Aching Feet and Ping Pong

If every post begins with a statement of how utterly exhausted I am, I apologize. In the past two days, I have walked over 34,000 steps, or about 16 miles. Not my personal best, but close. I'm sure that record will be broken soon.

Today consisted of another ordinary commute, another orientation meeting, and more wandering through the city. And if you think I'm complaining, you're absolutely crazy. The meeting wasn't particularly exciting, but we toured the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Straße afterwards. Yes, it was cold, but still fascinating, as we learned about the death strip, the watch towers, escape attempts, and life during the wall's existence.

Once the tour concluded, I wandered around the memorial some more and then killed the few hours I had until our welcome dinner by walking around Alexanderplatz. That sounds fairly simple, except bear in mind that I had no idea where I was going on an empty stomach, while also tired and cold. However, it was nice. I found a couple neat buildings, stumbled upon the TV tower, and acquired another chai tea latte (I'm going to become an addict).

I then met up with everyone else at the welcome dinner and enjoyed my first full beer in Berlin, complimented by potatoes, cabbage, some kind of meat and apple-strudel. It was quite delicious, and I'm honestly just happy that I enjoyed the beer, as I'm trying to acquire a taste for it seeing as I am in Germany. My tolerance is a little low at the moment due to the infrequency of my alcohol consumption, so I may have gotten a little tipsy and talked about planes and cars with one of my peers for a good half hour or forty five minutes (to be fair, friends at home who are rolling their eyes at me, he asked me).

Afterwards, a group of us walked to a bar called Dr. Pong, which seemed kind of sketchy, but turned out to be really chill. Just some bare rooms with a bar, a ping-pong table, some chairs and graffiti. Ping-pong is one of the sports in Berlin and it was neat to see it in play. I definitely would like to go back there, as I left early and headed home due to aching feet and a desire to curl up in bed. My host-mother and host-brother (the seventeen year-old) were up when I returned so I finally got to talk to the latter a little more, but not much. His English is very good and he seems nice. I think we'll get along.

Tomorrow, my day off before classes, I will be going to Potsdam with my host family and then to a play that my host brother is in. For now, I sleep. After a couple episodes of House of Cards, of course. Tschüss!

City Tours, Bilingual Children and SIM Card Debacles.

Hallo! Heute ist ein gut Tag und das ist ein lang Schreiben.

Today is a day full of accomplishments. I commuted alone on the U-Bahn for the first time, acquired a SIM card for my phone (still trying to figure out how to work it), played with my host-brother (the three-year old), learned some Deutsch, and got oriented to the city a little more.

This morning started off slow. Got a good night's sleep (thanks, ZzzQuil) and woke up to delicious crepes with my host family. My host-mother is French and Italian, so das Essen ist sehr gut. Commuted to the study center on my own, with no problem, dealt with academic orientation, consumed an excellent Greek Mittagessen, Kofte im Brot. Then, my program went on a wonderful walking tour of Berlin, albeit extremely kalt. We saw: Potsdamerplatz, Topography of Terror, the Berlin Wall, Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (former Luftwaffe headquarters, Soviet Administrators, now the German Finance Ministry), location of Hitler's Chancellery and Bunker, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Reichstag, and the Brandenburger Tor. Our tour guide was engaging and a pro at cliff-hanger transitions to the next site.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe sticks out in my mind, as it doesn't appear to be much a first glance, but once you wander around in it, you understand why it was designed in that format. I definitely plan on going back to a lot of these sites to absorb as much history as possible, when it is warmer of course. That is one of the major reasons why I am here.

Afterwards, we went to Alexanderplatz to acquire photos for our residency permits  and cell-phones (which both caused large amounts of fussing and complaints). SIM-card acquired, I headed home on my own. Successfully, I might add, ignoring the several turn-arounds I had to make in the U-Bahn station as I tried to figure out which entrance I had come from.

I arrived home around the same time as my host-mother, L. and my host-brother (three-year old), G. It was quite relaxing. I had a cup of jasmine tea (yum), and was working on papers, when G., who has been fairly wary and shy regarding me up until now, approached my room, and after I nodded and said "ja," came in with a box of alphabet letters. We spent the next hour, teaching each other German and English words.

Trying to describe my joy while doing this is impossible. This is what I had been hoping what would happen. He and I went through the alphabet, spelling our names and sounding out the letters. Then he crawled over to the map that I had been examining and started showing me die Autobahn, as he loves die Autos. We continued along that note, communicating about colors, our families, and homes, and other things. He corrected my terrible pronunciation as I tried to mimic the dictionary app that I was using. Only problem is that he speaks both German and French, so I'm still working out when he's using what. Later on, at Mittagessen, his mother helped me out with pronunciation and learning more basic words.

