Snow in Berlin

I have lived in California for the majority of my life- a place that does not snow.  As you can imagine I didn't know how to dress accordingly or know how to mentally handle to the cold that I had experienced in Berlin.  There were times when I was shivering and complaining about my red hands and nose that people around me in my program would just comment, "Oh yeah! You are from California!" I would try to smile back, but it didn't seem worth it- I was freezing.

The Wednesday of finals week, the weather changed.  It was snowing!  Although I had been up for hours the evening before, I couldn't stop smiling.  I was even getting strange looks from strangers on my way to school.  As I walked, I kept my hands out trying to catch every last snowflake that fell my way.  Each step produced a slosh sound along with discomfort as I realized my leather boots probably wouldn't hold me up if I decided to run.

Even though I had exams, there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel.  When I got to school there were about ten other people from my program dancing around outside- all California kids!! Of course I joined in :)


I attempted to take a picture of the snowfall, but since it was so light it couldn't effectively be captured in a photo...

Washing

These are the washing machines I have to deal with in the apartments.  Each wash load costs 3.50 Euros. You can get a gage of its small size if you compare the regular sized laundry soap with the washer’s opening.  In order to even get to the laundry room, you have to walk through three dungeon-like hallways. As you can imagine, I try to wash my clothing as few times as possible.  Instead of spending my money on the dryer, I have also started hanging my clothing all over my room.

One of the three hallways I must walk through in order to get to the laundry room.  The reason you can see it is because of the flash when taking the photo.  Normally, it is pitch black at night.

Our tiny, expensive washing machines

 My clothing and sheets draped around my room.

Initial Struggles

I’d like to compare my time here in Berlin to this simple sidewalk stain.  The first time I went grocery shopping, Haley and I faced many obstacles.  We hadn’t purchased reusable bags quite yet so we brought large paper and plastic bags to overflow with food.  Considering the amount of stuff we purchased, we had to take several breaks along the way home- it was all just too heavy.  At one point my wine fell out of a bag (yes, it is legal for me to drink here).  The bottle shattered as it hit the ground and the wine puddled everywhere. Haley then set her stuff down to help pick up the glass. As she lifted her paper shopping bag up again, all of her contents ripped through the bottom, including her olive oil.  There were eminences of this wine and oil spot for about two months.  As I became settled in Berlin, this stain began to disappear, much like my initial struggles in this new city across the world from home. 

Prague

I went to Prague directly after Nuremberg- it was included on my school trip.  I am incredibly glad that I was able to go with school so that I didn't have to worry about any planning. 

We went to see the Hradcany castle, which is said to be the biggest in the world.  There were so many different dimensions that I'm sure I missed parts of it. It was definitely gorgeous and cool to see. 

 

(The castle)

One of the craziest things I experienced in Prague that nobody warned me about were the metro system escalators!! I tried to take a picture of it, but I don't think it is possible to get a good one that could effectively capture the depth and speed of it.  I am not one who is easily scared, but I was definitely nervous riding it the first few times.

I found a video online that seems to do a better job at capturing this ridiculous experience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJNvNy4bj0g 

.... TO BE CONTINUED...

 

 

The Downers

Berlin has been amazing! I couldn't have picked a better place to spend an entire semester!

Since I have been sharing all of the positive experiences since coming to Europe, I thought I should share some of the bumps I have encountered along the way.


Bed Bugs:

"Don't let the bed bugs bite."  You've heard this all your life, as a way to wish someone to sleep well.  I hope I can experience the severity of this misfortune for you.  Bed bugs are terrible- really, don't let them bite!

The little red bumps didn't appear until about 6 days into my school planned Nuremberg/Prague trip.  It apparently takes 3 days up until 3 weeks for people to show symptoms- if they ever do at all.  A friend of mine that I was rooming with started showing symptoms the third day of our trip.  None of us could figure out why she had red bumps and quickly excused it as a rash.  Then a few days later the rest of us rooming together began having these red bumps.  For me, the bumps entirely covered my arms and legs (no spots covered by clothing).  The itch was terrible!! I did not want these bugs in my apartment. As soon as I got home, I ditched all of my belongings on my balcony and jumped into the shower.  My stuff remained on the balcony for a couple of weeks until I could acquire the laundry coins necessary to clean/kill the bugs.  Several pieces of clothing were shrunk by the hot temperature necessary to kill the bugs and some changed colors, but overall I had the best possible outcome considering the circumstances.

