So I think I'm just going to end this here. I was going to write a lengthy summation of my experience, but now I just don't feel like it. Instead I'm gonna sit here and listen to the new Mastodon album (it's pretty alright) and then finish up my laundry and run hell of errands.


Brother killed the buick, so now I drive my mom's old camry, not sure how I feel about that.


Anyway I need to catch up with American culture from the past 4.5 months or so. I have to start using dollars and decimals again, not to mention gas. Man Berlin is already starting to sound appealing again...


Anyway I guess this is the end of this blog, though certainly not my blogging. If anyone actually wants to keep up with me I've been on the aim since middle school, the skype since last year and the facebook since high school. look me up g!

Anyway, it was fun and this is the third paragraph I've started with Anyway. Geez



Auf Wiedersehen!

Kaum zu glauben.



I haven't really had a lot of time to reflect on leaving yet. It's still weird and it still doesn't feel good, but as my flight nears I find myself actually missing home, so going home doesn't seem so bad. I mean it'll be nice to speak English with strangers again and not feel bad about it.


Packing is going rather well, I think I have room for everything somewhere, which is good.


Anyway I'll write a much more detailed update when I get back to the states. It's weird to be reflecting on my time here in this entry without actually having completely my project of documenting my experiences here, but at the same time that's kind of what I need to do.

But what I really need to do is pack and say goodbye. I'm not done with this journal yet, we still have reentry to take care of, plus I've done a number of exciting things since the last post.

So in the words I chose to use with Hilde when she left for her friend's birthday on Thursday, It's not goodbye, just see you later.

My mind is anywhere but this paper. I should have started it days ago instead of going to sleep. But whatever, at least now my mind is somewhat clear. I just have to write about 5 pages really fast and then 2 more pages even faster (but at least that stuff is in English) and then turn it all in by Tuesday. Then I am free free free! Except for that I have to go to class on Thursday morning. Lame.



Still need to buy flowers for Hilde. Still need to go to a Biergarten. Still need to write and send postcards.



Still need to remember to turn in a bunch of stuff.


Still need to remember to pack.


Shit.


Shit.



Shit.



Hilde and I had a really awkward conversation about me leaving. I'm trying not to let it get to me so I can focus on my work, but it's not really working that well. I hope this paper get's finished and I hope I have time to relax and actually speak German well. It's been really hit or miss the last couple of days.

Just had a talk with Hilde about when I'm leaving (like what time in the morning) to see if she could give me a ride. It turns out she won't even be in town when I leave. Schade.

Had to say one of my first meaningful goodbyes today (well there was one before) and I can't say I liked it. Things are wrapping up here in a very real way. I pulled out some American money the other day so a friend could show some bills to some kids at her internship and I realized that pretty soon it will be my money again. The talk amongst our group has started to shift slightly back to America as people begin to move back and we attempt to maintain contact with one another. I'm even writing a giant research paper on Kant and Obama and America and the new Media and Yes We Can and then I remember I've missed a huge chunk of his first year as president.

I do miss America though, I really do. It's just that I've just started talking to people in my classes, having slightly more extended conversations, become a regular at various döner establishments. You know the drill.

While I'm writing this post the Byrds's "We'll Meet Again" is playing and it's really weird.



I'll come back, I know it. Somehow I'll get back here, when I'm young and still crazy.



This isn't goodbye yet though, I still have two weeks left. Granted I have to spend most of them writing, but still. I am going to enjoy the fuck out of those two weeks. Just you watch.


*edit* no matter how hilarious it gets, I don't think I'll miss the people screaming bloody murder outside my window at like 10 at night and till about 4 or 5 in the morning depending on when they get arrested or pass out.

So yesterday I went to a Karstadt because the selection is better and my friend Heidi told me it was cheaper than EDEKA (which turned out to be a lie) and I ran across a lager that claims to be the strongest lager in the world at 16% abv. It was also 10 euro for ,5 L so I didn't buy it, or anything else. I was too overwhelmed by the selection and I didn't have a game plan for how to deal with it.

Ugh so much going on in Berlin this weekend, here's a quick run down:

Christopher Street (Day?) pride parade, where all the cities gays and lesbians converge on Kudamm and have a dance party to end all dance parties ending up in Tiergarten

Bergmannstraßenfest: Very decent Jazz festival in Kreuzberg. Free acts all day plus they bring in semi-famous people (like some guy from ELO).

48 Stunden Neukölln: Finally something happening in my neighborhood! As soon as I finish reading this article and make lunch I'll head out to check the more artistic aspects of my neighborhood (I mean beyond people getting really drunk, smashing bottles and yelling Abbreche (Abortion) at 4 in the morning).

Plus later a bunch of people are going to explore an abandoned amusement park, Spreepark, in Treptower Park.


Monday I have to start writing and researching like a madman.

I don't like to think about this but...

in less than a month I will no longer be able to get döner whenever I want.
I will not be able to speak German with whomever I please
I won't be able to go wherever I want just by getting on a train and being patient
I will no longer be able to enjoy free Jazz on Wednesday nights (not that I do that regularly)
I will no longer be able to live in an apartment that is probably older than my parents.

I don't really want this to end, but I guess it has to sometime. America has a lot of stuff going for it to be sure, but I just really feel comfortable here. I'm getting to the point where I have enough confidence to talk about anything I want in German. I dunno, sometimes I don't feel like I took the full advantage of the German experience. I mean the rest of IES just got drunk a bunch which isn't really an authentic experience you know?


I think I'll miss Hilde the most, she's been the sweetest most understanding host I could have ever dreamed of.

On the other hand I really do miss my American friends and obviously my family.

IES is finally done with, not that that means that I'm done. Not by a long shot.


19 pages, plus research, left to do by July 14th. Also my Sprachkurs professor is apparently talkin jive behind my back. We're going to have a little talk about that on Thursday (don't worry Mom I'll keep it civil, or at least try to) and see if we can't stop that. I'm just really tired of that woman.

So it's been a while since a serious post, but it's been a while since a serious thing happened.



Things are (sadly) starting to wind down around here. Berlin is starting to pack itself up in preparation for my departure. It's just little things at this point you know, like that grocery store I never really go to and those winter beers it was time to throw out.


I've recently discovered a love of turkish tea, which pisses me off because of the missed opportunity.

I'll be making an attempt to go to Prague in the coming weeks, I have so much work to do though it might now happen (sad face).