Currently, I'm trying to figure out the SIM-card debacle (fun tip: put it in the correct way), flipping through two German children's books, and figuring out the number of things I need to read and write. Tomorrow are more meetings, visits to the Berlin Wall Memorial (Bernauer Straße) and our welcome dinner, since as of today, all of the program participants have arrived!

We are twenty-four strong, with the majority of the people from the East Coast, a few from California, Texas and the Midwest. Surprisingly, I'm the only one representing Ohio, alas.

Additionally, I'm looking forward to exploring the neighborhood where I live more with my host-family. It looks to be an exciting blend of cultures and ages. It originally was primarily Turkish and Arabic in makeup but has expanded to include all ages and nationalities, due to it's lower rents. It seems to be a very diverse area. There will be more on that later.

I apologize for the length of the post, but it's been a busy day. Tschüss!

P.S. Check out the photos that should be on the sidebar to the right. There'll be more to come.

And So It Begins.

Current situation: Snuggled into bed in my homestay after a long three days of travel and orientation.

I arrived in Berlin yesterday and had a couple hours to kill at the airport before I was picked up, which was enjoyed over a hot Schokolade. Everyone at home was asleep, everyone here was waking up and I'm now straddling two time zones. The flight was decent. It wasn't full, so there were a good amount of empty seats to stretch out in. Flight attendants were pleasant, no screaming babies, the food was edible and overall, it was as good as a transatlantic flight can get.

The main thing that stands out, however, was an American gentleman who was on my flight. While awaiting our baggage, there was a crowd of about ten moms and children with signs, cameras and huge smiles. Apparently, he had been stationed in Berlin when he was younger and had a daughter. This was his first time seeing her since she was eight and the first time meeting his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They had connected the previous week via Facebook. I was behind him when they reunited, and it was an incredible moment. He just dropped his luggage and they embraced for at least five minutes with their family smiling, crying and snapping pictures. It's something I'll never forget. 

My first day in Berlin was spent in a combination of wandering around der Kiez (neighborhood) where the study center is located, being introduced to most of the people in the group and exploring coffee shops and restaurants. I was jet-lagged and exhausted, but pushed through the day and had an early night.

Today has consisted of orientation, an overload of health and safety information, supplemented by explorations to coffee shops (vanilla chai lattes are lovely), exploring our schedules and finally meeting our host families, or moving into apartments.

My host family is lovely and I've settled in quite nicely. They'll be more about them later, I'm sure. Tomorrow, academic orientation and a city tour, with some errands regarding cell phones, money and other small things as well. I also get to commute on my own for the first time, eek. 

I'm falling in love with Berlin, and I've barely even gotten a taste of what it's truly like. The architecture, the street art, the stickers, the language, it's all wonderful to soak in and I'm excited to continue this adventure.

Soon to come: photos, why I choose this city/country, goals/aspirations, fears/dreams, places to travel, etc

Tschüss!

Pre-Transatlantic

I'm sitting in Chicago's airport, frantically typing since I only have twenty minutes of free WiFi and I'm unwilling to shell out five bucks for more access.

The flight here was smooth, albeit slightly delayed, probably indirectly due to the stormageddon that hit the east coast. I start boarding in about an hour and a half for the jump to Berlin.

This morning was a little rough, due to saying goodbyes, briefly misplacing my passport going through the TSA and not feeling well (numbness in my face and fingers, plus a headache. Not fun.). However, after food, water, deep breaths, ibuprofen and a bunch of Snapchats, I'm feeling better and calmer about this whole thing.

My gate for my Chicago flight is at the very end of the terminal and it's nice. Quieter than the rest of the concourses that I had to walk through. Hopefully, there will be no screaming babies on the flight, and if there are, then, well, I'll have to get used to it, as I'll be living with a three-year old.

I should be getting into Berlin at seven am, or one am home time. It's going to be a long two days. I realize that most of my posts haven't been very interesting, more like journals but that's okay. When I get the chance, I'll write something up with my goals, aspirations, things that are making me nervous, that type of thing.

Don't really know how to sign this off now that there isn't a countdown. Tschüss!

Nearing Departure

I leave tomorrow.

There are so many thoughts running through my head.

I was planning to do a kick-off post filled with my goals, fears, aspirations, and all that jazz. Sarcastic remarks on air travel. Places I plan on seeing. Experiences I hope to have. Stuff that implies that I'm fairly cool and collected about this.

Reality? Less than twelve hours until my first flight leaves and I'm trying not to scream and cry.

This is utterly terrifying.

It will be worth it.

12 hours.

Winding Down - The Final Week

This weekend I was able to visit my home campus in order to see my friends before I leave. It was a great weekend, filled with a lot of laughs, hugs, and good memories. Despite the lack of the constant nagging need to do homework, it felt like the next day I would be heading off to class with the rest of them and that nothing had changed. In reality, I answered the question "When are you leaving?" too many times, ate food that probably increased my cholesterol, stressed about all the packing I need to do, and nearly started bawling when I returned home. Another typical weekend at college.

