Prussians and Palaces

As ever, life keeps rolling on, so here we go with my recollection of the past two days. After my make-up class on Wednesday, my friend and I grabbed a beer at a local cafe, and then we both headed home. It was a pretty low-key day and I promise the next two days are more exciting.

Thursday, on the other hand, was filled with adventure due to the good weather. I had German in the morning and then during the three and a half hour gap before architecture, my friend and I explored Kreuzberg. During our walk, I found a wooden star-shaped Christmas ornament, and we encountered a woman who yelled racist things in German with an Italian accent for about a block after a young African man simply passed her on the sidewalk. It was pretty odd. After that, we walked along the Landwerkanal, seeing things such as the Deutsches Technik Museum, older churches, a cemetery, and Viktoriapark

The latter is a park in the south of the city, and consists of a hill with a waterfall running down the side. At the top is the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars, designed by Karl Schinkel. However, although the monument is the main reason for the park, the thing that really stands out is the view, as much of Berlin is spread below the area. We sat on the steps below the monument for a while, soaking up the sun and the city.

Afterwards, we parted ways as I headed back to the study center to attend my architecture class, and then returned home after a long but good day. My back had stop hurting from the previous day, and I received a letter and a package from home. The package was from three of my close friends, and, despite being almost crushed by the postal system, contained Oreos, Welch Fruit Snacks, Twinings Tea and letters from each of the three. It really made my day, and the Oreos have already devoured as a testament to how much I miss American junk food.

Yesterday, I had a lazy morning, catching up slowly with my massive amount of German homework and other minor to-dos. I also saw the solar eclipse the best I could without special glasses (which was odd, how it was dark and light at the same time).

In the early afternoon, I met up with my friend and we explored the Schloss Charlottenburg and accompanying gardens. The castle itself was enjoyable, and although I was wary of the interior tour at first, it picked up and ended up being pretty interesting, primarily due to an interesting audio guide narrator (the Germans love audio guides, it's odd). The exterior gardens were gorgeous, and so was the accompanying area.

Eventually, after a long walk, we ended up in another platz, where we consumed delicious pasta from a chain restaurant that I can only describe as an Italian take on Chipotle. We topped it off with gelato from a place halfway across the city, but it was my friend's first time eating gelato, so it had to be worthwhile. It was, of course, delicious, and made me homesick, but so many things do. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing at home.

The past two days I've had this sense of calm and acceptance regarding everything that is going on around me. It's been especially prevalent on my walks and train rides home in the afternoon and evening when the light of the sun has a special tone to it as it lights up the city buildings, roads, trains and people. Also supplementing it has been the music of a friend from my school, which makes me miss home but also almost makes me preemptively miss being in Berlin. I'm not really sure how to describe it. Either way, I'm happy with where I am and in fifty-eight days, when I'm back home, I'll be happy there too.

Today, I'm meeting up with another friend from my home school who is in town and will be once again playing tour guide, as I show off my city for the third time in a week. Tomorrow, I adventure to Grunewald, a forest within Berlin, where a former US listening post stands, which myself, my friend and his host family are getting a guided tour. I'm excited.