Auf Wiedersehen Berlin

I'm all packed up and ready to get on with my last week in Europe. I've had some troubles today with my train tickets, but hopefully everything will work out. Today was kind of sad with saying good-bye to everyone and all. Even though I've made some pretty good friends here, most likely I'll never see these people again. Sad thought. But you never know. I finally got around to taking a picture of Jutta and Juergen. They've been so nice and helpful. I'm going to miss them, too. In the morning I'm off to Munich. I don't know if I'll have much internet access this coming week, so I might just have to update you all when I get home. I'm so tired. I need to sleep. Bis spaeter.

The Final Countdown...

(Church in Hamburg)

...like the song. Get it?

It's 6:30am and I'm wide awake. Not really sure why, but I am. Today is the last day I really have anything to do. I have my Abschlusspreufueng (final test) and a short creative group project to present in German and that pretty wraps up the program. Friday I have class in the morning but nothing to do to prepare for it and a closing ceremony type thing for FUBiS in the afternoon. Trying to figure out what we students are going to do together with our last two nights. It's kinda sad. As of yesterday Kevin and I finally have accomdations in all of our destinations. I'm still waiting for my Eurail pass to arrive. It's making me nervous. I guess I'll go for a run since I'm up. I am sooooo out of shape right now. I'm looking forward to getting home and getting back at it. I've enjoyed being here but it's the little things about home that I miss. Zum Beispiel (for example), I miss pre-packaged food such as cheese sticks and the like, side dishes other than potatoes, driving my car, going to the grocery store at midnight or later, spicy food, being able to smile at people without them thinking you're crazy, etc. Anyways, I'll be home soon enough. Take care.

The Last Weekend

My last weekend in Berlin has passed by and I feel it was a good one. I hung out with friends all weekend and made some good memories. Friday night we attempted to go to a club called Watergate but were derailed by delicious doeners and the large group of other students there. Instead we ended up going to the bar in the basement of the dorms. Saturday we went souviner shopping and picked up some good items before dining at a good Chinese restaurant. That night we once again attempted to make it to Watergate, but left too late to make the journey worth it and went to a closer bar instead. Sunday we went to the beach at Wannsee had enjoyed the nice weather and the waterslide. Tonight, Juergen made the most delicious dinner yet. All in all, a very good weekend. It's crazy to think that in only a couple of days I will probably never see these people again, both the Schenkels or the other students. I'll have lived with the Schenkels for a month and a half and then one day I won't see them anymore. For the students, I can still keep in-touch with them through Facebook and various miracles of modern technology, but as time goes on and we no longer share common experiences those relationships will likely fad, which is sad because I've met some people here that I really enjoy. (I've also met some people here that I won't mind never seeing again, but let's focus on the good ones, the majority.) It's strange to think about. Almost like graduating high school all over again. Everyone is going different directions. This last week will be busy with school and final excursions into the city, so our departure will probably sneak up on us. Then, on to the next and final stage of Eur0-Summer 2009, my trip with Kevin. I think, hope, that everything is pretty well set up, but we'll see. It will be a fun week, but I'm sure I will be ready to come home when it's all over. Slightly over months after it all started...

Exactly a week left in Berlin...

I know I've said this before, but I still can't believe it. Time is flying. Week 5 was a good one. In my EU class we visited the embassy of Moldova (in between Ukraine and Romania), which was actually really interesting. Why would a country like Moldova be interesting, you say? And the answer is, because it has so many problems/issues it is dealing with and/or needs to deal with. It's a former Soviet Republic that is one hundred percent dependent on Russia for energy and is caught inbetween the perceived "spheres of influence" of both Russia and the EU. Both pulling different directions and both demanding Moldova pick a side. Looks like the EU is winning right now. Also, it's the poorest country in Europe with it's major export being wine. There were huge protests after the recent elections were declared corrupt by outside observers, which lead to the deaths of several students and a cornucopia of other human rights violations. And did I mention there is a breakaway region in the east called Transnistria that still has a faction of the Red Army there that controls the territory? This area is a major entry point for smuggled goods. All in all, interesting place and not somewhere I'm dying to visit. Friday in class, we visited the Bundestag (kind of like the House of Representatives) and met with a lady from the Committee on European Affairs in the actual room they meet in. Really cool room, really interesting work she does. The committee doesn't produce much legislation, but is responsible for disseminating information about what's going on in Brussels in regards to the EU. So, therefore, what the other committees know and their preceptions of realities in terms of European affairs is largely dictated by this committee. Indirectly powerful. In German class for our excursion on Wednesday, we walked around Kreuzberg, a poorer district of Berlin, and met with a local political activist, I guess is what you'd call him, from the Green Party. Our discussion was entirely in German and I'm quite pleased with my level of comprehension. Yeah, me! I ate some delicious schawarma for lunch at a Lebanese place. What else... In preperation for the final stage of my European travels, I booked hostels for Paris and Brussels last night and figured out which trains I need to take. Kevin is responsible for the rest of the hostels. Hopefully he does it. Greece seems so long ago. I did spend quite a bit of time yesterday trying to decide what I was going to order and Los Dos Potrios when I got home. The Steak Los Dos Potrios sounded pretty good, but so does the Chile Relleno Plate. I just can't decide! Anyways, I'm off to walk around the city and do some souvenir shopping. I have haven't bought anything yet, so I feel I need to go find a t-shirt with some German on it. Have a great weekend everyone! Schoenes Wochenende!