Now, with the days remaining reduced to single digits, I really need to start getting my act together. From final errands to run to cramming some last minute German, it's the final countdown. With another close friend leaving tomorrow for Rome, it's really starting to hit. There are so many little things to do and to consider in order to prepare me for the moments that follow after I step through the airport security and am entirely on my own.

However, I am feeling a little more confident about this, as my mental image of this future semester is slowly being sketched out, after going through the pre-departure online orientation, joining the Facebook group for my program, and receiving information about my homestay family.

The latter got me excited, as I will be with a typical German family of four, with a mother, a father and two sons, one seventeen and the other three. I'm thrilled to live with kids, since as an only child I never really had the sibling experience. They live in the area of Neukölln in Berlin, which used to be a Turkish and Arabic community, but is now apparently a rich blend of all ages and cultures.

Things are starting to come together and before you know it, I will be in Berlin.

8 days.

Jukeboxing It Up

Bear with me on this post. It's a little cheesy.

Last night, I went to my third concert of the band Jukebox the Ghost. As can be seen by my track record with the band, I am a fairly large fan of their music. On their most recent, self-titled album they have a song called "The Great Unknown," which immediately caused me to cry when they played it during their encore.

The song is all about letting go and moving forward by yourself despite the "great unknown" that is in front of you. "There's something waiting for you," it states. When it initially was released, I didn't pay much attention to the lyrics, but as my semester abroad crept closer and closer, I began to relate more and more to it and so it's become my self-proclaimed send-off song. There is no way to describe what the feeling is like to be leaving home for someplace entirely new but this song is the only thing that has even come close. Thus the huge amount of emotions that were released when I heard it live.

I just wanted to share that. It's nothing exciting or special to anyone but me and that's totally okay.

12 days.

PG Tips - Musings on Packing

Packing for nearly four months is hard. In addition to having to cram it all into one or two suitcases, you also have to prepare yourself for a variety of occasions, climates and situations, as well as enabling yourself to be comfortable mentally and physically, wherever you are. Fortunately, I'm fairly adept at imagining various scenarios, and I've come up with solutions to most every-day issues, resulting in some, uh, unique things in my luggage.

The oddest thing in my suitcase is a pack of PG Tips English Breakfast Tea. As the daughter of an Englishman, tea runs in my veins. It is a staple of my household, with a pot usually brewing and the hot water kettle regularly rumbling. My parents and I wake up one another with cups of hot tea, ready for sipping in a cozy bed (my mother will complain that I don't do this enough for them - she's right, but that's another story). My point being, to me, tea means home.

It's so normalized in my lifestyle that I hadn't even considered that it may not be available in the type or quality that I wanted while I was abroad. My mother mentioned it offhandedly to me one day and the concept of not drinking tea for months reverberated around my brain. Apparently, this was also a haunting thought to her, so fortunately, I received a pack of PG Tips for Christmas that will be snugly tucked into a corner of my suitcase and cross the Atlantic Ocean with me for consumption in Germany.

I'm sure that this may raise some eyebrows in my host family, perhaps even some unfounded implications that I'm a little stuck-up about what I'm consuming. But, to me, this pack of tea means that I can return to my homestay after a long-day running around Berlin or wherever, and have a cuppa at home. That, in itself, is priceless, as it fulfills the advice of my mother that I live by: "A cup of tea makes everything better." It will remind me to breathe, relax and enjoy.

So, that's the strangest thing in my luggage. Well, that or a miniature Easter Island head statue. Don't ask in regards to that one.

15 days.

An Untitled Prelude

I'm currently sitting at home, with a number of things scattered about my room, a testament to my gradual packing strategy. I'm not leaving for a little over two weeks, and this is just a starter post, so don't expect much. 

My flight leaves on the twenty-seventh, and I am the last of my friends to leave. One of my closest friends has been in France for nearly a week, and all of her social media posts are making me antsy to go. This feeling will probably increase immensely over the coming week, as the rest of my friends trickle back to our home campus and resume school with the start of the spring semester, leaving me at home, slowly preparing.

However, for the most part, this is okay as it gives me opportunities for me to spend time with my parents and grandmother, something that I value greatly as I spent most of my time this year away from home at school. But when I'm home alone sitting on my butt, I get nervous and anxious. I hate waiting for the ball to drop.

Sure, it gives me time to organize my affairs. I knew that preparing to go abroad would be a lot of forms and such, but I never expected a laundry list the size of my forearm. I have to pick up prescriptions, have doctor's appointments, acquire an international student ID, copy important documents, buy a converter/adapter, manage my insurance, annoy my grumpy cat, write my will (seriously, it's recommended by one of the brochures) and countless other small things. 

But, in the end, I just want to go. 17 days and counting. Europe, I'm coming for you.