Well, hello there! Today was a wonderful day, no? I hope your day was just as fulfilling, exciting, and exhausting (in a good way) as mine. Why am I raving about my day, you ask? I shall tell you!
Maybe falling asleep before 10pm last night has something to do with my good mood, but the day's events are what have me so giddy! My day started with some wonderful news - due to a pending donation from my most amazing, wonderful, generous, loving, selfless, youthful, and beautiful (how many adjectives is one sentence allowed to have?) Grammie Happy Heart, I have been able to plan several more exciting adventures during my remaining time abroad. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so incredibly grateful, thankful, and lucky that my grandmother is willing and able to progress my experiences and growth at this time in my life. Thank you, Gram, with all of my heart! I love you dearly, and I am so thankful to you and God for providing me with this extra money!
Do you want to know where I'm going? The first trip I have planned is to visit Robin in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and I am going during TulpenfestivalI!! I absolutely cannot wait to see the tulips!! I am very excited to get to see Robin again, too, and I know we are going to have a great time together! I am hoping that we will take a day trip to Amsterdam! I can't wait!
This picture belongs to: http://www.flickriver.com/places/Netherlands/Flevoland/Creil/
My other planned trip is to London with two friends from my college. WE ARE GOING ON A HARRY POTTER TOUR!! I have been wanting to go to London for, well, forever, and I cannot wait for this trip! It will be short, but I am going to try to get as much London in as possible. I also might go with one of those friends to Madrid for a couple of days after London, too! I hope it works out!
This picture belongs to: http://www.thefulton.org/support/london-tour/
Lastly, I am considering going to Barcelona next weekend. I am still undecided, as this trip will be quite expensive, but I am sure it would be amazing and beautiful! I will keep you all updated!
The other happening that has me so happy today was actually my internship. I got to meet Ian, my boss's boss, and he was incredibly nice, encouraging, and inclusive. He was meeting with my boss, and I was in our office working, and throughout their meeting he included me with questions, suggestions, and by explaining things to me, even though I wasn't technically supposed to be at the meeting, and I am actually still working with Digital and not Marketing. The people I work with on a regular basis are so kind and helpful, but when they brainstorm, they usually do so in Czech. Because Ian is an English speaker, their meeting was in English, and it was just a great experience for me to be able to follow along and be included.
Also at my internship, I got to write the "Editor's Note" for the company's magazine! I know, I am obviously not the editor, but it was last minute, with the deadline approaching, and they needed someone to write it, and asked me to give it a shot. Now, honestly, I have never read our magazine completely, let alone the editor's note, and I had very little information to work off, but this task was fun! I got to write in a voice other than my own, and even though after the suggestions and edits of the other people working on the magazine, my piece might not be recognizable (and it definitely doesn't have my name on it), it is really cool to be able to say that I wrote that!
The icing on the cake was a two-and-a-half-hour Skype call with my mom. I still can't believe we were on for that long, but after not talking for two weeks, we had a lot of catching up to do! I have been a little down lately - I know, I know, I'm in Prague! What is there to be down about? But still, between my amazing adventures and good days at work, I do actually have time to get lonely, bored, and maybe a little sad. Getting to catch up with my momma was an awesome stress reliever, and we had some truly insightful conversation. I love you, Mum!
So, as I said, I really hope your day was as good as mine, whether it included something as wonderful as planning a trip, or as routine as going to work or chatting with your mom. I know that I am thankful for the big things and the small in my life, and every person who has decided to be a part of it!
I have been told on a couple separate occasions that I am long-winded on my blog. More specifically, that I talk a lot. As a general rule in life, I listen more than I talk. Not only am I shy with new people and incredibly socially awkward when trying to make conversation, but it's ridiculously easy to see when someone's eyes start to glaze over during a conversation. Also, most people really enjoy talking, and I just generally prefer listening.
The biggest exception to this rule is when I write, and particularly with my blog. I put my Berlin, Berlin post into Microsoft Word and deleted the picture, and the post was 13 PAGES LONG! That really probably is the longest post I have written, but still, that is slightly ridiculous. However, after thinking about it, I am mostly writing this blog for me, and it is my blog, after all, so I will write lengthy posts if I want to! Ha!
Although this is kind of old news, I haven't had the chance to talk with my family, as they just finished moving to a new house, and haven't gotten a webcam & microphone set up to Skype yet, I am finally posting about my trip to Vienna! Enjoy (you don't have to read it if you don't appreciate how much I can talk)!!!
Tereza and I had an amazing time in Vienna, Austria a couple weekends ago! Unlike Bratislava, where we both went in with a less-than-dapper attitude, neither of us had expectations for this trip, and I think that made a huge difference.
After our 5ish hour train ride, we walked around for FOREVER trying to find our hotel. Google Transit, you let me down. We were hungry, and tried to sit down at two places only to find out that they either didn't serve food or had no menu. What? Nobody spoke English, either.
Once we finally found ibis Vienna, we checked in and asked the front desk to suggest an English friendly restaurant nearby. He told us that if we didn't mind a ten minute walk, there was an area nearby with tons of options. His directions included walking through a flea market.
We dropped our stuff in our (really nice) rooms and headed out.
I am SO glad the guy at the hotel told us to go where he did! We walked through a flea market, which was really neat but very chaotic. The place was really crowded and completely full of random junk - piles of clothes on the ground, old knicknacks, used housewares - I'm pretty sure I saw some cell phones from the 80's.
As we continued through the market, the tents started getting nicer. We looked through a couple displays of bohemian-style clothing and accessories. I wanted everything. There was a great distressed leather backpack that I fell in love with, but not for 60 euros (or any number of euros close to that).
We continued on, and the market change to an outdoor food market. It was INCREDIBLE. The market went on for probably a mile with outdoor displays of everything - bread, meat, fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, spices, cheese, sweets, and more with kabob places, cafes, and other little restaurants scattered throughout. It is worth a trip to Vienna just to go to that market!!
We found a restaurant on the street that runs parallel to the market and hoped for the best! Inside, the place was really cute and looked a little fancy for two students, but we were ravenous. The waiter was a young guy that spoke English well, and right away he offered us that day's special apricot punch. Tereza and I couldn't resist, and I am so glad!! It was delicious, and so pretty!
The menu displayed pretty typical Viennese fare, and when Tereza and I finally decided, we settled on chicken schnitzel for her and a salmon steak for me. I have an obsession with salmon lately, if you haven't noticed!! The waiter took our order, and brought us our caffeine fix and a huge roll for each of us. Restaurants that give you food right away are my favorite - you can't be hangry if you have a basket of bread or tortilla chips on front of you!!
When our food was brought out, it wasn't what I ordered, but I thought Tereza got the right meal, so we just figured the waiter misunderstood our order and went with it. Only later did I find out that Tereza didn't get the right thing, either! So what did we get? I think Tereza ended up with some kind of chicken cordon bleu, a side salad, and a bowl of potato salad, and I got pork schnitzel with boiled potatoes and some kind of jam. It was AMAZING! Tereza really liked hers, too.
