buildings that was built exclusively for a wedding. It took them ten years, and they hadn't finished by the time the wedding came around, but they had it there anyway. The festivities went on for a month! There is courtyard after courtyard of Baroque beauty, though some of it has been reconstructed due to bomb and fire damage (you can tell if it's old by how black it is-they made all of the buildings out of sandstone, which blackens over time. If it's still yellow-white, then it's been rebuilt). There are fountains and water features everywhere because that was in vogue in the 1800s, and it makes for a beautiful yet relaxing scene. Now all the rooms have been converted to different museums and galleries. I got in the royal armoury (lots of ornate swords and armor-I had to put my fencing knowledge to good use somehow!), but not in the green vault (royal treasury), old master's gallery (including a collection of original Raphaels), or any of the porcelain collections. We also went through the town square and ended at the Marienkirche, which has recently become a symbol of cohesion and unity. Long seen as the people's church, all but the altar was destroyed in WW2, and while the socialist party did not remove the wreckage, rebuilding a house of worship was just not part of their plan. 😊 So, in 1990, when Germany once again unified, Dresden sent out a plea for help to rebuild their famous church, expecting to get local donations only. Instead, they received donations from all around the world as a sign of friendship, turning over a new leaf, so to speak. Today it is once again one of the most striking sights of the city, and the largest operating church in the county. After the tour we had some time to grab lunch, so a few of us went to an Italian restaurant nearby and got plenty of pasta. It was tourist prices, but thanks to my host family I've hardly had to pay for any meals, so I didn't mind. And it was excellent! I had penne pasta with tomatoes, onions, and European bacon. After lunch we toured the Semper Opera, which is beautiful on the inside, but very similar to other opera houses elsewhere. I would suggest either just seeing a show here, or spending your time elsewhere if you only have one day. Still, it was wonderful to see it, especially some of the painted ceilings!! After that we had free time, so a few of us went to the armoury and then wandered around taking pictures before WAY overheating. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking waters and sodas and desperately trying to find shade, wishing we were four years old and allowed to play in the fountains. 😊 Still, Dresden has definitely been the highlight of the trip so far for me!
--Sunday: tour of the Reichstag
This morning we all toured the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament. Apparently it is the second most visited site in all of Germany (after the cathedral in Köln), and the most visited parliamentary building in the entire world. After getting our passports checked and going through an extensive security checkpoint, we were led to the upper galleries of the parliament. A guide came over and talked to us about the history of the building and of democracy in Germany, explained their basic system of government, showed us where everyone normally sat while in session, and held a lengthy Q-A session. Pretty interesting stuff, especially since they have elections coming up at either the end of August or start of September (I can't remember which). Once that was over, we had a chance to go up inside the famous dome and get a nice aerial overview of Berlin. Between this and the river boat trip I think I finally have some idea where everything is in relation to each other! A few of us went to get some brunch in the Tiergarten and admire the Brandenburg Gate afterwards, so it was overall a very lovely way to spend Sunday morning.

Free Time:
So, what have I seen of Berlin and spent my free time doing, besides homework? Here's a super-quick recap because I know this blog is getting insanely long.
Monday: Tiergarten and outside of Berlin Zoo, get a Radler in a lakeside Biergarten. BEAUTIFUL, Berlin's version of Central Park
Tuesday: take NORMAL (not sightseeing) Bus #100 along Berlin's main streets, where all of the big tourist attractions are. It's not narrated, but you get the exact same views as a sightseeing bus without having to pay extra for it (I have a monthly transportation ticket).
Friday: wandered around Kurfürstendamm, which is their main shopping drag. Went into KaDeWe (Germany's version of Harrod's) and of course had the most fun in the toys and food departments. I mean really, who actually goes there for normal things? 😊 They had a HUGE collection of original Steiff teddy bears (for a mere two hundred euros), but some of them were truly works of art. I didn't think there were degrees of stuffed animals, but I now know that Steiff is the aristocracy of teddy bears, there really is a difference. Very nice to look at. Then I got to meet the Mowers and one of their friends for dinner on a boat moored on the river. It was soooo wonderful to connect with someone from home, because Berlin is very different and is taking some time to get used to.

Other Random Thoughts:
So, I'm having a WONDERFUL time and meeting some truly amazing people. I am so blessed to have a wonderfully caring and supportive host mother, and I'm learning so much new German. The things we have been on are very interesting and enriching, and also very fun. HOWEVER, I have to say that the cultural difference is affecting me more than I had originally thought it would. I can speak some of the language, but it can get lonely at times when people can't understand what I'm trying to say. I've never travelled alone before really, so getting places (especially at night) on public transportation still unnerves me a little bit (don't worry-I do it smartly and Berlin is one of the safest cities in all of Europe). FUBiS is a good academic program, but not a once-in-a-lifetime-WOW kind of program. Will I look back on this and be glad I did it? YES. Is it easy to integrate, love every minute of the day, and not really get homesick? No. But that's OK, studying and living abroad is supposed to be a challenge, and I'm sure the more I get used to it the more and more I'll love it. After all, it would be so boring to just stick where I'm comfortable all the time. 😊
PS: I have some pictures from Reichstag etc., but haven't uploaded them to my computer yet. I'll add a new post with just those pics later.

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