München

Two of my best friends from home finally finished the spring semester at home and visited me here in Germany. We had a bit of a whirlwind weekend in München which began with a painful 7+ hour bus ride on the hottest day we've had thus far this year. First thing we noticed upon arrival: everything was closed when we arrived at just after 8 PM. It turns out that this is the norm down in Bavaria and if it weren't for the Müller and Yorma's in the Hauptbahnhof, I would have been without toothbrush and beer that first night. But for that reason itself, those two stores are forever fondly stored in my memories :)

As tourists/Americans, we had to see Schloss Neuschwanstein AKA the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland - and that's exactly what we did on our first day. I underestimated the journey; one has to take the train from München Hbf to Füssen, then take a bus to the village below the castle and climb up the hill to the castle itself. No matter... it was worth it, and even better I undertook the trip with two friends I haven't seen in quite a while, so there was no shortage of conversation.

We had some time to kill between when we finally reached the castle and our tour, so we did some off-path hiking. Tip: Wear better shoes than old Converse, Vans, or boat shoes because those aren't conducive to climbing or descending an "unofficial" trail of sorts. But that is also how this magical photo was captured:

 ...yeah, I take this over a Fantasyland copycat anyday.

To be honest, the inside of the castle wasn't memorable. We only went inside because we figured YOLO (cringe) as it will be a very long time before we come back. We missed our bus back to the village after an unsuccessful footrace down the hill and ended up walking the 3 or 4 km back to Füssen, but the sun was shining, the birds chirping, and the flowers along the path abloom, so the walk was beautiful.

We returned to München and treated ourselves to a Maß each at the Hofbräuhaus. A Maß is a liter of beer that dwarfs this already-small Chinese girl. It was the perfect pairing with my meal, which I don't know the name of and downed without asking too many questions as to what I was eating.

Speaking of not knowing what I was eating, Bavarians have different names and specialties for food. For example, I had no idea what Semmel was until I asked a man from Heidelberg at my table at Viktualienmarkt during lunch; turns out it's just a particular kind of Brötchen. And I never dared to try that Weißwurst, although my friend tried it and liked it.

We spent the next day seeing the sights, beginning with the BMW Museum. The museum is more or less a huge advertisement for BMW & subsidiaries, but it was a nice stop for my friend who loves cars. All the shiny vehicles!

We also ascended the tower of St. Peter's Church, which provided a wonderful view of the city and in particular the Neues Rathaus, or City Hall.

The climb to the top of the tower was actually one of the tougher ones I've done since the steps are quite high; furthermore, take note that there is no one at the top directing people to walk in a certain direction so you end up stuck in these narrow walkways, unable to move around freely unless you start shoving people around. (Yes, I'm still a little bitter.)

In addition, we visited

• Olympic Village: this is the first I've ever seen, and it was surprisingly small. Have they gotten bigger over the years, or are my expectations just that far off?
• several churches but most notably Asamkirche, an insanely awesome but also extremely creepy Gothic church on Sendlinger Str., a big shopping street
• Westpark, where sun was soaked up and cheap beer from an awesome Getränkemarkt was consumed

We ended the trip with brunch at Cafe Westend, which was right around the corner from our Airbnb. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fruit salad! Perfection.

Dresden

FYI: This post is being composed in a cafe on a street corner near my hostel in Brussels, one of the more interesting cities I've visited in Europe. Just sitting here, slowly sipping on my cappuccino (is this considered pretentious?) and listening to the French, Dutch, and English conversations around me while waiting for my friend to arrive. More on that to come!

The only thing I knew about Dresden before visiting was that it had been heavily damaged during World War II per Slaughterhouse-Five. It's fairly close to Berlin, about 2.5 hours with bus, and two friends in January actually trekked out there for a day trip. Fortunately for me, I had the chance to stay there for a weekend - and what a weekend it was :)

Dresden is quite different from Berlin. It's a lot like Prague if my memory serves me, namely it is an incredibly cute city.

What distinguished it particularly from Berlin was the people. Berlin, aside from the neighborhood where I live, is full of young adults eager to go out and have a great time. I was slightly surprised when I hit the streets of Dresden to find that the average age of the surrounding people in touristy areas was 40+. Fortunately, that was not the case in Neustadt, which is where the bars and our hostel were located.