Below is a picture of my elbow, several days into the healing process. (All of the red bumps are bites!)

Nuremberg

We took a school organized trip to Nuremberg and Prague for a week.  We pretty much went to Nuremberg in order to learn more about the Nuremberg trials after WWII.

Although most of the history in Nuremberg is quite depressing, we still managed to have fun! :)

 "Hier" = here

Mini Nuremberg Oktoberfest. Our trip overlapped with two out of the three weekends of the Munich Oktoberfest, so we decided to make the most of this one.

Candid photo a friend took during a city tour

Vienna!

I took a weekend trip to Vienna with my friend Haley, where we met up with some of her friends from all over the world.  They were from France, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland Israel, and Austria (of course).  I thought it was pretty fascinating because everyone was able to communicate to one another by speaking English since everyone had learned it in school.  Haley and I were the only ones with English as our first language. 


The group! :)
The Austrians took us around the "tourist route" so that we could see all of the famous buildings. 



I thought it was really funny how Austrian cops wore berets, so I saw a group of (cute) cops and asked if I could take a picture with them! ...I also made them take their hats out of their pockets and wear them for me :D


The day of departure I wanted to see even more of Vienna, so I woke up early and met up with Sascha who took me to see Schönbrunn Palace!

The Gloriette is featured in the background  


You could see the entire city of Vienna at the top of the hill near the Gloriette!


After learning German in Germany, it was an awesome experience to practice it in another country with an entirely different accent. 

Jewish Berlin- Tour

 Jewish Berlin- Tour

I was unable to take the Jewish Legacies in Central Europe class offered at my Berlin university because I was moved up a level in German.  I'm still interested in learning more about the subject so I decided to crash a class tour!

The first place we stopped on the walking tour- a memorial commemorating the German non-Jewish women who successfully protested their husbands' arrest (in this plaza), leading to the release of hundreds of men.  I had never heard this story before.  Many Berlin Jews married to non-Jews were saved because their spouses refused to divorce them.  The Nazis were afraid of losing some followers, so they did not break up families by removing husbands, wives, and children of mixed marriages from the area. 

Anna Frank museum, although she never lived in Germany

This was the home of the first female rabbi. Unfortunately, she was killed by the Nazis during World War II. It took 40 years before there was a second female rabbi.  This is an indication of the stunted growth of the Jewish community after the Holocaust.

Plaques in the ground indicate Jews who died in the Holocaust.  If you know to look for it, you can find them in the pavement all over Berlin.

This synagogue was built in 1866 and still considered the "new synagogue" of Berlin.  It was almost burned down time and time again.  It survived because it was used by the Nazis as a barn and storage site during WWII.

Night Life

Many of you have requested to see more photos related to Berlin's Nightlife.  I figured that I should just do an extra post in order to share! :)

This was from one of my first nights in Berlin.  I was at a bar (Molotow Cocktail) with some friends from program.  As many of you know, people in Europe tend to stay out much later than we do in the states.  We were at this bar during happy hour and it was already 1am! We ended up passing it again on our way home at around 5am, and there were lines of people out the door. 
The manager requested to take a photo of us for her to use on the bar's website!

We have been going out and trying new bars and clubs during the weekends.  All of my classes are full of Americans, so going out has been a great way to meet locals our age.  It seems as though all Berliners ages 20-25 are all out at the same time enjoying themselves as well.

Apparently Ping Pong is incredibly popular here in Berlin- they even have several bars dedicated to the sport!  I played a several games of Around the World and even made it to the Semifinals! :) Above is an action shot.

Berlin is famous for all of its graffiti; in my opinion it looks even better as a backdrop.


