I've officially been in Berlin now for 5 days! The city is HUGE but I'm now a semi-expert on the train system. I'm moved into my new apartment in Pankow (a northern district) with my roommates Stefany and Anke. Although my place is a good hour away from school, I still love it :o) Plus I only have class 2x a week, so it's not a big deal. The apartment is really nice (pictures to come!) but also pretty empty since it was just renovated. I'm getting internet from some generous person who failed to put a password lock on their signal :o) Berlin has had amazing weather so far! Everyday has been in the 70s (high 20s for you guys- you know who you are!) and yesterday it was even pushing 80! Which is awesome since nowhere I go has air conditioning!
My first night I stayed with Clover in her apartment on the border between Mitte & Kreuzberg. It was awesome, but after being awake for 2 days straight, I was exhausted! Friday morning I went to "work" with her at the Bundestag, the German Parliament. She's doing an internship with a Congressman there, who was nice enough to get me a guest pass and take us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Reichstag, the Parliament building! Parliament was in session and even Chancellor Merkel was "around" (although we didn't get to see her). I even got invited to lunch
with Clover's co-workers! But the best part of the day was when Clover got the afternoon off: apparently unheard-of! So we went and explored the city- We saw the Holocaust Memorial (the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) and visited a Turkish Market. Later we met up with Nate and his girlfriend Manu for some drinks and delicious (can't stress that enough!) Döner. :o) I love Döner Kebap!
Saturday, after lunch with my roommate, Clover and I visited the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum, which had an amazing exhibit on Jewgeni Chaldej, a WWII jewish soviet photographer. His pictures were accompanied by his original commentary- a frightening point of view since he not only photographed atrocities of the war but also most of the post-war war crime trials, such as the Nuremberg Trials. Saturday night we went for indian food, sat outside eating and drinking for hours, and I tired my first Berliner Weisse!
Sunday I had orientation for my program: FUBiS (Freie Universität Berlin internationale Sommerschule). I met some really great people and we went out for a drink after all the organizational things were over. Monday was our first day of class (for Exile Literature: basically the german-speaking authors forced to leave during the Third Reich), and after getting to know each other a bit (12 students all together) we got to analyze a Brecht poem and after lunch we discussed Erkia and Klaus Mann. It was pretty fun and I'm hoping that it will be challenging. I have a lot of reading to do, which I settled in to start last night after a quick dinner with Clover. Today I'm going meet up with a theater group I plan to join- we'll see how it goes! Tschüs!
