Real life, you're making it hard for me to get used to you. You make me feel like a baby - sleep and eat, sleep and eat, sleep, sleep. I slept most of the day yesterday, but I think I'm back on track.
It's been a bit interesting trying to readjust. I forgot what it was like for the sun to bake my skin, and I didn't know how to dress to go to the movies with my mom. I was getting annoyed at my usual amount of text messages, and it seemed weird to have a phone for the first time in two weeks. For now, our TV isn't working, but it's not like I watched that much anyway. I'm waiting for the DirecTV people to arrive while mom is at work before heading off to lunch with Megan and Shesh (wooot some cheese dip in my future), so it looks like I'll be on the path to normalcy soon enough.
Ready for story time? I don't have many pictures to catch you up, so it's going to be a long book as usual. If you tire of reading, I'm sorry, but I'm doing this partly for myself anyway :)
So anyway, Friday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Besides the fact that I didn't wake up early enough to say goodbye to almost everyone (that really sucked), the day turned out quite well. Lauren, Kelly, Lara, Kevin and I stored our bags in the hotel and went to lunch at the Thai restaurant for the last time, and then Lauren and Kelly went off on their adventures to Paris. Kevin did his laundry and mailed some items home while Lara and I went off to figure out how she'll take her Eurorail pass to Brussels tomorrow. Then I stopped by the Fat Tire Bike shop to actually buy postcards ... who knew that would be so difficult? I thought of the people I wanted to buy postcards for and kept feeling dissatisfied with the ones I was looking at. They meant nothing to me, so why would they mean something to the people I gave them to? I should just make postcards out of the pictures I took. But anyway, I gave in and bought some that featured places I visited. For those I promised a postcard to - don't worry, it's coming. The postage rate in Europe wasn't the price I was expecting, so I'm saving some money by mailing them today in the states. I know it's not quite the same, but the money was better spent on food I needed. I promise I wrote them in Berlin. I just haven't sent them yet.
Anywho, Lara, Kevin and I wasted more time in the hotel lobby and then went to a store at Alexanderplatz so they could buy a tent for a Couchsurfing "beach camp" they signed up to do - it's a four-day thing where Couchsurfers meet at a local lake, pitch tents and just hang out. When the three of us got dinner and I started thinking about sleeping at the airport, Lara talked me into joining them for the night, and the plans were set. We headed to the place and met another Couchsurfer from the Netherlands on the subway and then another from France before we got on the bus. Once we got off the bus stop, we had to walk about a kilometer down a wooded road, which just made me laugh. I probably said "this is surreal" about five times, and when I commented how the road made me think I was walking through my best friend (Amy Abel)'s backyard in Senoia, Ga., they were impressed at how wooded parts of Georgia were.
Once we finally got to the camp, it was 9:30ish and the sun was starting to set. The three of us spent about an hour laughing as we set up a tent in the dark and then ran through the sand to meet people - everyone was so open and nice, but I guess you have to be to go to a hippie camp like that. Ha. We met some girls from the U.S., a couple of guys from France and plenty of people from Germany.
I had a blast running around in the sand, playing on a see saw with Lara and swinging on swings. I convinced them to stick their feet in the lake with me, and we walked out onto a dock. We then wandered near some tents where music was playing, and it was oldies American rock, which was too funny. At one point, I think they played an entire AC/DC album.
It was probably around midnight and starting to get really cold - so we were lobbying for some blankets for Lara and Kevin, and spent the next few hours just standing around heat lamps - like the ones you see outside of bars in Athens. We were all starting to drift off because the three of us went out until 5 a.m. the night before, but Lara and Kevin promised they'd walk with me back up the road to the bus stop, and they were kind enough to stay true to their word. Even though the bus wouldn't come until 4:50, we decided at 3:30 to head out early because we were all falling asleep. Once we got to the bus stop at 4:10, we fell asleep again. It's just crazy to think about. When the bus pulled up, I didn't even hug them goodbye, which is kinda sad. I guess I thought the bus would leave me or something, so I grabbed my bags, said "tchuss" and "ciao" and got on. I stumbled into a seat, turned around and waved goodbye until I couldn't see them anymore. I bet they're having tons of fun there. I think they both leave tomorrow - Lara to Brussels and Kevin to who knows where. I don't think he made any plans.
I took the bus to the subway and then the subway to another bus that took me to the airport. I bet I looked like a mess all day. At any rate, I got to the airport in plenty of time to make my 7 a.m. flight. As I went through security, a guard walked me across the airport to another security checkpoint because apparently my camera bag with three lenses was "two much electronics" that they had to scan another way. I checked out OK, of course, so then I sat at the gate and almost fell asleep multiple times. I slept so hard on the flight to Paris that I didn't get a snack. I was so mad when I woke up in Paris and saw the couple next to me had empty drink cups because I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since the night before.
I hate the airport in Paris. It's designed terribly. Once we got off the plane, we had to take a bus to another part of the airport, and to transfer to my gate, I had to find the terminal and get on yet another bus. When I went through security there, they made me take out every single item in my camera bag and put it in a bin. I had no idea my lenses and microphone would be such a problem, especially because nothing happened with it on the way to Berlin. After security, I was even more irritable and thirsty, but I could only find two drink stands between the overwhelmingly strong perfume stores. At one posh drink stand, a Coke was 5 Euros, so I stomped away. At the other, it was 3.5, and I only had 2.3, so I bought the cheapest drink possible - a really cheap bottle of water for 2.1. I drank 3/4 of it right then and then found an uncomfortable chair to sleep on and off in for the next seven hours of my layover. At least the decor in the terminal was nice.
I then discovered the worst feeling in the world: Being awake and antsy and realizing you're captive in one place for five more hours.
And then four and a half.
Then four.
Three.
Two.
I'm probably exaggerating, but it really was an awful flight. Because I slept so much from Berlin to Paris and then in the Paris airport, it was hard for me to sleep on the 10-hour flight to Atlanta. I specifically remember looking at my watch with five hours left to go in disbelief and thinking, "Only half of this trip is over? How can I possibly sit here for five more hours?" I was in a funky state - my iPod was out of batteries, I didn't want to watch what was on TV, the radio stations weren't that great and I could only read a chapter or two in my book before I couldn't concentrate anymore. I finally made myself sleep for 20 or 30 minutes at a time until the flight was over.
I did write a few observations on the plane:
"I can already eavesdrop on conversations, and I can see a difference in people. We're so clearly American - fatter, tanner, we have certain faces. English is being spoken first again during directions from the pilot."
It's almost as if I was afraid to reflect and be sad. I still am, in a sense, because I know that that part of my life is already over - now it is just memories. And I can't be there to share it with them. But it is interesting to think about the relationships that I developed, who I was during the trip and wonder if we will all keep our word and actually keep in touch and visit this fall. We'll see, I guess.
I did start to watch and appreciate the Americans around me. I think that's the one thing I gained the most during the trip - a more developed sense of observation. I enjoyed the moments when I couldn't talk to anyone, when I had to be quiet, when I just took it all in and thought. I hope that stays with me. I know most of what's going on right now in my head will switch back to the Carolyn I was, but I sincerely think my new found sense of observation could really help my stories (and relationships) in the future.
"Yes Man" came on again, so I figured I'd watch it to my favorite part again and start to get excited about going home, but they cut it off about 30 minutes in because some other people couldn't hear it in their headphones. They were going to turn it off for 10 minutes and restart it, but instead restarted the system and put on "Marley & Me," which I have vowed to never watch because I know it'll make me sad. So what did I do? I watched it. I had nothing better to do. And then I was sad. Duh Carolyn.
But I did think quite a bit. When I would doze off in light sleep, I would think about the rest of the summer, the fall, newspapers in general, my life in general. It was interesting, and I hope I can get most of those thoughts back.
I did get to eat, and I did observe some funny things around me - like the old couple next to me that kept ordering vodka tonics. And at one point the guy kept staring at me, trying to read what I was writing. What a creeper. Ha.
As I'm typing this up, I'm listening to music (once again, nothing else to do. I bet those DirecTV suckers won't come until I need to leave for lunch with Megan and Shesh) and thinking about how much music touches me. It really does move me, and I want it to continue to. I want to take music with me back to Athens and just feel it. I want it to comfort me as I work in Gainesville, and I want it to unwind me during my stressful days this fall. That's the biggest thing I learned in Berlin, I think -- My life can be so stressful. I knew this already, but to relax with Berliners and hear that they get three or four weeks of vacation per year and their other social benefits makes me realize how much Americans kill ourselves. I like capitalism, for sure, but what are we seriously doing to the least of us who really need to just get by, just live and have health care, a job, a place to sleep in and help?
Geez, my thoughts are seriously winding all over the place. They're not organized at all, but I'm over it. As the Tom Petty song says that I'm listening to, "It's time to move on," so I need to do that. I've been reading the blogs and Facebook updates of my classmates during the trip, and it's like I have to quit it cold turkey, which is probably good for me. Most of those who I got closest to are still traveling and can't really talk, and the others who are home aren't updating their blogs much yet.
At any rate, you can see how much I've thought and how much this trip has opened my eyes. I wish everyone could go on a trip like this, and I hope I can go on many more.
So I've taken many things from Berlin, and I left a few things as well - plenty of money, five pounds (somehow, I guess I should walk more in the U.S. ha ha) and a piece of my heart, it seems.
And now I have some goals (expressed simply here): I want to be a better storyteller, and I want to shoot better photos. I want to be a better writer and editor, and I want to be enthusiastic with all that I do this summer, fall, and in the future with my craft. This is my craft. This is my future. I want to enjoy it.
Once I got into Atlanta, the customs process was a little irritating. I didn't go through customs in Paris or Berlin the entire trip (kinda weird). I had to declare everything I had with me (uhhh three scarves and some postcards ...), claim my bags and then recheck my bags before going to actually claim them. A little bizarre, Atlanta. But it was good to meet up with Mom and for all the headache flying gave me, it was all worth it when I saw a man near baggage claim holding balloons, roses and a large sign:
"Mrs. Stewart: Welcome home. Happy anniversary to my beautiful wife."
Humanity is great sometimes.
Mom and I grabbed some French fries, a Frosty and a Dr. Pepper as my first meal home request, and then I talked as we drove home. I actually stayed up until midnight and then slept until noon yesterday. We saw Angels & Demons, which I thought was pretty good. It's funny how I evaluated parts of it through my recent trip, as far as the stereotypes of the different cultures and whatnot. All I can say is, it must be fun to be Ron Howard. And the salty popcorn was really good.
Once we got home from the movies, I napped for three hours. I woke up to eat and then went back to sleep at 9 p.m. until about 5 a.m. this morning. I had a hard time convincing myself to go back to sleep, but I dozed off until 8 a.m. and then mom left for work. The DirecTV guy is finally here, and now I'm full circle once more.
I hope I didn't bore you too much. It's time to get goin, time to reflect but get back into my real life. I want to keep posting, but it'll probably be less frequent and only when I have a funny story or an interesting photo. Thank you, Berlin, for all you've done for me. Here's to my next summer adventure.
Love,
C
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Solo Act
I started the trip alone, and now I'll end it alone.
My flight leaves tomorrow at 7 a.m. from Berlin and (because of time changes) will land in Atlanta at 8 p.m. It's going to be a crazy long day, and the waiting starts now. I'm running out of money, and I have a 7-hour layover in Paris - with nothing to do. I won't be able to take a taxi or transportation into town to see anything.
But that's once I actually get to Paris. Today is also fun. I basically don't have anything to do but still have to carry around all of my bags because the check out time was noon. Maybe I can ditch my bags in a locker somewhere or the airport and just milk my transportation pass for all it's worth. Most of the students left this morning, and Lara and I didn't wake up in time to say goodbye, so that makes me feel especially rotten - also because I woke up from a dream that I was saying goodbye to everyone. I won't see most of them again, and I really wanted to say goodbye to Abigail because she lives in Washington.
Thus ends my trip. But never fear - all of this free time has already lent to some reflection, so expect two or three posts when I return about what I like about Europe/Germany/Berlin, what it's like to wander around with nothing to do, whatever else I decide is important to reflect on. I'm pretty tired because last night Abigail, Lara, Kevin and I went to Kilkenny (the Irish bar) one last time and then out to a dance club until 5 a.m. I don't envy Abigail leaving the hotel at 7 a.m. for her flight. What can I say, though, Berlin has been excellent. I've left out plenty of details - like the early dinner we had a a lakeside restaurant yesterday afternoon with more authentic German food and other reflections on how I've grown to be a part of Berlin the past few days but also distanced myself so I can go home happily.
