As you can see from the title, I spent last weekend in Berlin! We (me and my host family) took the train on Saturday morning and got in around midday. The trip takes about 3 hours, with 1/2 an hour layover in Magdeburg. We spent the night and took the train home yesterday evening.
For anyone who doesn't know, Berlin is the largest city in Germany (3 million inhabitants) as well as being the nation's capital. Because the city was greatly damaged during WWII, the architecture is a mix of modern and traditional design. Since we were only there for a day there wasn't nearly enough time to do or see everything.
After arriving at the Friedrichstraße bahnhof we took the U-bahn (subway) to our hotel where we dropped off our bags and then headed out to walk around the city. We headed towards Potsdamer Platz, where we ate lunch and looked around. There was a display of a section of the wall (moved from its' original location) with some of the history and a stand where for 2€ you could get your passport stamped with the original visas from Checkpoint Charlie. Luckily I had my pass with me, because I needed it for Sunday to get into the Reichstags building. Normally I leave it at home. We saw the field of stones, a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
Then we continued on to the Brandenburger Tor, and stopped in the many souvenir shops that line the streets. After this my host siblings started to get tired so we headed back to the hotel to drop them off, then my host parents and I went out again. First we headed to the KaDeWe. It is an extremely large luxury mall (Gucci, Prada, Rolex, Luis Vuitton, etc.) I was able to afford some of the chocolate, but just barely (the cheapest bar costed 3€). Then we headed to the Europa Center, but everything was closed ( it was about 8:30pm) except for the Irish pub in the basement. It was packed and loud, with live Irish music and a staff who were all native English speakers. We sat at the bar and I had a couple of beers with my host parents-first time that that's ever happened. Andre and Birgit tried the Guiness and Scottish Ale, I had Beck's Green Lemon (it's a German girly beer).
Sunday we left early to be at the Reichstags building at 10 (that's the place with the glass dome roof where the parliament meets). The outside facade still remains, but the inside is completely modern- it was rebuilt after damage from WWII. Berlin is a city that's meant to be seen at street level- the skyline is rather ugly and boring. After that we took the bus- a double decker, turns out that London isn't the only city that has them- to Alexanderplatz, where we walked around and got lunch. After that we took the bus to the area around the Europa center and walked around some more till it was time for us to catch our train. We left at 5 Uhr and got home around 8:30. Today I'm staying home sick.
So, to catch up with what happened before Berlin:
Friday was Ana's birthday party, so I came home for about an hour after school then headed back to Helmstedt. There were about 15 girls there, all German other than Ana, Karla and I. Oh! I found out about my family switch. During the Christmas break before we go back to school, I will be moving to Helmstedt to live with Ana's current host family, Ana will be moving to Beinrode (the great metropolis...with 400 citizens-where Karla lives now), and Karla will be coming to Schöningen. I'm hoping that we'll switch after Sylvester (New Year's Eve).
On Thursday after my German lesson Karla and I took the train to Wolfenbüttel, where 3 exchange students live. It was a Thanksgiving celebration, 1 week early. There is a perfectly logical explanation for this. Thanksgiving is ALWAYS the 3rd Thursday of November (or so I thought). I had originally planned to cook dinner for my family, but then Summer organized an International Thanksgiving with the exchange students and her German friends. But anyway, I was skyping with my mom and asked for some typical Thanksgiving recipes, and she wanted to know if they sold bread crumbs, cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree in the stores here, and if not, she would send me some. That was 1 week before the 17th. I responded that 1 week was not enough time for a package to get to Germany, and thus I learned that this year, Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday. Why? Is it only to confuse Americans abroad?
Two weekends ago I hiked to the Brocken, the highest point in the Hartz mountains, with Andre, Birgit and Mattis (Emmi had a friend's birthday party). It was 7km up and 7km down-not the most fun thing I've ever done. Part of the trail we hiked was on the old border between East and West Germany, now it's the border between Niedersachsen (where I live-West Germany) and Sachsen-Anhlat (former East Germany). Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt are 2 German states. Helmstedt is also right on the border. On the way home we got a flat tire on the Autobahn.
Next weekend I'm going back to the Hartz, to Wernigerode for a Rotary sleepover weekend. Those are always lots of fun. On Thursday I'm going to see Breaking Dawn with a German friend, it's the first day it's in the theaters here.
Starting today, for the next two weeks my class is doing something called Praktikum. Everyone has to get an internship for 2 weeks to get 'working practice'. Being an exchange student, this is not something I have to take part in. Instead, I'm taking 18 periods of English classes with the 11th and 12th grades, and the rest of the time I'll spend in Ana's class. Karla is doing the same thing, except she's taking Spanish classes (but there aren't as many of those). There are 5 tenth grade classes at Julianum, 10a, 10b, and 10c are doing praktikum the next 2 weeks, and on December 5th 10d and 10e (Ana's class) will be doing praktikum. She's going to take Spanish classes (She's Brazilian, for anyone who doesnt know they speak Portugese, not Spanish) with the 11th and 12th grades, and in the rest of the time come to my class.
So, I could promise that I'll update again in only a week, but I don't think that's going to happen. It'll probably be more like a month. Tschüss!
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