Something Dresden has in common with Berlin, on the other hand, was this lovely little Hinterhof. Tucked behind the facade were cute stationary, dress, and jewelry shops in addition to quite the dandy installation on an inside wall.

The city is quite small and walkable - but take that with a grain of salt, as we almost missed our bus home when walking from Neustadt to the Hauptbahnhof and actually had to take a cab to make it on time. If the weather had been nicer when we were there, it would've been even better to stroll around and hang out in parks with a beer or two.

The Dresden skyline is quite renowned, and I remember the first time I caught a glimpse of it on the train home from Prague. I was able to see it during a beautiful sunset when my bus first arrived in town, one that unfortunately no camera in the world could accurately capture. Take my word for it... it was glorious.

Much of the Altstadt that comprises the skyline and tourist zone was actually destroyed during WWII, so there are parts of the Neustadt that are older than those buildings. They sure look the part though!

One of the highlights of my weekend was reuniting with a travel companion I had met in London in February who also happens to be one of the nicest people I think I've ever met. I danced the night away in someone's apartment to the early hits of Britney, Destiny's Child, and everyone's two favorite 90s boy bands while sipping on peppermint schnapps that looked and tasted like Listerine from a bottle that was nearly as big as me.

It was a wonderful weekend that brought me a bit closer to my friends here and provided me with a nice little break away from Berlin. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in Dresden, and I look forward to going back one day!

Der Erste Mai

May 1st is International Workers' Day AKA Labor Day in Europe. I'm not really sure about the historical context behind the holiday, but I do know that the day has developed quite the reputation in Berlin. Instead of taking advantage of the day off and going on a spontaneous trip over the long weekend, I was highly recommended to stay in town and enjoy the festivities in the streets of Kreuzberg.

After a late start to the day, my friend and I were dropped off at an U-Bahn station by my host siblings. Coincidentally, we met up with our fellow Californians who were headed to the party with a huge group of Germans. Since there were 20+ of us, we ended up having to walk much of the way because there was no way all of us were getting on already completely stuffed trains.

It was absolutely insane how many people there were. I had a hard time contacting anyone I was planning on meeting because texts took many minutes to send and calls were simply not going through from too much activity on the network. We were warned by the Germans who had been before to try and stick together as much as possible, or we would completely lose one another.

Our first stop was, oddly enough, Hannibal at Görlitzer Bahnhof. We stayed there for a while and I contemplated not drinking at all, but it was way too bright outside and I was not too keen on dancing. My friend offered me some of this:

"It tastes like Dr. Pepper but with alcohol!"

And the party began.

After illegally obtaining a very, very large bottle of jäger, we headed to our second stop. We stayed long enough to get confetti-ed, watch a guy climb up a light pole, and finish the bottle of jäger. At this point, we all realized that we needed to take a bathroom break in Görlitzer Park, the unofficial bathroom for the day, but a friend and I lost touch with everyone else in the group at some point. We ended up sitting in the (very crowded) park for a bit and meeting up with another friend after some painfully slow back-and-forth texting.

I was going to go home at this point, but then I was able to get in contact with another one of my friends with whom I had earlier planned to meet. It took a while, but I found this group and we went to a hip hop stage (where I randomly ran into a couple of the friends I had lost in the first group I was with) until we needed to buy more beer. We proceeded down Oranienstraße and there were live acts and flamenco music and Indian music and it was just such a wonderful time. At some point we stopped for greasy Chinese food, and the guys I was with kept saying, "I want to hear you order in Chinese!" which didn't end up working out.

The day became night and everything in between is quite hazy in my memory. I wasn't drunk, just blissfully buzzed, enjoying the music, dancing, and soaking in the atmosphere.

It was a day/night quite unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I got in a couple of personal milestones of the embarrassing nature, too. Thank you for a great time and getting me out of my funk, Berlin.