Sorry to be down. I'll pep it up again later :)
See you when I get back to Atlanta.
Tchuss,
Carolyn
My flight leaves tomorrow at 7 a.m. from Berlin and (because of time changes) will land in Atlanta at 8 p.m. It's going to be a crazy long day, and the waiting starts now. I'm running out of money, and I have a 7-hour layover in Paris - with nothing to do. I won't be able to take a taxi or transportation into town to see anything.
But that's once I actually get to Paris. Today is also fun. I basically don't have anything to do but still have to carry around all of my bags because the check out time was noon. Maybe I can ditch my bags in a locker somewhere or the airport and just milk my transportation pass for all it's worth. Most of the students left this morning, and Lara and I didn't wake up in time to say goodbye, so that makes me feel especially rotten - also because I woke up from a dream that I was saying goodbye to everyone. I won't see most of them again, and I really wanted to say goodbye to Abigail because she lives in Washington.
Thus ends my trip. But never fear - all of this free time has already lent to some reflection, so expect two or three posts when I return about what I like about Europe/Germany/Berlin, what it's like to wander around with nothing to do, whatever else I decide is important to reflect on. I'm pretty tired because last night Abigail, Lara, Kevin and I went to Kilkenny (the Irish bar) one last time and then out to a dance club until 5 a.m. I don't envy Abigail leaving the hotel at 7 a.m. for her flight. What can I say, though, Berlin has been excellent. I've left out plenty of details - like the early dinner we had a a lakeside restaurant yesterday afternoon with more authentic German food and other reflections on how I've grown to be a part of Berlin the past few days but also distanced myself so I can go home happily.
Sorry to be down. I'll pep it up again later :)
See you when I get back to Atlanta.
Tchuss,
Carolyn
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sweet dreams are made of these
Last night was surreal. It's almost as if Berlin was preparing me to say goodbye.
The whole group got dressed up and ate dinner at the TV Tower, which really did remind me of my childhood and the Peachtree Plaza Westin in Atlanta. It rotates as you eat dinner. It was a nice restaurant, but apparently some of the dishes were questionable. Several people ordered an eggplant lasagna, which sounded good, but it ended up being merely eggplant, feta and peppers - no noodles. I got the sea bream with oninions, potatoes and artichokes, which was incredible. I also ordered "poached" chocolate cake and mango ice cream. We laughed the whole time about what "poached" cake could be, but it was tasty. The waitress forgot my coffee for the longest time, which just made us laugh. She seemed a bit clueless about our orders at different times. Lara asked her what one of the butter spreads was that came with the dinner rolls, and she just said she didn't know. At any rate, it was interesting. I took photos all around, especially of the places we had visited the past two weeks and that I recognized. I was already reliving my memories ...
After dinner, most people who went to the concentration camp had to finish up projects, but Vince, Lara, Emily and I went out night shooting with Steine, the same girl who spoke with us earlier in the trip and has been helping several people with their projects. We visited the Holocaust Memorial and took plenty of photos, which is something I had been craving to do since the first time we visited. I took a lot of random photos, many of them blurry, and many of them artsy. The part I enjoyed the most was just sitting in the middle of the memorial, the blocks towering above me, the traffic noise dimmed, the rain sliding down the blocks, almost like blood. I sat and thought about the many people who suffered. It was sobering.
We then headed to the Brandenburg Gate and took a few photos. I had fun shooting in the rain for some reason, and I refused to use a tripod the whole time. I'll probably regret that and not having any useable photos, but I wanted to do some funky, smeary stuff. After the gate, we were tired and wanted to head home.
That's when the surreal part truly stepped in. Steine, who zoomed along at what I'm sure was higher than the speed limit, drove us around and around different parts of Berlin, basically wrapping up everything I'd seen during the past two weeks. It was the culmination of my trip, and I saw the wall, the Reichstag, the TV Tower, even Kreuzberg and the first U-Bahn stop I got off to stay with Chris, all while listening to a random mix of great radio stations. It was maddeningly similar to some kind of movie scene, I felt like. Vince, Lara and I crammed in the back, Emily and Steine in the front with Steine driving around, speeding, turning around in the middle of the road and Lara and I harmonizing to songs that meant something to me at some point in my life, all tied to certain memories back home - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These) by the Eurythmics, So What by Pink, Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham, Mad World by R.E.M. Home was calling to me, Athens was calling to me.
As I said, it was surreal. Then again, my whole trip has been.
I've reflected on how I'll feel when I return. This has been a rewarding trip, but I'm ready to see people back home, too. It has felt like another Governor's Honors Program experience - it's a journey, and only the person who returns home from it can really understand it. So I'll want to talk about it, and I hope you'll want to hear about it. If you don't, please stop me from blabbering. Other than that, the memories will slowly dwindle from the forefront of my mind until they are just a part of my life experience. But I have some great photos and some great friends. I'm jealous most of them get to return to Gainesville with each other.
By the way, I'll add photos to this later. It's time to pack and spend time together.
See you soon,
Carolyn
The whole group got dressed up and ate dinner at the TV Tower, which really did remind me of my childhood and the Peachtree Plaza Westin in Atlanta. It rotates as you eat dinner. It was a nice restaurant, but apparently some of the dishes were questionable. Several people ordered an eggplant lasagna, which sounded good, but it ended up being merely eggplant, feta and peppers - no noodles. I got the sea bream with oninions, potatoes and artichokes, which was incredible. I also ordered "poached" chocolate cake and mango ice cream. We laughed the whole time about what "poached" cake could be, but it was tasty. The waitress forgot my coffee for the longest time, which just made us laugh. She seemed a bit clueless about our orders at different times. Lara asked her what one of the butter spreads was that came with the dinner rolls, and she just said she didn't know. At any rate, it was interesting. I took photos all around, especially of the places we had visited the past two weeks and that I recognized. I was already reliving my memories ...
After dinner, most people who went to the concentration camp had to finish up projects, but Vince, Lara, Emily and I went out night shooting with Steine, the same girl who spoke with us earlier in the trip and has been helping several people with their projects. We visited the Holocaust Memorial and took plenty of photos, which is something I had been craving to do since the first time we visited. I took a lot of random photos, many of them blurry, and many of them artsy. The part I enjoyed the most was just sitting in the middle of the memorial, the blocks towering above me, the traffic noise dimmed, the rain sliding down the blocks, almost like blood. I sat and thought about the many people who suffered. It was sobering.
We then headed to the Brandenburg Gate and took a few photos. I had fun shooting in the rain for some reason, and I refused to use a tripod the whole time. I'll probably regret that and not having any useable photos, but I wanted to do some funky, smeary stuff. After the gate, we were tired and wanted to head home.
That's when the surreal part truly stepped in. Steine, who zoomed along at what I'm sure was higher than the speed limit, drove us around and around different parts of Berlin, basically wrapping up everything I'd seen during the past two weeks. It was the culmination of my trip, and I saw the wall, the Reichstag, the TV Tower, even Kreuzberg and the first U-Bahn stop I got off to stay with Chris, all while listening to a random mix of great radio stations. It was maddeningly similar to some kind of movie scene, I felt like. Vince, Lara and I crammed in the back, Emily and Steine in the front with Steine driving around, speeding, turning around in the middle of the road and Lara and I harmonizing to songs that meant something to me at some point in my life, all tied to certain memories back home - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These) by the Eurythmics, So What by Pink, Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham, Mad World by R.E.M. Home was calling to me, Athens was calling to me.
As I said, it was surreal. Then again, my whole trip has been.
I've reflected on how I'll feel when I return. This has been a rewarding trip, but I'm ready to see people back home, too. It has felt like another Governor's Honors Program experience - it's a journey, and only the person who returns home from it can really understand it. So I'll want to talk about it, and I hope you'll want to hear about it. If you don't, please stop me from blabbering. Other than that, the memories will slowly dwindle from the forefront of my mind until they are just a part of my life experience. But I have some great photos and some great friends. I'm jealous most of them get to return to Gainesville with each other.
By the way, I'll add photos to this later. It's time to pack and spend time together.
See you soon,
Carolyn
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A hard day(s)' night
Work hard and play harder has been our motto, it seems, for the past few days, which is why I haven't had time (or motivation) to post my adventures. But adventures they have been.
Last time I updated, I left you hanging at the beginning of our girls' night. It had its successes and failures. I jotted down the names and addresses of two dance places from a guide book, and we set out. We had to take the tram and subway, and once we finally got there, we walked into "King Kong Club," with only about five people there. That wasn't going to work, so we left in the spirit of find place #2.
Apparently, I wrote down the wrong address, which sent us wandering around that part of Berlin for some time. We finally decided to take a taxi close to home (which only cost four Euros, that was nice) and ended up at Hackeshr Market, which is near the Irish pub, and decided to go there. As we crossed the street, we were handed a flyer to the club we just tried to find. So bizarre. We stood in line at the club and got tired and went to the Irish pub anyway, which was packed. We walked to the back of the bar to find seating and ended up at a table near four military guys. As a part of our "girls' night" pact, I was helping them scope out guys, so I made eyes at the table until one finally came over. The other three joined, and we had some good conversation. They were from Hamburg. We found out the one who first came over was married, which I thought was funny - the married guy and the girl with a boyfriend brought the groups together for our friends. They were nice, and we finally headed back to the hotel around 3 a.m.
The next morning, Kevin, Lara and I went to a huge festival at the Brandenburg Gate.
It was a celebration of 60 years since the fall of East Germany. I swear half of Berlin was there, and it was like a gigantic spring festival I see in Sharpsburg all the time (minus clogging and antiques), but it was great - food, music, rock walls for kids and huge stages. (Here, Kevin is doing some kind of "trust" game where the dressed up women lower him into a chair. It was pretty weird...) We stayed for a bit and then left so I could do an interview for my Soundslides project. The subject was really slow about e-mailing me, and when I returned to the hotel, he still hadn't e-mailed the address or directions to me - he was as vague as could be in the first place about me interviewing him. The Web site about this hospitality place for travels had a photo online, which showed the apartment right off a U-Bahn stop, so I memorized the buildings and headed out. I got to the right place, stood outside the door, then couldn't find the right button to buzz myself in. So then I trekked back to the hotel and sunk into desperation. I e-mailed Ian again, urgently asking if I could profile him. I'm so thankful he said yes. A large group of us ate Thai, which took forever. They forgot to even put in an order for my wonton soup, so I was the last person sitting there eating.
That night, Abigail, Kevin and I went with Lara to her subject's apartment and then out to a "drum and bass" dance club. He was really nice. Brian is from Tampa and went to University of Miami, but when he studied abroad in Spain, he decided not to go back to the U.S. but move to Berlin. He is trying to get into a university here and now tutors German students in English. He took us to this underground club - way out in an abandoned warehouse in Kreuzberg - where there were about five rooms separated by curtains, and each had this funky, grungy electronic music. In what we called the "hardcore" room, it was pitch black and had a crazy projection on the wall. It was so loud in there, I could feel the music moving the hair on my arms. We spent most of the night dancing in that room! One of the Hamburg guys from the night before tagged along, and he was really nice. Because there aren't any words and the music bleeds from one song to another, you don't realize how much time passes. At one point, I walked out of the room at 4 a.m. to get some air, and the sun was already up - it rises pretty early here. So I walked back in, and we were some of the last dancers to leave the floor at 6 a.m., bringing us back to the hotel around 7 a.m. That was one crazy fun night. I've got to find a place like that in Athens. Ha.
Somehow, around 11 a.m. Sunday (because the sun was burning through the windows and the birds were really loud - we always leave our windows open), Lara and I were able to get up and grab some breakfast. We spent most of the morning doing laundry just down the street, which was fun. You know me, I'm too proud to ask for help, so I just threw my clothes in and pushed a few buttons. It worked out just fine, but I did have a minute-long panic attack when I thought I may have put bleach detergent in my load of color clothes instead of regular detergent. I asked a guy who spoke German, and it was OK.