One of my Grinnell professors is in town and we went for coffee today. It was really cool that Berlin and Grinnell can come together so nicely some times. He explained to me how to use the library at the Freie Universität Berlin, because Humboldt's is basically closed and I really need to start doing research.


The students are on strike this week, so I didn't go to class. Tomorrow there's supposed to be a huge demonstration, which I plan to attend and photograph. However I'm hoping it won't take too long because I have class at 2 (just kidding, that shit got cancelled) but I still have a lot of work to do.

not much else to report.

So remember how HT and I went to the Berlin Zoo?


Anyway the other day I found out Berlin has ANOTHER zoo of comparable size in the east called Tierpark Berlin. Next time I have a free afternoon I think I'll go check that out, bringing my camera with its superior zoom of course.

So the Karnival der Kulturen was a bust. The music was bad, the food was overpriced and the one nigerian beer that I tried wasn't too great.

However there was an international beer booth advertising a selection of 131 beers, one of which was the ever popular Lone Star.


I'm kind of proud that of about 4 american beers there (budweiser, Mississippi Mud, and something else) they chose one brewed and available pretty exclusively only in Texas.

But I'm kind of pissed that they chose Lone Star.


Not much else going on here. Hilde's friends are visiting her so she fed me yesterday. It was nice to speak german for a couple of hours and eat free food. We're getting a summer student on Wednesday. That'll be weird though it'll be nice to live with another dude.

Ok so Bristol was very pretty but it rained all the time and the wind was ridiculous, especially around the Glastonbury Tor, which isn't a proper tor at all, but a hill with a tower. Silly Gaelic languages having words similar to German.

Also because HT and I had an argument about it (I don't remember why, we were both pretty cranky on Sunday) I didn't have fish and chips together, but I had chips. We went to this wonderful little pub in Bristol and the guy working there was really really nice. I forgot living in Berlin how sometimes the people serving you can actually be nice.

On Tuesday Linda, Nathan's girlfriend, came to visit with her friend. I asked them what they wanted to see and Linda said that she absolutely couldn't leave Berlin without seeing the new Jewish Museum that everyone has been talking about. So after a few phone calls to determine the location (I'm such a badass, I got people looking shit stuff up for me) we made our way over there despite freak rainstorms and the entirety of the U1 not running. I highly recommend visiting, you'd be surprised by how little you know about Jewish life in Europe, and at only 5 euor it's a bargain that is hard to beat. It's also kind of a refreshing to visit a place that isn't so preoccupied with Jewish death, which unfortunately pervades the city of Berlin like few others.

Afterwards I dropped off my bread at home and played tourguide for a while, it was fun. It's nice to know the history of a place like Berlin, mostly because there is so much of it.

Not much else ist passiert. I have to work on what was supposed to be a group project this weekend and will probably not make it out to the Karneval des Kulturs this weekend. It's a sad day. I'm going to email the professor tomorrow (or later tonight) and complain that in the entirety of my academic career I have never seen a professor condone two people ditching out on group work for any reason. We shall see how that turns out.

60 years part zwei

So after the dinner I made for myself, which we will never speak of again, I headed back over to the Brandenburger Tor to see how the festival had progressed. When I arrived I noticed that the number of people had increased rather dramatically. So much so that walking a distance of 20 feet took about 20 minutes. I really had to pee too, so it felt even longer. Afterward I went over to the south stage and saw Udo Jürgens perform. He's huge in Germany, like fans numbering in the millions and here he is performing for free. Pretty crazy.


Next up was Otto Waalkes, who is said to be the biggest comedian in Germany. Apparently being a comedian in Germany means you sing with a full band. They opened with the star trek theme. The rest of his set included such hits as:
A German version of We Didn't Start the Fire
Born to be Wild
We Are the Champions again in german
Highway to Hell (in german)

and many more that were apparently huge hits in Germany.

After his peformance the host asked Otto if he considered himself to be more like Mick Jagger or the White Obama (?) to which Otto enthusiastically replied, "Mick Jagger Mick Jagger!" He then launched into a really terrible (awesome) version of I Can't Get No (Satisfaction). All in all the performance was just bizaare and really words don't do it justice.

Next up was 17 hippies. They were an acoustic group that did Eastern European folk songs. Musically they were the best of what I'd seen so far, which of course meant that they had no kitsch value at all. They were fun though, unfortunately they were not allowed an encore, as the BossHoss were clearly more important.


The BossHoss, for those of you who don't know, are a group of Berliners who decided that Berlin didn't have enough country punk so they decided to fix that. The whole thing is rather hysterical to watch, mostly because they sell it really well. Though they're all Berlin natives, yet they adress the audience in exagerated country accents in English. They all wear cowboy hats and dance around lewdly to the enjoyment of pretty much everyone. On the surface level at least, their music is completely brainless and mostly a poor imitation of American country music. However that's sort of the point I guess. They did a country western version of Hey Ya by Outcast and a cover of Ça plane pour moi that was pretty exciting and very unexpected. Again words don't really do it justice, and unfortunately I was too far away and it was too dark to really get a lot of good pictures. I'll post what I have though.

That was the BRD's 60th birthday, it was incredibly peaceful and surprisingly easy to leave. Germans are just efficient about filing out I guess.


Bristol to come soon I promise

So as I mentioned earlier, yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland. For those of you unfamiliar with German history beyond the knowledge that Germany was divided in two for many years, the western half of the country was called the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) and the eastern half was called the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR). May 23rd marks the anniversary of the formation of the current German constitution, however not necessarily the current German state (the east is still part of the country, or it is now anyway).

For how large the celebration is, it's easy to forget for that about half the country, and even the city of Berlin, it is not the 60th anniversary, and isn't necessarily something they like to celebrate. Walking around it was amazing and rather touching to see as many German flags as I saw. The celebration itself was genuine, and when Otto Waalkes jokingly performed "We are the Champions" in German it was kind of a reminder of how far Germany has come these past 60 years. From being antagonized both without and within to being able to finally talk openly about national pride. No, the celebration isn't necessarily representative of all of Germany's history, but it's still exciting all the same. I was privileged to have been there and I am sure that the events of yesterday will stay with me for a very long time.