Girls' Weekend in Prague

Something to lighten the mood, ja? I swear I am still having the time of my life here. Shit happens. That's actually what my host mom told me Saturday morning when I woke up and told her what had happened a few hours prior - Scheiß gelaufen! It honestly could've happened anywhere at any time, so I take it as a lesson learned.

I was fortunate enough to travel with people for the first time since arriving in Europe. Four girlfriends, one of whom is Slovakian and studies there, and I headed to Prague on Easter weekend, and we had a swell time together.

Prague is one of those places that make you wonder why people ever settle for the bullshit version of fairytale towns - Fantasyland in Disneyland, I'm looking at you! I know why I did: I never knew such glorious places existed in real life.

Uhhhhh... okay... LOOK AT THE BUILDINGS. LOOK AT THE PASTEL COLORS. LOOK AT THAT CATHEDRAL AND THE BRIDGE. That's pretty much what we spent the time doing. Simply walking around and soaking in the beauty with the sun shining was comforting and relaxing.

The ugliest part of the city were the Babies. If you've ever seen them, you know what I mean. They're normal alright... until you get a nice glance at their creepy faces! This is nightmare-status stuff, people. I was fortunate enough to never get close enough to that hideous TV tower either to see these things crawling on it.

We booked our train tickets and hostel really late so we had the pleasure of standing/sitting in the cramped walkway of the train for half of the journey in both directions. Another lesson learned: book a reserved seat! It wasn't too bad though. We became experts at finding seats for the second leg of each journey, and I guess we're young and it was all a part of the experience.

Another part of the experience? The "beverages." This coming from the girl whose goal was to drink plentifully try the alcohol(s) of every country she travels to. In Prague, this meant ~1 EUR half liters of Pilsner Urquell and vodka.

And lastly, the food. Aptly described as delicious but heavy. Case in point: dumplings, a mixture of what looked and tasted like mini gnocchi, cheese, and bacon bits. Actually it is a Slovakian specialty (with a name I cannot write or pronounce and is not really translatable to English) but quite characteristic of what I felt the food in general was like. Below is a photo of a serving after my friend finished eating.

Here is a photo of me with my dessert on the first night. Because chocolate cake.

I had a lovely time, and more importantly I was able to bond a lot with the ladies. Thank you for being awesome, for being you, and for sticking with me despite my oddities and tendency to cry at parties. I love and appreciate you dearly! Can't wait to hit the road with you again :)

Stranger Danger

When I first got to Berlin, I was overly cautious. I wore my purse under my thick coat and tried not to carry one at all, instead conveniently stashing everything I needed in pockets. I was good about not getting on the train while intoxicated and/or sleepy. I avoided areas with very few people, and I really didn't stay out all that late.

With time, I felt more comfortable. I could navigate the public transit system and got better at not getting lost. I dared to ride alone in empty trains very, very late in the night and even once fell asleep. Sometimes I walked through poorly lit areas alone and often with the screen of my phone glowing. Once, I went for a run alone at 11 PM.

In short, I got cocky.

At around 4 AM on early Saturday morning, I was robbed at an U-Bahn station. While standing alone on the platform listening to music on my phone, a man came up to me and asked me for directions in very broken German. I pointed him in the right direction, and he was thankful - so much so that he wanted to give me a hug. Is that weird? Yes, Annie, that is actually really weird! But I had just had a hug-full evening with my friends and some Europeans can be that friendly, I questionably convinced myself. I was tired and had had at this point a horrendous week. I gave the dude a hug. And then he asked for another.

Now at this point, you might be thinking, "Annie, were you seriously drunk at the time?" The police asked me the same later on and no, I was not drunk. I have no explanation for why I did it, other than that I was so tired and somehow thought that there was no way this person was a bad guy. He couldn't be a bad guy. I should just be able to tell if he were. He came up to me asking for help. I helped him. It's not like he was being obviously creepy or anything. He just wanted to get home and it was late at night and I had done him a favor. He couldn't be a bad guy. He just couldn't. I had been nice.

So I give the guy a second hug and it's lasting awkwardly long. At this point, I'm mainly afraid he's trying to sexually assault me but next thing I knew, he had worked my bag off my arm and onto his and booked it. My first instinct was to chase him, but I couldn't keep up with him. At one point, he dumped the contents of my bag out, and we both knew what he was after: my phone. I reached for it and had it in my hand for a final fleeting moment before he snatched it and ran off.