Weimar and America's Birthday

Katherine (UNC Chapel Hill) and I at the park

Audrey (U Penn), Parker (UNC Chapel Hill), and Bruce (Vanderbilt) showing their American pride in Weimar
---

This past weekend I was in Weimar. It is a much much smaller town than either Berlin or Hamburg, so it was interesting to compare and contrast. Weimar isn't a small town either, though, I think it has around 65,000 inhabitants. It is known as being a cultural hotspot, historically, in Germany. It was the residence of such esteemed figures as Goethe and Schiller and the birthplace of the Bauhaus architectural style. It's also known for it's several large and beautiful parks and its many cafes and concert performances. Saturday we spent the day visiting all of these cultural sites and still had some time in the afternoon to relax in the park. We had a lot of fun goofing around. That night we went to the one true bar/club in Weimar and were practically the only people there. Supposedly the night before it was pretty full, but for whatever reason no one was there that night. Never the less, we had a really good time. On Sunday, we stopped by Buchenwald on our way back to Berlin. Buchenwald was a concentration during WWII and some, but not many, on the buildings remain today as a memorial. Like I said, it was a concentration camp, not an extermination camp like Auschwitz-Birkenau, so it didn't have gas chambers, but it did have ovens for the thousands that were worked or beaten to death. It was a very powerful place, even with only a few buildings standings, and I'm sure even much more so if more buildings had remained. I'm glad I went, but I don't think I need to go back or visit anyothers any time soon. All in all, I had a great weekend. The pictures above are of some of my friends in FUBiS. I've had several requests for these. Both of them were taken this weekend in Weimar. Enjoy!

As the week draws to a close...

Looking up at the Fernsehturm near Alexanderplatz

Brandenburger Tor

The roof of the Sony Center

Looking across the Holocaust memorial

Nothing really interesting happened today at school. We talked a bit about life in the former DDR, listened to some presentations, watched a clip from a famous movie both here and in the US called Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), and listened to some popular modern music by a guy named Peter Fox. The most interesting thing that happened today was that at lunch I tried Schnitzel im Brot (basically a doener but with schnitzel instead of doener meat, whatever that may be). Not bad, but I think I'll stick with the real deal. Tomorrow I have a presentation to give in my EU class, then it's off to Weimar for the weekend. I have to remember to pack tonight... Posted above are just a random selection of pictures from my time here. I wish I could take better pictures. Ones that actually gave a better sense of the object. Oh well. Bis Montag! (Until Monday!)

Mittwoch, Woche 4

Big Soviet Guy

Sony Center (in my opinion "Little America" would be a better name)