It was awkward, however, when the waiter came over distressed and asked why we didn't mention that we got the wrong food. We told him we didn't care, and that we weren't really sure what was going on. Oops. The poor guy probably ended up with chicken schnitzel and salmon that nobody ate! He did ask if we wanted our actual orders, but we declined. This place was pretty fancy (read: expensive), after all!
After our feast, the waiter asked if we wanted a traditional Viennese digestive - little drink to help with digestion. Since we had decided to splurge on this meal, we said sure. Okay, I said sure, and Tereza went along with it. Again, I am glad we got this, because it was really tasty and it is always fun to try traditional foods/drinks/customs.
This meal ended up being ridiculously expensive (40 euro each!), but it was really good and a lot of fun!
After a night spend wandering from club to club, trying to (unsuccessfully) find an inexpensive cover, we returned back to our hotel, drank some wine, had a serious jam session with my iPad introducing each other to music, and hit the sack.
The next morning we each ate a HUGE breakfast at the hotel, and even made ourselves sandwiches and snitched snacks for the train ride home! Our day was full of sightseeing, including all of the buildings we saw the night before, plus Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), the Manner shop for chocolate goodies, and the biggest thing we did, the Mozarthaus. The Mozarthaus was so incredibly interesting, and Tereza was super excited because she had just recently seen a movie about Mozart. I really knew very little about Mozart before this museum tour, but now I not only know what an incredible composer he was, but also how frivolous and fancy his life was! It was fun!
Here are tons of pictures of our Vienna trip!
(click to enlarge & scroll through!)
1. Ranch Dressing - it's not like I eat ranch dressing particularly often when at home, but it's one of those staples you just always have around, because it's good on everything. I mean, who knows when you're going to get a craving for ranch on your sweet potato fries instead of Old Bay?? Just kidding, it would be ranch AND Old Bay. This might just be on the list because I am craving some ranch right now...
2. Taco Bell/ late-night food runs - okay, so I don't eat fast food ALL the time when I'm at home, but I eat it more than once or twice a week. Hey! It's convenient! There are definitely places around to fulfill late-night indulgences, but nothing very close to my apartment. I think I should actually be thankful for that fact...
3. Driving - I miss whipping Baby Car around and having the freedom of being able to drive myself where I please. Don't get me wrong, I really love public transportation (it's actually one of my favorite things about Europe), but some days I have to take the metro home with two incredibly large IKEA bags (seriously, have you seen the size of those things??) and other times I don't bother to check tram schedules, resulting in some very long and cold waiting times.
4. TV - Again, I don't watch TV too often back home, but I do really appreciate being able to put on Food Network for background noise or flipping on the TV for 20 minutes while I eat lunch. Any shows that I really want to watch, I just download, but when you just want to watch something while grabbing a quick lunch, and not sit through a 45 minute episode of Gossip Girl (and let's be honest, it's hard not to watch an entire episode), having a TV to flip on is convenient.
5. Being on a normal schedule - I am most productive when I am busy and on a schedule. This whole experience has been amazing, but I often find myself undisciplined and unproductive. Seriously, I just sat in my room and watched six episodes of Vampire Diaries. Okay, so I worked on a paper, too, but SIX EPISODES, GUYS! Even after seven weeks, I haven't quite found my everyday groove. It's definitely a work in progress!
6. Good roommates - it's not that I have bad roommates right now, but I don't even know them! I guess that makes them kind of bad... It's just weird! I know I have mentioned to many of my friends and family how strange my living situation is, but I don't think I have written about it here on my blog, so here goes: I live with three guys; one is American and has a girlfriend and a ton of friends in a different program, so he is never ever here. In all seriousness, he may not even live here anymore. I have no idea. One roommate is Italian, and he is actually really nice, but every time I see him, we pretty much just say hi. No conversation there. When I have tried to speak with him in the past, it's been fine, but he won't initiate conversation, and I am just awful at small talk, so that pretty much leaves us silently living within the same 50 square meters. The last roommate is an Indonesian guy who rarely leaves his room. We have never said more than "hi" to each other, other than when we first introduced ourselves or when he offered to take the trash bag that I was holding downstairs with him. Brownie points for taking the trash out?
I am now realizing that this makes me sound like I'm not even trying to get to know these guys, either, but that's just not the case! I leave my door open, I come out of my room, I always say "hi." These guys are just hermits or have literally no interest in getting to know me. At this point, interacting is really awkward, and I really miss the absolutely perfect living situation I left back home! I miss my apartment 105 girls!! On the bright side, none of the guys I live with now are disgustingly messy (although cleaning of communal areas doesn't really happen), or loud, or annoying, so I guess I should be thankful?
7. Cell with data - This hasn't been as hard of a transition as I thought it would be, but I definitely have to be more organized before leaving the house than I normally would be back home! I also can't help but think that I might be a little more adventurous if I carried the Internet around in my pocket in this city! 8. Printer in my room/apartment/within walking distance - This is one of the things I miss most! Having to ask someone at work or make my way to an internet cafe to print up boarding passes, information, or just something interesting that I want to print is inconvenient. It's such a small thing, but I miss it!
9. Chili powder - I just can't find it!!!
10. English - Obviously. It's very enlightening to connect with people in a different culture, but can't help but think that something is always lost in an exchange with a language barrier. A language barrier also makes it much more difficult to read people or even just understand everyday conversation. Was that a statement, or a question? Is that something I am supposed to do, or was it just an observation? It gets tricky! Also, I just feel like a complete ass around these people who can usually fluently speak at least two languages besides their native tongue, and often can understand enough of several other languages to get by. I think this is a major major issue in the American education system, but let's not get started.
11. My family - I really do miss my family, but of anyone, I have been able to keep in touch with my immediate family the most. I miss them and my extended family, and getting to talk on the phone or just call them up whenever, but it hasn't been as bad as I expected. Still, they get a spot on the list!
12. MY FRIENDS - This is #1 on my list of things I miss about home!! I really really miss my friends! We are all so busy that it's difficult to keep in touch, but mostly I miss being around them! It's true that you often don't realize what you have until you don't have it anymore, and I never before thought about how lucky I am to have friends around all the time! I miss seeing them and just hanging out, having classes with them, working out with them, seeing them around campus, going to the caf, attending sports games, going out. I just miss them so much!! And yes, I have made friends here, but not of the same closeness of the friends that I have at home. I miss the convenience of being able to run around the corner to see what everyone is up to, or going out on campus and literally knowing every single person at a party! Being reunited with my friends is going to be the most comforting reunion of all when I get back home!!