At this point, I had given up. There was no point in going after him; the opportunity cost was way too high. I was lucky to still have all my cards, documents, and cash. I called the police using the Notruf button, and maybe ten police officers showed up within a few minutes. They asked me to describe the man. I couldn't even tell them what he was wearing. They asked me if the scratches and bit of blood on my arms were from the altercation. I guess they were, but I certainly didn't feel it at the time. I was absolutely, positively stunned by the experience.

I walked away with a sore arm and bruises on my chest and knees, none of which I felt until I woke up in the morning after two hours of tossing and turning. My bag and all of its contents, with the exception of my phone, are thankfully here with me. I don't regret for even a second going after the guy, even if it would've been risky. If I hadn't, I would've had to spend the entire day calling companies, cancelling cards, and writing emails.

Sometimes, I forget that I am a 5' Asian girl who doesn't look like much to overtake and honestly is an easy target. As bad of an experience as this was, I got really lucky. I can't even imagine what else could've happened to me and what else could continue happening to me if I don't start taking better care of myself.

I laid in bed for hours the morning of simply reworking the scenario in my head and victim blamed myself for most of that time. I know better, what the hell was I thinking, I basically deserved what I got, etc.  Even now, I'm quite furious with myself for being so naive, and it's gonna take a while for me to forgive myself.

That really capped off a truly dreadful week for me.

But do you know what always managed to put a smile on my face?

The love and support of my friends and family both here and at home. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed yesterday. They got me breakfast in the morning, laid in bed with me while I read the first pages of Emil und die Detektive out loud, checked in to ask if I was doing well mentally, met with me early so my first trip on the U-Bahn since the incident wouldn't have to be solo, they fed me dinner and beer and too many potato chips. If any of you are reading this, know that I freaking adore you.

There's nowhere to go but up.

First Day of Class

...about damn time.

I'm not gonna lie: since I arrived in January, I've spent most of my time dicking around. I took off for a month and even when I was here for "class," let's be honest... I didn't do that much learning although to be fair, I was technically learning everywhere I was - at the bar, at the club, at the bakery, at Aldi, at the Späti. Little things matter too, like how to order a G&T in German.

So imagine what it felt like to wake up this morning knowing that I would have to sit through hours and hours of economics lecture today. (Classes here meet once a week for a longass session.)

Actually, it felt pretty good, like my life in Berlin finally has direction.

I boarded the AM struggle-train to the university which was remarkably entertaining. When the students are on holiday, the train is almost empty. Now that classes have begun, it is more packed with young people than the U1 on Friday and Saturday nights. 

It helped that my first lecture was in English. It's a course on the history of economics and while, yes, that does sound rather dull, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the familiar names of famous economists and their contributions to the field. It actually brought me a decent amount of excitement to learn that Cournot is not only known for his work in game theory but also in being one of the first to propose a downward sloping demand curve. #nerd

My second lecture was environmental economics, and it passed by in a complete blur... something about fisheries, something about the prisoner's dilemma, some graphs about marginal cost and marginal willingness to pay. Fortunately, it covered mainly logistics and microeconomic principles that I more or less already know, but there were times when my brain gave out completely. The amount of thinking you have to do just to study a subject itself can already be overwhelming, but to do it in a foreign language at least doubles the difficulty of the task. I respect the foreign students in my micro class from last semester who were somehow able to keep up with the pace and rigor of the professor.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to another university to try and get into a psychology course there. I don't need it, but it sounds interesting enough to try out. And if anything, I need to get out of the house.

Academically, I think the dust is finally starting to settle.

Everything else? Sheer chaos. A neverending rollercoaster. The best of times and the worst of times. But nothing short of an adventure, always.

Carpe Diem

I'm not a social person at home. I would go as far as to say that I generally do not like people. I have a close circle of friends that I trust and confide in, and occasionally we party a bit or knock back a couple of beers together at Dolores Park or on Memorial Glade on a nice day.

And then I came to Berlin.