Looking down the memorial towards the Big Soviet Guy

(Wednesay, Week 6) This is another prime example of not appreciating what you have until it's gone. Berlin reached 29 degrees Celsius today (84 degrees Fahrenheit) with a ridiculous amount of humidity (the southern kids didn't think it was humid, but us western folk sure did). It was so hot and muggy. All I wanted to do today was sit at the bottom of a pool. I miss the cold. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so hopefully that will help to cool everything down. Yuck. Enough whining. Last night I went and saw the new Transformers movie at the Sony Center (in English). I actually really liked it. I fit the demographic they were targeting. A couple interesting things about movies in Germany: 1) You have assigned seating. No first come, first serve nonesense here. 2) If you want to sit in the middle of the theater you have to pay an extra euro. 3) If the movie is over two hours yoou have to pay an extra euro. 4) If the movie is over two hours there is an intermission in the middle, where they truly stop the movie in the middle of a scene, the screen goes black except for the word "pause," and the curtains close. Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention, they actually have curtains that open and close like a real theater. Interesting... In other news, today was excursion day in German class. We started the by going on a long tour of a old East German prison. It used to house some of the most famous political prisoners back in the DDR days. You could definitely tell by the archicture of the surrounding area that you were firmly in the former East. Lots of big square apartment buildings. I'll stick with west Berlin. It was interesting to see the prison and read the signs. We had a tour guide but it was all in German and he spoke way too fast and usually much too quietly for me to understand any full sentences. So after awhile I stopped trying. Real nice guy, though. For whatever reason, I thought the "tiger cages" were really interesting. These were were certain prisoners were allowed to go 'outside' for exercise. They were built out of four concrete walls with a concrete flor and were maybe 20x20 feet with a chain-link fence over the top. The guards were able to walk around the top and look down at the prisoners. Being in there really did feel like being a tiger and know I understand why they are always pacing back and forth at the zone. I was only in there maybe seven minutes and I already had the urge to. The reason the prisoners were so happy to visit the tiger cages was that sometimes in the cracks between the walls and floor some little weed might start to grow and this was there only opportunity to see something green. There only opportunity to see the sky as well. After the tour we stopped by a mall to grab a quick lunch and I was able to satisfy my doener craving. I don't know if I've told you about doeners yet, but if I haven't, I will, because they're amazing. After that we went ant visited a huge Soviet Memorial for all the soldiers in the Red Army that died in WWII. Very big, very straight lines, very Soviet. After the monument, we all split up to go home, but some of us went over to an area called Rathaus Steglitz to get some ice cream. I guess it was actually gelato. It was nice to have something cold on such a sticky, muggy day. Then, I went home. Did a bit of homework, ate some dinner, and talked to Juergen about mountains in Colorado. He was very impressed that I had climbed a mountain over 4,200 meters. The highest point in Germany, the Zugspitze, doesn't even reach 3,000 meters. It took a while for us to convert feet to meters and get this all straightened out. Now I'm writing this instead of doing homework. The week is flying by. This weekend I'll be in Weimar for the whole weekend. We leave Friday afternoon, so hopefully no incidents like last time and I'll have some clean clothes to take with me. More soon!

Week 3 Recap

Because I'm writing these a couple of days after the events themselves occurred, I'm beginning to forget what I've told you already and what I haven't. So if I repeat myself, I'm sorry. Also, I found a mistake in one of my posts. The title of the post about Hamburg was supposed to contain a negative, and thus say "Turns out luggage isn't actually necessary to travel." Oh, well. More importantly, let's see what I can remember from the past week. Classes went fine. I had my Zwischenpruefung (midterm) in German on Thursday. It went pretty well. The Hoeverstandnis (listening comprehension) was a bit challenging and the teacher admitted that the vocab section was too hard and took that into account when grading. Right now I'm completely blanking what we did in my EU class, but it'll come to me. I'm sure it was interesting. Friday night I went over to the dorms/student housing/whatever they're called to hang out with some people from my German class over there. They had a small party and interestingly enough there is a bar in the basement of the building. Like a legitimate bar with a small dance floor, some couches, a pool table, and fooseball. That would never fly in Boulder. It was fun. I had a good time. Saturday I slept in and it felt amazing. I did a bit of homework in the afternoon, while many of the other students were day tripping it to Dresden. I decided not to go and after hearing them talk about it, I don't feel like I missed much. Saturday was very low key. I met two other guys at a Kneipe (bar/pub) for a few beers and came home early. Oh, I remeber what we did on Friday in my EU class now. The days topic was strategic defense/defense policy and how that affects the relationships between the EU and NATO and their member countries. So, in the morning we went to a building that housed the German defense ministry and listened to a pretty high ranking official, I forget his exact rank, discuss the issues I mentioned above. The topic was interesting, but he was a bit long winded. We stayed over a half hour longer than we were supposed to and I think he maybe got through half of his slides. But you could tell he was very passionate about what he does and got rather animated when our professors posed some difficult questions to him. Then we went to the very nice cafeteria of a nearby museum to eat lunch and debrief, like we always do after our excurisons. Then we had about three hours until our next activity, which our professors weren't attending with us, so we all dispersed for a bit to pass the time. I walked around with the Canadians a bit until we decided we were tired and needed a beer to re-energize :) Then at five we met at the Chancellory Building (Kanzleramt, I think) for a tour. It was really interesting. We got to see a lot of important parts of the building, where real work is actually done. We had a member of the 'secret service' following us the whole time. That was a bit strange knowing someone is watching you the whole time but it makes sense. We didn't didn't get to see Angela Merkel, though. She had better things to do that day. She was actually giving a press conference with Obama from the Rose Garden at the exact same time we were in her building. Back to the weekend, the important stuff. Sunday I went for a run around the bigger of the two lake/ponds by us and succesfully defeated it. I thought the lake was going to win for a while there. A bit sore today. Need to run more. In the afternoon a wrote a short paper for my German class and then went over to the house of a friend of the Schenkels to watch the Confederations Cup final (a warm-up tournament for the World Cup next summer in South Africa) between the US and Brazil. The US was winning 2-0 at half time and ended up losing 3-2, sadly. A disappointing finish to a very good tournament for the US. Nobody expected them to go that far. Ich bin stolz auf der US-Boys. (I'm proud of them.) The papers here and the announcer always refered to them as the 'US-Boys.' Kinda funny, I thought. It was fun watching the game with Konrad, though, and he gave me some good beer (the Schenkels don't drink beer, only wine, sadly). Konrad and I and his wife, Susan, had a nice conversation after the game over dinner. It was interesting to get some other Germans' perspectives. Today, nothing exciting to report. German class was fine. I'm going to bed early with the intention of running in the morning. We'll see how it goes. I need to write more often so these posts aren't so long. I say that every time, don't I? (The picture on the left is the Berliner Dom, Berlin Cathederal, from the days of Imperial Germany next to the River Spree. The picture on the right is several pieces of the Berlin Wall, but not in there original location. They're scattered around Berlin as reminders.)