On that note, I also miss being around people that I completely trust. Like I said, I have a couple of those people here, but I'm also finding that my personal beliefs & actions don't always align with those of the other study abroad kids here. That's a pretty unfair statement. I can't say that as a blanket statement, but there have been more than a handful of times that I find myself out with people doing things that I don't and won't do. I don't judge them, but I don't always want to be around that, you know? I miss my friends who think and act like I do, or at least kind of like I do. I'm not really sure if this is making sense, but it goes back to the trust thing - I definitely have friends who do things that I wouldn't (and I am sure I do things that some of my friends wouldn't), but I know them well enough to know that the things they do don't make them sketchballs. When you just meet someone, and they seems sketchy, you never know if they really are a trustworthy person making bad decisions, or if they would screw you over in an instant. I miss really knowing the people I'm hanging out with!
Things I love about Prague/being abroad:
1. Public Transportation - it is incredibly convenient to be able to hop on a tram to get to work! It is particularly convenient to be able to take public transportation when going out, as nobody has to worry about being the designated driver! There is something special about living in a city with great public transportation - I think you need to experience that to really understand.
2. Being legal - It's really nice to be able to go out to a club or bar! It's also really really nice to have a beer with dinner! I am so bummed that I will be back home for six months before I am legally allowed to drink in the States. Some situations just seem inappropriate without a beer in hand!
3. My internship - I am learning so much and enjoying (mostly) every step of my internship! It's nice to kind of be out in the real world, and although I don't know where I want to work, I am looking forward to finding a fulfilling career in the (ever nearer) future!
4. Food - the food here is just so good! I know it's good at home to, but it's also much less expensive here, making a nice dinner out less of an indulgence and possible to do more frequently!
5. BEER - I don't know what the heck I'm going to do when I get back home! I don't think I will even be able to drink Bud Light, let alone Natty or Busch! My wallet is truly going to suffer for the benefit of my taste buds! I am not kidding, the beer here is just so dang good! When I went to Rome, we got cheap Italian beer, and bleh! I could barely drink it!! I am so used to the deliciousness of beer here, I don't know how I'll ever go back to the yellow-tinted water we call beer!
6. Traveling on weekends - traveling around Europe has been one of the most incredible parts of this experience! I have seen so many historical and famous places just traveling around on the weekends. This is a tradition that I definitely need to keep up back home! Who says a weekend trip a few hours away is out of the question??
7. Meeting new & totally different people - I have gotten to meet so many interesting people through this journey. There are so many nice people in the world! Yeah, a lot of sketchballs, too, but a lot of very nice, kind, and interesting people. I have particularly enjoyed meeting people who are very different from the people I know - it has been an eye-opening and enlightening experience!
8. Being able to walk places - While I do miss my car, it is also really nice to be able to walk out from my apartment and have 10 restaurants within a stone's throw, and an uncountable number withing walking distance. Include the grocery stores, banks, shops, and more, and you have everything you need within walking distance. I really appreciate city life!
9. Living in a real apartment- okay, so I lived in an apartment at school, but on-campus housing isn't exactly really living in an apartment. It is really nice to have (basically, because my roommates barely exist) my own place, my own space.
10. Really really good produce - The variety and quality of produce here is fantastic! It's also inexpensive, making eating these delicious fruits & veggies cheaper than at home!!
11. The culture - The Czech culture, the customs, the history, the food, the bars, the clubs, the shops, the people - I love it all! This really is a wonderful country and an amazing city, and I am so thankful that I ended up here! It has truly been and will continue to be the best experience of my life!! All I need to do is take advantage of it and really spend my time here to the absolute fullest - I just hope I do that!!
As you can see, I've done a little updating to my blog layout. I was getting bored of the plain background, and although I liked the dynamic view of my posts, the template was buggy and did not like to have my pages show up in the toolbar. The previous layout also wasn't very friendly with my widgets, which I like to have visible (plus, my mum begged me to put a picture of myself back on the home page - she keeps telling me she misses my face - which I couldn't do on the old layout).
So, I looked through my pictures, did some editing, and chose the one you are seeing now! This shot was taken from the lookout of the South Tower (287ish steps up!) of the Prague Castle, and I think it is an appropriate representation of the city! I just hope my mom doesn't complain about the colors again *hint* *hint* I think this layout is still pretty reader friendly, although I wish I could have the dynamic view with the addition of sidebars and without the bugs, but we can't have everything, now can we? Just make sure to check my "Blog Archive" on the left sidebar to make sure you are all caught up on my posts. Okay, are we good? Good. Let's get to the other updates!
I am working on the Vienna post (promise!) and I will start the Rome post soon after. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few things & thoughts! It has been tiring to travel for four weekends in a row, and although I am sure you are just super duper interested in what I have been up to while away from Prague, some of you might be curious what I am doing here, too! No? You're not? Well, I don't blame you, it hasn't been particularly exciting...but, I'll tell you anyway!
Here is a little taste of Vienna to break things up and get your mouth watering for that post!
SoOoOo...I have been spending full days at work lately, as we are working our butts off to get all of the necessary content uploaded for the website launch later this month. Wait...this month is almost over! Yikes! We are hoping to have all of the content that we have received from each region uploaded by the end of the day tomorrow. We can do it!
This content comes from all of the different regions, and most has not been translated from the regional language into English. Guess who gets to translate them: this girl! Yup. Now, you all know I am not fluent (or really even intermediate) in any secondary language, so how, you ask, am I translating articles from Polish, Portuguese, and Greek? Google Translate! No joke. I am using the tool to translate the articles, then rewriting and polishing them up. So, basically, the quality of the English articles might not be fantastic. Oh, don't worry, they read nicely, but who knows if their content is very accurate to the originals. Fortunately, the people I work with are very good at understanding languages they don't speak, and most of the time we can figure confusing phrases out, but honestly, it is impossible to tell if what Google Translate spits out is what the original article meant. This has been quite an experience! It's not so bad, except that my head wants to spontaneously combust after a while. Let's hope it doesn't!
Also at work, our graphics guy, Adriano, has been moved into the office (as opposed to working from home), and he, Tereza, and I go out to lunch sometimes, which is very nice. There are a ton of great restaurants around our workplace, and here in Prague, restaurants often have wonderful lunchtime specials for each day of the week. These specials are usually pretty cheap (almost always under $10, and usually less) and include lots of delicious food! The food here is so dang good! My pants are starting to get a little tight! Actually, they're not, but I definitely have put a few pounds on! I need to get my butt to the gym!
Speaking of (and I'm really really sorry to my teammates and coach who are reading this), I haven't consistently worked out since I've been here, which will be seven weeks this Saturday. First of all, I'm wondering where the hell all of that time went! Second, I've noticed that being on a regular work schedule where I spend a full work day in the office (and usually a couple hours working at home), the days fly by! I really need to start exploring after work! Typically I wake up, get ready for work, go to work, go to the grocery store, go home, do nothing, do some work, take a nap, make dinner, do more of nothing, go to bed, and repeat. I have gotten really really bad about staying in all the time. It's so stupid! Here is my resolution to spend more time doing something around the city in place of doing nothing in my flat. Hold me to that, okay?? Also, hold me to getting on a regular workout schedule! It's just so dang hard to wake up at 6am when I could get up at 7:30 instead. Ahh, the struggle. Okay, had enough whining?
