Today is the first day that I have been able to sit down and access the internet. I do not have access in my apartment, but yesterday I found out there is free internet access in the mall near my apartment.
I have been here for 4 days, and already I have encountered and experienced so much. The first day was extremely hectic and overwhelming. I arrived in Berlin around 10 am with 4 other students that I go to American with. We navigated our way to our school and there we were met by the program assistants and the director. We had to go through a tedious registration process where I obtained the keys to my apartment, but it was nice because it is where I met a lot of other students. There are 75 students on the program, and 12 are from American. We are the largest group represented, but I have been trying to not hang out with those people and to make new friends. Most of them are in homestays anyway, so I have become closer with the other students in my apartment building. I had to wait around at school for awhile for a few other students to take a cab to my apartment. It was a hassle trying to navigate my luggage up the stairs of my building, but it worked out fine. I was so confused because I am on the first floor, which in Germany is actually the second floor. When I got to my floor there were no lights, and I tried to find my way down the hall to my apartment, number 22. I finally found it an tried to get my key to work, but I could not see because there were no lights. The girl across the hall heard me and came out to help me. Turns out she is in my program too. That night I knew it was important to unpack because my weekend has been full with orientation. I met up with a few students that I rode the cab with, and we attempted to go grocery shopping. We first went to Aldi, which was horrible and had nothing. We then found another grocery store and were so overwhelmed that we each just bought a box of pasta and sauce to make dinner for that night. However, I communicated well with the cashier, and my German has been useful. Most of my friends here don't have a good grasp of the language, so it helps that I know it.
The next day we were to meet at the main campus of the FU and fill out paperwork and some basic orientation. We had to navigate our way through the bus system ( I have to take 2 buses to get to school) and be there on time. It was a boring day but we got to eat in the Mensa (dining hall) which was also overwhelming. We had no idea where things were or what the food actually was, and most of us just ended up with soup and a drink. The one thing that I have been noticing is that despite the poor exchange rate, food is generally cheaper here. I have been trying to think in terms of Euros and not trying to convert the prices all of the time. Later that night, the program arranged for a bar night out in Kreuzberg, and I went there. It was really fun and we quickly learned that there is no open container law here. I was surprised to see people carrying around bottles of beer and drinking in the U Bahn (subway). The bar was kind of far from our apartment, but I am slowly learning the system, even though it is so much larger than DC. My apartment is on the S Bahn (above ground subway) which is a great line to be on because it connects us right to the city center. We are about 15 to 20 minutes outside of the center, and the trains run pretty frequently.
Yesterday we took a tour of the FU's main campus. It is very large and spread out, unlike American. There are over 40,000 students at the university! After that we took a group tour of an underground bunker/air raid shelter. It was really interesting and kind of depressing.
Today has been a great day. Our program director took us on a guided tour through the historical center of town We started at Unter den Linden which is where the Brandenburg Gate is. We saw soo many things, I will post pictures on here because it is even too much to name. We ended at Potsdamer Platz which is kind of like Times Square but not as glitzy. It has the Sony Center which has a lot of shops and restaurants and even an IMAX theater. I learned so much about Berlin's history, and I can tell this is going to be a semester full of learning about it. We saw the platz where the book burnings took place in 1933 and there is a really interesting memorial there. It is just a glass plate in the square and you look down into it and it is just a bunch of empty shelves. There are a lot of memorials here to things from the war, but they are different from the memorials we have at home. They are all very modern and seem to fit in with the urban setting. There was a memorial to Jewish shop owners that were killed in the holocaust and it was 4 mirrors leaning together with their names and shop locations inscribed on the inside.
The highlight of the day so far was lunch. We found a Mexican restaurant called Cancun at Potsdamer Platz. It was so good, we were all in heaven. This evening we have a welcome dinner then we are all going out after that.
I will try to update when I can, which might not be too often. If you would like to contact me, my mobile number is 49 0163 2993023.
Tschüss!
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