THE SUN HAS RETURNED TO EUROPE!
After five months of questioning whether the sky could be blue here,
I can finally say, it can...just not in winter...
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| Berlin! |
As I'm writing this, I'm soaking up the afternoon sun on a lounge chair. It's a great way to cap off the week!
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Austin, my host family's puppy
goes on walks in the coolest places! Above we were walking along the Spree through downtown Berlin. |
As springtime comes into full bloom, I'm realizing how time has flown by. I've been in Germany for 10 months now...Wahnsinn! Now I know that this a million times by now, but it's surreal. In that time, a lot has happened. A switch in host families, different internships, a variety of weekend
getaways around Europe, an on and off love-hate relationship with the German language, and the never-ending roller coaster of emotions. Yet, after all of those changes big and small, I've pushed through. Spring here has marked that accomplishment. With that brings the reoccurring thought that my time here's limited. 2 months remain. The thought of leaving now absolutely breaks my heart. Leaving my host family, my friends, BERLIN and so much more seems unimaginable. It's my new reality. Although it'll be nice to be reunited with my family, friends and dogs (very important) after a year of being apart, I'd still rather stay here :p
After that little tangent on how I'm feeling at this point in the year, I thought I'd dedicate a post to my favorite city in the world...BERLIN! Plus, now that it's no longer grey and overcast, I can finally get some quality shots!
Berlin has officially surpassed Munich, becoming my favorite city in the world. There's nothing quite like it. It's not your "typical" German city in appearance, but it's filled with a rich and heavy history. One of the major differences between the history seen in Berlin and the rest of Germany is Berlin's reconstruction after the World Wars. Rather than being rebuilt to look like it did pre-war, its architecture primarily reflects its recent history rather than the past several hundred years. This wasn't necessarily intentional, but that's how history played out. With that said, the city has a mixture of contemporary and ugly socialist buildings, cathedrals, monuments, and memorials making it difficult to forget the city's past, but giving the city a bright future.
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| Holocaust Memorial |
Initially when I was told I was going to be in Berlin, I had mixed emotions, and maybe even a little disappointed. I was excited to be in a big city, but I was really concerned about not getting the full "German" experience I wanted to get out of this year. However, I was quickly proven wrong. Although Berlin is not your "typical" German city, I feel that it is the perfect city to be assigned with the intentions of the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange in mind...
Checkpoint Charlie
When my parents studied abroad here, Berlin along with the rest of Germany was divided. West Berlin was democratic and free while the East (GDR) was ruled under socialism by the Soviets . During the time under Soviet suppression, the East Germans were taught to hate the Americans and their values, and the Americans were taught to hate the East and its values. We never would have expected to befriend one another. Fast forward to today... My host family is from the "East". They grew up learning in school how "bad" the Americans were and now, 20 years later, they're opened their house and family up to an American. We grew up in two completely different worlds, but have now broken down those former barriers to become incredibly close. They are, quite honestly, my second family ("meine deutsche Familie"). The fact that a relationship like that was able to form, in my opinion, captures the essence of the meaning behind program. It's diplomacy in its greatest form. person to person.
Onto a lighter subject, I thought I'd share some pics of the fun of living in Berlin....
Another great perk to being in Berlin is the accent. Everyone in Germany hates on their accents but I personally find it cool! It took ages to catch along and I'll never fully understand it, but still, it's fun to listen to and my host fam likes mess around with using it. Here's a quick crash course on Berlinerisch:
English German Berliner
I Ich "Icke"
Bread roll Broetchen Schrippe
That's good Das ist gut Dit iss juut
Donut Berliner Pfannkuchen
This/ That/the Der/Die/Das Dis/ Dat
to know Wissen (weiss) Wissen to Weiss pronounced wayz
What Was Wat (Wat is dat?)
In Berlin, we causally picnic on an old runway. It's the perfect place to grill with friends and kick a ball.
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| Picnicking at Tempelhof |
If the weather's bad, we always have Schnitzeltag...
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| The crew |
Public transportation is on point!
Usually not a fan of it, but Berlin's Ubahns and Sbahns are awesome and usually run on time. As long as there's no snow. Then hell breaks loose. But honestly, there's no need to have a car here because of how well covered the city is and how well they run. The S8 and S46 are my lifelines. I use those everyday to get me into the city. It takes about 45 min, but Berlin's such a large city that the ongoing joke is that it always takes you a min. of 30 min. to get somewhere (if not an hour!)
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| Sbahn at Hauptbahnhof |
The food here is incredible. Some specialties here are Currywurst-sausage in a spicy curry sauce, Burgers (American Burgers are better tbh) and Doeners- a Turkish kepap that is the best late night snack.
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| Currywurst with my German cousins! |
The city never sleeps! They literally club til sunrise here! It's intense! If we wanna lay low, we head to Kreuzberg and hang out at different bars and cafes there. Kreuzberg is the hub for hipsters and the young crowd. It's always an adventure when we go there.
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| We have yet to get a good pic when we go out... |
East Side Gallery (remains of the Berlin Wall) and Gedaenkniskirche (half rebuilt from the Wars to remember the atrocities and destruction it brings) are also cool sites I pass driving to work on a daily visit
So there you have it! I hope I sold you on coming here!