In other news, I found an incredibly cheap roundtrip flight (less than $100!) to Rotterdam. If you remember, when Carly, Jacqueline, and Katie came to visit, we made some friends who live there! One of them, Robin, invited me to visit and offered to show me around the city. I really want to go, and I really really want to go during Tulpenfestival! Can you even imagine how beautiful it must be to see rows and rows and rows and rows of brightly colored tulips, just lined up across huge fields?! I think that would be an incredible experience!!
This picture of the Tulpenfestival comes from the blog "My Love Journey in Holland" and can be found at http://mylovejourneyinholland.blogspot.cz/2012/03/countus-tulpenfestival.html
This picture makes me want to book my flight right now, but I am not sure how I feel about this trip yet, so I will keep you updated on my plans. I think it will probably happen, but we shall see!
So, I have figured out that with a little editing, my washed out pictures turn out fabulous! Okay, they turn out better than without the editing! For example, a side-by-side comparison: the before and after of the picture I used for my new blog background!
Lookie there! My washed out-looking picture ends up much more vibrant and beautiful! I can't wait to go through all of my pictures and see how wonderful they look after editing. Well, I can kind of wait, because it will be a lot of work, but the outcome will definitely be worth it!!
Other exciting things going on in my life: tonight I finally get to hang out with Camille again after not seeing her for almost a month (how the heck did that happen??)! We are going to some Erasmus party with a bunch of people from her program - should be a good time! I am also super excited to actually be in Prague this weekend, because on Sunday I am going to try out a local English-speaking church that I have been wanting to check out since my first week here, and also on Sunday I WILL GET TO PLAY VOLLEYBALL YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!! There are a couple groups around who get together on Sundays and play some pickup beach ball, and I have been wanting to go since I found out about them, but I have been away every single time they have played. I will FINALLY be in town this Sunday, and there is absolutely no way I am missing a chance to touch a ball after at least 2 and probably closer to 3 or more months of not playing. I am so excited!!!!!! I hope I'm not too rusty!!
One more thought for the day: I am incredibly, incredibly lucky to be having this experience. A lot of people get to study abroad (I never thought I would actually get to be one of them!), but a lot of people don't. If it wasn't for the anonymous benefactor at my school, I don't really know how I would have managed this trip. Sure, I promised myself that I somehow would, but after being here for almost two months, I am really realizing that it might not have happened. I also realize that without that financial support, there would be absolutely no way I would have gotten to travel so much! A few of my trips were included with my program, but Berlin and Rome were not, and the handful of other big trips I am planning are not, either. Without that scholarship, I would never have the opportunity to experience Europe like I have and will!
On that same note, I might either have to eat Ramen (well, the Czech version - yes, there is one) for the rest of my stay or find some random jobs to do, because I want to travel so much more!! I am going to have to put myself on a budget - yikes! A little discipline is good, though, and something I have been lacking in for the past 7 weeks....oops.
Those are all of the random thoughts I have for now, people! I hope this will tide you over until I take the time to actually sit down and focus on chronicling my time spent in Vienna and Rome!!
Soooo...yup. That's my camera. It still works. Shout out to the girl that broke that side piece off freshman year of college (the piece with the wrist strap and duct tape) because that is definitely what caused the front to come off. Looks like I will be needing to find some duct tape back in Prague.
I know that I have been complaining about wanting a new camera lately, but this isn't exactly the reason I wanted for getting a new one. Oh well!
Seriously...at least it still takes pictures!
I only have a few more hours in Roma, and typing on this Italian (?) keyboard is getting tiring. My next post will (should) be about my trip to Vienna, Austria with Tereza last weekend, and then I will tell you all about how amazing Italy is!!
This week has been draining but good. I am getting over being sick, and my sleep schedule pretty much blows, but other things are going well! My internship is starting to settle down and become more routine, and my assignments are becoming more defined. For three weeks I will be working solely with Digital, and then I will go back to Central Marketing. I am excited to get experience in both areas, and I have already learned a ton, but it will be so much easier to only work with one department at a time!
Last Thursday I worked on uploading content to the back end of the Company's new website, which is a major milestone in the corporation's history. Friday I got to work with the new website's wireframes and edit the
English on a document depicting screenshots of the proposed website. It
was great, but my eyes were bleary and tired from all of the squinting! Not only do I get to work at the Company during this landmark, but I actually get to be a partof and work on the website! How exciting!
The work so far has not been the most exciting, but it's not bad at all! Apparently I am a translator now (no, I don't actually know any other languages fluently), thanks to Google Translate. If you know me, you know how much I enjoy editing and polishing writing, and that is a huge part of my tasks working with the website. There are three levels: a Global page, which will be available in English, nine Regional pages, which will be available in both the local language(s) and English, and 57 Club pages, which will also be available both in the local language(s) and English. Yes, it is a huge job. Because I am one of the only native English speakers working on the website, I get to make sure that everything reads perfectly in English - what could possibly be a better or more exciting job for me, I ask you. I know what! I will actually kind of get to do some copy writing, too!!! Now that is more exciting ;)
As my time with Digital progresses, I will keep you all updated on all of my exciting (and not so exciting) tasks!
In case you were wondering, I have been going into the office, and I have not been going in naked. I have been a little under the weather, and honestly, rushed for time in the morning, so I have not been keeping my "Internship Style" page up to date. I promise, next week it will be back, and I hope to have some better quality pictures for you! I have figured out a little style-blogging secret, and being a little more organized will help me both with having time in the morning and keeping my style page updated!
This past weekend Tereza and I headed off to Vienna, Austria, and it was wonderful, but first you should read about the weekend before, which I spent in Berlin, Germany. It was ah-mazing!!! Enjoy!
From the time I arrived, I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off my face. I WAS IN GERMANY!
Why was that so exciting? I have absolutely no idea. Sure, I love learning about Nazi history, the Holocaust, and Judaism, but why I was that excited for a quick weekend trip to Berlin, I'm not sure. My good friend KRose suggested that maybe I was from there in a past life, and I was so happy because it was like I was coming home. I think she might be right =)
The whole time I was in Berlin, which was absolutely not long enough, I kept thinking about how I wanted to live there for a while, if even only for a couple of months. I really hope to do that someday (and Cay and I made a pact to live in Germany together in this lifetime), but for now I am content planning another weekend trip during my time abroad. There are so many sights that I did not get to see, and I absolutely cannot leave Europe without going back to see them. Fantastic reason to go back, right?!
So, what did I actually do while I was there? I find it easiest to go in chronological order, so that is exactly what I'll do.