When I first arrived in the city after not sleeping for almost 24 hours, my host sister Alicia asked me if I wanted to go to a bar with her and her friends. I went and within my first few hours in Berlin, I had already made a couple of German friends, which is hard when you've just landed and can barely speak the language.

When I'm at a club on Saturday night, I am - in my mind - wingwoman extraordinaire, and I don't have any issue going up to any person in my intoxicated state and introducing him/her to my friend. And the only line I've ever had to use was "Sprichst du Englisch?" because it's admittedly quite funny coming from this little drunk Asian girl who may or may not know what she's doing.

When Alicia sends me a text at 8 PM on a Tuesday night asking me if I want to meet her and her (German) friends for umsonst Wodka und Apfelsaft, I'm there at the bar half an hour later and stay until 2 AM. My reasoning? This may be my only opportunity to pull these kinds of shenanigans and get away with it. At the very least I can get in some good Hörverständnis, make a couple more German friends, and indulge in something better than the usual cheap vodka.

In some ways, I feel like I'm living a double life. I wonder what remnants of this personality I will take back with me to the States. I'm hoping for more rather than less. This other side of me is kinda fun.

There's nothing quite like being in an extremely uncomfortable and unfamiliar situation to really kick you properly in the behind and motivate you to seize the day. After all, what's there to lose?

Things I love about Berlin

I have a love-hate relationship with this city and despite walking home in torrential downpour after class this afternoon, I'm currently in a love phase. Actually, I may or may not be curled up on my bed with a cup of tea and genuinely enjoying the rain right now ;)

This post was inspired on Saturday night as I was on my way to my friend Emma's apartment. As I stepped off the Ringbahn and heard the familiar station stop announcement, I was suddenly hit with a pang of sadness. In a matter of months, I will no longer live here, and I must admit that I will be heartbroken (yes, such a dramatic word is fitting here!) when I get back on BART after experiencing the wonder that is the Berlin public transit system. I will miss hearing "Zug nach Nollendorfplatz, ansteigen bitte" and "Übergang zur S-Bahn" on the train, and I will miss looking up at the Anzeige and finding out if I just missed the train or am just on time for the next one.

But that is just one of many, many things I know I will miss when I leave.

A non-exhaustive list:

• Brötchen, Schnitzel, and Döner. They might make me fat, but they sure as hell make me so happy that I just don't care about the long term consequences, at least not now.
• Bier anytime, anywhere, and for a lower price than a Coke. See above point for note on health.
• Mauerpark Flohmarkt on beautiful Sunday afternoons

 p/c my friend Gayle

• Rotwein evenings with Alicia and our denglischer Quatsch
• Watching all my favorite shows again in German because all the media here is dubbed
• Watching OmU English/American movies at the theater and occasionally minding the German subtitles
• Going to bed at 4 AM and calling it "early"
• Spätis
• Tempelhofer Feld

• 80 cent ice cream cones
• Lots of Gouda
• Well dressed and attractive people everywhere
• Dishwashers
• These cookies from the Turkish market. Again, see first point for health note.

• The cats
• Eating a lot of butter and not feeling like the biggest heifer in the room. This has become a problem ever since I got back to Berlin.
• Seasons, specifically sweater weather
• Bakeries at all the Bahnhöfe constantly tempting me to buy a Schokocroissant
• Going to a different club every night
• Riding the party train (AKA the U1) very late/very early
• Daily run at dusk around the 'hood 

• Museumsinsel, Alexanderplatz, Unter den Linden, Brandenburger Tor, Hackescher Markt & Höfe, and all the other touristy places
• Schloßstrasse
• Weekly dinners with my bombass European chicas (+ fellow American Ella)

• Football
• Kinder Country

Suddenly, the sun has come out, and it looks to be a completely different day. People say London has the most unpredictable weather, but I think Berlin really takes that prize.

I am quickly coming up on three full months in Europe and soon, my time here will be halfway over. The days have flown by! I guess it's time to start appreciating more and partying harder, ja?