Hamburg Pictures (check post below)

-Looking down the main port in the harbor

-Myself and fellow FUBiSers on the boat trip

-Hamburger Rathaus from the back

Turns out luggage is actually necessary to travel

This post is a bit out of order, but I'm just getting around to it. It's a really long story and I don't think I can manage to do it justice with the written word, so let's just set the scene for last weekend by saying that I arrived in Hamburg last Saturday with only the clothes I was wearing and my wallet. (If you want the full story, I'll tell you in person sometime.) We arrived in Hamburg a little before noon and had some time before our walking tour of the city, so we decided to explore the nearby street festival and get some lunch. All of a sudden, the sky opened up with sheets of rain and a bit of hail. We ran inside the closest building for protection and food, which turned out to be a good choice. I had a hamburger for lunch. It seemed like the most appropriate thing to eat in Hamburg. Rain stopped for a bit and we met up with the tour group and it started raining again, so we went it the Hamburger Rathaus (Hamburg Town Hall). It's a really cool looking building. Much more interesting than the one in Berlin. The rain fizzled out and we continued our tour through the city, seeing several big churches, a really interesting neo-gothic bombed-out church, a bit of the harbor, and so forth. Pretty good tour overall. Afterwards, a group of us walked over to what we thought was a tea museum but was really just more of an expensive tea house, changed our minds and went and got a beer instead and a bit of dinner instead. I had some of the best Jaegerschnitzel I've ever had. After dinner I stopped buy the grocery store to pick up some toiletries and upon returning to the hostel, I took a shower and promptly passed out. Everyone needed a bit of a nap after the early morning. (We had to meet the bus at FUB at 6:45am after a Friday night. That's tough for us college students.) I woke up around eight as everyone was getting ready to go out, got up, and went as well, made it to the bar, remembered that I hadn't slept at all on Friday night, immediately got tired again, went back to the hostel and went to bed. It felt really good. Kind of disappointed I didn't get to see a bit more of the Hamburgian (?) night life. Oh well. Sunday morning we had a boat tour of the harbor which was really cool, because we got to go up really close to some of the container ships and see how big they actually are. We saw the yacht that Roman Abromavich (Russian oil tycoon/owner of Chelsea FC) is having built to the tune of $300 million dollars, complete with a helicopter landing pad and mini submarine. Just the important stuff. In the afternoon we visited BallinStadt Musuem, which is kind of like the Elis Island of Germany. It's where all the people who emmigrated out of Germany to the US and other parts of the world left through. It was pretty fascinating to see. Had a bit of time in the late afternoon to relax a bit before catching the bus back to Berlin. I got home around 11pm and went to bed. All in all, I had a good time in Hamburg. I wish I wasn't so tired and had some clean clothes to wear, but sometimes that's just how it goes. Anyways, I know this post is way out of order, but maybe later today (I don't think I can go out agian tonight. I need a regular night of sleep) I'll post again about what I've been up to this week. Gotta get you all caught up!

Berlin gefällt mir.

Hello. It's Wednesday afternoon around 4.30 and it's beautiful outside. Berlin has been awesome. I'm having a great time and doing/seeing a lot of interesting things. I'll try to get you all briefly caught up since I haven't been able to blog as much as I should. My EU class is pretty interesting mostly because of the 'excursions' we take in the afternoon. In the morning we have lecture/discussion and then in the afternoon we go meet someone in the city that is relevant to that day's topic. So far we've visited places ranging from the European Comission (the institutional body that proposes legislation to the EU parliament) to the Czech embassy to the oldest political think tank in Germany (founded in 1945). It's been interesting getting the perspectives of professionals who are engaging in these issues everyday. It's interesting to then compare what they say to what the academics say. German class has been fine. On Wednesdays for it go on excursions (that was a horrible sentence). So today we walked around an area called Nikoliaverteil (or something like that), which used to have a huge Jewish population. We visited a museum about a man who was nearly blind and helped hide Jewish people in the middle of Berlin during WWII. A pretty amazing man. Berlin's symbol is a bear so we also tried to see the city's 'mascots', two bears named Schmeke and Maxi. Unfortunately, they decided to stay inside today. I think they needed some time to adjust to the warm weather. I know I do. This past weekend I went to Hamburg with FUBiS. I had a good time and I'll write more about it later, but now I need to go on a run so I can get back in time for dinner. Important stuff like that.