This whole trip was completely spur of the moment: I was chatting with a high school acquaintance, Alex, on Facebook about how neither of us knew the other was in Europe. He and his friend who has been living with him in Denmark visited Prague the weekend or two before, and then found out I was staying there. He is working on the second year of his master's degree, which is based out of Denmark, but he will be moving to Amsterdam soon to complete his second year of the program. He mentioned that he was heading to Berlin, and suggested we meet up there. At first I figured he was just being polite and inviting me because he had mentioned his trip, but he brought up meeting up there a couple more times, so I figured okay, why not?
Seriously. That was my entire thought process.
This was one of those moments that I talk to myself and say something like: "Stay here this weekend or go to freaking Berlin?! A million things could go wrong, the guys could not be there, I will be traveling by myself...blah blah blah." Then, I mentally slap myself and say, "GO TO FREAKING BERLIN!!!" So I went!
So, yeah, that's how I ended up there with a guy I kind of knew in high school (let's call him Alex 1) and his friend, also named Alex (Alex 2). It all worked out ;)
I took a bus from Prague to Berlin, about a five hour bus trip, give or take, which only cost me about $62, round trip. These buses are nice. Each comfy seat reclines & has its own TV screen on the back of the headrest of the seat in front. They have movies (in English & Czech, with subtitles), TV shows, games, music - pretty much any entertainment you could want! I was lucky enough to have a window seat both ways, so sleeping was comfy, too. The only issue I had was that my seat on the way back was so freaking squeaky. Squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaak. Ugh, it was horrendously annoying. At first I though it was just my seat making the noise, and I was really annoyed/embarrassed, but once I realized that all of the other window seats were doing the same thing, I didn't feel so bad. Alright, back to Berlin.
I arrived at the bus station without any issues. Our bus was even early - we arrived around 8:20, 25 minutes earlier than expected. I got off the bus, walked out of the bus station, and saw Berlin.
Funkturm Berlin radio tower right outside the main bus terminal, Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin (ZOB) am Funkturm
I use Google Transit ALL THE TIME to make sure I (kind of) know where I am going, and I had walking directions to get to the S-Bahn, then instructions on which train to take, when to transfer, how to walk to the hostel, etc. I really have no clue what I would do without Google Transit! I found the stop easily, bought a ticket from the machine - in German, might I add - and made my way to Mitte, Berlin, or the borough in the "middle" or "center" of the city. The ride takes about 40 minutes (which speaks to the size of the city), and I got to see Berlin all lit up and looking beautiful!
Because I took the S-Bahn instead of the U-Bahn (above ground and underground, respectively), I ended up at the station Hackescher Markt, which is about a ten minute walk to the Circus Hostel where the guys and I stayed. Believe me, I did not mind that walk! As I was walking through the city, my first impression was that Berlin is much more modern and much larger than Prague. I was also in the middle of the city, at a main train station, and there were tons of people around, music playing, just a lot going on! I only walked in circles for about five minutes before I found the way I was actually supposed to go - progress! There are some extremely cool storefronts along that walk, and one of the most eye-catching stores is Hugo Boss.
So, these aren't my pictures, but this is exactly what the storefront looked like, besides the clothes on display. The only thing the pictures don't show is how big the display is! It was so cool! This is just an example of the many eye-catching, interesting, and vociferous displays around Berlin. It was great! I think that part of the reason I was so excited to be there is that Berlin is a pretty big city. Prague is not nearly as big, and because so much of the city center is crowded around my flat, it seems even smaller.
Berlin, although incredibly historic, is completely "big city," with skyscrapers, modern buildings, neon lights, etc. The two cities are incredibly different, and I am completely and utterly enamored with both.
I finally found my hostel, checked in, and checked out the digs. This is the first hostel experience I have had, and it couldn't have been better! Unfortunately, that likely means that all following hostel experiences won't even compare, but we shall see. Not only was the Circus Hostel incredibly clean and secure, it also offered great amenities. The hostel features a David Hasslehoff themed bar in the basement, and each day there is some kind of special: free beer, free soup & bread, karaoke, etc. I didn't get a chance to visit the bar, but the guys did, and experienced das boot firsthand. I think they had a good night after that ;) The hostel also offered free charging for phones & ipods, free luggage storage, the free use of hairdryers, cheap towels, free WiFi, and iPad and Skype phone rentals. They had pretty much anything you could need. The lockers, which are right next to each bed, even had outlets in them
to allow you to safely charge your electronics while you are out and
about or sleeping. If you are ever in Berlin and looking for a cheap and incredibly nice place to stay, check out the Circus Hostel! I stayed in a 10-bed mixed room and had absolutely no issues, and even met some cool people (although there were weirdos, too).
After I settled in at the hostel, I checked my Facebook - Alex 1 only has a Denmark cell plan, so this was our only means of communication all weekend. We planned to meet up at the hostel that night, and his first message read, "We will wait for you at the bar in the basement then we can go out." However, the next message read, "We are going to the Matrix." So, what did I do? I responded, "See you there," rushed to get ready, looked up directions, and headed to Matrix....without checking my messages again. In my defense, I figured they were on their way to the club already, and wouldn't be able to respond. Yup. That's what I thought.
Being out in Berlin at night, even at 10:30, is great. There are tons of people around and just so much going on - people milling around, shouting, drinking, eating, vendors trying to get people to buy stuff. The only negative encounter I had on my way to the club was a girl on a bicycle hissing at me as she rode by. I'm thinking that was a personal problem on her part.Weirdo.
So, I found Matrix, went in by myself (huge milestone for me), paid the 6 euro cover, checked my coat, and commenced being awkward. Okay, I wasn't that bad, but I was kind of bad. The club had maybe five different rooms/dance floors and twice as many bars. There were booths, couches, tables, and other nooks and crannies where the guys could have been, and it was kind of dark. Okay, even I am giggling at the memory of me walking through the club (multiple times) trying to nonchalantly check everyone out. Finally I said screw it, I couldn't find them anywhere, and went and got another beer and sat down at a table by myself. I hate being by myself in social situations. Does anyone not feel awkward? I was just kind of sitting, looking around, and trying to build up the courage to go introduce myself to somebody, anybody. I get really anxious in social situations, and being by myself magnifies that anxiety by 100%.
So, basically, I was having a great time.
Finally, finally, I decided to go back to one of the quieter rooms with couches where I thought I had seen a couple guys sitting around. I figured I would at least be more comfortable sitting on a couch, right? I finally made my way over, walked up to the three guys, and asked, "Hey, do you speak English?" The guys said yes and said sure when I asked if I could sit with them. They were super nice, although probably wondering what weirdo of a girl just sat down with them, and I learned that they are all Turkish and studying in Berlin. It was nice to get to chat with them, and they started buying me drinks. I love when people buy me drinks ;)
I explained to them my friend situation, how I was supposed to be meeting people there, but I absolutely could not find them, and they were probably thinking, "Suuuuure, yeah right!" It makes me laugh to think about what they must have thought of this random girl coming up to them. They were really cool, though, and very interesting. I asked if they had ever been to Matrix before, and they had, but said it really didn't start to be a party until midnight. We hung out until then, and one of the guys offered to let me use his phone to check my Facebook messages. Lo and behold I had 5 frantic messages from Alex 1 telling me that they were waiting for me in the basement bar, that the plan was to go to Matrix at 1, that I better not be asleep in my room, that they went to my room and I wasn't there, and asking where the hell I was! I messaged him to hurry the hell up and meet me at the club, and then I went to dance with the guys.