Behold: the Asian Market

I don't think it's possible to overstate how excited I was when I found this market. After a bit of googling, I realized that in Berlin, one must really go to a place to find out if it's any good or not. There are so many hole-in-the-walls and random little places down small alleyways that might turn out to be your next favorite haunt. In my case, I was just searching for a place where I could get a taste of home, specifically my momma's cookin'. Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of Asian markets in Berlin, but I wanted to find one close to me with a good selection of imports. And by that, I meant a store with all this:

THERE IS A BIGGER SELECTION OF NOODLES HERE THAN IN ALMOST ANY 99 RANCH IN CALIFORNIA.

Like the kind my grandma used to make my favorite spicy noodle soup when I was still a little girl living in China. I kid you not when I say that I teared up a bit when I saw them. I am on terrible terms with my grandma now, but that is how much those noodles meant to me. Ultimately, I chose not to get them since I haven't figured out how to buy broth here yet (the saddest realization ever), but I will be back once I do. The only noodles I ended up getting were instant. No shame. I haven't been able to find them anywhere else, or perhaps I didn't look hard enough anywhere else; in any case, I can't say no to a cheap, quick meal here in Berlin, though it's something I try and avoid at all costs back home.

Additionally, I found a decent variety of stinky tofu. It's not nearly as universally loved as noodles, and I didn't expect to be able to buy it anywhere at all! A pleasant surprise for a Chinese American, grocery-loving dork in a very white European city.

as nasty as it sounds, stinky tofu is the bomb dot comb. makin' my pops proud!

There was this hot sauce that I ate like crazy when I was in middle school. It was discontinued by 99 Ranch for most of my high school years and recently slowly reintroduced. Guess what?

JARS AND JARS OF CHILIBOHNEN

And let's get real, I didn't think I would be able to have Pocky or Chocopie or any of my favorite Asian supermarket snacks until August. Well...

true story: my sister eats a bag of these onion rings at a time

There are misses, too. I still have to head next door to the regular grocery store to get normal everyday vegetables. This market stocks a variety of frozen dim sum, buns, seafood, and even gyoza, but sadly it's all so expensive!! We're talking 5,50 EUR for an average package of veggie gyoza which I can admit is too damn much, even if I miss that stuff like crazy.

This afternoon was nostalgia hour in the best way possible. From the merchandise on the shelves to the Vietnamese chatter between employees, everything felt familiar.

Back in Berlin

I've been home in Berlin for a decent while now, and it's passed by in a flash. My first night back consisted of the usual debauchery with friends at our standby bar. Then, my Vorkurs began...

My lecturer, Claus, is an interesting fellow. He is a native Berliner and extremely kind, but I don't think I've ever had a worse teacher in my life. I'm almost halfway done with the course, and I've learned very little. To top it all off, I'm pretty much failing the class right now, and this has caused my right eye to start twitching spontaneously again. Life is rough.

Sadly, I think I've hit this wall where I feel like I can understand more and more of the German spoken around me but cannot whatsoever reciprocate. I open my mouth and try and say something, but I don't try very hard to produce an answer. Usually, I know I'm with people who speak English, and I simply give up. Shame on me, I know!

There were a few days where I was pretty depressed about my slow progress. I hate that I can't read a book, memorize something, and magically become fluent in German. Languages don't work like that, unfortunately. That's what makes it all the more frustrating. When I didn't understand what the hell my microeconomics professor was doing in class last semester, I could go home, use the lecture notes, solve some example questions, and not feel like a complete idiot at the end of the day. There was always an answer I could eventually drill down to and reach. There is no answer in this case.

Well... then I collected myself and realized that I can't possibly be the only person who feels this way. I know for a fact that I'm not. I asked my host mom and sister for book recommendations to help. They have a wonderful collection of everything from Kinderbücher to nonfiction to novels for adults. My personalized reading list:

• Der kleine Prinz - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (pretty sure it's available in every language)
• Wörter aus 30 Jahren - Elke Heidenreich
• Ich bin meine eigene Frau - Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (about a Transvestit living through WWII and subsequently the DDR)
• Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 - Michael Ende
• Emil und die Detektive - Erich Kästner