I felt really excited when some Americans (yes, they looked iconically American) walked in and tried to figure it out and asked for help when they heard me speak English. They were from Pennsylvania on a study abroad trip, and we talked for a few minutes. Lara and I went back to our neighborhood Doner Kebap place and got a schnitzel kebap, which was tasty. The rest of the day fades away a bit into uneventfulness ... Lara and I napped to catch up on sleep. Abigail, Kevin, Lara and I ate at an Indian restaurant on our street, which was divine. We all had a buffet, and the waiter treated us to a sample of some mango drink. I hadn't had real Indian food in several years, it seems, so that was a treat.
Later that night several girls went out to a bar. Abigail, Kevin, Lara and I wanted to go but left a bit later, so one of the trams stopped running before we could ride it. We decided to stick closer to the hotel and wanted to go to a roof bar, but it was gay night (which made Kevin uncomfortable), and the guy at the door was a real jerk. He made fun of how young we looked and kept picking on us for being Americans. All I can say is, his shirt said, "Bangcocker." Pff. And the guys walking in were ridiculously flamboyant - two of the guys looked like they were going for Robert Pattinson's hair in "Twilight." Crazy.
Anyway, we decided to return to our second home in Berlin - the Irish pub. Of course, once we got there, it was closed early on a Sunday. So now that it was two hours later, we trudged home in defeat, craving snacks. Even our nearby "late" store was closed. We went to bed.
Yesterday morning, I woke up with the business mindset.
This was the day to get all my work done. Ian and I had a noon appointment, so I arrived a bit early and took some cool photos around the subway, including one of a girl who was playing the violin on one. It's cool to watch the sequence of photos and framing as the door closes. I spent the afternoon annoying Ian (as I would say) - I took pictures of him playing his keyboard and editing at his small studio in Tacheles, an old squatter building full of graffiti, artists and musicians. It's a staple in Berlin.
We then headed down the street to the same bit of river we sat by the first time we met, and I took a few photos of him "resting." We then took a few pictures in his small apartment and stopped at a restaurant for lunch. It was great to get to know him more, and I was confident I had good audio and photos to work with. I was able to really use my 50 mm for the first time, which made me happy. I took 350 photos of him. Whew.
When I got back to the hotel, I got to work on the audio. Professor Freeman realized he had a bit of extra money and took us all out to dinner at a place called Delores, which was kind of like Moe's. I had been craving Mexican, but I still haven't had my cheese dip. That's on my to-do list for when I get home. The chicken quesadilla was excellent. Freeman had an optional activity open - go to Dr. Pong, but many of us wanted to do our projects. Once several people started talking about the Tuesday deadline and how they wanted to go to a six-hour concentration camp tour today, he decided to push back the deadline to noon on Wednesday. Most of us celebrated by going to Dr. Pong.
Dr. Pong is a hole-in-the-wall hangout with one ping pong table and a bar, where locals play round robin style, circling around the table. When you miss, you're out, and it keeps going until you end up with two people. Those two play to five points, and the winner hits the table with the paddle three times, and everyone joins back in again. It was pretty cool, and it's great to watch. When there are about three or four people left, they have to run around the table to get to their turn in time, which creates a nice wind tunnel effect. (Freeman posted a video on his blog - berlinblog2009.blogspot.com if you want to see.)
Abigail, Lara and I danced, too, and took some weird photos under a blue lightbulb near the bathrooms. There was one creeper we called "crazy eyes" who would stare at all the girls with really big eyes and then get in our faces and talk in German. Even when we'd obviously lean away or walk away or ask him to speak in English, he would just keep leering and talking. He was either drunk or out of his mind or both. Several times, Freeman would rescue us by just walking up and getting right in the middle. He was a great dad figure last night and a lot of fun. We grabbed a tram back near the hotel, and Freeman made a "that's what she said" joke after I did, which made the night complete. We stopped by a late night store, and everyone but me grabbed some ice cream. Lara also bought a can of "hemp juice," which we thought was hilarious. She and I split it earlier today, and it tasted like an energy drink. Weird.
Most of the group went out to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp. A few of us (Abigail and Lara included) stayed in the hotel today to do our projects. I'm completely finished - Soundslide, five standalones from the trip and a brief story from the Soundslide project - which makes me feel grand. I'll try to post those at some point. Freeman is also compiling all of our projects onto a Web site, which I'll link.
Tonight we head to a nice dinner in the TV Tower, which is a huge building that can basically be seen all over Berlin. The restaurant in the ball near the top rotates and makes me think of my trips to the Peachtree Plaza (Westin) building in Atlanta with my mom when I was younger. I want to take some cool pictures there, so I hope it stops raining today.
I apologize for not having photos of some of the fun events (dancing, bars), but sometimes it's better to live life in person than through a lens. I plan to take more "fun" photos during the next few days, now that my work is done.
I also promise to update more this time, but there are only a few days left! It's hard to believe.
-C
Last time I updated, I left you hanging at the beginning of our girls' night. It had its successes and failures. I jotted down the names and addresses of two dance places from a guide book, and we set out. We had to take the tram and subway, and once we finally got there, we walked into "King Kong Club," with only about five people there. That wasn't going to work, so we left in the spirit of find place #2.
Apparently, I wrote down the wrong address, which sent us wandering around that part of Berlin for some time. We finally decided to take a taxi close to home (which only cost four Euros, that was nice) and ended up at Hackeshr Market, which is near the Irish pub, and decided to go there. As we crossed the street, we were handed a flyer to the club we just tried to find. So bizarre. We stood in line at the club and got tired and went to the Irish pub anyway, which was packed. We walked to the back of the bar to find seating and ended up at a table near four military guys. As a part of our "girls' night" pact, I was helping them scope out guys, so I made eyes at the table until one finally came over. The other three joined, and we had some good conversation. They were from Hamburg. We found out the one who first came over was married, which I thought was funny - the married guy and the girl with a boyfriend brought the groups together for our friends. They were nice, and we finally headed back to the hotel around 3 a.m.
The next morning, Kevin, Lara and I went to a huge festival at the Brandenburg Gate.
It was a celebration of 60 years since the fall of East Germany. I swear half of Berlin was there, and it was like a gigantic spring festival I see in Sharpsburg all the time (minus clogging and antiques), but it was great - food, music, rock walls for kids and huge stages. (Here, Kevin is doing some kind of "trust" game where the dressed up women lower him into a chair. It was pretty weird...) We stayed for a bit and then left so I could do an interview for my Soundslides project. The subject was really slow about e-mailing me, and when I returned to the hotel, he still hadn't e-mailed the address or directions to me - he was as vague as could be in the first place about me interviewing him. The Web site about this hospitality place for travels had a photo online, which showed the apartment right off a U-Bahn stop, so I memorized the buildings and headed out. I got to the right place, stood outside the door, then couldn't find the right button to buzz myself in. So then I trekked back to the hotel and sunk into desperation. I e-mailed Ian again, urgently asking if I could profile him. I'm so thankful he said yes. A large group of us ate Thai, which took forever. They forgot to even put in an order for my wonton soup, so I was the last person sitting there eating.That night, Abigail, Kevin and I went with Lara to her subject's apartment and then out to a "drum and bass" dance club. He was really nice. Brian is from Tampa and went to University of Miami, but when he studied abroad in Spain, he decided not to go back to the U.S. but move to Berlin. He is trying to get into a university here and now tutors German students in English. He took us to this underground club - way out in an abandoned warehouse in Kreuzberg - where there were about five rooms separated by curtains, and each had this funky, grungy electronic music. In what we called the "hardcore" room, it was pitch black and had a crazy projection on the wall. It was so loud in there, I could feel the music moving the hair on my arms. We spent most of the night dancing in that room! One of the Hamburg guys from the night before tagged along, and he was really nice. Because there aren't any words and the music bleeds from one song to another, you don't realize how much time passes. At one point, I walked out of the room at 4 a.m. to get some air, and the sun was already up - it rises pretty early here. So I walked back in, and we were some of the last dancers to leave the floor at 6 a.m., bringing us back to the hotel around 7 a.m. That was one crazy fun night. I've got to find a place like that in Athens. Ha.
Somehow, around 11 a.m. Sunday (because the sun was burning through the windows and the birds were really loud - we always leave our windows open), Lara and I were able to get up and grab some breakfast. We spent most of the morning doing laundry just down the street, which was fun. You know me, I'm too proud to ask for help, so I just threw my clothes in and pushed a few buttons. It worked out just fine, but I did have a minute-long panic attack when I thought I may have put bleach detergent in my load of color clothes instead of regular detergent. I asked a guy who spoke German, and it was OK.
I felt really excited when some Americans (yes, they looked iconically American) walked in and tried to figure it out and asked for help when they heard me speak English. They were from Pennsylvania on a study abroad trip, and we talked for a few minutes. Lara and I went back to our neighborhood Doner Kebap place and got a schnitzel kebap, which was tasty. The rest of the day fades away a bit into uneventfulness ... Lara and I napped to catch up on sleep. Abigail, Kevin, Lara and I ate at an Indian restaurant on our street, which was divine. We all had a buffet, and the waiter treated us to a sample of some mango drink. I hadn't had real Indian food in several years, it seems, so that was a treat.
Later that night several girls went out to a bar. Abigail, Kevin, Lara and I wanted to go but left a bit later, so one of the trams stopped running before we could ride it. We decided to stick closer to the hotel and wanted to go to a roof bar, but it was gay night (which made Kevin uncomfortable), and the guy at the door was a real jerk. He made fun of how young we looked and kept picking on us for being Americans. All I can say is, his shirt said, "Bangcocker." Pff. And the guys walking in were ridiculously flamboyant - two of the guys looked like they were going for Robert Pattinson's hair in "Twilight." Crazy.
Anyway, we decided to return to our second home in Berlin - the Irish pub. Of course, once we got there, it was closed early on a Sunday. So now that it was two hours later, we trudged home in defeat, craving snacks. Even our nearby "late" store was closed. We went to bed.
Yesterday morning, I woke up with the business mindset.
This was the day to get all my work done. Ian and I had a noon appointment, so I arrived a bit early and took some cool photos around the subway, including one of a girl who was playing the violin on one. It's cool to watch the sequence of photos and framing as the door closes. I spent the afternoon annoying Ian (as I would say) - I took pictures of him playing his keyboard and editing at his small studio in Tacheles, an old squatter building full of graffiti, artists and musicians. It's a staple in Berlin.We then headed down the street to the same bit of river we sat by the first time we met, and I took a few photos of him "resting." We then took a few pictures in his small apartment and stopped at a restaurant for lunch. It was great to get to know him more, and I was confident I had good audio and photos to work with. I was able to really use my 50 mm for the first time, which made me happy. I took 350 photos of him. Whew.
When I got back to the hotel, I got to work on the audio. Professor Freeman realized he had a bit of extra money and took us all out to dinner at a place called Delores, which was kind of like Moe's. I had been craving Mexican, but I still haven't had my cheese dip. That's on my to-do list for when I get home. The chicken quesadilla was excellent. Freeman had an optional activity open - go to Dr. Pong, but many of us wanted to do our projects. Once several people started talking about the Tuesday deadline and how they wanted to go to a six-hour concentration camp tour today, he decided to push back the deadline to noon on Wednesday. Most of us celebrated by going to Dr. Pong.
Dr. Pong is a hole-in-the-wall hangout with one ping pong table and a bar, where locals play round robin style, circling around the table. When you miss, you're out, and it keeps going until you end up with two people. Those two play to five points, and the winner hits the table with the paddle three times, and everyone joins back in again. It was pretty cool, and it's great to watch. When there are about three or four people left, they have to run around the table to get to their turn in time, which creates a nice wind tunnel effect. (Freeman posted a video on his blog - berlinblog2009.blogspot.com if you want to see.)
Abigail, Lara and I danced, too, and took some weird photos under a blue lightbulb near the bathrooms. There was one creeper we called "crazy eyes" who would stare at all the girls with really big eyes and then get in our faces and talk in German. Even when we'd obviously lean away or walk away or ask him to speak in English, he would just keep leering and talking. He was either drunk or out of his mind or both. Several times, Freeman would rescue us by just walking up and getting right in the middle. He was a great dad figure last night and a lot of fun. We grabbed a tram back near the hotel, and Freeman made a "that's what she said" joke after I did, which made the night complete. We stopped by a late night store, and everyone but me grabbed some ice cream. Lara also bought a can of "hemp juice," which we thought was hilarious. She and I split it earlier today, and it tasted like an energy drink. Weird.