I initially arrived at the festival at around 12:30 or so. There wasn't much going on, Brandburger Tor was dressed up and there were people walking around everywhere. There was a giant collage in front of the French Embassy with images of the past 60 years and words like "Demokratie" and "Einheit" displayed everywhere. I noticed on the big screen that there was an interview being conducted somewhere. I made my way to the other side of the Tor and found that both sides of the Tor had stages constructed around them. I watched the interview for a little bit. I took some pictures because I figured they were famous people. I heard the name Alice Schwarzer and my first reaction was, hey I read an interview she conducted just the other day. Then I noticed that the man accompanying her on stage had a very strong Russian accent. I shrugged it off and walked away when it suddenly hit me, that's Wladimir Kaminer isn't it! I ran back and snapped a couple of pictures before he walked off stage with the announcement that it was in fact him. For those of you who don't know, Wladimir Kaminer is a Russian born German writer who wrote one of my favorite books, Russendisko. Suffice it to say it was pretty cool to see him onstage.

I walked up and down Straße des 17. Juni and what I saw was pretty standard fare stuff. Overpriced food and beer (it all looked good but I promised myself I wouldn't spend any money) lined the streets, as well as numerous political booths and games for children. I made it all the way down to the Siegessäule where I watched a few minutes of some bad German pop music. I made my way back up to the tor when I thought, hey something must be happening at the Reichstag. I ran over, leaving behind a pretty standard swing band and a bunch of frustratingly non dancing Berliners, to find a huge crowd of people gathered on the front lawn. They were all staring intently at a giant screen, which was on a closed circuit to the Reichstag chamber. They were all awaiting the results of the Presidential election. After about half an hour or so of mindless gibbering (American and German television are pretty similar) they announced a winner, Horst Köhler. It was pretty exciting to be standing directly in front of the Reichstag while they elected a new president, even though it is only a (mostly) symbollic position. What was most amazing to me was how little security there was at the event, given how many important people were in one place. But oh well.

At this point I went home to make dinner, resolving to come back later. I did, but I'll make that another post to follow momentarily.

So the BRD's birthday was a hell of an experience. I'm going to update on it tomorrow, so that the enormity of the event can sink in. Suffice it to say that it won't be something I will forget anytime soon. I was at the Reichstag for the election of a new Bundespräsident, largely a symbolic position but still very exciting, and I saw many of Germany's biggest pop stars for free. It is an event that needs careful consideration and I think it best if I sleep on it for a night.

So yesterday I was at an Imbiss getting some Pommes when some woman walks up to the side window. What followed was an inaudible conversation between her and the proprietor which ended in the following exchange, translated for your benefit:

P: I don't SELL cigarettes!
W: Not officially!


He then goes into the back, pulls out a single cigarette from his jacket, hands it to the woman and in exchange receives about ,20 euro cents which he promptly puts in his pocket and not in the register.



I just want to say right now that I love my neighborhood.



Also tomorrow is Germany's (well the BRD's) 60th birthday. I intend to be there with a camera and a keen eye for detail, mostly because I would rather not be doing my homework.


Also I'll update about Bristol soon. Right now I have the hiccups and the whole thing just doesn't seem to immediate right now.

This has nothing really to do with Berlin but for the love of god go see Star Trek, you will not regret it.

Is it weird that despite my professed hatred of it, all I really want right now is to crack open a Lone Star and talk about Star Wars?


I mean not the Star Wars part, obviously.



Yesterday was Tag des Sieges, which is a big deal in the eastern part of Berlin and among the Russian population. Not so much for everyone else though, probably for good reason.

There was a small festival in Treptower Park which was rather uninspired, except for the bolshevist brass band (not there real name but I don't remember it right now) performing such hits as Berlin by Ideal, Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones and at least the first part of Dschingis Kahn's smash hit about Moscow.

It was pretty good times I suppose. Some guy tried to get me to sign a position and I said, "Nein!"

To which he replied, sullenly, "Warum nein?"

As promised here are my adventures in København:

After a particularly arduous and boring Sprachkurs, Kelsey and I immediately departed for Berlin Hauptbahnhof making two stops to pick up her luggage (which included our tickets) and döner because it was Dönerstag. From there we made our way to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and waited for 2 hours because both of us are very paranoid about not being on time for things (it's actually quite refreshing to finally meet someone who has no problems showing up an hour or two early for something just to make absolutey sure you're never late). From there it was a two hour train ride to Hamburg where we forced a man out of seats that we didn't actually reserve (sorry dude, I don't even know if you can understand this or are reading it). ICE trains are really nice, comfortable and fast. Highly recommend travelling by them.


Anyway Hamburg Hbf isn't nearly as large or impressive as Berlin but I guess there's really no reason for it to be. The only highlights were a crazy old man collecting bottles and a beer can shoved in the ceiling that had clearly been there for a while (like decades). I took some pictures thinking eh I have an 8 gig card why not.

The most exciting thing about the train up to København, other than the prospect of having to battle with a large turkish family for our seats, was the fact that the whole fucking train ended up on a ferry across the Ostsea. Kelsey and I were understandably excited about this. I mean how often do trains get ferried, or how often is it necessary to ferry them even. In any case that alone may have been worth the money.

We arrived in København around 10 that night. Will had a bitching hat and only 30 kroner to his name. Naturally he bought a beer (dude and I have so much in common, I have on several occasions spent my last couple of euro on beer) and we were off.

Will lives in Hellerød which isn't quite København proper, rather a suburb that is disturbingly much like an american one. The whole trip took about 45 minutes by train plus another 10 minute ride by bus. Danish trains are strange in that they are clean and have enough seats to accomodate most people. They also have "silence zones" which aren't very well marked and are a really confusing concept to most people (even other Europeans). For whatever reason, it's a 500 kroner fee to put your feet up on the seats but you can drink beer on them. I don't quite get it but whatever.

After arriving at the Højskole where Will lives (it's basically like a college with no grades where yo also live) we pretty much shot the breeze. I let Will in on some Grinnell gossip I been catching and we split some raspberry shnapps that I smuggled across the border. Kelsey probably talked a bunch too, though most of it didn't really apply to her. She didn't like the schnapps and kept insulting me and it at every opportunity.

After waking up the next day at around 10:30? Kelsey used Will's shower, which ordinarly wouldn't be a big deal except that Will's shower is basically a drain in his bathroom and afterwards you have to squeegee the floor. It's pretty hilarious as well as making showering fun and exciting. I didn't bring anything to shower with but whatever.

Friday we mostly just chilled around Hillerød, looking for cheap food and a place to exchange money. Will showed us this castle he's never bothered to tour but which we all agreed was at least gorgeous from the outside. Danish schwarma is good, but not as good as döner. Nothing really is though.