One of the nights we stumbled into a more "gothic/emo" underground club.  The main clothing dress-code was lots of leather and lots of black.  As this isn't our typical scene, we were about to leave until something cool happened- a bunch of fire dancers came onto the stage! I have attached a video for reference :)

Potsdam!

We took a day trip to Potsdam, a small historic German city bordering Berlin.  We saw two palaces over the course of the day.

The first palace we visited I was originally pretty disappointed with.  I was expecting a huge castle like the ones appearing in Disney movies.  Its history, however, was pretty interesting.  Cecilienhof Palace was more like a grand country home, once belonging to Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern during the turn of the 20th century. Cecilienhof was the site of the Potsdam Conference from July 17 to August 2, 1945, at which Stalin, Churchill, and Truman in order to discuss the fate of Germany after it had surrendered on May 8, 1945.  The rooms stood nearly the same as they had during the meeting.  This location was chosen for the conference because it was one of the few locations in Germany that was completely standing by the end of World War II.


(outside)


 (current state)
 
(1945)


The second palace was much more magical. The castle was called Sanssouci, French for “without worry.”  It was the summer palace and favorite residence of Frederick the Great, 18th century King of Prussia.  Built in the French style, it was extraordinarily beautiful and had the most extravagant technology of the time.  The King wanted water fountains at his palace, but the technology wasn't around yet to make them functional. It is said that the fountains only worked for 10 minutes throughout the entire 40 years he lived there.


The shutters shown within the plant walls were used to protect the figs during the winter- I thought this was pretty cook!

Some pictures of the rooms inside! The rooms were gorgeous!







 


 
 Under a pergola-like structure at Schloss Sanssouci

(Majority of these photos were found online.  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside both palaces and my camera isn't good enough to capture the entire landscape.) 

Ikea

We took a field trip to Ikea in my German class in order for us to practice interacting with staff in Germany by asking how much things cost and identifying different furniture and their characteristics.

We had a ton of fun in the giant furniture store!

My Deutsch class after our "discussion" at Ikea :)

The First Few Days

Orientation Week

We went on a boat tour across the Spree, the main river that runs through

Berlin. The river was once a natural border between East and West Germany.

It was interesting to visibly see the difference between the two sides at once.

From the river, we were able to see the capital building, and other landmarks.

The east side was much newer and extremely modern.  A large amount of

taxes were used in order to help rebuild the east side after the Berlin Wall was

taken down, so the entire area is completely new with interesting shaped

buildings and new technology. I took some pictures of the buildings on the

east side that stood out to me.                                                                                 

This building is completely covered in solar panels.  Each dark rectangle is actually a combination of six photovoltaic pieces sectioned together.  It is unique because it is 100% self-sustained, even collecting its own rainwater!

My tourguide says that he always thinks that every time he sees this building, that it will be the last time. It looks like it successfully defies the rules of physics.  Many of the buildings in East Berlin are extremely modern and unique since it has all been rebuilt since the wall was torn down in 1989.

It has been raining almost every day.  

We went on a three-hour walking tour, and I barely stayed dray in my rain jacket and an umbrella.  We walked around the capital, stood in the bunker where Hitler committed suicide, saw the markings of where the Berlin Wall used to stand, and visited the Soviet War Memorial. Every time a Russian leader like Putin visits, they bring a wreath to the memorial. There was an agreement after World War II stating that both countries must keep their respective memorials no matter what

This statue stands at the top of the Soviet War Memorial (Treptower Park). The statue statue is of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a German child, standing over a broken swastika. The statue is said to be created in honor of a sergeant said to have risked his life under German fire in order to rescue a three-year-old German girl whose mother had disappeared.

Map of the Soviet War Memorial

I'm posting this picture later because I hadn't realized the significance of this gate.  It's called the Brandenburg Gate and was the formal city gate into Berlin.  It was given by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace- it was then built during 1788 to 1791. It has since been restored after considerable damage was caused during World War II. 
The green hotel in the distance is one of the most expensive places to stay in Berlin- it was the very place where Michael Jackson famously held his baby over a balcony.  Obama has since stayed there as well.