I should be ashamed that I haven't actually read a book in English for a very long time. Last week, I started reading Der kleine Prinz and like any Berliner, I do a lot of my reading in the U-Bahn when I'm commuting. This young German couple judged me kinda hard for reading essentially a children's book. They clearly haven't read it in a while because they were being shitty adults :)

Outside of class, things have been crazy. The weather in Berlin has been the most comfortable and warm a Californian girl could've expected for this time of year. This means going out willingly into the sunshine and not begrudgingly trudging (look at this lame attempt at wordplay!) through snow.

perfect weather + view for a picnic on Pfaueninsel with my friend Gayle

pleasant late afternoon stroll through Grunewald, which is still in winter recovery mode

Boy, has my social calendar never been more packed! It's odd because at home, I go for weeks without doing anything, not even going to see a movie at the theater, and I'm fine and dandy. Now, I find myself going out for several nights in a row and sometimes craving a night in. This Vorkurs group is almost entirely new to me, and I've spent the last few weeks trying to get to know as many people as possible. Don't get me wrong - it's been a great time, but it's so exhausting to the point that a night in with a few glasses of red wine and a football game with my host sister is perfection.

"Annie, du siehst sehr dick aus!" Oh, ich weiß...

Admittedly, I'm struggling to hang with the Europeans. I didn't know how to properly set a dinner table, I don't know how to host a dinner party, I don't know how to go clubbing until 4 AM on a school night, I don't know how to smoke anything really, I don't know how to speak many European languages, I didn't know how many times I should kiss people on the cheek when I greet them, I didn't know how to tell when wine is "good" as opposed to "bad," I didn't know that you can keep beers outside on the windowsill to chill them when you don't have enough space in your fridge, I didn't know how to use a waiter's corkscrew...

But I'm learning, and that's all part of the experience.

I'm all blogged out for now. Until next time!

France

What I really need to find is a cozy, hip little cafe in Berlin where I can do a bit of light reading, enjoy a good latte (they've been few and far between), journal, and blog like a champ. On the other hand, I like blasting music and taking little dance breaks in my room too.

After spending two weeks in the UK, it was time for me to leave the comfort of English and travel to the land of baguettes, croissants, and macarons. I was quite nervous since I didn't speak a word of French, but I managed just fine. I can assure you the only phrases you really need to know are:

• Bonjour!
• Bonsoir! (Or be me and just know bonjour and face that people will think you're an idiot at night)
• Je ne comprends pas.
• Parlez vous anglais?
• Pardon.
• Excusez moi.
• L'addition!
• Merci beaucoup!
• De rien.
• S'il vous plaît
• Au revoir!

Words like entrance, exit, push, pull, etc. are picked up quite easily when you encounter them all the time. For example, the moment I got off the Eurostar, I knew "sortie" was the French word for exit.

Speaking of the Eurostar, I had to mention that I thought it was a pretty wonderful experience. It was just like going under the bay on BART from Oakland to SF except it's going under the English Channel from one country to another. Most of the time is spent traveling across France to Paris, and crossing the channel itself obviously doesn't take long at all. The whole trip is faster than a flight and probably very comparable in price if not cheaper, and you can take whatever liquids you want! Plus St. Pancras International is an absolutely gorgeous train station with plenty to do before departure. Fun fact: when my dad was in London in 1993, the train had not began operations yet, but he's wanted to take it ever since. He hasn't been to Europe since leaving that same year, but he was very excited for me when I told him I'd be taking the train from London to Paris.

I don't really have too many words to describe Paris. It is truly as romantic and beautiful and sophisticated as one would imagine, or at least as I would imagine. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame, Versailles, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica... the list goes on. There's an endless list of things to see and do. The Louvre itself is something you could spend weeks wandering. 