Most of the group went out to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp. A few of us (Abigail and Lara included) stayed in the hotel today to do our projects. I'm completely finished - Soundslide, five standalones from the trip and a brief story from the Soundslide project - which makes me feel grand. I'll try to post those at some point. Freeman is also compiling all of our projects onto a Web site, which I'll link.
Tonight we head to a nice dinner in the TV Tower, which is a huge building that can basically be seen all over Berlin. The restaurant in the ball near the top rotates and makes me think of my trips to the Peachtree Plaza (Westin) building in Atlanta with my mom when I was younger. I want to take some cool pictures there, so I hope it stops raining today.
I apologize for not having photos of some of the fun events (dancing, bars), but sometimes it's better to live life in person than through a lens. I plan to take more "fun" photos during the next few days, now that my work is done.
I also promise to update more this time, but there are only a few days left! It's hard to believe.
-C
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wake me up before you go, go ...
It's catch up time again. I've started embracing the laidback mentality here. It's weird not worrying about my phone or stressing about the paper. I've already started thinking about returning home and to work and thinking about what I'll miss and not miss here. But that'll be another post :)
To catch you up ...
After I interviewed at the Olympic Stadium, I came back and wandered around with my small group of friends. I then met up with Felix, another couchsurfer, and we picked up some meat, bread, cheese and OJ at a grocery store and ate at a local park that's popular with students. (He's in the picture here.) It was fun and felt very bohemian. I want to head back to the park on Sunday, where students have a flea market. When I returned, Lara, Abigail, Kevin, Vince and I all went to an Irish pub nearby, which was also fun. There are some silly pictures on Facebook of us laughing if you care to check.
Yesterday we went to Der Spiegel, a really popular newsmagazine in Germany. We talked to two English speakers who run the online section of the magazine. They talked a lot about multimedia and the industry - basically what we're all dealing with in terms of advertising and revenue problems. They seemed optimistic and worried at the same time. We'll always need news, but we need to figure out how to present it and get paid for it, as soon as possible.
After the paper, Professor Freeman, Kevin, Lara and I went to Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag. It has a crazy swirl on the top that people walk around, so we walked. (See here?)
Some kids seem pretty interested. They were pointing out things and then looked up at me and got embarrassed that I was taking their picture.
Then again some weren't so interested. This is great.
And it rained. And rained. And rained. We tried to wait it out but decided to walk in the rain to a cafe Freeman knew about that has excellent desserts. We walked to the bus stop and were drenched, and my shoes were full of water. The cake (Lara and I shared a chocolate and raspberry slice) was definitely worth it. We also got to know Freeman better in a smaller group, which I really liked because I've never ahd him as a professor. He has some great stories about previous visits to Germany - when he and his wife visited in the '80s, they knew they couldn't take East Berlin money back to West Berlin and left a large chunk of change on the table for waiters, he thinks in the same cafe. It was decked out in Titanic-esque decor and musicians. Fantastic.
We came back and changed and then headed out as a group to Kevin's assignment. He's featuring a bassist in a band that played on the street a few days ago, but this gig was in a private college. It was pretty good, and we met some fun people our age. When we walked in, they played "Sweet Home Alabama," so that was funny.
This morning, Lara and I woke up and went to the Turkish market (which I went to at the beginning of my trip) and met up with Ian. We bought all kinds of fruit - strawberries, cherries, grapes, raspberries - all for about 5 euro. We've been deprived and craving fruit. Lara picked up some olive spread so we can make sandwiches for a few days next week. I was restless today and didn't want to stay at the hotel, so almost as soon as we got back, I gave Amanda's shoes back to her and was invited to go with her and Jessie to some boutique shops. My mentality was the same as in Athens - fun to shop, but the price isn't right unless it's on the sale rack. I didn't buy anything, but we bonded by walking the wrong way a few times, buying ice cream and walking in the rain. The rain pops up out of nowhere here.
Once we got back, I met up with Lara and Abigail again, and we decided it's time for a girl's night out. Lara napped, and I took a long shower. The three of us went to an Italian restaurant across the street and laughed our heads off. I'm so glad I get along with these girls and that we're so close after only a week. As I pointed out at dinner, it's hard to believe I won't see them again in about a week. And now we're getting ready to go out. What can I say, some nights the girls just have to dance.
I'll update you on that tomorrow. Here's to Friday night!
Love,
C
To catch you up ...
After I interviewed at the Olympic Stadium, I came back and wandered around with my small group of friends. I then met up with Felix, another couchsurfer, and we picked up some meat, bread, cheese and OJ at a grocery store and ate at a local park that's popular with students. (He's in the picture here.) It was fun and felt very bohemian. I want to head back to the park on Sunday, where students have a flea market. When I returned, Lara, Abigail, Kevin, Vince and I all went to an Irish pub nearby, which was also fun. There are some silly pictures on Facebook of us laughing if you care to check.
Yesterday we went to Der Spiegel, a really popular newsmagazine in Germany. We talked to two English speakers who run the online section of the magazine. They talked a lot about multimedia and the industry - basically what we're all dealing with in terms of advertising and revenue problems. They seemed optimistic and worried at the same time. We'll always need news, but we need to figure out how to present it and get paid for it, as soon as possible.
After the paper, Professor Freeman, Kevin, Lara and I went to Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag. It has a crazy swirl on the top that people walk around, so we walked. (See here?)
Some kids seem pretty interested. They were pointing out things and then looked up at me and got embarrassed that I was taking their picture.
Then again some weren't so interested. This is great.And it rained. And rained. And rained. We tried to wait it out but decided to walk in the rain to a cafe Freeman knew about that has excellent desserts. We walked to the bus stop and were drenched, and my shoes were full of water. The cake (Lara and I shared a chocolate and raspberry slice) was definitely worth it. We also got to know Freeman better in a smaller group, which I really liked because I've never ahd him as a professor. He has some great stories about previous visits to Germany - when he and his wife visited in the '80s, they knew they couldn't take East Berlin money back to West Berlin and left a large chunk of change on the table for waiters, he thinks in the same cafe. It was decked out in Titanic-esque decor and musicians. Fantastic.
We came back and changed and then headed out as a group to Kevin's assignment. He's featuring a bassist in a band that played on the street a few days ago, but this gig was in a private college. It was pretty good, and we met some fun people our age. When we walked in, they played "Sweet Home Alabama," so that was funny.
This morning, Lara and I woke up and went to the Turkish market (which I went to at the beginning of my trip) and met up with Ian. We bought all kinds of fruit - strawberries, cherries, grapes, raspberries - all for about 5 euro. We've been deprived and craving fruit. Lara picked up some olive spread so we can make sandwiches for a few days next week. I was restless today and didn't want to stay at the hotel, so almost as soon as we got back, I gave Amanda's shoes back to her and was invited to go with her and Jessie to some boutique shops. My mentality was the same as in Athens - fun to shop, but the price isn't right unless it's on the sale rack. I didn't buy anything, but we bonded by walking the wrong way a few times, buying ice cream and walking in the rain. The rain pops up out of nowhere here.
Once we got back, I met up with Lara and Abigail again, and we decided it's time for a girl's night out. Lara napped, and I took a long shower. The three of us went to an Italian restaurant across the street and laughed our heads off. I'm so glad I get along with these girls and that we're so close after only a week. As I pointed out at dinner, it's hard to believe I won't see them again in about a week. And now we're getting ready to go out. What can I say, some nights the girls just have to dance.
I'll update you on that tomorrow. Here's to Friday night!
Love,
C
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
How to anticipate the unexpected
This morning I stood on the field of Olympic Stadium in Germany. This is the stadium where I saw Hertha and Schalke play on Saturday. It's also the stadium that hosted six games for the 2006 World Cup and the final between Italy and France.
My time in Berlin is unreal, it seems.
I haven't updated the past couple of days, so here we go. I'll start from Monday:
Lara and I woke up and walked around Prenzlauerberg, trying to find a story for her. We took pictures of graffiti and shops and laughed about people staring at us because it was hot outside and she wore shorts and I wore a dress. That's not the fashion here. We explored a tea room, a fruit stand and a bookstore, which I liked the best. It had a good atmosphere and calm music. Who knew J.K. Rowling's first name was Joanne? Books in the U.S. don't use her first, from what I can remember. Her middle name? Kathleen. I guess I'm not the exuberant Harry Potter fan.
(They have these "autofoto" booths all over Berlin.)
While we were walking, a guy asked if we were cold and we said no. We talked a bit about Prenzlauerberg, and he asked if we had gone out to any bars or clubs. We said no but we wanted to, and when I asked if there were any around, he said yes and that he would go with us and gave us his number. We took it, walked around the corner, and threw it away. Fail on Tony's behalf.
But then we had our fail when we toodled around Alexanderplatz and took pictures. I saw several guys who looked our age kicking around a soccer ball by a building. We walked over, and they actually turned out to be middle schoolers. We asked what they were doing and where they were from, and they would giggle to each other before every answer. From what we could tell, they were waiting on a teacher and go to school in Germany but didn't want us to take any photos. Fail.
(In the Alexanderplatz fountain, a homeless/drunk guy was sitting in a grocery cart, singing and mumbling. We didn't try to talk to him. Lara is the person on the right in white.)
Anyway, early Monday was mostly bonding time for Lara and I. At 4 p.m. Franka Bruns, a freelance photojournalist who graduated from Ohio University, spoke with us about the life of photography in Berlin. She has worked for AP and covers daily assignments, a lot of politics. Berlin journalism, especially AP, seems to be doing pretty well and also seems to be relatively open. She did talk about the non-stop life of being on call, but I think that's the sign of a good journalist everywhere, the adrenaline rush of being on an assignment. I asked several questions, and she was really helpful. The group then headed to a Thai restaurant around the corner from our hotel, and I enjoyed a huge bowl of Pho.
After dinner, I met up with Ian, a guy who graduated from college in Tennessee and worked in Nuremberg for a bit. He's now in Berlin, trying to find a job and making music. He's going to start his Ph.D. in Texas on ethnomusicology in the fall, I think. It's crazy the variety of people who have moved to Berlin. He showed me the spot where he creates music in Tacheles, an old squatter building that is floors full of graffiti, artists and musicians of all types. It's become pretty famous, and now they ask for donations from tourists and have signs up that say "no fotos" in certain rooms. (This is Ian above, in his Tacheles room.)
After that, I came back to the hotel and attempted to start a blog but headed to bed.
On Tuesday, the group set out on a bike tour of Berlin for several hours. At first, everyone seemed slightly nervous about being on bikes for so long, but it was excellent. My bike was named Pippin and had a squeaky toy Pluto in addition to a bell. It was fun :) Our tour guide was a really nice guy from Tampa. He showed us the longest still-standing stretch of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet War Memorial and Kreuzberg, where I stayed the first day here. (In this photo, Blakely is drawing Germany and telling us how Berlin was first split.)
We stopped to look at two bears that are kept in the city (as mascots) and heard shouts and honking a few streets over. Some taxi drivers were protesting, so we grabbed a few photos. Yay spot news. The woman in the middle is talking through a megaphone, announcing something. The group began cheering. We're still not sure what was going on. The bike tour was fantastic, and I recommend it to anyone who visits.
The group headed back to the hotel to shower and change for a musical play called Qi-eine Palast-Phantasie at the Friedrichstadtpalast, which is really hard to explain. It had dancing, singing, acrobatics, ice skating, comic relief and even magic. Freeman said in his blog, "The show will be like Berlin meets Las Vegas meets New York with a little bit of Cirque Du Soleil thrown in." It was incredible and made me want to act and dance again. Oh, the stage. A handful of us ate pizza at a restaurant down the street from the theatre and then crashed pretty soon after we returned to the hotel.
This brings us back to this morning and my excellent adventure. I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and got on the tram at 8 a.m. with other people going to work. I felt like I was truly working in Berlin! I met with Torsten Hahmann, who works for the Berlin Football Association. Today was an under 16 game between France and Germany, and I was able to walk all around the stadium with him and take pictures on the field. I was allowed in the press room and even snacked a bit. Good times. It's hard to believe what opportunities I'm running into, but I'm excited. (Here, I took this picture while sitting in the stands with Torsten, watching the game. Goooo Germany - the guys in white.)