Week 3 Begins

I'm getting ready to start my after section of class. I just wanted to write a quick note. Time here is flying. I can't believe I'm already a third of the way done. Last Friday we went out to a nice restaurant that I guess was actually mentioned in 'The New York Times' in an article about hidden restraurants in Berlin. It was really good. This weekend I went to Hamburg with FUBiS. I had a good time. It was nice to see another city. I'll definitely try to write more tomorrow. Class is starting :)

Berlin Pictures

The Reichstag from the Bradenburger Tor (columns on the left)
View from my window/Path up to the Schenkels house
My desk at the Schenkel's

Week Two in Berlin

Berlin, 4:25pm - Hello. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a pretty good one myself. I’ve found myself a pretty good group of kids to hang out with. It consists of Lena (an art history grad student at Columbia originally from Tokyo), Dianna (also an art history grad student but at Berkley), Megan (CU bio major), Nick (CU business (?) major), and Dillon (also CU, we’ve taken German together for a couple years), and Evan (goes to some school in Oregon I think; does a great Russian impression). On Friday we met up with some other people and went to a neat bar/club in Neukölln that was pretty small. It was mostly outdoors and right next to the River Spree so it was a little cold, but I bet on a warm night it’s a lot of fun there. They had a DJ spinning, a dance floor, some couches and chairs. Neukölln is a poorer area in general and is kind of shady in parts. A lot of Turkish immigrants live there. The western edge near Kruezberg has been re-gentrified a bit and has become sort of hip. The area is colloquially known as “Kreuzkölln” but not everyone likes that term. Some societal struggles/issues. But anyways, like I said, it was a little cold so we went to another bar in Kruezberg. It was kind of chic for my taste, but interesting to see another place. The real interesting thing is that there’s not really a dress code per se when going out in Berlin. Almost every place everyone dresses really casual. It’s more about looking cool than dressing up or showing off. Also, the true clubs in Berlin don’t even really get going until one in the morning. People head home around five. I don’t know if I could handle that. Maybe one weekend I’ll have to give it a try. Saturday I slept in which felt really good and then went back to all the places I had previously seen but had forgotten to bring my camera to. I also spent a couple hours trying to find the Sony Center so that I could use their free Wifi. After an exhaustive search I finally found it and used the internet until my battery died. I then visited Potsdamer Platz, Bradenburger Tor, the hotel Michael Jackson held his baby out of (I didn’t make a special trip to see this, I just happened to pass by it), the Reichstag, a Holocaust memorial that was really interesting, the radio tower, Checkpoint Charlie (kind of disappointing because there’s not really anything left there anymore), a bit of the Berlin Wall, the Marx-Engel statue, and probably something else I’m forgetting right now. Saturday night we didn’t do too much. Just went to a small Kneipe (bar/pub) and hung out. Sunday was a beautiful day. I went for a run in the morning and ate lunch with the Schenkels in their backyard. I then went over to my friend Lena’s apartment to use her internet. We did our homework all afternoon then got a late dinner at a Mexican restaurant near by. My meal was actually quite good (or maybe I just miss Mexican food that much). Her meal looked like it was good too. I had German class all day today. I’m headed back to the Schenkels soon to do my laundry. The FUBiS program worked a deal with a gym near by, so I’m probably going to go check that out later. After that, a bit of homework (sans computer) and then early to bed.

Interesting tidbit of the day/Transportation etiquette: whenever Berliners get on a U-Bahn or S-Bahn train, they always sit in the corner of the benches first. Not once have I seen someone sit in the middle when they are the first person on the bench. Hmm. Also, to open the doors at a stop, you have to press a button. The button lights up once you can open the doors. If you’re the first one off and you don’t press that button the moment it lights up, you’re going to have some angry Berliners running up your backside. So, sit in the corners and press the button IMMEDIATELY.e

First Impressions

If you really want to know the small tiny unimportant details, you can read this long email I sent to my parents... :)