Afterwards we found this really cool forest to wander around in and get pollen up our noses. Will and I continued to share Grinnell stories much to Kelsey's amusement. (because my parents read this we won't go into what those stories are) Afterward Will showed us a traditional Danish grocery store because he was completely out of food. I marvelled at how expensive everything was and bought a cheap brand of coke to use as a mixer. Will bought what I guess is the danish equivalent of a 30 rack (it's only like 20 or so beers) and we partied. Dinner was a muted affair because all the Danes were out at some huge May Day party that we didn't go to because Will had no money and no real desire to be stuck in København till the next day (getting in and out of the CPH is a big pain we would find). Afterwards Will and I mostly drank and laughed and watched stuff on big screens. Kelsey didn't seem to have a problem with this, which was good.

Saturday was the big day, the day we would finally go to København proper and see all the sights, and then return to a huge højskole party to end all parties.


Eh.


København is beautiful to be sure, and Kelsey and I were really impressed by the architecture, but there just ain't much to do there. Getting around is really easy though, because everyone speaks English which is helpful. Will later explained that yeah, København is pretty much a one day city. That was fine with me because it meant that Kelsey and I had seen everything and weren't bad tourists.

On the trainride back to Hillerød we ran into a real live Larper, but Will said I couldn't stare because it's really rude to stare in Dänemark. Oh well.

Dinner at the Højskole was interesting, because we had to sit at a big long table. They had lamb and everything. It was all good, though there wasn't nearly enough to satisfy. At this point Will and I had been filling our stomachs with beer though, so it wasn't too bad I guess.

After that the party happened, again because my parents read this I won't go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that the Danes really love them some James Brown and Teknotronic or whatever it was called. Also I think I heard Poker Face, but that's everywhere in Europe. The party actually wasn't all that great but whatever.


The morning after Will suggested I drink a lot of water and eat a McDonald's cheesburger or two. It was good advice.


So that was København.


My next adventure is coming up next week, when I go to Bristol to see HT and visit a place where they pretty much only speak english. It's kind of lame actually but I'm still going to have a good time.

No matter how bad I'm feeling about my german, I can always spend about 30 minutes just talking to my host and she's so sweet about correcting me that I don't even notice.

It's astounding how far I've come considering I hear and speak about as much English as I do German, but never English to German people!


Chili tomorrow, sehr begeistert.



Also Køpenhavn soon I promise! I already posted the pictures, so now I have to narrate

There is a beer here called Desperados that is flavored with tequila.



It is most definitely the worst beer there is.




Køpenhavn updates to follow after I finish this book/paper I might have to write?

So today was meh, one of those days where you wake up thinking in English and you just can't shake it. Which was a shame because if I had been thinking in German it would have been a really great day.


Things continue to explode outside of my apartment, and people continue to ignore them. Hopefully I will soon too?



Anyway, recent events!



Saturday night my friend Kelsey sent me a message about Baumblütenfest, which she described as a kind of festival dedicated to the blooming of trees in Potsdam. I figured, what the hell I don't really want to spend the day reading by myself in Treptower Park. So I decided to go mostly because I like riding on trains and I enjoy hanging out with people.


So on the train ride over Kelsey finally reveals that Baumblütenfest is in fact a fruit wine festival taking place in Werder an der Havel and NOT in Potsdam. Naturally I got very excited, wine is one of my favorite beverages and festivals are always good times.

After getting into Werder we passed a few wine stands and I voiced my concern that the festival was going to be a letdown owing to the sparsity of wine stands. Kelsey insisted that the festival was still onwards and that these were fake wine stands. I believed her because it was still early and I was well rested and satisfied after our excellent trip on German Regional Verkehr.

Our first stop was a prezel stand that sold chocolate prezels. I didn't buy one and after tasting it I'm kind of glad that I saved my money. The pretzel was really dry and the chocolate tasted like it had been sitting in a bin at slightly above the recommended temperature for a couple of hours. No one else seemed to share my opinion.

After walking some more we ran into what Kelsey termed a Weingarten, though really it was just the first real winestand that sold wine at low enough prices for all to enjoy. I started out with a berry wine of some kind, I don't remember what though (not my fault! my host explained that fruit wine goes straight to your head). There was a stage in front of us with a group of germans that would lipsync to American pop songs and periodically encourage the audience to dance. This was the inspiration for my newest blog, Germanpeopledancing. Kelsey and I "retard danced" (her words not mine) for a song before returning to our imbibing.

We decided that we'd had enough wine to enjoy the Ferris wheel (or at least enjoy it more) so we shelled out 3,50 and waited in line with all the other winos. The ride was really nice except for we kept passing this one house that had a confederate flag waving in its yard. I wasn't really offended so much as confused.

German festivals have way better food than American ones, the half meter brat beats the foot long anyday (though I didn't get one) and Quarkbällchen are way better than funnelcakes.

Corndogs still win though.


All in all I think I had about 5 or 6 different glasses of wine. I really enjoyed everything I drank, especially as the day wore on...


Baumblütenfest is a real good time, even if you don't drink. It's one of those quaint German things that you have to do every once in a while to remind you that Germany is more than just Berlin.


I should get back to my critical reading for my Jewish class. I've understood most of it but I haven't really read it that hard and my battery is almost dead.


I'm going to Kopenhagen in a couple of days to see Will. So excited.

My German speaking achievement for the day was successfully ordering train tickets, only to initially find them too expensive, then return later in the day after learning they had quoted the price for two people and not one.


I am going to Kopenhagen and it most certainly did not cost over 300 euro for one person, that would be silly.


Now I am doing reading tonight, so that I may enjoy a tree blooming festival in Potsdam relatively guilt free.

Yes, I am doing cultural things. I will not regret this!



Also I just really like riding on trains for one thing. I hope the baker is open tomorrow, I'm out of bread.


rambleramblerambleKantishardtounderstandinanylanguageramblerambleramble

This is Spargel. It is delicious.



My host prepared some for me a few days ago, she served it with potatoes and assorted meats. It was one of my favorite meals that I have had here. It is like regular asparagus but thicker and less like a vegetable, which is why the Germans love it. To serve it you must also make a special cheese sauce that is also wonderful.


Mom, Dad, if you're reading this come to Germany immediately and eat Spargel. I know how much you love regular asparagus.


Today is Katarin's (host's daughter) birthday and to celebrate we had Spargelsuppe, which is a soup made from Spargel. It is wonderfully creamy and delicious.



