Arrival minus one bag

Hello Everyone!

My first blog post to update you all on my first few days in Berlin:
Day 1/Many hours to get to Berlin:
I flew to Chicago and met up with another Macalester girl going on my program, Hannah Kinney, and we flew together to Berlin via Milan. Our plane wasn't necessarily ghetto and old, but definitely didn't have the personal tv screens I've been used to, and entertainment is crucial for a 8+ hour flight. They had one big projection screen at the front of our section and played some random stuff, and episode of the tv show "Numb3rs" and then "Stardust" and then we were hoping for "Ratatouille" because we had overheard a flight attendant mention those were the two movies. But instead some random Italian thing came on with subtitles (we were flying Alitalia) and at first we thought it was a soap opera episode, because we were definitely missing something, but when it got to the end and credits scrolled, we realized they had shown us the last 30 mins of a movie. Weird. Anyways we arrived in Milan, and were herded into a long and grueling mass of people which then narrowed into a single file then to go through security. This made no sense to us. We finally got to our gate, but were then delayed due to snow (we think so, no one actually told us) and then got on the plane and waiting some more. There was lots of waiting. Finally made it to Berlin, were greeting by walking out of the plane down a staircase in the freezing cold and into a bus to drive about 25 ft to the door. We got Hannah's bags... then one of mine came... and then one of mine didn't. So we had to go to the lost people place thingy and fill out a report. Finally we made it to our bus, which took us the the U-Bahn (subway), which we took to our hostel.

Heart of Gold. What a great name. Even more hilarious was the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" theme. After we were checked in by our "pilot" and found out which "cabin" we were staying in, we found out we already had a message from someone who had called for us. So popular I know. It turned out to be from Molly, another Mac girl who is studying in London this year and was visiting a German friend in Berlin for a few days, who we planned to see. Our first order of business was to contact our host, so we sought out to find a place to add more pre-paid minutes to a cell phone I'm borrowing from Catherine, a friend who went on the trip last year. Once we successfully figured that out (I'm still surprised the people at the Vodafone store could understand what I wanted) we called Karin and figured out when to move in the next day. We then went out with Molly to an Indian food restaurant a few blocks away, and then headed back to the hostel and the two other Mac girls also on our program who were already in Berlin, Katie and Tara, met us at the hostel to hang out. (ie LONG DAY)


Day 2:
So the next day we moved out of our hostel and set off on our way to our new home for the next 2 months. We ran into a slight snag at the U-Bahn station trying to decided if we wanted to buy a full price month-long tranist pass, or try and wait till we got our Berlin student IDs and try and swing for a discount. We ended up going for a 2 day tourist past to buy time to decide. Then we got on the train made our way to Tempelhof Station, got out, and dragged our bags down cut cobblestone-y sidewalks (which made me sort of glad I didn't have that other bag). Our house is super cute and so is Karin, our host. She's very sweet and sociable, her and husband have 4 grown kids, and 3 grandkids. She showed us our rooms, and have the 3 floor to ourselves. She told us there's a small room and a big one, and we saw the first room and both assumed it was the big one, then say the next one and realized there's a big room and a huge room. I gave Hannah the bigger one, because I knew whe would both hang out there regardless
and my room seemed to be calling to me with pink sheets and a poster of Klimt's "The Kiss" painting. Other great perks, our own shared bathroom, and wireless internet! (Hence this post is way longer and probably more information then any of you really wanted to know. I promise I'll try and edit in the future). We got a little settled in, and had a nice little talk with Karin. Then we met up with Tara and Katie and went to the DRR Museum (East Germany). It was pretty small, but packed with tons of funny stuff. Including a "Trabbie", pretty much the only car you could get in East Germany, a "potty bench" where kindergarteners would take "collective potty breaks" (oh those communists) and great replicas of nude beaches, because apparently all the East Germans liked to hang out nude (this was never adequately explained). Then we went out to Asian food, super yummy and cheap.
Day 3:
Grocery shopping! Hananh and I woke up and went to Aldi (love it!) and spent a whopping 11 euro (oh Aldi, saving me money on multiple continents). Had a bite to eat and we were on our way out, but had to pause to meet the adorable Enkelkinder (grandkids) Matteo, Louisa, and Phillipe. Way cute. We met up with the girls again and spent a crazy 5+ hours in the Jewish Museum. The building itself is just as much, if not more, of an attraction than the exhibit.

It was very interesting, but we were certainly tired by the end. Headed out to dinner (again, I know) to a Turkish restaurant, as the museum is in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, also known as "Little Instanbul." Then made it home and caught up on the latest Project Runway episode. (Why didn't they send Victorya home?!) And now I'm all caught up! Miss you all and stay tuned for more!