Tomorrow we meet with an editor at Der Spiegel, Freeman says Germany's equivalent of Time. I'm really looking forward to that.
I feel like this blog has been less detailed lately, but I hope it's still entertaining.
Best,
C
My time in Berlin is unreal, it seems.
I haven't updated the past couple of days, so here we go. I'll start from Monday:
Lara and I woke up and walked around Prenzlauerberg, trying to find a story for her. We took pictures of graffiti and shops and laughed about people staring at us because it was hot outside and she wore shorts and I wore a dress. That's not the fashion here. We explored a tea room, a fruit stand and a bookstore, which I liked the best. It had a good atmosphere and calm music. Who knew J.K. Rowling's first name was Joanne? Books in the U.S. don't use her first, from what I can remember. Her middle name? Kathleen. I guess I'm not the exuberant Harry Potter fan.
(They have these "autofoto" booths all over Berlin.)While we were walking, a guy asked if we were cold and we said no. We talked a bit about Prenzlauerberg, and he asked if we had gone out to any bars or clubs. We said no but we wanted to, and when I asked if there were any around, he said yes and that he would go with us and gave us his number. We took it, walked around the corner, and threw it away. Fail on Tony's behalf.
But then we had our fail when we toodled around Alexanderplatz and took pictures. I saw several guys who looked our age kicking around a soccer ball by a building. We walked over, and they actually turned out to be middle schoolers. We asked what they were doing and where they were from, and they would giggle to each other before every answer. From what we could tell, they were waiting on a teacher and go to school in Germany but didn't want us to take any photos. Fail.
(In the Alexanderplatz fountain, a homeless/drunk guy was sitting in a grocery cart, singing and mumbling. We didn't try to talk to him. Lara is the person on the right in white.)Anyway, early Monday was mostly bonding time for Lara and I. At 4 p.m. Franka Bruns, a freelance photojournalist who graduated from Ohio University, spoke with us about the life of photography in Berlin. She has worked for AP and covers daily assignments, a lot of politics. Berlin journalism, especially AP, seems to be doing pretty well and also seems to be relatively open. She did talk about the non-stop life of being on call, but I think that's the sign of a good journalist everywhere, the adrenaline rush of being on an assignment. I asked several questions, and she was really helpful. The group then headed to a Thai restaurant around the corner from our hotel, and I enjoyed a huge bowl of Pho.
After dinner, I met up with Ian, a guy who graduated from college in Tennessee and worked in Nuremberg for a bit. He's now in Berlin, trying to find a job and making music. He's going to start his Ph.D. in Texas on ethnomusicology in the fall, I think. It's crazy the variety of people who have moved to Berlin. He showed me the spot where he creates music in Tacheles, an old squatter building that is floors full of graffiti, artists and musicians of all types. It's become pretty famous, and now they ask for donations from tourists and have signs up that say "no fotos" in certain rooms. (This is Ian above, in his Tacheles room.)After that, I came back to the hotel and attempted to start a blog but headed to bed.
On Tuesday, the group set out on a bike tour of Berlin for several hours. At first, everyone seemed slightly nervous about being on bikes for so long, but it was excellent. My bike was named Pippin and had a squeaky toy Pluto in addition to a bell. It was fun :) Our tour guide was a really nice guy from Tampa. He showed us the longest still-standing stretch of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet War Memorial and Kreuzberg, where I stayed the first day here. (In this photo, Blakely is drawing Germany and telling us how Berlin was first split.)
We stopped to look at two bears that are kept in the city (as mascots) and heard shouts and honking a few streets over. Some taxi drivers were protesting, so we grabbed a few photos. Yay spot news. The woman in the middle is talking through a megaphone, announcing something. The group began cheering. We're still not sure what was going on. The bike tour was fantastic, and I recommend it to anyone who visits.
The group headed back to the hotel to shower and change for a musical play called Qi-eine Palast-Phantasie at the Friedrichstadtpalast, which is really hard to explain. It had dancing, singing, acrobatics, ice skating, comic relief and even magic. Freeman said in his blog, "The show will be like Berlin meets Las Vegas meets New York with a little bit of Cirque Du Soleil thrown in." It was incredible and made me want to act and dance again. Oh, the stage. A handful of us ate pizza at a restaurant down the street from the theatre and then crashed pretty soon after we returned to the hotel.
This brings us back to this morning and my excellent adventure. I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and got on the tram at 8 a.m. with other people going to work. I felt like I was truly working in Berlin! I met with Torsten Hahmann, who works for the Berlin Football Association. Today was an under 16 game between France and Germany, and I was able to walk all around the stadium with him and take pictures on the field. I was allowed in the press room and even snacked a bit. Good times. It's hard to believe what opportunities I'm running into, but I'm excited. (Here, I took this picture while sitting in the stands with Torsten, watching the game. Goooo Germany - the guys in white.)Tomorrow we meet with an editor at Der Spiegel, Freeman says Germany's equivalent of Time. I'm really looking forward to that.
I feel like this blog has been less detailed lately, but I hope it's still entertaining.
Best,
C
Sunday, May 17, 2009
And the beat goes on
I'm pretty sure Fink has some German in him. I saw two men with gigantic eyebrows like his. Yes, I took photos, but, no, I can't post them. They wouldn't look passable without some cropping, and I'm still being a slacker about installing the right software. I'll get on that during some free time tomorrow.
Today was a walker. We left for a walking tour around 10:30 a.m., took photos all over the city and learned some history about specific places, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, the bunker where Hitler committed suicide (which is actually underground and not open or visible to the public at all) and Checkpoint Charlie. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know. I'm not as pleased with today's photos because they seem so typical and touristy, but today's tour gave me great ideas for places to go back to later.
We then met with Stine, a German girl, and her sister at Potsdamer Platz to talk about story ideas and the culture of the different districts of Berlin. It was really interesting, and I hope we meet up with her again to go to a market or something. We then moseyed around the Sony Center and took pictures before going back to the hotel. It was a pretty chill afternoon, and while Professor Freeman wandered around Berlin, the students got on our laptops or napped. I climbed into the windowsill and wrote a bit and then slept for about an hour. Once Laura and I woke up, we gathered a group to eat at a Thai restaurant nearby. Later tonight, a group of us headed to a bar for Lauren's birthday, but Laura and I forgot our IDs like goofballs and a few of us headed back.
Photo adventure below:
Uber tourist shot. Checkpoint Charlie. The end.
A girl playing with water at the Sony Center.
Abigail's doughnut from Dunkin Donuts. They're not this cool in the U.S. New meaning to "ich bin ein berliner ..."
Hello, Megan. These advertisements are EVERYWHERE.
Typical picture ... one foot in East Berlin, one in West Berlin. These double stones all over the city show where the wall once stood.
Holocaust Memorial. It's really cool and better to show with several pictures. I'll do that when I get back. This is the main place I want to go back to and shoot at night. There are lights around the stones.
Didn't believe me about the kissing? Well, here ya go, while tons of people are walking all around. It looks like a scene from a movie, doesn't it?
These touristy travel things crack me up. I thought this was the perfect one for my inside jokes - Dirty Dancing with Megan and Blue Man Group with Bobby (Arrested Development ... ties in with a segway tour going on. Don't worry, I have pictures of them, too. And then we bonded with our German tour guide by quoting the show. Ha.)
This is Neue Wache, or New Guardhouse, a memorial for victims of tyranny and war.
This was just for fun. Berlin has some amazing architecture. And of course I love the river ... oh me and water.
So I didn't write a book for some of you to live vicariously through, but today was pretty touristy and relaxed, mostly bonding with the group. I'll retell the facts when I flip through pictures with you at home.
Love,
C
Today was a walker. We left for a walking tour around 10:30 a.m., took photos all over the city and learned some history about specific places, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, the bunker where Hitler committed suicide (which is actually underground and not open or visible to the public at all) and Checkpoint Charlie. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know. I'm not as pleased with today's photos because they seem so typical and touristy, but today's tour gave me great ideas for places to go back to later.
We then met with Stine, a German girl, and her sister at Potsdamer Platz to talk about story ideas and the culture of the different districts of Berlin. It was really interesting, and I hope we meet up with her again to go to a market or something. We then moseyed around the Sony Center and took pictures before going back to the hotel. It was a pretty chill afternoon, and while Professor Freeman wandered around Berlin, the students got on our laptops or napped. I climbed into the windowsill and wrote a bit and then slept for about an hour. Once Laura and I woke up, we gathered a group to eat at a Thai restaurant nearby. Later tonight, a group of us headed to a bar for Lauren's birthday, but Laura and I forgot our IDs like goofballs and a few of us headed back.
Photo adventure below:
Uber tourist shot. Checkpoint Charlie. The end.
A girl playing with water at the Sony Center.
Abigail's doughnut from Dunkin Donuts. They're not this cool in the U.S. New meaning to "ich bin ein berliner ..."
Hello, Megan. These advertisements are EVERYWHERE.
Typical picture ... one foot in East Berlin, one in West Berlin. These double stones all over the city show where the wall once stood.
Holocaust Memorial. It's really cool and better to show with several pictures. I'll do that when I get back. This is the main place I want to go back to and shoot at night. There are lights around the stones.
Didn't believe me about the kissing? Well, here ya go, while tons of people are walking all around. It looks like a scene from a movie, doesn't it?
These touristy travel things crack me up. I thought this was the perfect one for my inside jokes - Dirty Dancing with Megan and Blue Man Group with Bobby (Arrested Development ... ties in with a segway tour going on. Don't worry, I have pictures of them, too. And then we bonded with our German tour guide by quoting the show. Ha.)
This is Neue Wache, or New Guardhouse, a memorial for victims of tyranny and war.
This was just for fun. Berlin has some amazing architecture. And of course I love the river ... oh me and water.So I didn't write a book for some of you to live vicariously through, but today was pretty touristy and relaxed, mostly bonding with the group. I'll retell the facts when I flip through pictures with you at home.
Love,
C
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Not just a walk through the park ...
Today turned out completely different than I (or anyone else for that matter) expected.
No bike tour, a soccer game and a carnival later, and I'm tired! I'll seriously be in need of a massage when I get home (hint, hint, Roberto).
I finally went to bed around 1 a.m. last night, listening to the Elizabethtown soundtrack on my iPod. I woke up around 8 a.m. ... probably ... I don't have a clock, remember? But the gals in my room had an alarm set for 9 a.m. for us to get up and get ready, so I wasn't too worried. Or was I? I kept waking up every 15 minutes or so from a dream I was having that we didn't wake up to the alarm and woke up at noon, missing the bike tour. But we actually got up around 9:20 and got ready for the day, sad that it was raining. We didn't want to worry about steering bikes and lugging camera equipment in the rain. We got ready anyway.
I walked downstairs, and Professor Freeman was there with about half of our group, eating breakfast. They have all kinds of toast, granola and yogurt and even had meat, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes. He decided that we shouldn't do the bike tour but visit the Annie Leibovitz exhibit instead, which we of course didn't object to. A few of us went back upstairs to finish getting ready.
Which brings me to one of my fun observations. I've figured out why people have such good skin here ... the wind that blows everyday just dries it up. The acne on my face was pretty much dried up, and I picked off the dry skin in the mirror. Gross, I know. It'll probably all clear up just in time for me to leave.
And I'll admit it, Mom. I really should have brought my tennis shoes. We've been walking a lot, and I'm really going to regret not bringing them when we do the bike tour on Tuesday. I'll give you plenty of chances to say, "I told you so."
As I looked in the mirror, I wondered what it would be like to do this trip as a UF student with friends here - or more like, what would it be like to do this trip with MEJ and UGA photo peeps? I was surprised that not everyone knew each other here, but photojournalism is a major at UF rather than an emphasis. At the same time, I don't even know everyone in the emphasis at UGA. I did think of how much fun Frannie, Jim, Waites, Jake and I would have wandering around Berlin. Fun. And funny. Getting lost with them would be hilarious.