Liebe Mutti und Leiber Vati-

(I know this is long but I figured I’d give you a full description thus far as everything is new to you, and me for that matter, and to give you a feel for what being here is like.)
I’m writing this email a little after 10pm on Sunday night but I’m going to send it whenever I get a chance on Monday because the Schenkel’s don’t have internet access. Everything has been fine (or better) so far. I was the only person I saw at the airport to be stopped at random by the immigration officials (?) to be questioned. I was trying to read my map and find the FUBiS people when this guy starts speaking German to me at a mile a minute. The only word besides bitte I caught was Ausweis (passport) so I just handed that to him. Once he saw it was a US passport he started speaking in English and everything was fine. It was kind of a jarring moment at first.
Jutta and Jürgen are very nice. Jürgen has a ponytail. Their English is not perfect but it is much, much better than my German. My best guess is that Jutta and Jürgen are a couple years older than you guys are. I don’t know what Jürgen does, it didn’t seem polite to ask, but Jutta said she works with handicapped people (I think mentally handicapped, not physically). Mom, I think you would like Jutta. She’s really nice and has a lot of ‘spunk’. Like I said, Jürgen picked me up from the airport on Saturday, which was a surprise and made transportation very easy. On Saturday after I got to their haus…bitte, house (I keep wanting to write things in German already), I unpacked while Jürgen went to the grocery store to buy stuff for dinner. Jutta wasn’t there when I got there because she was out shopping for clothes with their daughter. I think she is in her late 20s and works for the Bundeskriminalamt, which Jürgen said was similar to our FBI. After I unpacked I left to go explore a bit. The area they live in is very pretty. It’s part of the green zone so there are many parks, trees, and a couple lakes. Jürgen said it was a good area for jogging and that they are active runners. Their house is one of several in a row. You can’t actually drive up to their house because the ‘road’ they live on is actually more of a walk-way, but it’s just off the street. They have a very nice house. It’s bigger than I expected. The room they gave me is much bigger than I expected. It has a closet type thing for my clothes, a desk, a small bed that is more comfortable than it looks, a radio (with which I’ve been listening to Radio Eins, similar to NPR, I think), and a TV which I haven’t figured out how to work yet.
Anyways, like I was saying, after I unpacked I went exploring a bit. I tried to find the soccer and field hockey fields and gym that we passed on the way to their house but couldn’t and didn’t want to get lost. So I walked towards the U-Bahn station to buy my transportation pass, which was a dilemma unto itself but for another time, and walked through the small street festival that was going on. I’m not really sure the reason for it but there were lots of families with kids and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Once I was finally able to purchase my transportation pass, I took the U-Bahn towards the city center and got off next to the KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus des Westens, which is the largest department store in Europe. I walked around in their for awhile. Most, if not all, of the stores seemed to be higher end from shoes to clothes to perfume. On the top floor was a large food store with several places to eat. Obviously, this was the floor that appealed to me the most. After that I ate some currywurst with fries for lunch and walked towards the Wilhem Memorial Church. It’s an old church that was bombed during WWII and whose remnants remain as a reminder. I’ve read about in every German class. After that I took the U-Bahn ‘home’ and read for awhile.
That night for dinner the Schenkel’s had a friend and his sister over for dinner. He was a very nice guy, who had studied economics at FUB and had been a guest professor at Berkley. He had even been to Boulder at one point. His English was perfect. It was good to speak with him because it made it easy to use my German. His sister was also there. She was krank (sick), to use their word, or mentally disabled to use ours. That made dinner a bit interesting. Halfway through dinner, I found out that it was Jürgen’s birthday. That completely took me by surprise. Before dinner the Schenkels and I had a ten minute conversation trying to figure out what spargul was. I eventually figured out it was asparagus. Turns out that right now is asparagus season and after next week the Germans have to wait until next year to eat it again. The asparagus here is white and has a much milder, less irony flavor than it does at home. I like it more. So, for dinner we had the white asparagus with something similar to a hollandaise sauce on it, white wine, small potatoes, shrimp with seasonings, a salad, a prosciutto(sp?) type meat, and scrambled eggs. A slightly odd assortment, but very good none the less. For dessert we had strawberries with whipped cream, which I think was homemade. They said they usually don’t make meals that big during the week, only on the weekends, and it was also Herr Schenkels Geburtstag. Afterwards I went to bed.
Today (Sunday), I woke up at eight to run but it was raining so I went back to bed and got up at ten. I read for class for an hour and a half before going down stairs slightly after the Schenkels did. For our late breakfast we had mostly bread with some meat and cheese and some really good espresso Jürgen made with in an Italian coffee-maker. I had never seen it done that way before. We read the newspaper and ate and then Jürgen drove me to the Uni for my first day. I got there really early so I walked around a bit and read for awhile by the check-in area. All of a sudden a huge crowd of kids showed up from the dorms to check-in. What I realized was that living with a host family has its positives and negatives. The plus side is the cultural immersion, but the downside is that everyone living in the dorms, which is the majority of students, has already started to form groups. They had a mixer type thing last night at the dorms, so they had all started to get to know each other. All of us home-stay kids are going to have to work a bit harder to meet other people. Today, I mostly hung out with other kids from CU that I mostly didn’t know before and a guy we met from Shanghai. Orientation was fine. I won’t bore you with the details of it. Afterwards, a group of us was going to go drink some beers but I think there was some miscommunication as to which U-Bahn station we were meeting at (there are two close to the university), so the group I was with ended up being smaller. No one has phones yet so we couldn’t call the others. (I tried to go to the Vodafone store on Saturday but it closed fifteen minutes before I got there and is closed on Sundays. Bummer.) We found a place to get some beers, which were very delicious, and then split up to head to our respective residences. Everyone’s host family is very different. One has two young kids; another is old and meticulous and doesn’t speak much English but has a girl who doesn’t speak any German; another is a single mom whose kids live away from home and is a vegetarian (poor guy). I got home a little before eight and right before dinner. They wouldn’t let me help. Tonight we had the extra food that wasn’t cooked from last night, minus the eggs and salad. During dinner we watched a German crime show. I understood enough to follow the story until the very end when there was a twist which I didn’t quite get. It was interesting to watch though. After that I went upstairs to write this email.
Tomorrow I have a short placement interview for my German course, a campus tour, and the beginning of class. I think that’s probably a long enough email, if you are even still reading. I might try to Skype you in the afternoon (around four my time) if I get a chance, but I’ll have to see. If I can’t, I’ll try to send you an email. Glad you made it back safely to Denver. I’ll talk to you soon.

