Greetings, friends, family and strangers of the internet. It's been a while since I've written about what's been happening, so here we go.
Thursday morning was spent in class, and during my three and a half hour break, a friend and I wandered around Pankow, petting goats, and exploring parks on a wonderfully nice day. Afterwards, I had architecture, where we attended the summit of the architecture and design program that also runs out of my study center. It was a frustrating experience, as my class was split up into workshops, where we were supposed to observe, according to my professor. However, the members said workshops seemed to expect us to be able to contribute something to their technical brainstorming, which made for an awkward two hours. Following that lovely experience, I attended a theater performance with my host mother and her friend.
The performance was enjoyable during the first forty minutes, at least for me, and the set design and lighting were absolutely stunning. However, it became quite weird, ending in about three minutes of farting noises from three fleshy blobs on the stage. Did I mention that this was performance of Oedipus Rex?
Like I said, buy me a drink and we can talk about German theater.
However, the evening was enjoyable, as my host mother's friend spoke perfect English having been raised in Scotland, so she had a touch of an accent. Afterwards, I called it a night and collapsed.
The next day was a lazy day, with time devoted to figuring out my courses for my next semester at home, summer work and housing, and just logistically important details for a number of things. I didn't change out of my pajamas until about three and it was wonderful. That evening, I went for a walk around the Tiergarten by myself, and saw the Bellevue Palace where the president of Germany lives. The flags there, and at the Reichstag and other federal buildings were all at half-mast in honor of the GermanWings crash. It was a pretty miserable night in terms of weather so after wandering around the federal district and the park, I headed home.
Saturday, I had another lazy morning and then met up with my local friend and her friend for crepes at a Kreuzberg cafe, which were delicious. It was a nice day to be out, and then I met up with another friend that afternoon, and we climbed the Victory Column in the middle of the Tiergarten. It was the perfect day and time to do it as the sun was starting to lower in the sky, it was fairly clear and you could the far outskirts of Berlin, with the Tiergarten stretching out immediately at your feet. The only downside was the viewing platform was quite small and very crowded, making movement difficult. The base of the column consists of marble and a tile mosaic depicting a Prussian military victory, both are gorgeous, despite having missing chunks in the stone due to World War II.
Following that, we traveled to the Ku'Damn, one of the main avenues in the city, where we ate at Curry '36, the best place in town for currywurst. Then we wandered around a mall at Alexanderplatz to warm up and then headed to a bar for a beer to close the evening. All in all it was a good day. Sunday was my third lazy morning in a row, and the afternoon consisted of wandering around the city via the S and U-Bahn. It was a pretty miserable day and nothing particularly exciting happened, other than the fact that my grandfather and his wife announced that they will be visiting me in late April from their home in England. I haven't seen them in over two years, so that'll be great!
Yesterday, I had class, which was smaller than usual due to the slow trickle of students leaving early for their spring break. It was nice with fewer people, and we played several games and learned about possessive pronouns. My German history course dragged, as my professor is a sweetheart but tends to ramble in a monotone about the topic at hand.
That afternoon, I spent at home being productive. I began to pack for my spring break, vacuumed, dusted, figured out my schedule for next semester when I return home, and applied to be a summer RA at my school (free housing was definitely appealing). I also Facetimed my mother which was nice, especially because in a little over a week, I'll be able to see her and my father as they're coming to Berlin. However, despite my productivity, I did not finish what I needed to get done, in short, my architecture homework. That will be this afternoon's project, as well as laundry.
Currently, I'm sitting in class at the partner college - it's super boring, and I can't really pay attention (sorry, Mom, the stuff isn't important anyway). I just finished my proposal for my departmental honors application, which I'm quite excited about, as I'll be examining the roles of the American Women Air Force Service Pilots, the British Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and the Soviet Night Witches in World War II and how they dealt with gender roles and societal barriers. Next up will be my first architecture response, and then who knows? I may be in a boring class, but at least I'm productive.
Tomorrow is a free day and then Thursday I depart for Amsterdam, my first stop on spring break. I'm quite excited, especially to get away from the miserable weather that Berlin is currently having. This morning I woke up and thought I was in Ohio, as it was thirty degrees, windy as hell and snowing furiously.
I'm sure I'll have more later, as always. I'm sorry this post was fairly rushed and slightly boring, but hey, it's MY blog. Tschüss!
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