They were right! The place was packed by midnight, and much much more fun than it had been when I was alone, nursing my beer and watching weird people dance. We had a great time! The music was older mainstream (read: American) music that one of the Turkish guys and I knew every word to, so we were dancing and belting out the lyrics to each other. Between dancing, singing, and repeated warnings from the guys to watch my bag, we visited the bar (apparently a lot, because where the hell did all my money go? Effing euro) and made fun of the classy girls dancing in the cages.
We all look pretty horrible in this picture (believe me), but these are my Turkish friends.
We were heading off the dance floor and back to one of the quieter bars when I heard someone say, "Hi Tempe!" Ohmygosh my friends were actually here! After hugging the Alex I knew (Alex 1), I introduced myself to the other (Alex 2), Alex 2 shouts, "Wait! You're Tempe?! WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND YOU ALL NIGHT!" Oops. Okay, but really, it wasn't totally my fault, right?
The night pretty much continued as it had been. I introduced my Turkish friends to my other friends and we all had a great time together. At this point I was nearing being awake for 24 hours, so when the bouncers started kicking everyone out around 6:30am, I readily obliged. I had somehow managed to lose Alex and Alex again, but my Turkish guys invited me to go with them to get this Turkish soup they had been telling me about that they promised was absolutely sure to make you not hungover the next morning. Perfect. Exactly what I needed.
We headed out, hopped on the U-bahn (I might have kind of stolen public transportation for a greater part of the weekend...oops), and ended up in "Turkish Town." Okay, I made that up, but apparently the largest population of Turks outside of Turkey is in Berlin. I had no idea!
On a side note, all night the guys had been teaching me naughty words and how to basically flick someone off in Turkish. They were impressed at how well I could make their rude gestures, but when we got of the U-bahn, warned me not to do that gesture anywhere near this area. Makes me wonder what it actually means...
So, we arrived at a restaurant that I am pretty sure the guys must frequent often. We were, unsurprisingly, the only people in the restaurant at 7am, at least for a while. The guys ordered up our soup, which came with a communal bowl of garlic broth stuff and a bowl of spicy pepper stuff (yeah, those are obviously the technical terms). The soup is called kelle paça, and the guys had warned me that a lot of Turkish girls wouldn't even eat it because they think the garlic smells.
Not my picture, but a pretty standard serving of kelle paça, tin bowl and everything.
Uh, not me. I ate two bowls, with the garlic stuff and the spicy pepper stuff. This stuff is money. It's served up with basically little pita breads, called pide, which were also delicious and perfect with the soup. The guys seemed pretty impressed that I liked the food so much, which was pretty entertaining. After our meal, they put me on the correct train home, and we parted ways with promises of keeping in touch.
When I got back home on Monday, I decided to look the soup up. I probably should not have. I found out that it is made with sheeps' heads and feet. Uh, what?! That kind of freaked me out, but once I thought about it, I really don't care. If the guys had mentioned beforehand that kelle paça has some sketchy ingredients, I probably would not have even tried it, and that would have been a shame! I would totally eat this again, and you should try it, too! Seriously, be a little more adventurous! At this point, I was exhausted, and boarded the mostly empty subway car, sat myself down in an empty area, and smashed my face up against the window to get (very little) rest over the next few stops. Germany had other plans. At the next stop, four men boarded my car, probably in their late twenties, and definitely on their way back from partying. Pretty much the entire car was empty, but they zeroed in on me, came over, surrounded me, sat down, and made themselves comfortable. Immediately they started speaking to me in German (in a friendly way), and I just shook my head and told them I didn't understand. No matter! They spoke English! I wanted to go back to my bed and just die for the next few hours, with as little human interaction between the subway ride and my bed as possible. I might have been slightly grumpy. These guys were pretty hilarious though, and were constantly making fun of each other while talking to me. The ringleader kept saying he must be funny because I kept laughing at him (I really need to work on this - it's like a nervous tic!), and another just told him that he was making me feel uncomfortable and I was only laughing because I didn't know how to respond. He was completely right, but it was still kind of funny! Thankfully, I only had to spend a handful of stops with these guys, and I soon made my way back into the world, into my hostel, and into my bed. As aforementioned, this was my first hostel experience, and I was in a 10-bed mixed dorm-style room. I felt like the biggest jerk, coming in at 8am when everyone else was already in bed (wait, why was everyone else already in bed?!), making noise and being a problem. Okay, I really wasn't a problem, but still. You know how when people are sleeping, every little noise you make sounds like a freaking bomb going off? Yeah, that's what it was like. Fortunately, nobody seemed to really wake up, so I stumbled into my bed and half-slept for the next three hours. My sleeping patterns pretty much suck now. When I first arrived in Prague, after an initial adjustment period, I was doing well and on a good sleep schedule. Now, I wake up early for work, sometimes get an afternoon nap, sometimes not, still stay up late, go to bed exhausted, sleep for not nearly long enough, and then repeat. If I go out, I usually try to get back home before 3am, go to sleep for 4ish hours, and do the same thing. Totally healthy. Back at home, almost nothing could get between me and a good night's sleep. Here, it's pretty much the last thing on my list (which is probably why I am fighting off a cold right now) because there is so much to do!!! What's the point of missing out on experiences for sleeping?! Okay, I know it's important, and I know you need it to be healthy, but COME ON!! I'm getting just enough, don't worry. Back to Berlin. So, I got up after my three hour "nap," showered, got ready, wished my mommy a happy birthday (and accidentally woke her up at 5am, sorry, Mum!), and met up with the Alexs. We headed out to get kebab (kebap) and start our day. Kebab is all over Europe, and it's some tasty stuff. This place had beef kebab, and we got it served in a wrap. This was my first kebab experience, and the thing was the length of two Chipotle/Qdoba burritos. Yeah, I ate the whole thing. Smothered in Sriracha. I ate very healthy in Berlin =) The guys said they weren't impressed with this place, but I had nothing to compare it to, yet, and I was satisfied!
My kebab. This sucker was a monster.
We finished up our brunch and headed out to sight see. Half of my fun in Berlin was just from being with Alex and Alex. They are both incredibly nice, and they are freaking hilarious. Together they are unstoppable. They had so many stories to tell me and things to share with me, it was great. Just walking around with those two all weekend would have been fun enough! Those two had been in Berlin since Thursday, had already seen a few things, and had planned to check out Museum Island that day. On our way, we walked through a really great little market selling everything from trinkets to Nutella crepes, and we eventually stumbled upon the Berlin Cathedral. We weren't sure what it was at first, but we sure knew it was pretty!!