First meeting of our Sprachkurse happened today. It looks way too easy, but at the same time I don't really need to learn anything new I just need review. This class is cool because there are international students in it, and they are friendly. Like the guy from Turkey who laughed when I bought what was basically a corndog out of the vending machine. It was bad, not much else to say about that.


Also ate döner today. It was pretty good. Not that that is unusual or anything...

Dear Germany,
I'm not normally one to judge appearances, but orange is not a skin color. All too often I see women with jet black hair and robustly orange skin. This is worrisome to me because I am concerned about your health, cancer is all too pervasive in the fake tan game. I'm also worried that someone may have told you it was ok to go out in public looking orange and on behalf of whoever that was I would like to apologize whole-heartedly; you were the victim of a cruel joke that has gone on for so long the people who told it no longer remember the punchline. It is with the upmost conern that I beg of you to return to your normal skin-tone and learn to live with your natural pigmentation.
-John

PS

To the turkish Guy wearing the glittery NPA (National Porn Association) shirt on the U-Bahn and looking really proud of it.

You are very classy, I just wanted you to know that.

So I went to a Hertha game on Sunday. It would have been a more mindblowing experience had I had the gumption to sit with fans, however I chose instead to sit with my friends. It turned out to be not so bad, because I have been hell of gimpy as of late. These new shoes I bought were tearing up my heals (which have since healed) and somehow I managed to roll/sprain both of my ankles to the point of massive swelling. I would not have been able to give Hertha the attention they deserved.


I also was an idiot and forgot to bring a camera. You will never know what I saw because of this. I don't think I can really afford to go to another game either.


It was still fun, Hertha beat Werder-Bremen with a very exciting last minute goal by a guy who's name escapes me.


I bought a scarf for 5 € thinking it was a great deal, only later I realized that Hertha BSC doesn't actually appear anywhere on it. At some point I will find a Hertha store and buy a scarf, then I will have two.


I met three Hertha fans on the way to Olympiastadion who asked me about my Waterloo shirt (everyone always does). They were surpised to learn that it is not a shirt from Waterloo station in London (lame!) but it is in fact a kick ass record store in Austin. They were glad I was from Texas and not London. They seemed to really hate London.


HT came to visit this weekend. We went to the zoo and I again forgot my camera. She had hers so I took a bunch of pictures. I think she will post them or send them to me at some point.



My Humboldt classes are terrifying, though the professors seem really nice and accomodating to some degree because of my Americanness. I will make an attempt to speak up in my Kant class because it is pretty small and I do have a passing familiarity with the subject. Jewish characterization however is a different story.


Also I might make a German friend soon! I registered for a Sprachpartner the other day. We spend 30 minutes speaking German and then 30 minutes speaking English each week.


Not much else. I ate blutwurst for the first time, and it was amazing. Also potatoes, are amazing.

I have decided to grow a beard in Germany!

Ach!



I am getting better I guess. My week is done and Huiting comes on Friday!


So anyway a quick rundown on my Humboldt classes.


My class on Jewish Characterization is terrifying. The professor seems nice and flat out told me and James (another dude from IES and also from Dickenson, Tx!) that she didn't really expect us to give any oral presentations. I'm still not sure what I need to do to get credit in that class though.


My Kant class steht in this incredibly ghetto ass east german relic of a Gebäude. The halls have no windows and every room is packed tightly against the room next to it. The class room itself obviously very tiny and the furniture has not been replaced since the Wende, and probably well before. Nevertheless it was a surprisingly positive experience. The teacher (you don't refer to them as Professors unless they've published a certain amount and have been recognized as such by the University) is from Italy and just got back from Italy yesterday. Her German is nice and slow and easy to understand, which should then make Kant a little more digestible. I was surprised that I was one of three people in the class who'd read him before. Yay Grinnell?


One more thing.


I don't ever want to hear another word about pretentious people at Grinnell, they don't exist. You see they simply can't compete with their European counterparts. German university students, well at least like the few in my philosophy class, outpace them in all areas.


I've also noticed that Germans have very good handwriting, und ich hab' dass nicht.


I apologize for the random breaks into Denglish and German.

Vielen Dank für ihr Verständnis


Also dann, Tschüs!

It is a sad day when I realize that the last thing my body needs is glop on top of carbohydrates.

so much for Pommes mit Mayo anytime soon.


I am sick and today was the first day of university courses. I was shocked by how little of what went on around me made sense. I think I was supposed to sign up for a presentation but did not. I talked to the professor afterward and from what I was able to pick up she doesn't really want me to give an oral presentation so now I'm completely at a loss. Thankfully IES makes her sign a sheet that says what I need for credit. If I just do that exactly I think I should be ok.


I hope.

No joke I have had experiences in Berlin like this.



Just not with currywurst. I had the sense to read this arc a long time ago

So as I was talking to a friend of mine today (in German!) I realized that I may have been a little too hasty in trying to shove all of Poland into one little entry. The trip really was one of the best I have been on in a while. It was a great experience because it taught me how to communicate when the people around you don't necessarily speak the same language but more importantly it taught me how much fun you can have in one single unplanned afternoon by just simply doing things like walking into a restaurant where nobody speaks english, or buying that weird looking pastry just because the name looks funny. It was a good primer on how to travel in Europe, something that is actually more complicated than it seems. Knowing German and English together helps tremendously, as those are two of the most commonly spoken languages here, but there so many more experiences to be had outside of those two languages. I want to go into a little more detail into one my experiences where there was little if any english spoken and the rewards for taking a risk where tremendous.


So on our tour through the old city section of Warsaw, which was completely destroyed during World War 2 and then rebuilt exactly, Marcin brought us into an old restaurant that was a hold over from communist days (at least that's what I think he said, I wasn't really listening at that point) and I looked at the prices and everything was dirt cheap. The essential set up of the restaurant was that you ordered your food, then after you paid you walked over to a window, handed the woman at the window your ticket and in a few minutes you received your plate of food. It's a wonderful take on American fast food, everything is already prepared but they don't use any of the shortcuts that we do. Greg, a really nice guy from my program, noticed that someone was eating chicken and mashed potatoes and realized that it would probably be cheap to come here with a translation of chicken and potatoes and hope for the best. We had lucked out on Polish food up until that point, and at about $3.50 a plate what did we stand to lose? So we asked our guide for a translation of chicken and potatoes in Polish. He wrote it down for us and we returned to the restaurant with our friend Brian in tow. Greg did the ordering for all three of us, it turned out that the cashier spoke enough English (most everyone in Poland knows English actually) for him to get our order across. We went over to the counter and this is what we ended up with:




























For reference, that is a plate with a full chicken breast, a huge pile of mashed potatoes, and heaping serving of cabbage. It was all delicious and really cheap.




