Die erste Woche

I can't believe it's been a week since I first landed. For a granny at heart like me, it's insane how much I've done. This city has already taken me through an entire whirlwind of emotions, and I've got another 6 1/2 months to go.

I started classes on Monday of this past week. To my surprise, I was placed in a B2 level language course. We're asked to have some pretty complex conversations and to voice opinions on some rather difficult topics. It's quite draining to be in class for 4 1/2 hours everyday and think very hard about each word the teacher is saying. To be quite honest, I've been quite disappointed in myself. It's only been a week, I know, but I feel like I'm regressing most of the time. I'm learning a lot of vocabulary, but it's not that easy to use. My primary weakness is (and will probably forever be) in speaking the language. Germans speak so damn fast - I believe second only to Spanish speakers in talking speed - and it's so hard to keep up with them since they separate their participles and verbs regularly. When I get put in the spotlight to answer a question, I'm like a deer in headlights. When it comes to following conversation though, I think I'm slowly improving.

Okay, now on to something a lot happier... FOOD. So many sweets and pastries, many of them with a hazelnut chocolate filling. This is a donut. With aforementioned filling. GET OUT.

 

My host sister says this bakery near the apartment is bad, so I'm really curious as to what good tastes like. I've tried a boulette, a pastry, and two different brötchen thus far, and I'm not disappointed.

On Wednesday, the university organized a karaoke night for us at an Irish pub. I didn't end up performing despite two beers. Here I am with my friend Phoebe, whom I shared a pitcher with. No deeper comradery exists.

Photo c/o my friend Youn Seung from Korea

And after the pub on the same night, I ended up going to a hotel/restaurant/bar in Friedrichshain to meet up with my host sisters and their friend visiting from Canada. He spoke only a little German, so I got to relax a bit and only speak English for the rest of the night. Then we walked to the East Side Gallery. It was beautiful in the evening, and I'm planning a return trip during the day.

On Thursday night, I found a super awesome hole-in-the-wall bar in Charlottenburg. Some of us ended up having a little too much to drink and being a bit embarrassing on the U-Bahn ;)

And yesterday, Friday, we had no class so a bunch of us went on a free walking tour which took us through most of the historical tourist spots in Berlin including the Brandenburger Tor, Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, former Luftwaffe headquarters, Berlin Konzerthaus, several lovely city squares, and ruins of the Berlin Wall.

We learned from the tour guide that this city square is called Pariser Platz after the Germans took the Quadriga at the top of the gate back from the French, renaming it from Eirene, goddess of peace, to Victoria (victory) and naming the city square after Paris to show that Germany had defeated France.

Some remains of the Berlin Wall

Konzerthaus Berlin

 And finally, a visit to the beautiful Berliner Dom. CRAY. We climbed to the top and had a lovely view of the city including the Fernsehturm.

And at night, I went out and stayed out a little too long... Not sure how much I care to elaborate on this point but I did learn the hard way to get my butt back on public transit early enough instead of walking alone in the dark to get home.

In summary: a badass first week and looking forward to more like it!

I leave you with this photo of the cutest dentist's office near my uni. STOP BEING SO PRECIOUS. I want to walk up to it and give it a hug every time I see it.