Love, Blake

In Deutschland

Berlin, 11:00am - Sorry I haven't written for a few days. It's been a bit hectic with orienation and everything. The Schenkels are very nice and have been very helpful so far. Right now I have to go to class but I'll be sure to write more soon. Bis spaeter!

Leaving Santorini

Santorini, 11:17am - In a little over an hour we're catching a flight back to Athens. I have enjoyed being on Santorini. The weather has gotten better the longer we've been here. There's hardly any wind today and a heat wave is coming. Tomorrow is supposed to reach 39 degrees celcius (102 degrees fahrenheit). That's hot and just in time for the huge wedding party that is arriving today. The hotel staff has been busy putting out flowers everywhere. We've heard that they are renting out the entire resort for three days. But anyways, last night we went into Fira to watch the sunset and have some drinks. Unfortunately, there have been clouds every night along the horizon so we haven't actually seen the sun set into the sea, but it has still been pretty. We ate in a place by our hotel last night called Feggira (?), which was very good. Some of the best food we've had so far and very reasonably priced. It's run by a very nice couple who decided to start their own restaurant last year. The area our hotel is in has been very nice. It's not in one of the main towns like Ia or Fira but in the little town of Megalachori, which is kind of in the middle so it's not actually next to any one thing but it's close to everything. Being a small town it's also a lot quieter. But now it's back to the big city of Athens. I can't believe I'm going to be in Berlin tomorrow!

Santorini

Santorini, 12:30pm - The ferry made travel really easy. Santorini is mostly surrouned by huge cliffs from the collapsed volcano. Yesterday we toured the entire island. We rented a car and cruised around at our leisure. Santorini is much more scenic than Mykonos was, but it was really windy all day. Really windy. Ali and Mom went to the town of Fira today to look around and do some shopping. Dad and I are just hanging out at the hotel, trying to get some sun.

Off to Santorini

Mykonos, 12:30pm - Hello. We had a nice dinner in Mykonos Town last night at a bit quieter of a restaurant than the other night. We sat up higher on the hill still over looking the water. Also in town, we saw Petros the Pelican. From what I understand he is supposed to be the 'mascot' of Mykonos. I'm not really sure the story behind him, but I'll try to post a photo of Ali and Petros later. We found out last night that this past weekend was spring break in Greece, so that's why there were so many Greek kids in town. Today we're taking the afternoon ferry to the island of Santorini. It's about a 2.5 hour ride, but should be interesting getting a different view the the islands. We'll be in Santorini for about three days before flying back to Athens. Santorini is supposed to be much more hilly than Mykonos, much more historical, and have great sunsets.

Mykonos Pictures

Mykonos Town

View from our hotel room

The Island of Mykonos

Mykonos, 6:30pm -

Sorry I didn't write the last couple days. Connecting to the internet here has been a bit more difficult.

Mykonos has been great. It was only a 30 minute flight from Athens and a ten minute bus ride to the hotel (Petasos). Our accomodations are amazing. We have two rooms that are connected with our own private pool that looks out over the water! The weather has been very nice. Warm to hot and usually mostly clear with a slight breaze. Parked (I guess anchored would be more accurate) behind our unit are several very large private boats. Cruising from island to island at their leisure, I suppose. Last night we went into Mykonos Town for dinner and watched the sunset. Even though its out of season, I could still tell that Mykonos would be a crazy place to be during the high season. Lots of people around my age going into town for the night as we were leaving around 11pm. Alison joined us early this morning and we walked to a beach by our hotel called Psarous (I think). The beach was fine, but the beach club behind it kind of had a beautiful-people type vibe and I'm sure it's a hot place to see and be seen during the high season. We're getting ready to go into Mykonos Town again tonight (only a ten minute bus ride), so Ali can see it and to get some dinner. I'll try to post a picture in a minute.