At any rate, I'm really getting to know everyone, and as expected, they're all really nice and don't hold too much against me for going to UGA. (Thanks, guys)
So then we headed to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit, and now I'll start adding in photos for you. (Here is the building the exhibit was in. We couldn't take any inside, but
it was an excellent exhibit!) We stood in the line for quite awhile, which was good for conversation and observation. It seemed to be a touristy part of town - restaurant names started appearing in English and a sign near the exhibit promoted a "pub crawl," which Chris told me the other day is a big joke in all large European cities that caters to tourists and basically is only used by tourists who want to get drunk and hook up. It's not authentic at all, which makes sense. But the exhibit was wonderful ... I'll explain it in detail later to those who are particularly interested. She had some striking celebrity poses ... the naked pregnant Vanity Fair cover of Demi Moore that she won an award for, Leonardo DiCaprio with a swan, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, and of course more serious ones like George W. Bush, Colin Powell and more. There are so many more, including some gigantic, gorgeous landscape photos. It was really inspiring.
When I left the building, nine others were outside, waiting. (Check out this picture ... the dog is yawning. Yes, we were bored ... and quite taken with the dog. Sorry also that these photos aren't cropped or toned. I need to add the right photo editing software to my laptop. Sigh.) We stood outside for awhile but were getting impatient and hungry.
Freeman stayed behind to wait for the others and directed us where to go to get on the S-Bahn (think Marta, but cooler) to get to Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, a church that was hit in 1945 during air raids. Another church is built beside it. It was interesting, seeing it surrounded by several food stands and touristy shops. I got an order of "pommes," or fries. (From the little hut in the photo, on the right.) The prices were upped quited a bit, which made me think of Six Flags and tourists. (This isn't the best photo I have of it, but I wanted to include one for the blog of the food stands next to it.)
We stopped to take pictures of street performers, which was fun. (Top photo: This guy was spinning on his head ... pretty cool. Bottom photo: This guy was breakdancing. I thought this picture was pretty cool because it looks like he's going to hit is face in about .5 seconds. He didn't, of course.) I decided to play with movement today in my photos.
While on the S-Bahn, Vince talked about going to the Bundesliga soccer match between Hertha BSC and FC Schalke. So we went! He and I took the S-Bahn out to Olympic Stadium and talked to a few guys who suggested that we scalp some tickets. So we did. It was amazing to be there - we could hear the cheers from way outside the stadium, which reminded me of Saturday gamedays in Athens in a way. The security people stopped me and patted me down, and the woman told her supervisor to come over. I don't think I was allowed to take my camera in, but I think she gave up when I kept giving her a blank stare and said it was OK. Ha.
Vince and I found our seats, and two guys were standing at them. The one at Vince's seat moved back a row, but the guy in mine didn't. I tried to stand next to him (like we crowd the stands on gamedays), but people were actually sitting down in the fold out chairs, and I had no room. I asked the guy where his seat was, and he only spoke German. He said something a
ngrily that seemed like "someone else is in my seat a few rows back" and ignored me. A few minutes later, I was getting increasingly annoyed and pointed at my ticket and told him to move. He yelled at me in German again, probably telling me he got there first. A guy next to Vince spoke English, and Vince said something to the guy, and he started arguing with the angry German in my way. From what I could decipher (I heard "dame," which means female), the guy was telling the rude one to let me have my seat because I'm a girl and guys should be nice to ladies. He still wouldn't move, so Vince and I traded spots, and Vince slowly edged him out, and he left. Ha! The guy who stuck up for me apologized for "rude Germans," and I said it was fine. He was really nice for helping. He ended up being the funniest to watch during the game - he got so frustrated and yelled, reminding me of how intense Bobby gets during football games. I could tell he kept cussing because two little boys in front of me kept looking up at him, and the dads looked slightly annoyed. The guy even looked down and apologized at one point. It was really cute to see that. And the dads who brought their sons. And the groups of guy friends who would cheer, wave flags and toast beers. The chants were really loud, and I tried to catch on and clap with some of the cheers. The game ended 0-0 for the last home game for Hertha BSC, which made it awesome. The 72,000 seats were sold out! I'm so glad I went. I thought about going to a soccer game while in Berlin, but I didn't think it would be possible. It was the best experience.
Vince and I took the S-Bahn back to the hotel and it was PACKED. There were so many people leaving from the match. I was squished between two couples, and may I politely observe that PDA here is a problem? Couples have no qualms about snogging in public, let me tell you. Anyway, that was fun.
We walked right into the lobby as the group was heading out to the carnival. We didn't even take a breath and went out with them to Hermannplatz, which is near Kruezberg. We got off the subway in the same area I went the first day. It's crazy how much more I know about Berlin and how much more comfortable I feel already.
The carnival was interesting. The rides were way too expensive - the cheapest was 2 euro - so I bought one corn on the cob and cotton candy (see the photo? Corn was popular in our group. Om nom nom.)
I just wandered around and took pictures. The typical stop, pan, blur types, but still fun to do at a carnival anyway. The best/most interesting part is that most of the rides played popular English songs, so I heard "Poker Face" and Pussycat Dolls. I wish I had written down the others, that would have been fun. There were several popular rap songs and even a band that sang English oldies. They smiled at me when I took a picture. Too funny. When we were coming back on the tram, a guy was listening to "Kiss Me Through the Phone" on his iPod. Nice. I'm stuck
between America and Germany. Now I'm back here, trying to type this up and thinking about tomorrow's walking tour. I need a shower and some good sleep. I hope you enjoyed!
Love,
C
No bike tour, a soccer game and a carnival later, and I'm tired! I'll seriously be in need of a massage when I get home (hint, hint, Roberto).
I finally went to bed around 1 a.m. last night, listening to the Elizabethtown soundtrack on my iPod. I woke up around 8 a.m. ... probably ... I don't have a clock, remember? But the gals in my room had an alarm set for 9 a.m. for us to get up and get ready, so I wasn't too worried. Or was I? I kept waking up every 15 minutes or so from a dream I was having that we didn't wake up to the alarm and woke up at noon, missing the bike tour. But we actually got up around 9:20 and got ready for the day, sad that it was raining. We didn't want to worry about steering bikes and lugging camera equipment in the rain. We got ready anyway.
I walked downstairs, and Professor Freeman was there with about half of our group, eating breakfast. They have all kinds of toast, granola and yogurt and even had meat, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes. He decided that we shouldn't do the bike tour but visit the Annie Leibovitz exhibit instead, which we of course didn't object to. A few of us went back upstairs to finish getting ready.
Which brings me to one of my fun observations. I've figured out why people have such good skin here ... the wind that blows everyday just dries it up. The acne on my face was pretty much dried up, and I picked off the dry skin in the mirror. Gross, I know. It'll probably all clear up just in time for me to leave.
And I'll admit it, Mom. I really should have brought my tennis shoes. We've been walking a lot, and I'm really going to regret not bringing them when we do the bike tour on Tuesday. I'll give you plenty of chances to say, "I told you so."
As I looked in the mirror, I wondered what it would be like to do this trip as a UF student with friends here - or more like, what would it be like to do this trip with MEJ and UGA photo peeps? I was surprised that not everyone knew each other here, but photojournalism is a major at UF rather than an emphasis. At the same time, I don't even know everyone in the emphasis at UGA. I did think of how much fun Frannie, Jim, Waites, Jake and I would have wandering around Berlin. Fun. And funny. Getting lost with them would be hilarious.
At any rate, I'm really getting to know everyone, and as expected, they're all really nice and don't hold too much against me for going to UGA. (Thanks, guys)
So then we headed to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit, and now I'll start adding in photos for you. (Here is the building the exhibit was in. We couldn't take any inside, but
it was an excellent exhibit!) We stood in the line for quite awhile, which was good for conversation and observation. It seemed to be a touristy part of town - restaurant names started appearing in English and a sign near the exhibit promoted a "pub crawl," which Chris told me the other day is a big joke in all large European cities that caters to tourists and basically is only used by tourists who want to get drunk and hook up. It's not authentic at all, which makes sense. But the exhibit was wonderful ... I'll explain it in detail later to those who are particularly interested. She had some striking celebrity poses ... the naked pregnant Vanity Fair cover of Demi Moore that she won an award for, Leonardo DiCaprio with a swan, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Kate Moss, and of course more serious ones like George W. Bush, Colin Powell and more. There are so many more, including some gigantic, gorgeous landscape photos. It was really inspiring.
When I left the building, nine others were outside, waiting. (Check out this picture ... the dog is yawning. Yes, we were bored ... and quite taken with the dog. Sorry also that these photos aren't cropped or toned. I need to add the right photo editing software to my laptop. Sigh.) We stood outside for awhile but were getting impatient and hungry.
Freeman stayed behind to wait for the others and directed us where to go to get on the S-Bahn (think Marta, but cooler) to get to Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, a church that was hit in 1945 during air raids. Another church is built beside it. It was interesting, seeing it surrounded by several food stands and touristy shops. I got an order of "pommes," or fries. (From the little hut in the photo, on the right.) The prices were upped quited a bit, which made me think of Six Flags and tourists. (This isn't the best photo I have of it, but I wanted to include one for the blog of the food stands next to it.)
We stopped to take pictures of street performers, which was fun. (Top photo: This guy was spinning on his head ... pretty cool. Bottom photo: This guy was breakdancing. I thought this picture was pretty cool because it looks like he's going to hit is face in about .5 seconds. He didn't, of course.) I decided to play with movement today in my photos.
While on the S-Bahn, Vince talked about going to the Bundesliga soccer match between Hertha BSC and FC Schalke. So we went! He and I took the S-Bahn out to Olympic Stadium and talked to a few guys who suggested that we scalp some tickets. So we did. It was amazing to be there - we could hear the cheers from way outside the stadium, which reminded me of Saturday gamedays in Athens in a way. The security people stopped me and patted me down, and the woman told her supervisor to come over. I don't think I was allowed to take my camera in, but I think she gave up when I kept giving her a blank stare and said it was OK. Ha.
Vince and I found our seats, and two guys were standing at them. The one at Vince's seat moved back a row, but the guy in mine didn't. I tried to stand next to him (like we crowd the stands on gamedays), but people were actually sitting down in the fold out chairs, and I had no room. I asked the guy where his seat was, and he only spoke German. He said something a
ngrily that seemed like "someone else is in my seat a few rows back" and ignored me. A few minutes later, I was getting increasingly annoyed and pointed at my ticket and told him to move. He yelled at me in German again, probably telling me he got there first. A guy next to Vince spoke English, and Vince said something to the guy, and he started arguing with the angry German in my way. From what I could decipher (I heard "dame," which means female), the guy was telling the rude one to let me have my seat because I'm a girl and guys should be nice to ladies. He still wouldn't move, so Vince and I traded spots, and Vince slowly edged him out, and he left. Ha! The guy who stuck up for me apologized for "rude Germans," and I said it was fine. He was really nice for helping. He ended up being the funniest to watch during the game - he got so frustrated and yelled, reminding me of how intense Bobby gets during football games. I could tell he kept cussing because two little boys in front of me kept looking up at him, and the dads looked slightly annoyed. The guy even looked down and apologized at one point. It was really cute to see that. And the dads who brought their sons. And the groups of guy friends who would cheer, wave flags and toast beers. The chants were really loud, and I tried to catch on and clap with some of the cheers. The game ended 0-0 for the last home game for Hertha BSC, which made it awesome. The 72,000 seats were sold out! I'm so glad I went. I thought about going to a soccer game while in Berlin, but I didn't think it would be possible. It was the best experience.Vince and I took the S-Bahn back to the hotel and it was PACKED. There were so many people leaving from the match. I was squished between two couples, and may I politely observe that PDA here is a problem? Couples have no qualms about snogging in public, let me tell you. Anyway, that was fun.
We walked right into the lobby as the group was heading out to the carnival. We didn't even take a breath and went out with them to Hermannplatz, which is near Kruezberg. We got off the subway in the same area I went the first day. It's crazy how much more I know about Berlin and how much more comfortable I feel already.
The carnival was interesting. The rides were way too expensive - the cheapest was 2 euro - so I bought one corn on the cob and cotton candy (see the photo? Corn was popular in our group. Om nom nom.)
I just wandered around and took pictures. The typical stop, pan, blur types, but still fun to do at a carnival anyway. The best/most interesting part is that most of the rides played popular English songs, so I heard "Poker Face" and Pussycat Dolls. I wish I had written down the others, that would have been fun. There were several popular rap songs and even a band that sang English oldies. They smiled at me when I took a picture. Too funny. When we were coming back on the tram, a guy was listening to "Kiss Me Through the Phone" on his iPod. Nice. I'm stuck
between America and Germany. Now I'm back here, trying to type this up and thinking about tomorrow's walking tour. I need a shower and some good sleep. I hope you enjoyed!Love,
C
Friday, May 15, 2009
Just getting started...