That was kind of sappy, but I feel like the only way I can really do a blog like this is if I do the big events in a hurry and find little moments to cover. I really enjoyed eating lunch at this little cafeteria because it was so good and very Polish. I don't know if I could even find this place again if I tried. It seems pretty old and settled, so I'm sure it'll still be there if I ever decide to go back to Warsaw (which I would very seriously consider actually). I have pictures with the name on them that I can use for reference. I'm not even sure if I would go back to this place even.


I dunno. Poland was a first rate country, we had an excellent guide so point us in the right direction but the most fun I had was when I was just walking around own my own with other people. Not having any plans or knowledge about the country.



Poland you were amazing, now it's time to move on to other things.


Like Bristol, I'm going to Bristol in about a month. Crazy!

So I realized that Poland is rapidly becoming a distant memory and new things have happened in Berlin that need to be recorded before they too become distant memories, therefore I'll give a more abridged version of Poland.



We saw some castle in Warsaw that was bullshit, then I went to an Art Gallery and it was crazy.


Also Polish kebab is pretty good, or at least that one place was.



Some guy at a polish dance club yelled at me to get out of his seat, he was in a wheelchair so I got confused because he was already sitting.


We ran into some guys late at night who weren't from that particular hood and asked us for beer money.



Warsaw Day 2


Saw another bullshit castle, the guide was really rude and would yell at other groups were louder than he was. I accidentally yawned and he made a bunch of bizarre signs with his hands around his mouth that I eventually interpreted to mean I should have covered my mouth.

Marcin took us on a tour of the old city, it was gorgeous.

Greg, Brian and I walked around Warsaw. We stopped in at this place for lunch that had no english on the menu. Thankfully Greg had asked Marcin how to say chicken and mashed potatoes in Polish so we had an amazing meal for 11,50 zloty each.


Greg bought some Spiritys, which is 95% abv. It is very gross.



The train ride was uneventful.



KRAKOW!


Krakow is gorgeous, we ate at a restaurant that was communal dining. The portions were huge and one of the dishes was a huge chunk of meat wrapped in a leaf of cabbage which you then garnished with a generous portion of tomato soup. This was one of 7 courses, of which we had already had 4.



Auschwitz is depressing, but a necessary stop. Sorry not to include more, but it was pretty emotionally taxing for all of us.



Jew food is great! We went to a little restaurant in Kazimir, which is the jewish district. They played Klezmer music and I had 2 glasses of wine.


We went to this club called Kitsch that played nothing but 90's american pop music in one room and minimal techno in the other. It was a great time, I actually talked a Polish girl. Her name was Olga and she was very nice.



I somehow found my way home after not paying attention to how I got to the club at all.




Day 2!


Toured yet another bullshit castle (way too many people built castles in europe)


Walked around krakow, it is gorgeous. Bought a silly hat, saw a huge pillowfight, ate dinner



omygodpolandisgoneImissyoupoland!



The train ride back was even worse, because instead of just three to a cart we were six. German pass control is really terrifying.




I'll post pictures momentarily.





Also I started school this week, it looks to be pretty easy. I start Humboldt next week, that terrifies me.


I went to the Philharmonie today becuase my host couldn't go. It was fantastic.



The Polkaholix were off the chain, imagine a german speaking Brave Combo.



I had the worst falafel ever today, it was microwaved and essentially a dry paste that was so bad.




gross

This was seriously the only interesting part of Marienberg now that I think about it.



Yeah they're aussteiging in whatever direction they please, they're polish they do was sie wollen.


I'm being a little unfair to Marienberg, I'm sure it's a pretty little town, it just seemed like all we were doing there was visiting a castle. And if any of my readers have ever been to Germany, or Europe in general for that matter, you fully understand that one castle is enough to last a lifetime. Though the Schloss at Marienberg is actually very impressive considering it was entirely rebuilt after the second world war under a communist regime, it still doesn't excuse the fact that Castles for the most part just aren't very interesting places. I took tons of pictures and I will post them at picasa as soon as I've sifted through them.


After the castle Marcin took us to field where he said a hotel was supposed to be built. The only problem was that it turned out that the field was full of 2000 corpses. Yeah, that was nice and pleasant to hear right after touring a castle and before eating lunch.

Lunch was awesome though, Marcin took us to this really great Polish place that had Pierogi, which is one of my new favorite foods (as are most polish foods actually). It's basically a polish dumpling but it's so good.


Afterward we went to a polish super market and I was a little depressed by how indistinguishable it was from an American one. Seriously get rid of the polish aisle labels and it's basically an american store.

At any rate we bought provisions for the long train ride to Warsaw (about six hours) and gathered at the train station you see in the photo. The train we were one was actually really nice, we had our own compartment and the six hours went by surprisingly fast. The Polish country side is actually very pretty, although there are some parts where you wonder how the hell do people live in places this remote. We actually saw clumps of houses surrounded by nothing but fields and the railroad. I guess living in Grinnell isn't much different, except I think these people might find Grinnell to be a sprawling metropolis instead of a quaint little Iowa town.

We got into Warsaw kind of late, luckily the hotel was still serving dinner. The hotel we stayed at this time wasn't as authentically polish as in Danzig. I was a little disappointed by this, but at the same time everyone working at the hotel spoke English so at least communication was easier.

I ate like three plates of food before finally calling it quits. Thomas and Stephanie had a desert eating contest that eventually pissed off the people working the dining area because they were ready to close up shop.


Afterwards I went clubbing and stuff happened that I don't want my parents knowing about.


Next time, Warsaw proper!

I had a fucking shitty day today guys.


Dudes was hella borin me out and not having taken medicine for a week really dragged me down today. Ugghh I hate feeling that lethargic.



Classes actually started today, so I have some homework. I'm really tired. I'll update more about poland tomorrow.

Reise nach Polen!

So this is going to be updated in multiple parts, mostly because there's a lot to update and also because it would get monotonous to read and write.

I also took over 400 pictures of Poland so it's going to be a little bit before I post them. I posted pictures of the giant pillow fight I was in but the rest is going to probably go up a little later this week.


