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