(That is Alex and Alex in the lower left corner, haha)
We walked around to find the entrance, and even though we still didn't really know what it was, decided to go inside and see for ourselves. I am so glad we did! this place is incredible! My pictures just can't do it justice - it is too intricate, too beautiful to capture with my silly little camera, but I tried (and failed).
I could sit in there for hours, just look around, and not get bored. I really hope I get the chance to do that, someday.
Our next stop was Museum Island. We visited the Neues Museum and the Pergamon Museum, which house the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and reconstructed historically significant buildings, respectively. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was just listening to Alex 2 read excerpts from his Rick Steves guide and pelt me and Alex 1 with "fun facts." I am completely serious. It was hilarious to hear about the "snake leg" on the Pergamon Altar and try to figure out what the hell that is before actually seeing it (it really is a snake leg...look it up!) or about the mythical scorpion, eagle, snake, dragon creature on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon (I am definitely missing an animal).
This is the Altes Museum, which we did not visit, but it's architecture is beautiful!
This will probably make me sound undereducated, but I had absolutely no idea that Berlin has such amazing museums! We only visited two, and I still can't believe how much we saw and the quality of the artifacts! It is absolutely incredible! The Neues houses more Egyptian artifacts than you could ever even want to see, and they are absolutely stunning. Just the bust of Queen Nefertiti alone is worth visiting for - she is exquisitely beautiful (why did I not take pictures?!?!)! The Pergamon is also mind-blowing, with the Pergamon Altar and, one of my favorites, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. This spurred an interesting conversation between me and Alex 2: how do people just decide that they can take entire buildings or gates or altars, move them around the world, and claim it as your own? Like, who gave you permission?! I know it doesn't work like that, but seriously, how do you just decide that you get to take an entire building, take it apart, and rebuild it inside another building?! We humans are strange creatures...
The Pergamon Altar
Market Gate of Miletus
Side walls of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon
The Pergamon also houses many other exhibits, but one most interesting to me is the Islamic Art Museum. Oooooh my gosh. I want these people to furnish my house! This stuff is so beautiful - so detailed, so colorful, so intricate. The pieces are absolutely incredible! I will cherish the long & exhausting but visually stimulating hours we spent at Museum Island!
That was pretty much all we could handle that day, so after wandering around for a bit, we headed back to the hostel where I promptly fell asleep, slept through my alarm, and was late meeting the guys. Hey, I really needed that thirty minutes of sleep! They didn't mind, either. Alex 1 was entertained watching Alex 2 running around the hostel trying to find me (which he eventually did - in my room), and once I woke up, I was pretty much ready to go. We headed across the street to a burger place Alex 1 had spotted earlier in the trip. I told you I ate really healthy in Berlin! This place was great! The food was awesome, and it was very tiny and pretty popular - definitely a solid choice! I ordered a burger with cheese, bacon, jalapenos, and chili sauce, which ended up being more sriracha. This girl isn't complaining! Once again I managed to impress guys by what I was eating. Maybe it's time I reevaluate my eating habits...? Whatever, this burger was awesome. Even though I had a burger when Carly, Katie, and Jacqueline visited, that one was underwhelming. This was the first really good burger I have had since being abroad, and man was it appreciated!!
After our awesome meal, we headed back to the hostel, got ready to go out, met up, and headed out to meet up with some people from Alex's university who were celebrating for one of the girls in the program heading abroad somewhere. The girl hosting the "party" is a local Berliner, so the plan was for her to take us around the city, basically on a bar crawl of local places.
We might have had a few issues finding the first place, but we eventually did find it, and met up with everyone. They were all crowded around a table, so the three of us went to our own table, and commenced our awesome night.
Alex 2 ordered a Hefe, or Hefeweissbeir, which is a yeast beer, and I decided to try the same. He mentioned that it kind of tastes like bananas to him, and he was totally right!! How strange but delicious! I really enjoyed my Hefe, and I hope to have a chance to try some other German beers soon!
Alex 1 came back to the table with the bar's version of a Red Bull vodka, and I couldn't help but laugh - the drink was brightpink with a huge wedge of lime in it! I have to give him credit, though, the drink was really good - the energy drink was grapefruit - and both Alex 2 and I switched over for a couple rounds.
When we had first arrived, the place was occupied, but not crowded. By the time we left, the place was packed! I didn't even notice how crowded it was getting, as Alex, Alex, and I were having a great time catching up and talking about all of the people we all know. Who says boys don't gossip?
Eventually, we headed out and onto the next place. We walked back toward the U- and S-Bahn, but ended up in what looked like a deserted warehouse or train station with stairs leading up to the second floor. The club entrance was hidden behind a black drape, where we also found a bouncer and ticket "desk." The place was so tiny, but really crowded and pretty fun! The bar took up almost the whole place, but huge windows on the walls provided views of the S-Bahn station next door. We didn't stay here long, but it was really a cool place to get to see.
Apparently Berlin has a crazy, underground nightlife. When I first arrived at the hostel, I started chatting with three American girls in my room who were visiting Berlin from London, where they are studying together. They apparently have a couple friends who have lived in Berlin for several years now and who took them out the night before. They told me that there is a place in Berlin that used to be row houses, but that someone gutted the entire inside to make a huge club, although it still just looks like a row of houses from the outside. Apparently the club is not advertised, you can't hear or see anything from the street to identify the place as a club, and the bouncer decides who will and will not get inside the club. The girls' friends, who are now fluent in German, instructed them to absolutely not talk. I guess these places are pretty serious about being exclusive!
The third place we ended up reminds me a lot of the story the girls told me. From the outside, the place was completely unsuspecting, and we had to pretend to be in couples, rather than a huge group, to get into the place. Once we got in, it looked even more like a house-turned-bar. The "living room" was a dance floor, with steps leading up the the bar, and then steps leading down into the "basement" where there were bathrooms and a coat check. Again, this place was awesome, and we got some serious dancing in, but around 2:30, Alex 1 and I decided to head back to the hostel, as we all planned to start our sight-seeing early the next morning, because of my 17:00 bus back to Prague.
On our way back, we stopped at a different kebap place to get some late-night munchies. We ordered, and the older guy behind the counter kept telling me that he loved me. He wouldn't even take my money when I tried to pay (Alex 1 offered, anyway)! This kebap was in the typical pita and it was absolutely delicious! This time we got the spicy kind with chicken, and there were veggies and some kind of slaw in there, too. Yum! I have seen tons of these places around Prague and never stopped, but now I definitely will!! As we left, the guy who liked me so much waved and blew kisses ;)
I got a few more hours of sleep on Saturday night that I had on Friday night, but still not many. We started our day earlier than we had on Saturday, and immediately headed out to try to get our long to-see list completed. We first tried to find a Nutella crepe cart on our way to Potsdamer Platz, but were completely unsuccessful. No matter, we continued our sight-seeing, and I got to see where the Berlin Wall ran through Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center, both of which are really cool. Next we planned to walk to the Brandeburg Gate and the Reichstag building, but we stumbled upon the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe along the way.