Orange juice, espresso, scarves, strawberries, bundles of cilantro, blackberries, blueberries, breads, salmon, beef, cheese ... cheese ... cheese ...
I walked through a market in Kreuzberg (I guess you could say a burg/burro in Berlin) today, and it was glorious. I don't know if the U.S. has open air markets like these around New York, D.C. or L.A. (I'm sure it does), but we definitely don't in Athens, let alone Newnan. There was anything and everything, and it was all pretty cheap. I bought an espresso, some potato pastry thing, a scarf and a whole box of strawberries. I was invited to go to the market by a guy named Chris, who lives in Kreuzberg. (He took this picture of me buying the scarf for 1.5 euro, not bad considering you can get lame ones at American Eagle and whatnot for $30ish.)
But that was to pull you in. If you want the excruciating details, I've got the excruciating details. I'm at 176 photos, and it could easily be more, but I haven't taken my camera everywhere.
I'm just going to start writing, and it's going to be long, so feel free to drop off when you want. I hope to fit the photos in here correctly ... I didn't take any until Paris, so here's to some serious text mess.
OK from the beginning:
Mom took me to the airport after we dropped by Granny's house so I could pick up some spending money from her and Aunt Carole (Thank you!!) and I checked in at the airport as usual, went to the E concourse and sat at the gate for about an hour, talking to Yashesh, Bobby and Mom and judging the people on my plane. I got on the 10:30 p.m. flight from Atlanta to Paris and ended up smack in the middle of an aisle.
The last few times I've flown, I've been on smaller planes with only four or five rows. This plane had seven, and I ended up in the fourth. I sat next to a lady who reminded me of Mrs. Elder from EC in a way but not really ... she wasn't cool enough. I didn't talk to her much but did find out she is lactose intolerant and speaks French fluently. The man on my right reminded me of my uncle John (just the way he said things, I guess, and I think they have a similar dry sense of humor), and we talked a good deal. He has a daughter who is an upcoming senior (like me!) at a New York film school. They live in North Carolina.
I knew to adjust to jet lag I'd have to sleep on the plane, so I tried pretty hard to fall asleep when we first took off. I didn't anticipate the screaming child in front of me and the flight attendants coming by after we took off to get us to fill out some forms about where we were staying just in case someone on the plane brought in the swine flu virus and they needed to contact us. Yay for France trying to protect herself.
Then we were served dinner. The plane food wasn't bad, actually. I chose this pasta ravioli stuff, and it came with bread and crackers and a small brownie. Tasty. The movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey came on, and I watched it for just a bit until Zooey Deschanel's bit in the fake band Munchausen by Proxy came on, then I went to sleep. I've been watching the clips online since Andrew got me into her real band, "She & Him." I slept through that movie and the next one, "The Express." When I woke up for five seconds, I saw dogs and thought it was "Hotel for Dogs" or something and went back to sleep. I had a dream that our UGA photo professor Mark Johnson used an entire class period to critique my photos, so I guess that was me getting myself ready for the trip. Ha. I woke up again to the flight attendants serving breakfast (a bagel and banana - one of the best I've had in awhile, actually) about an hour before we landed in Paris. Not bad getting some sleep. The flight wasn't too bad either. It was a bit bumpy over the English Channel, but I was just happy to be near Europe.
I'm also proud of myself for not going to the bathroom during the entire flight. Weird, I know, but that was also practice. You have to pay to use most of the public toilets in Berlin.
Right before we landed in Paris, the man on my right and I talked again. I told him about The Red & Black, Zinkhan and sexual harassment. He typed our Web site in his phone to look up later. Sweet.
So then in the Paris airport I looked up my connecting flight gate and wasn't sure where to go. It was D55A, and I saw a sign that said "2D," so I followed. And walked and walked and walked.
I think it must have been on the other side of the airport or something. (This is what I saw of Paris, basically.)
When I was going through security, the man checking my camera bag under the X-ray asked me if I was a journalist, and I said yes. He said I had a microphone and a lens, and I told him three lenses, and then he said OK. I don't know what that was about, but it was weird.
It was also weird adjusting to not really knowing the language when people around me talk. I've learned how to be pretty quiet in those situations. Even though I know a handful of French and German words, it's like I completely forgot everything but "merci" at the airport. The humidity inside the Paris airport was ridiculous, so I ended up sitting on the cool tile floor (also because there weren't any more seats near my gate) and took a few pictures. A woman stared at me. Ha. Then a child right next to me started screaming and crying, and the mom wasn't doing much to quiet him. I got up and moved, and then the plane started boarding a few minutes later. I walked down the connected hallway thing (as you see above), and I thought the plane above was mine. But the hallway actually leads to a staircase, too, and down below we were loaded on a tram and driven to another concourse where our plane was. It was weird. It's cool how smiles mean the same thing in every language, though, because I put my hand in between two men to grab a rail when the tram started moving, and a German businessman moved out of the way a little so I could have space. My smile meant "thank you," and his looked like "you're welcome."
The flight to Berlin was only an hour and a half, but I conked out. I woke up to the flight attendants serving a snack. The people across from me chose tomato juice, orange juice and Perrier. Because I don't know how to say tomato or orange in French, I just asked for Perrier and said "no" when he offered snacks because I couldn't understand him. Sad. I'm sure he spoke English, but I had too much pride. The German husband and wife next to me just pointed at what they wanted, but I had to play it off. Ha ha.
As you can probably tell, I was really introspective on the flights. I thought a lot to myself and wrote down a lot of the details so I could recount them fully. I also got used to listening to the second message when the pilot would speak first in French and second in English. It makes me wonder if that's how some Hispanics feel in Georgia.
Then I got off the plane and grabbed my luggage (the airport workers broke the top handle of my bag, by the way. Sad times.) and walked to the exit. I didn't have to go through customs formally. Apparently there's a "no declare" line if you don't think you have any contraband. I guess because the flight was from Paris, passengers aren't really checked. I wasn't sure what I was doing, so I just walked through. Then I somehow easily found an exchange station and changed my dollars for Euros. Then I bought a two-hour transportation pass to get where I was going. It's really cool ... you can buy a pass that will apply for all the transportation in Berlin - the subway, the bus, the tram. I got on a bus and took the subway to my next stop.
And this is the part where some of you will get mad/concerned (sorry Mom), so there's this Web site called Couchsurfing, which is really popular in Europe. It's where you can get in touch with people and stay at their place for free so you don't have to pay for hotel or hostel charges. It's like Facebook for travelers. I joined it last year when Megan and I were considering backpacking Europe. Anyway, the study abroad program didn't officially start until today, but I saved about $1,000 on my plane ticket by coming in a day early but didn't have a place to stay, so I became friends with Chris in Kreuzberg. I stayed with him last night and slept on his couch. He was too nice - He met me at the subway and walked with me (carried my suitcase) to his apartment. He had to work but told me his friends wanted to meet up with me and walked with me part of the way, then told me directions, and I got there easily (Don't worry about me too much! This is my time for adventure. It all worked out fine. Please don't be mad).
So then I met up with Frederico and went to this bar/club place and met Chisco and Niccolo. I'm not sure if that's how you spell their names. They were really nice, and the bar was really just an outside patio, and part of it floated on the water. It was pretty cool. The river it was on, however, was pretty still, so there were some gross gnats over the water. I sat with them for awhile, but two of them are originally from Italy and kept speaking Italian, so I just people-watched for most of the time and felt awkward. Frederico was really nice and would talk to me every now and then, but I felt like I was just an extra person, in a way.
After a few hours, I walked back to Chris's place but got a little lost. People are so nice in Berlin, and it's really safe! I ended up in an area of town that had Arabic written on the signs, so I knew I had turned the wrong way. I stopped an asked someone for directions, and he actually walked me to the street, which was good because I would have gotten lost again. He was an Iraqi who has a relative in Atlanta. Small world.
I hung around Chris' apartment for a bit until he got home from work, then we went to a local convenient store and bought a couple of cheap lemon beers. They were fruity and tasty, and I'm not a beer person. I guess the really light, cheap beers in the U.S. that most college students buy just smell too much like pee to me. Ha. And they don't taste very good.
Anyway, we talked a bit then went to sleep. This morning, we woke up around 10 a.m. and went to the market I described earlier. It was too cool. We wandered around the streets of Kreuzberg some more because he was looking for a pair of sunglasses, but he didn't find any he liked.
Som
ehow I ate the whole box of strawberries I bought. (This is Chris, buying our potato pastry thing for brunch. This is the clearest picture I have of him for some reason. He never looked at me when I took his picture. Ha. I was being the annoying photojournalist.)
We talked a bit more at his apartment about the U.S. - He's planning a road trip in America for June and July and was trying to figure out his best bets for motels/hostels, transportation, pay-as-you-go phones - then I headed out. I wanted to get to Prenzlauerberg (where the hotel is) a bit earlier than our 5 p.m. meet time, and I didn't want to take up any more of his time before his girlfriend arrived for a date later that day. One thing that I've learned is that time is really fluid here. There aren't really any clocks around, and no one seems hung up on the time. You just go. Then again, my phone doesn't work here and I don't have a watch, so I don't know what time it is anyway.
I took the subway up a few stops to Prenzlauerberg and followed Professor Freeman's directions but decided to be stubborn and walk instead of take the tram three stops, like he instructed. I walked all over Kreuzberg and figured I could do in Prenzlauerberg, but I didn't factor in how far apart the stops were and how heavy my luggage was. When I was one street away from where I was supposed to go, I thought I had gone too far and turned around. After walking back several streets, I checked a bus map and decided to turn back around and walk the way I went before. By this time, my luggage was getting really heavy, and I had to keep switching hands. When I was one street away, I realized I dropped my jacket somewhere but was too mad to go back to get it. I checked into the hotel and had a bit of time before the 5 p.m. meeting and walked down the street two or three blocks. And there it was - someone had picked up my jacket and tied it around the fence to a cemetery. How nice.
Back at the hotel, I met my roommates and several of the UF students. Two of them have been traveling through Italy before coming here and will go to France and Switzerland after this. Too cool. We met up at 5 p.m., and Professor Freeman took us to see a part of the Berlin Wall.
(This is from a tower we were at, so we're on the west side, looking on the east. There's a lower wall that didn't hold out well, and the actual Berlin Wall is the one closer to us with the rounded top, which made it harder to climb.)
(In this next picture, I'm on the other side of the smaller wall, looking through a slit in the concrete at the taller wall and the building I was just standing on.)
We then headed to a biergarten, and I got a tasty pasta salad and some raspberry fruity beer. It tasted more like soda (It was probably really weak, apparently a lot of the tourists like to get it. Ha. -- see the picture. Vince got the green kind.) Then we walked and took pic
tures along the way, and a few of us fell behind. Six of us didn't make the crosswalk light at one intersection and got lost, but we put a few clues togehter (what street we knew our professor was going to, where Vince thought the group turned) and finally found them at an ice cream shop. I got a scoop for .70 Euro. Tasty.
Aaaand now we're back at the hotel. I'm probably the most rested one here, so everyone else is already in their rooms. I'm in the lobby and about to head up to bed. I'm sore and tired ... and in need of a massage. All I'll get is sleep for now.
A few general observations:
-The guys I met in Kreuzberg were all emo-ish dressed. It must be a style here. They were all wearing slim leg jeans, zip up hoodies and ked-like shoes and had swoop hair. Too funny.
-Nobody wears shorts or flip flops around here. Two of the guys (the only two guys) in our group got called out for wearing shorts. It's pretty warm during the day but gets pretty cool at night, so everyone wears pants and jackets all day. I've seen a few girls with sandals who wear pantyhose. I've seen several with tights. It's definitely a style here.
-The police cars really do have weird different sirens. It always makes me think of Catch Me If You Can and Bourne Identity. In Kreuzberg, the ambulance was safety cone orange. Too weird.
-It's really cultural here, lots of different people speaking lots of different l
anguages. Happy.
-It's also really safe here. People seem trustworthy, and kids play around in the many parks. People stroll the streets at all hours.
-There's also a lot of graffiti, and I took a lot of pictures of funny/interesting ones. (Check out this one of kissing penguins.)
-People are really in shape here! No wonder skinny jeans are all the rage. Everyone walks or bikes EVERYWHERE.
