Wochenende Eins

Hallo, ich habe zuruckgekommen. Back on the blog. This first weekend was a ton of fun; lots of exploring the city clubs, bars, and performing arts/sports centers. Friday night, the entire group went to a fußball spiele (soccer game) at the Olympic Stadium, which is a ways outside of Mitte (the center of the city). The game was Berlin versus Hannover, and it ended in a tie. However, there was no overtime since it was a "freundlich" (friendly) game. The fans weren't super rowdy since it wasn't an important game, but there was certainly a lot of drinking. One can order an entire liter of beer, which comes in a plastic pitcher. There is a glass-fenced section for fans of the opposing team so that drunk, rowdy Berlin fans do not attack them. Found this pretty fun. The game was not particularly stimulating. Later that night, our Director's Assistant (a senior girl who has been to Berlin with the German department twice before), took us out on the city. We went to a club called Suicide Circus. The young people go out extremely late at night here. The doors to the clubs do not even open until after 1 am, and don't really get crowded until after 2 am. The club experience was quite strange. People do not really dance with each other, but stand alone and awkwardly move their hands. I was kind of embarrassed watching them because they were so bad at dancing. Later, I talked with my Gastschwester (host-sister) and she says most of the people at those types of clubs are on MDMA, explaining why they are so anti-social. It wasn't exactly my scene but it was definitely interesting to experience that central part of young Berlin culture. 

Saturday night, we went to a famous venue called Chamäleon, which hosts shows that are cabaret-like, with food and drinks provided during the show. This one was acrobatic, and was really fun to see. The theme was a rogue-like circus, and included a lot of slap-stick humor that isn't so common in U.S. performance these days The performers were extremely talented, and acts included trapeze, bars, trampoline, dance, and general acrobatics. Later that night, a part of the group went out to a bar in the city. Eventually, we realized that there were really only men around. Yes, we accidentally all went to a gay bar. Oh well. It was a very chill scene in a good location. My hostsister gave me a list of good clubs to check out, so we decided to try one. Unfortunately, I was with a group of a bunch of poorly dressed American boys... the bouncer wouldn't even look at us. We were tired anyhow, so headed the 30 mins via S-Bahn to home. 

Sunday, I ate a leisurely bread-and-cheese and schwarztee (black tee) Frühstück (breakfast), and then bin spazieren gegagen (walking) with the dogs with my family in a town nearby called Wannsee. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera. I will when I go back (inevitably, it will happen-- it was a beautiful park). Aunt Joanne-- you would love this park! If we are ever in Berlin together, we will have to go together.

Mondays, we do not have class, but a social activity organized by the Director's Assistant. Today, we traveled to the East Side Gallery, which is a portion of the Berlin Wall that is still standing, and upon which artists have created political paintings. It's extremely long, with hundreds of various works. Great picture opportunities. I took lots of pictures-- they're below. Not particularly looking forward to four hours of German class tomorrow, but I do like my professors. It is just trying to be in class being spoken to in German for such a long time. 

The classroom with my Intermediate German Language professor. She is from the Goerte Institute. 

The view from my bus stop (Hauptstelle). It's called Mexicoplatz for unknown reasons...

Found this hysterical Hemd (shirt) with non-sense English words on it. There was a cute little market on Friday near our school at Rüdesheimer Platz. Fresh strawberries abound! Ate lots of them. 

Sunset at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, where the Fußballspiele was held.

Mom's favorite... good old Pilsner Urquel. 

A subway station performance occurring at about 2:00 am... Berlin does not sleep.

The Wall (Die Mauer) at the East Side Gallery

Jews (Cameron on the left and Andrew on the right) in Germany 

View from the wall. This is actually the East side 

Some interesting art. 

Olafur (left) and Zak (right) 

Döner are everywhere here. They are a Mediterranean-influenced food-- pita + veggies + delicious sauces). 

The sun shines directly in our eyes during class. This is somewhat disruptive, but also keeps one awake.

Picture of Riley, another fellow student, courtesy of Emma, a good friend.

English is good here, but not perfect... thus, Chicken Vitality.

Ticket to the soccer game. The Berlin team is called Hertha BSC. The Hannover team was Hannover 96. 

This stadium was built during the Nazi era, which one can see by looking at the architecture.

That's about all for now, more pictures and info to come later in the week! For now, must study for my first Language quiz tomorrow morning. Gute Nacht und bis bald.