If there was ever a time to play catch up, it is now, as my hostfamily's neighbors are having a party, the walls are thin, and ta-da, my room is closest to the action. Loud music is steadily pumping, so I have some good energy to keep me going.
My apologies for falling behind, but as I stated several times, this final month is flying by, due to so many things going on. I will return to my recounting of my spring break adventures soon, but first I want to cover this past week.
I arrived back into Berlin last Friday afternoon, and one of the first things I saw out of the plane was my father's tall bald head at the arrivals gate, as he and my mother, who are now in town, had decided to meet me there. I could barely speak for the first few minutes as I hugged my mom tightly. It was so overwhelming to have them there and to be able to touch and get hugs from them. Following that, we went to their AirBnB apartment, where we caught up over beers. I was fairly zonked due to having traveled all day, so after a little while I returned home, where my host parents were still up and greeted me happily. It was so nice to be in my own bed for the night, and my parents had brought me clothes that I needed, so I now have several more things to wear, on top of my typical black sweater and scarf outfit. Hoorah!
Saturday was spent walking around Mitte and showing them the main sites, with myself acting as a wonderful tour guide. It was the typical walk down Unter Den Linden, with some detours for other sights as well, and a late lunch where I attempted to use my German with a nice waiter. Afterwards, my father and I went up to the top of the TV tower or Fernsehturm. The view of the city was at first obscured due to a rainstorm, but following that the sun peeked out for a while, causing the buildings to be shiny due to the water, and some rainbows to form. All in all, definitely worth the entrance fee.
Sunday arrived and my host family, myself and my parents had brunch together. At first I was a little nervous as, for me, it was two worlds colliding, in a way that is hard to describe. However, the food was delicious, and all went well. The meal was followed by a walk around Tempelhof and ice cream, as it was a lovely day. Then, my parents and I went to Mauerpark market, while my host family went to a birthday party.
Mauerpark was great, and I intend to return for the rest of my Sundays in Berlin, as now is the time that I should be doing my souvenir shopping. I bought several magnets, a CD, and a shirt of the TV tower and cranes as I wanted to be able to represent and remember Berlin when I return home. We also saw some of the karaoke the market and park are known for, as well as some street performers who were really neat. Two were playing a variety of percussion instruments and had a large crowd of listeners and dancers surrounding them. It was a quite a free and loose performance and atmosphere and very typical Berlin. Following that, we grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at a local Italian restaurant that I'm fond of and then called it a day.
Monday, I spent in class, catching up with friends and homework. It was lovely as the area surrounding my study center has really exploded with spring, and all of the flowers on trees and bushes are blooming in full force. After class, my parents and I found an excellent boat tour for the future, and had a drink in a cafe. The evening consisted of binging the new Game of Thrones episodes and ahhhhhh.
Tuesday was a boring day spent at the partner college. However, on my walk to the campus, I heard a rustling in the woods that border the sidewalk between some of the houses, and saw one of the infamous wild pigs or boars that live in the Grundewald, the big forest in the southwest of the city. It was pretty incredible, and I managed to snap a few photos while worrying that he/she would charge me. However, due to the noise of the group of students following me and the promise of better food, he/she went deeper into the brush.
The following day was spent doing a three-hour River Spree and Landwerhkanal boat tour, which I highly recommend. It was the perfect day for it, not too hot and not too cold, and provided a wonderful overview of Berlin. The crew was incredibly friendly, and although the narration was in German, we were able to get an audio guide which my mother and I split, and then told my father the highlights. After grabbing lunch, we met up with one of my friends and then proceeded to explore the Deutches Technik Museum.
This was interesting, despite the lack of English translations of the placards. If you're searching for the planes, trains, and boats, this was the place to go. From a DC-3 that participated in the Berlin airlift to a NSDAP train, to all other sorts of things, it was a really interesting museum, and I probably could've spent hours there. Afterwards, the four of us headed to a bar/coffeeshop in Kreuzberg that my friend and I are fond of, and ordered a three-liter tap of beer to split, which we enjoyed in the shade of the building, while also soaking up the lovely weather. All in all, it was a long but very good day.
Thursday was another day spent in class, with my stress level slowly beginning to rise, as I have a presentation due in every single class next week, eek. That evening, however, I went to Wannsee, a forty minute commute, to the American Academy to hear a lecture on gender, military and memory in World War II, as it related to the topic of my senior history thesis. While it was a good experience, the talk wasn't what I had hoped it would be and consisted mostly of statistics. I did get some ideas out of it, so all was not lost. Plus, I was also able to see the stars at night and experience the quiet outside of the city while walking back to the S-Bahn station.
Today, myself and my architecture class adventured two hours outside of Berlin to Dessau to see the Bauhaus, which was the site of an architecture movement in the 1920's and 1930's. I expected to the tour and location to be a little boring, but in actuality, it was quite fun and interesting. Our tour guide was friendly, the group was good, and the site itself is very intriguing. We toured the Bauhaus itself, the houses of the Meisters, as well as ate lunch in the bistro and browsed the gift-store. I'm quite happy as I found several new pins and postcards for my collections, and pentominoes, which is a game that I've been wanting since I was about twelve after I read Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (highly recommend the book and the following series).
I arrived home, expecting to collapse on my bed before dinner, but ended up playing with my host brother and host mom. It was quite fun, as we were pillow fighting, wrestling, and chasing each other. I'm happy as my younger host brother finally had decided that it was okay to climb on me and play with me, something that has taken a while to occur, due to the language and trust barrier. This evening, my host family, my parents and myself went out for dinner at a local Persian restaurant in Kreuzberg. My younger host brother fell asleep at the table, while everyone was chatting. All in all, a wonderful dinner to close a really good day.
Which brings me to where I am now, with a party next door and tiredness calling me to switch off the light and attempt to sleep. We'll see. Tomorrow morning, I hope to write about the rest of spring break before I go to Potsdam with my program. Thanks for sticking around. Tschüss!
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