I hope all of my details were interesting ... and that the pictures were OK. I'll try to write a lot each day.
LOVE!
-C
I walked through a market in Kreuzberg (I guess you could say a burg/burro in Berlin) today, and it was glorious. I don't know if the U.S. has open air markets like these around New York, D.C. or L.A. (I'm sure it does), but we definitely don't in Athens, let alone Newnan. There was anything and everything, and it was all pretty cheap. I bought an espresso, some potato pastry thing, a scarf and a whole box of strawberries. I was invited to go to the market by a guy named Chris, who lives in Kreuzberg. (He took this picture of me buying the scarf for 1.5 euro, not bad considering you can get lame ones at American Eagle and whatnot for $30ish.)
But that was to pull you in. If you want the excruciating details, I've got the excruciating details. I'm at 176 photos, and it could easily be more, but I haven't taken my camera everywhere.
I'm just going to start writing, and it's going to be long, so feel free to drop off when you want. I hope to fit the photos in here correctly ... I didn't take any until Paris, so here's to some serious text mess.
OK from the beginning:
Mom took me to the airport after we dropped by Granny's house so I could pick up some spending money from her and Aunt Carole (Thank you!!) and I checked in at the airport as usual, went to the E concourse and sat at the gate for about an hour, talking to Yashesh, Bobby and Mom and judging the people on my plane. I got on the 10:30 p.m. flight from Atlanta to Paris and ended up smack in the middle of an aisle.
The last few times I've flown, I've been on smaller planes with only four or five rows. This plane had seven, and I ended up in the fourth. I sat next to a lady who reminded me of Mrs. Elder from EC in a way but not really ... she wasn't cool enough. I didn't talk to her much but did find out she is lactose intolerant and speaks French fluently. The man on my right reminded me of my uncle John (just the way he said things, I guess, and I think they have a similar dry sense of humor), and we talked a good deal. He has a daughter who is an upcoming senior (like me!) at a New York film school. They live in North Carolina.
I knew to adjust to jet lag I'd have to sleep on the plane, so I tried pretty hard to fall asleep when we first took off. I didn't anticipate the screaming child in front of me and the flight attendants coming by after we took off to get us to fill out some forms about where we were staying just in case someone on the plane brought in the swine flu virus and they needed to contact us. Yay for France trying to protect herself.
Then we were served dinner. The plane food wasn't bad, actually. I chose this pasta ravioli stuff, and it came with bread and crackers and a small brownie. Tasty. The movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey came on, and I watched it for just a bit until Zooey Deschanel's bit in the fake band Munchausen by Proxy came on, then I went to sleep. I've been watching the clips online since Andrew got me into her real band, "She & Him." I slept through that movie and the next one, "The Express." When I woke up for five seconds, I saw dogs and thought it was "Hotel for Dogs" or something and went back to sleep. I had a dream that our UGA photo professor Mark Johnson used an entire class period to critique my photos, so I guess that was me getting myself ready for the trip. Ha. I woke up again to the flight attendants serving breakfast (a bagel and banana - one of the best I've had in awhile, actually) about an hour before we landed in Paris. Not bad getting some sleep. The flight wasn't too bad either. It was a bit bumpy over the English Channel, but I was just happy to be near Europe.
I'm also proud of myself for not going to the bathroom during the entire flight. Weird, I know, but that was also practice. You have to pay to use most of the public toilets in Berlin.
Right before we landed in Paris, the man on my right and I talked again. I told him about The Red & Black, Zinkhan and sexual harassment. He typed our Web site in his phone to look up later. Sweet.
So then in the Paris airport I looked up my connecting flight gate and wasn't sure where to go. It was D55A, and I saw a sign that said "2D," so I followed. And walked and walked and walked.
I think it must have been on the other side of the airport or something. (This is what I saw of Paris, basically.)When I was going through security, the man checking my camera bag under the X-ray asked me if I was a journalist, and I said yes. He said I had a microphone and a lens, and I told him three lenses, and then he said OK. I don't know what that was about, but it was weird.
It was also weird adjusting to not really knowing the language when people around me talk. I've learned how to be pretty quiet in those situations. Even though I know a handful of French and German words, it's like I completely forgot everything but "merci" at the airport. The humidity inside the Paris airport was ridiculous, so I ended up sitting on the cool tile floor (also because there weren't any more seats near my gate) and took a few pictures. A woman stared at me. Ha. Then a child right next to me started screaming and crying, and the mom wasn't doing much to quiet him. I got up and moved, and then the plane started boarding a few minutes later. I walked down the connected hallway thing (as you see above), and I thought the plane above was mine. But the hallway actually leads to a staircase, too, and down below we were loaded on a tram and driven to another concourse where our plane was. It was weird. It's cool how smiles mean the same thing in every language, though, because I put my hand in between two men to grab a rail when the tram started moving, and a German businessman moved out of the way a little so I could have space. My smile meant "thank you," and his looked like "you're welcome."
The flight to Berlin was only an hour and a half, but I conked out. I woke up to the flight attendants serving a snack. The people across from me chose tomato juice, orange juice and Perrier. Because I don't know how to say tomato or orange in French, I just asked for Perrier and said "no" when he offered snacks because I couldn't understand him. Sad. I'm sure he spoke English, but I had too much pride. The German husband and wife next to me just pointed at what they wanted, but I had to play it off. Ha ha.
As you can probably tell, I was really introspective on the flights. I thought a lot to myself and wrote down a lot of the details so I could recount them fully. I also got used to listening to the second message when the pilot would speak first in French and second in English. It makes me wonder if that's how some Hispanics feel in Georgia.
Then I got off the plane and grabbed my luggage (the airport workers broke the top handle of my bag, by the way. Sad times.) and walked to the exit. I didn't have to go through customs formally. Apparently there's a "no declare" line if you don't think you have any contraband. I guess because the flight was from Paris, passengers aren't really checked. I wasn't sure what I was doing, so I just walked through. Then I somehow easily found an exchange station and changed my dollars for Euros. Then I bought a two-hour transportation pass to get where I was going. It's really cool ... you can buy a pass that will apply for all the transportation in Berlin - the subway, the bus, the tram. I got on a bus and took the subway to my next stop.
And this is the part where some of you will get mad/concerned (sorry Mom), so there's this Web site called Couchsurfing, which is really popular in Europe. It's where you can get in touch with people and stay at their place for free so you don't have to pay for hotel or hostel charges. It's like Facebook for travelers. I joined it last year when Megan and I were considering backpacking Europe. Anyway, the study abroad program didn't officially start until today, but I saved about $1,000 on my plane ticket by coming in a day early but didn't have a place to stay, so I became friends with Chris in Kreuzberg. I stayed with him last night and slept on his couch. He was too nice - He met me at the subway and walked with me (carried my suitcase) to his apartment. He had to work but told me his friends wanted to meet up with me and walked with me part of the way, then told me directions, and I got there easily (Don't worry about me too much! This is my time for adventure. It all worked out fine. Please don't be mad).
So then I met up with Frederico and went to this bar/club place and met Chisco and Niccolo. I'm not sure if that's how you spell their names. They were really nice, and the bar was really just an outside patio, and part of it floated on the water. It was pretty cool. The river it was on, however, was pretty still, so there were some gross gnats over the water. I sat with them for awhile, but two of them are originally from Italy and kept speaking Italian, so I just people-watched for most of the time and felt awkward. Frederico was really nice and would talk to me every now and then, but I felt like I was just an extra person, in a way.
After a few hours, I walked back to Chris's place but got a little lost. People are so nice in Berlin, and it's really safe! I ended up in an area of town that had Arabic written on the signs, so I knew I had turned the wrong way. I stopped an asked someone for directions, and he actually walked me to the street, which was good because I would have gotten lost again. He was an Iraqi who has a relative in Atlanta. Small world.
I hung around Chris' apartment for a bit until he got home from work, then we went to a local convenient store and bought a couple of cheap lemon beers. They were fruity and tasty, and I'm not a beer person. I guess the really light, cheap beers in the U.S. that most college students buy just smell too much like pee to me. Ha. And they don't taste very good.
Anyway, we talked a bit then went to sleep. This morning, we woke up around 10 a.m. and went to the market I described earlier. It was too cool. We wandered around the streets of Kreuzberg some more because he was looking for a pair of sunglasses, but he didn't find any he liked.
Som
ehow I ate the whole box of strawberries I bought. (This is Chris, buying our potato pastry thing for brunch. This is the clearest picture I have of him for some reason. He never looked at me when I took his picture. Ha. I was being the annoying photojournalist.)We talked a bit more at his apartment about the U.S. - He's planning a road trip in America for June and July and was trying to figure out his best bets for motels/hostels, transportation, pay-as-you-go phones - then I headed out. I wanted to get to Prenzlauerberg (where the hotel is) a bit earlier than our 5 p.m. meet time, and I didn't want to take up any more of his time before his girlfriend arrived for a date later that day. One thing that I've learned is that time is really fluid here. There aren't really any clocks around, and no one seems hung up on the time. You just go. Then again, my phone doesn't work here and I don't have a watch, so I don't know what time it is anyway.
I took the subway up a few stops to Prenzlauerberg and followed Professor Freeman's directions but decided to be stubborn and walk instead of take the tram three stops, like he instructed. I walked all over Kreuzberg and figured I could do in Prenzlauerberg, but I didn't factor in how far apart the stops were and how heavy my luggage was. When I was one street away from where I was supposed to go, I thought I had gone too far and turned around. After walking back several streets, I checked a bus map and decided to turn back around and walk the way I went before. By this time, my luggage was getting really heavy, and I had to keep switching hands. When I was one street away, I realized I dropped my jacket somewhere but was too mad to go back to get it. I checked into the hotel and had a bit of time before the 5 p.m. meeting and walked down the street two or three blocks. And there it was - someone had picked up my jacket and tied it around the fence to a cemetery. How nice.
Back at the hotel, I met my roommates and several of the UF students. Two of them have been traveling through Italy before coming here and will go to France and Switzerland after this. Too cool. We met up at 5 p.m., and Professor Freeman took us to see a part of the Berlin Wall.
(This is from a tower we were at, so we're on the west side, looking on the east. There's a lower wall that didn't hold out well, and the actual Berlin Wall is the one closer to us with the rounded top, which made it harder to climb.)
(In this next picture, I'm on the other side of the smaller wall, looking through a slit in the concrete at the taller wall and the building I was just standing on.)
We then headed to a biergarten, and I got a tasty pasta salad and some raspberry fruity beer. It tasted more like soda (It was probably really weak, apparently a lot of the tourists like to get it. Ha. -- see the picture. Vince got the green kind.) Then we walked and took pic
tures along the way, and a few of us fell behind. Six of us didn't make the crosswalk light at one intersection and got lost, but we put a few clues togehter (what street we knew our professor was going to, where Vince thought the group turned) and finally found them at an ice cream shop. I got a scoop for .70 Euro. Tasty.Aaaand now we're back at the hotel. I'm probably the most rested one here, so everyone else is already in their rooms. I'm in the lobby and about to head up to bed. I'm sore and tired ... and in need of a massage. All I'll get is sleep for now.
A few general observations:
-The guys I met in Kreuzberg were all emo-ish dressed. It must be a style here. They were all wearing slim leg jeans, zip up hoodies and ked-like shoes and had swoop hair. Too funny.
-Nobody wears shorts or flip flops around here. Two of the guys (the only two guys) in our group got called out for wearing shorts. It's pretty warm during the day but gets pretty cool at night, so everyone wears pants and jackets all day. I've seen a few girls with sandals who wear pantyhose. I've seen several with tights. It's definitely a style here.
-The police cars really do have weird different sirens. It always makes me think of Catch Me If You Can and Bourne Identity. In Kreuzberg, the ambulance was safety cone orange. Too weird.
-It's really cultural here, lots of different people speaking lots of different l
anguages. Happy.-It's also really safe here. People seem trustworthy, and kids play around in the many parks. People stroll the streets at all hours.
-There's also a lot of graffiti, and I took a lot of pictures of funny/interesting ones. (Check out this one of kissing penguins.)
-People are really in shape here! No wonder skinny jeans are all the rage. Everyone walks or bikes EVERYWHERE.
I hope all of my details were interesting ... and that the pictures were OK. I'll try to write a lot each day.
LOVE!
-C
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
