Christmas Time

Christmas time in Berlin is absolutely gorgeous!  All of the trees are decorated with bright lights and there are over 15 different world-famous Christmas markets. 


During this winter I managed to get to about 5 of them. The markets have booths with different Christmas foods like candy apples, sugary nuts, snowballs, and of course huge varieties of sausages because Germany loves its pork. They are very well known for their Glühwein which is spiced, hot wine. Although I'm not a big wine fan, I found that these actually tasted pretty good! 

Haley and I at the Alexanderplatz Christmas Market

Busses, Trains, and Subways! Oh My!

Before coming to Berlin I had never taken public transportation. Sure I had been dropped off at a train station where I had been either picked up by my sister in Davis or met up with friends in San Francisco, but those were special circumstances.  It wasn't every day life. 

I've discovered positive and negative aspects of taking busses, trains (S-Bahn), and subways (U-Bahn).

Positives:

• You never have to return to your start destination
• You never have to worry about finding a DD because nobody is driving
• It saves gas AKA money and less carbon emissions 
• You don't need to concentrate or worry about being distracting to a driver
• It is legal to drink and eat on trains
• During every hour of the day, I saw people with a beer in their hands
• It is easy to discover new places by hopping on and off a random bus or train
• If you don't feel like walking a mile in the rain with heavy groceries, you can take the bus for just one stop

Cons:

• Takes much much longer than a car because of the amount of time you must wait before it arrives or during transfers
• Sometimes you won't find a seat and you need to stand for extended periods of time
• Smelly people use public transportation just as much as everyone else- sometimes you need to get off and on quickly at a stop in order to be able to breath again
• Yes, this is based on a true story
• If it is freezing outside, sucks for you! You will just have to wait around in the cold until your ride shows up 
• During the cold evenings after class, every time I saw a big truck in the distance I remained hopeful that it would be the bus
• People will try to pick-pocket you if the train is crowded. Hold onto your things tightly!
• A man once grabbed my phone while I was texting. Luckily I sustained my grip and his hand hit me in the face as he ran off without anything. 

Going up and back to school everyday required taking the train (for two stops) and then a bus, a total of about 20-35minutes every day depending on if they were all running on schedule. If there is a train strike (which happened WAY too often!) It could take up to an hour via busses. 

Besides school which wasn't located near any cool destinations, it took me about an hour to get anywhere!  

-If you went to a club on the weekend you must leave at 11 to arrive at 12am and if you leave a club at 4am you won't get home until about 5am. Also, keep in mind it could take longer because at night time the U-Bahn and S-Bahns only run ever 15-30minutes. I witnessed too many sunrises than I am comfortable admitting. 

Back in California it takes about 40minutes without traffic and about an hour via CalTrain to get to San Francisco, but I had always deemed it as too far away.  I will not be taking much more advantage of the "short" distance. 

Everyone of all ages use public transportation.  I saw five and six year olds with cartoon backpacks traveling on their own to and from school. I would have really appreciated their knowledge and confidence when I first arrived.

Waiting for the U-Bahn to arrive

On our way to a Halloween Party! 

I'm Pippi Longstocking, or as the locals like to call her: Pippi Langstrumpf 

That is the sun rising in the distance...

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!)