I'm just going to give you guys a basic rundown of what happened first

Itinerary:

Gdansk, formerly the free city of Danzig and onetime home to legendary author Günter Grass, who's house I was not able to see.

Marienburg, home of a castle that we saw, not that exciting

Warschau: Amazing, simply amazing. Completely destroyed by the bombs of WWII but is not completely (if not almost certainly largely) rebuilt.

Krakow: Amazingly survived the war (mostly) intact, absolutely gorgeous however the side trip to Auschwitz put somewhat of a damper on the festivities.


In between all of these places we traveled by polish trains, which waver between incredibly adorably eastern European and actually comfortable. Our first train was a sleeper, which meant the rooms were incredibly compact. Even so we were able to fit at least five people comfortably in order to hang out and ride out the compulsory sobriety. I would not recommend sleeping on a train if you can avoid it. The train ride to Danzig shouldn't be more than a couple of hours but because our program directors elected to save us a bundle of money it took us 12 hours or so. The reason for this is the trains stops every so often for long periods of time in increasingly smelly parts of the country.

We randomly ran into two American dude-bros who were claiming to be making a film about the Holocaust. The general consensus among the ladies is that they were creepers. I think Americans in general are starting to bother me, which is a problem. I love America. Mostly I think it was because they interrupted our game of old maid, which was getting pretty heated.

Needless to say after disembarking (pictures to be posted later), we were all tired, thirsty and hungry. None of us really understood that being on a train for 12 hours means you can't get off and buy food and that we should have done that before hand.

Anyway after gathering myself together and cursing at everything that moved I joined my compatriots in disembarking from the station. It was here that we would get our first dreary glimpse of Danzig, as well as our first introduction to a man who would become more than just our guide, but also our friend. I'm speaking of course of Marcin, the polish guide who speaks 5 languages and free lances for National Geographic. Yeah, he's pretty impressive.

From there we got our introduction to Polish breakfast, which is full of meat and fruit all soaked in grease and fanned on a plate. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. I must have put away at least 5 plates of food, which was actually about average.

The hotel itself was 5 kinds of crappy. It was probably a nice hotel for Danzig, but there were just too many things wrong with it. The beds were small, not that I got to sleep in a bed, though the hotel was kind enough to set up a cot in my room. I shared the room with two dudes who were pretty crazy chill.


From breakfast we embarked on a tour of the city. I don't know what it is about the Poles and German (actually I do know what it is, most of them really hate speaking it and try to avoid it as much as possible) but our tour guide's speech patterns were confusing and almost impossible to follow. When trying to understand German it is incredibly important to hear the entire sentence in order to glean any kind of meaning. This is because german sentences place the primary verb in the second position and shove all other verbs at the very end, where they share space with sepearable prefixes and sometimes conjunctions. Our guide would pause at the oddest of places in her sentences and linger just long enough for me to forget what she had said to me so that the remaining words would be completely out of context. It was a taxing tour, though Danzig is a beautiful city. I could begin to feel my shoes giving way, and indeed by the end of the week they had holes in the souls, so my feet were in great pain. By the end of the tour I was exhausted, hungry, dirty and really really had to pee.


A little warning about Poland for those of you with weak bladders. Public bathrooms are not free, sometimes taking pictures inside of a building isn't free, and if you don't have any small change you can probably find yourself out of luck. Restaurants also do not allow you to use their bathrooms unless you are buying something, this is true of Berlin as well.


After the tour, our guide suggested that those of us who didn't want to walk around the old city could go to the beach where there were plenty of places to eat and we could walk along the longest pier in Poland. It isn't that long, but Poland also isn't really a coastal country.


A group of us grabbed lunch and beer (Polish beer is great by the way, Zwieck was my favorite, though I'm sure I'm misspelling it). Afterwards a small group of us stayed behind to explore the beach and drink beer. We were already kind of tipsy and frankly saw no reason not to keep going. I mean it was spring break man, what else were we going to do. Unfortunately Poland isn't as open about it's open container laws, which means we were all technically breaking the law as we loudly walked down the pier drinking beer (hey that rhymes!) but the cops didn't accost us or anything so that was ok. I remember really having to pee very badly but not wanting to face the woman at the WC twice in a row. We won't go into how we solved that problem...


Anyway of course we got lost, and if it weren't for some very friendly polish people who warned us not to speak any german we were able to make our way to the restaurant about 15 minutes late right as the soup arrived. The rest of was pretty relaxed. At some point I managed to shower and grab some more beer from the spätkauf down the street. I won't go into what happened after dinner because it wasn't very exciting. Danzig is a beautiful city in parts, but of all that we saw in Poland it was the most stereotypically eastern european, which is a shame because it was a genuinely beautiful city.



Next up, Marianberg!

I just returned from Poland.


I have no food and my host is on a day trip.



Also in Germany Lebensmittel generally aren't open on Sundays.



I've also started speaking more Denglish.


Also Poland was awesome, and I missed my mother's birthday.



More on Poland later

I'm going to Poland tomorrow. As long as I can remember both my camera and my passport I think I'll be ok.



I can just borrow everything else.





I'll try and start posting longer entries, but I haven't really had a narrative blog in a long time. It will be difficult for me to remember every detail but I will do my best. I realize that this blog is not for me, but for you my non-Berliner audience.


Also I hope people going to Poland with me realize that the time change happens tonight. I guess the german word for that is Frühlingzeitswende?



While I'm thinking about it I should start with a recap of my friday night. So yesterday marked the culmination of our Intensiv Kurs in German with a test testing our basic comprehension skills. I'd taken three practice tests prior to the test and did about the same each time, even after extended periods of study. Naturally this led me to the conclusion that the three weeks of intensive German were worthless, especially when we have to register for a separate German class during the regular semester anyway.



Anyway the plan after the test was to immediately begin drinking and making sushi. However before that could begin, some Bekannters and I needed to get our ISIC cards. This lead to a series of events that had me travelling deep into the western half of the city (I've been here a month and I'm already dividing the city up) for lunch at William's (not the one from Houston) host family's apartment. The lunch was simple, boiled potatoes with a beet/onion salad that was actually pretty good. From there we made our way over to my place where I failed to introduce William to my host and utterly failed at manners in general.