TIP: If you are a student studying abroad in Europe without an EU passport, bring your student ID to Paris!!! And if you already have your residence permit, even better! The only way I guiltlessly funded all my meals out and Pierre Hermé delicacies was by free admission to the places I wanted to see. Keep in mind that I have the shittiest little piece of paper that functions as my ID at FU and normally I show my California drivers license or American passport in conjunction because my ID has no photo. Particularly worth noting:

• The Louvre is free AND you don't have to wait in the long line to buy tickets. Just proceed directly to one of the ticket control stations and show them your student ID. It is also free on Friday night for anyone under 26 from 6 PM to closing.
• I've wanted to visit the Château de Versailles ever since taking AP Art History in high school. The gardens are free to visit, but with your ID you can also get inside the palace itself for free and see everything from the royal chambers to the Hall of Mirrors. I expected them to be a bit more of a pain in the ass about my ID, but it was the easiest place for me to get into after the Louvre. The guy at ticket control said it was because my ID specified it was valid for the current semester and thus didn't require me to have a residence permit.
• Musee D'Orsay - Millet's The Gleaners is here as well as a generally great collection of Toulouse-Lautrec and van Gogh.
• Rodin Museum - shout out to my friend Emily for the recommendation!

gotta fund these babies somehow

I was asked for a residence permit for the Sainte-Chapelle and to climb the Towers of Notre Dame. They're only a couple of euros each without though and definitely worth doing. I must say that the meanest person I met in France was the lady at the ticket desk at the Sainte-Chapelle. She was just really mean.

People can say what they want about Paris, but there's no denying that it is a stunningly gorgeous city. It lived up to every expectation and then some. Take the Eiffel Tower, for instance: it never crossed my mind that it would be as big as it is, and I loved climbing every damn step.

I ended my month in Nice. Honestly, I spent more time there than I wanted or needed since the end of February isn't exactly the best time to visit the French Riviera. The biggest torrential downpour I encountered was actually on my penultimate day there. It was also surprisingly more expensive than in Paris. The result: lots of socca for lunch and McDo's & KFC for dinner. (And I'm not sorry because the McFarmer and the Tower were delicious, and we don't have them in the US as far as I'm concerned.)

socca: so simple, so delicious

I think the most disappointing thing about France was that Monoprix failed to be the French equivalent of Tesco. I couldn't get dinky little sandwich meals for cheap, and I didn't eat a single good banana the whole time I was in the country!

I was in Nice during Carnevale, but it was quite tame. Nothing like what all my friends in Köln were doing ;) I partook in the Flower Parade and went home with my own little bouquet.

I spent a lot of time wandering the city. There isn't much to do besides shop and walk. I went to the old town a lot and perused the shops in the narrow little walkways. It was quite the peek into what Europe used to look like. I also frequented the promenade whenever the weather was good and one morning I had a pleasant little chat with a Bulgarian expat. He told me that I was the first solo Asian female traveler he's seen in a long time and to top it off, an American! Apparently that's what brings all the boys to the yard.

While in Nice, I took a day trip to Île de Sainte-Marguerite. The island is a hidden little treasure off the coast of Cannes. I actually don't have words to describe it. I was there on a sunny weekday and while there were other people there too, I felt alone. It's small and completely walkable, the perfect spot for a picnic. I got a lot of writing and meditation done while sitting right next to the crystal clear water. I have never felt so at peace with myself in my entire life. BLISS, I TELL YOU.

The island also houses the prison cell where the Man with the Iron Mask was once held, if that means anything to you. It doesn't mean too much to me and I'm not really into all the conspiracy theories, but my dad loved the movie so I had to see it.

I took another day trip to Monaco. It was significantly less exciting. I'm glad I went once, I'm glad the Grand Prix is there, I'm glad the women there feel comfortable walking their dogs in heels, I'm glad there are escalators built into hills so people can be lazy, I'm glad the streets are lined with fragrant orange trees. Would I rush to go back? Hell no. I think it took me about 3 hours to walk the principality four times. As lush as it is, I'm a lot happier in grungy Berlin with my alternative bars, cheap eats, and real people.

But it is pretty.

Well, this recapitulation took forever, and I didn't even say anything about a lot of the art and architecture I saw, the sketchy situations, some of the not-so-positive experiences. In the end, all the details - the first impressions, images, emotions - are stored in some spot in the back of my brain for me and my memory only.

Before I embarked on this trip, I didn't really get the whole hoopla behind traveling. In fact, before I left home for Berlin, I was satisfied to say I've been to New York and LA. 

Now?

The world is my oyster. :)