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Published: September 4th 2005
So I finally made it to Berlin. I am still jetlagged a bit but things have been amazing here! I got in on Tuesday pretty much on time. The flight was ok. The plane was remarkably crowded for an international flight. I mean, there were a lot of people, but the plane itself -- the seats, aisles, etc were very tight. It was a bit uncomfortable. Luckily, waiting at the airport I managed to find some of the other program members (including Peter, the guy who knows Megan! I feel really bad for him -- he is from New Orleans! Luckily he and his family and neighborhood are ok, but his city is essentially not there anymore! It is really sad. I have not been able to find out much because all my newssources are in german, but I have been able to figure out enough that it is very bad. It is all over the German papers) The lady that I sat next to on the flight was really nice and friendly. She talked a bit much, but she was still interesting. She works for Phillips Electronics and was going to Berlin for a conference.
I got picked up at the airport by a lady that I know through my church in the states. She drove me to her apartment, which was very nice and cozy. I had a German breakfast (which seems universally to be a soft-boiled egg, rolls with cold-cuts and jam -- I have had breakfast at her place, the hotel, and with my host family and it is always that.) We talked a little bit and she gave me the information about an American church in Berlin. I would have liked to do some more talking or hanging out that day but I really did not sleep much at all on the airplane and just napped for a little in the afternoon. I know that I should not have, but I could not really keep myself awake at all. She drove me over to the hotel, where I checked in and met my hotel roomate (Dave -- he is from New Mexico and is pretty darn funny). We all went out to a restaurant for dinner and I had Zugeunerschniztel (´which is 'schnitzel', some sort of meat, with cucumbers and sauce and was really good.) I got to know some of the people in the program very well. There are two girls from manhattan who are hilarious together. Dave is pretty cool. His highschool seems to have been almost all Mormons and he has lots of funny (though a little insensitive, perhaps) stories about them (he basically thinks that they are all crazy). There are a lot more girls in the program than guys, which is interesting, but all the guys are cool, so we get along. Oh, and there is one student from Drew university who is a 47 year old lady! She is a german major, going back to school! Very interesting.
After dinner, a bunch of us decided to go out. We went to basically a cafe and all had drinks. I will say that they have very good beer and alcohol here in Germany. They also have it in copious quantities! I bought one beer and the glass they served it in was probably 2 pints! We all just hung out that night and then some other people went on to go out, but I was really tired and dropped by a cyber cafe to email you and my family before going to bed. Thursday was all boring paperwork mostly, though we did visit the university and see a little of the city. Then in the evening, we all went out to eat. I ate at an AMAZING indian restaurant and then we met up at another cafe. It is interesting how, although the group was all over the city, we managed to keep running into them. It ended up that 16 out of the 20 kids in the program went to this bar in east berlin called 8mm (its funny, thez have 8mm film all over the walls, along with pictures of 8mm guns and a projector showing 8mm videos...its pretty clever) There we ran into some MORE americans studying in Berlin and some italians (who were very cool, though apparently rather interested more in the girls in our group.....be careful over ther!) Unfortunately, the transporttion system closes down around 1 and we were out until 2, so we all piled into a taxi and went home. Some people just decided to stay out until 4, when everything opens up again.
I was pretty tired for yesterda, but I enjoyed the bus tour of the city. Berlin is a fascinating place. There are 3.5 million people here, but it does not feel like a big city. Most of it fairly low buildings and relatively wide streets with lots of sidewalk room and shops and trees. There are almost no skyscrapers to speak of. Most buildings are not more than 8 stories tall. It is also very clean. Amazinglz clean. The public transportation is AMAZING. you are pretty much guaranteed to not have to wait more than 2 or three minutes for a subway or train and you can go almost anywhere! Traffic is pretty bad, anyways though. It is not a city for driving in. The cars are pretty amaying. SMART cars are so cute! They also have more porches and lamborghiniäs than I have ever seen. It is also really evident how the wall is still to be felt. West berlin is very nice and built up and all while East berlin is basically one giant construction zone. There are probably 30 to 40 of those giant building cranes in the city that are building it up. East Berlin is still a little ghetto in places too. It is a fascinating city.
After the tour, we met our host families for dinner and then went home with them. (It is funny how some german stereotypes are so true. Germans love order and knowing what is going on and having everything planned out. There was a mini-scandal at the dinner because it was not made clear who was supposed to get food from the buffet in which order. In America, no one would have cared, but it seemed that all the germans were semi-indignant at having so little organization.) My host family is awesome. They are probably late 40s, though still quite active. My host mom works for a university here as the foreign studies advisor and the dad is a retired atorney for another universtity. Their son just moved out two years ago, so they have an extra room and want to keep the apartment actvie so they take in american students in this program!
My internet acces is pretty good now for emails and comments, though when I get my laptop, it will be a lot better. I hope that everything is going well at home!
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Mom
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Hi Christopher! I signed up for an account on Travel Blog so I can send response comments and emails directly to you. So this is a test to see if it works! Love Mom