From there we made our way directly to Alexanderplatz, by way of the Turkish Market in Kreuzberg. If you're ever in the city on a Tuesday or a Friday be sure to stop by Kreuzberg for the Turkish Market. Open air markets are a rarity in the US and they're really something that need to be experienced whenever you leave America. The sights and sounds are intoxicating and the deals can't be beat. Walking up and down the market has you hearing at least three different languages (English, German and of course Turkish) all saying the same thing.


Bitte Schön Bitte Schön Bitte Schön Bitte SCHOEEEEEN!

Alles muss raußen! Alles muss raußen!

Eat up! Eat up Eat up! EAT UP!

*something in turkish*


We ended up with some delightful turkish pastries called Shamiat that the girls didn't like at all but William and I found quite tasty. It's basically a khoko paste wrapped in a thin crust then garnished with sesame seeds. It's a little dry but is probably meant to be eaten with coffee or tea. Regardless I got 1000g of the stuff for 5 euro which is a pretty good deal for hand made pastries.


Finally after a slightly irritated phone call William and I made our way up to Alexanderplatz to catch a tram to Rose's (another friend of mine) host's apartment. Rose lives in the former East Berlin so the surrounding area is pretty much nothing but Soviet style block apartments. It's a really different scene but it's really charming in its own right. Also it goes without saying that East Berlin's Ampelmännchen are far superior to the crossing signals in the west.

Funny thing while we were in Alexanderplatz. Alexanderplatz is a gigantic square with plenty of empty space. As a result many people use it as a performance space. On a given day there can be a drum circle, a bunch of punks sitting around failing to play guitar, and in this case young German teenagers breakdancing. The group was either just warming up, or they weren't very good to begin with, but as the leader dude was getting ready to bust a movie a middle aged turkish woman just ran through the group screaming and waving her arms. It was really surreal and it completely ruined the momentum of the dancers. I thought it was pretty funny.

From there the drinking and sushi making began. Because my parents and some of my mom's friends read this let's just say a good time was had by all and the film Heisser Sommer is pretty entertaining after all the alcohol we had. Also homemade sushi is difficult to make but rewarding. Not that I was able to actually roll any of the stuff.



Yep.


Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Tiger & Dragon) is just as boring in German as it is in English

Dudes the bomb squad were totally outside my apartment last night. They brought in the robot and everything. It was so cool!


I was in no real danger, the suspected bomb (it turned out to be nothing) was in the S-Bahn station across the street from me.

This is where my pictures from Berlin will most likely end up. I say most likely because I am really lazy and have taken a bunch of pictures. Eventually I will sort the wheat from the chaff.

Exciting German progress report:



Last night I went (by myself) to go see Watchmen and rather than see it at Sony Center like I originally intended I ended up in a completely different theater a couple of blocks away. I figured it would be the same thing so I just walked in because it was an earlier showing and I had no desire to wait. Turns out this theater doesn't play it's big American hits in English.


Anyway it turned out not to be a problem.





Schmeet.

My Friday night might be boring, but at least I am eating well.


That is a Berliner Kindl Helles Bock. It is very high in alcohol at 7,8% abv however unlike it's dunkel (not an actual dunkel) counterpart it is light and refreshing rather than overbearing. Though it should be noted that I've only ever had the dunkel warm and only after it exploded on me.


I plan on seeing Watchmen tonight at Sony Center. I do not want to stay out too late as I am touring the Reichstag for free tomorrow at 8:45 in the morning. I am excited and as soon as I have the time to sift through all of my pictures I will upload some nice ones here, as well as other places yet to be determined.


Today I tried, and failed, to find the Turkish Markt in Kreuzburg. I was only going to sightsee/buy cheap socks. I never ended up finding the market because the streets around Kottbusser Tor are not all labeled but I did end up buying four pairs of women's socks for 2 Euro. I did not realize when I bought them that they were lady's socks, however they are comfortable and my feet have always been open about their cross dressing. At the very least I can stop wearing a pair of socks after 2 days instead of four or however long it has been since I changed the last pair.


I do not reccomend the German National History Museum. It is too new and too American to really be very interesting. I do reccomend going to the Pergamon however, it is too spectacular for words. The Altnationalgalerie is very meh but is at least worth the trip for the architecture and some of the sculptures.




I am slowly but surely making friends. There is a girl here named Rose who shares many similar traits and is brazen enough to adress me by name in public. I think the two of us will get along well. She plans on coming with me to see the Polkaholix. I am also hanging out with a fellow Grinnellian named Imran as well as a small group of other people I see regularly. My opinions about my fellow students at IES have improved considerably as I have gotten to know them and for the first time in weeks I am genuinely happy to be in Berlin.



Tschüs!

I got the internet now guys, you can start reading again.





I'll post pictures later.





I got loads

At my mother's insistence I have begun to pack, this is as far as I have gotten at the moment.

One week from now I am sure that I will be frantically packing and wavering back and forth between taking the banjo or leaving the damn thing here.



I really wished I had the discipline to practice more and it would be fun to have, but mostly it'll just be another thing to carry around.




In other news I can't sleep!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to come back from Germany acting like this

Big News

IES finally emailed me where I'm living, though they say it won't be final until I arrive in Germany.


I'm living in Neukölln which is one of Berlin's boroughs, and apparently has a high percentage of immigrants, which I think is cool.


Here's the wiki entry



Anyway I'm living with a woman in her 50's named Frau Hilde. I am looking forward to addressing her as Frau Hilde ALL THE TIME.

Well this is weird

So I guess this is my first real post, but for some reason it isn't from Berlin.


Anyway I joined the facebook group for my program and as I was searching through the people on it I noticed that a girl from my German class in high school (and middle school for that matter) is on the same program. That is so weird. Especially since she was there in the fall.



Oh well

I have yet another blog!

Well most of you haven't known me for a million years so you only know me throw one blog or another, but I'm here for Berlin. I don't have any exciting plans for this blog yet because I find that my plans always seem to fall through or not actually come to fruition for one reason or another. Though by making this blog before I even get to Berlin means I probably have some sort of intention for it, who knows. One thing I will definitely do is post a link to this blog on plans and keep it there for at least a while.



I suppose also I will try and use it exclusively for Berlin purposes, like pictures I guess? I have a digital camera now so I should probably remember to bring it with me.


The title of this blog, for those of you uncultured enough to not know, comes from a slight manipulation of a lyric by Ideal from their smash hit "Berlin", I felt it was appropriate. Also I hate commas and semicolons but that's for another blog. I probably won't start it though because I don't really care enough to do it though.


I have love for most men