Touring Athens

Athens, 5:00pm -

We had dinner at the hotel last night. Afterwards, Alison took me a rock outcrop with a great view of the Parthenon to meet some of her friends. They were all very nice. This morning we had a guided tour of Athens. She was a really good guide, very knowledgeable. We spent the majority of our time touring the Acropolis and Parthenon, but we also saw some other areas of Athens, giving us a very general feel for the layout of the city. (Our guide said the reason the city is so spread out is because they are prohibited from building too high because of all the seismic activity in the area.) We had lunch at a little place in Plaka and then visited the archeological museum in the afternoon, which had many old Greek statues, pots, jewelry, etc. Still adjusting to the time change a bit, so we came back to the hotel to rest a bit before going out to dinner tonight. I think one and a half days in Athens is just about the right amount of time. Tomorrow at noon my parents and I are catching a flight to our first island of the trip, Mykonos. Alison is going to meet us there a few days later, she has one more job in Athens.

Greetings from Athens

Athens, 2:15 pm - I have now been traveling for nearly 24 hours with very little sleep, but we have arrived in Athens. We just checked into our hotel and are attempting to freshen up a bit before going out to explore the Plaka. We are staying near the city center at the St. George Palace. Alison is working today and we hope to meet up with her later this afternoon. My first impressions of Athens include 1) Traffic laws are optional, especially when riding a scooter/motorcycle, 2) It's very hot and the landscape is very dry, and 3) Athens is a big city (our cab driver told us Athens accounted for about five million of Greece's 11 million citizens).

I'll try my best to update my blog once a day, probably in the evening so I have something interesting to report.

Host Family/Travel Itinerary

Sorry I didn't post sooner, but I found out who my host family is. Their names are Jutta and Juergen Schenkel and I am told they are very experienced host family. I received a short email from them introducing themselves and asking for my arrival information. The university in Berlin is just southwest of the city and from what I can tell the Schenkels live just southwest of the university. It's hard for me to judge the distances/times from the map, but I would guess they're about 15-20 minutes from campus and 45 minutes from the city center.

The program in which I'm participating in Germany is called FUBiS-Programm. FUBiS is an acronym for Freie Universität Berlin internationaler Sommer, which means Free University of Berlin international summer. The program runs six weeks from 6/7-7-17.

Here's a rough itinerary for my entire travels:
5/27 - Depart Denver (layovers in DC and Munich)
5/28 - Arrive in Athens
5/28-6/5 - Tour Athens and the islands of Mykonos and Santorini
6/6 - Depart Athens
Arrive in Berlin ~11:00am
6/7 - FUBiS program orientation
6/8 - First day of class
6/20 - Weekend Trip to Hamburg
7/3 - Weekend Trip to Weimar
7/17 - End of FUBiS
7/18 - Travel to Munich where I'll meet up with Kevin
7/18-7/19 - Munich, Germany
7/20-7-21 - Paris, France
7/22-7/23 - Brussels, Belgium
7/24-7/25 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
7/26 - Depart Amsterdam for the USA
(5.5 hr layover in Chicago)
Arrive in Denver ~7:00pm

The Traveling Blakeburys

I'm sitting on the porch at Gigi and Papa's house in Lincoln, NE writing my first post for my new blog. After seeing how often Gigi checked Alison's modeling blog, I thought why not make my own? After all, I will be in five European countries during the summer and something interesting might just happen along the way. Who knows?

If you're wondering what exactly a Traveling Blakebury is, I'm sure you're not alone. I wanted a title that was generic enough to allow for the blog to live on past this summer's travels (should I feel compelled to do so) and also a bit more creative than "Blake's Blog." Too boring. I have been listening to quite a bit of the Traveling Wilbury's recently, so 1 + 1 made 3 and the ugly duckling that is "The Traveling Blakeburys" was born.

If you're not familiar with the Traveling Wilburys and like rock, and maybe even if you don't, I highly recommend acquainting yourself with them. The Wilburys were an all-star line up of rock legends from the late '80s/early '90s. The members of this accidental band were George Harrison (former guitarist/vocalist from the Beatles), Jeff Lynne (producer & former member of the Electric Light Ochestra), Bob Dylan (enough said), Tom Petty (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), and Roy Orbison (rock-and-roll pioneer). It's hard to go wrong with so many greats in the same room. Here's a link to the first song written by the Wilburys, entitled "Handle with Care": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWv3Xw5QrY . Enjoy.

When I get back to Denver on Sunday I'll post my itinerary. I need to think of a trade mark sign-off...Bye.