I had seen pictures of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (and now you have, too), but seeing it in real life is completely different. The memorial looks like a drawing, with its perfect lines and shadows. From inside the memorial, you find that the stelae are all of different heights, those in the middle towering hugely over you. The paths throughout the memorial are also different than I expected - hilly and wavy, not flat.
The memorial is an interesting topic, and I hope to provide you with my impression without being offensive. I also am going to try really really hard to make sense. Here goes.
I really like the memorial. I think it is haunting yet beautiful, stoic and sad, anonymous yet meaningful. Looking at it is almost unreal. The structure is so different from any structure that people typically experience, and it truly feels like you were dropped into someone's charcoal sketch. The sight is overwhelming and breathtaking, and it invokes a need to create connections between the structure of the memorial and the abominations it represents.
However, I think there is another side to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Here, I truly hope not to offend. The memorial is stark and sad and stoic, but I also think it represents acceptance. In absolutely no way do I mean acceptance of the murder of 6 million Jewish people or 5 million non-Jews. I mean acceptance of the fact that this is part of our history. It happened. We can't take it back, we can't undo it, we can't ignore it. We don't ever want to accept it in a way that makes the mass murder of human beings for any reason "acceptable," but we do need to acknowledge it, and we need to own it. It's ours, part of our history as human beings. Whether German, Jewish, American, or whatever, we are all in some way responsible for those 11 million deaths. The name of the memorial alone speaks to that acknowledgement: "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe." It would have been much nicer, much prettier, much easier to ignore if the memorial had been titled the "Jewish Memorial" or something like, but it wasn't. I think that is important. It's important to remember exactly how and why those people died, who did the murdering, who let the murdering happen.
With this acceptance of this horror as part of humanity's history, this acknowledgement, comes healing. Nazi history, Jewish history, and the Holocaust are all uncomfortable to talk about. It still hurts to remember these things - it wasn't so long ago, not at all. We need to remember, we struggle with remembering, even now. As the last generation of those involved before and during the WWII era are passing, it will only become easier to forget.
As I walked through the memorial, I found it difficult not to play. Yeah, it seems really inappropriate, but until you have been there, I don't think you can understand. People sit on the stelae, hide behind them, pop out over them. The paths are wavy and hilly, and the entire structure is geometric, making it fun to run between the stelae and discover what is hiding behind the next one or to look down the many paths while running by. I think this represents the idea of acceptance of the atrocity that is the Holocaust and WWII into our history well. Nazism, the Holocaust, and WWII are part of our history and they aren't going away - they can't. Humanity needs to acknowledge these times and learn from them, but we also need to look forward and keep living. Life didn't go on for 11 million people, but it does for 7 billion others. We can't ignore it, nor should we; we can't pretend it wasn't what it was, murder; we should never, ever forget, nor can we; but we do need to continue to live. Whether intended or not, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe invites me to continue to live while reminding me of my un-erasable history as a human being.
This is a pretty incomplete analysis, and I'm not completely sure it makes sense, but it's a start. I hope this gives you a little insight into what it felt like for me to visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and maybe it will help you develop your ideas and opinions on the memorial.
After such an intense and emotionally charged rant, it's a little difficult to return to my sightseeing in Berlin, but shall we?
Just steps away from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is the beautiful and imposing Brandenburg Gate. It is incredible.
Next was the Reichstag building. It is ENORMOUS. Like, really enormous. You just can't tell from pictures. There is a really cool glass dome on the top, and you can go inside, but you have to schedule a reservation a few days in advance, and we, of course, did not. We had to stand so far away from the building on its front lawn to fit the entire building into the picture.
After the Reichstag and the Alexs bickering like a couple about which train we should take/have taken, we finally got "breakfast" (it was like 14:00 by this point) and then went to find Checkpoint Charlie. Unfortunately, we did not have nearly enough time to see the entire street exhibit or the museum, but what we did see was really neat.
I had to see the Berlin Wall (not just Checkpoint Charlie) before I left, so we then headed to East Side Gallery. If you are ever in Berlin, you cannot miss this - you probably wouldn't, but you never know. The whole thing is completely covered in the most amazing art, inspirational quotes, and of course, some crap.
The guys mentioned that they really wished they could sign the wall, and, well, I keep a Sharpie in my purse (don't ask), so we all did!
I still had to go back to the hostel and collect my backpack, then make it out to ZOB am Funkturm to catch my bus, so this is the point at which I parted with the guys. They went back and ended up checking out a couple more museums - I think Checkpoint Charlie and the Jewish Museum - and apparently Alex 1 fell asleep! It was Alex 2's last day in Europe, and the guys didn't even go out that night! I guess if I had a 3am flight back to the States, I wouldn't go out the night before, either. Actually, I probably would, but that's just me!
I made it back to the hostel, took a little too long preparing for my trip, and just made my bus. I am going to give myself a heart attack from all of these close calls while traveling! I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" on the way home, and it was adorable. Highly suggested.
I got home, back to Prague, and promptly fell asleep, wistfully dreaming of the amazing Berlin and my return.
Czech medicine is great! After Berlin I was completely dead. I woke up with the worst sore throat (yes, Mom, I gargled with as-hot-as-I-could-stand-it salt water), a headache, and just feeling like crap, but I got some Coldrex and an OTC antibiotic throat and nasal spray (that looks like an inhaler), and those have done the trick! I am pretty sensitive to antibiotics - like, all of them - but apparently not this one. Go Czech Republic!
An OTC antibiotic, you say? Yep! Getting medicine here, any kind, is quite interesting. At home, you go to the pharmacy, such as Walgreens, where you can get pretty much any medicine your little heart desires, plus pretty much anything else you need. Here, the "Walgreens" type stores stock everything but the medicine, which apparently includes other things such as hydrogen peroxide. Strange, right? So, to get those, you go into a pharmacy, where you tell the person at the counter what you want, and they retrieve it from behind a locked glass case. Interesting. Whatever works!
In other good news, I just got back from a
wonderful weekend in Austria, and I hope to have that post up by
Thursday (wishful thinking) BECAUSE I AM GOING TO ROME THIS WEEKEND! I
absolutely cannot wait! The trip couldn't have better timing! I have
been making friends here, but there is nothing like seeing one of your
best and closest friends! I miss my Carl!!
It will just give me fuzzy feelings to be around my BFF again =)
Lastly, I write this blog for my friends and family to keep track of me, but if you are reading this because you are considering study abroad, or even if you are my friends and family, I implore you with all of my being to travel! There is absolutely no experience in the entire world that compares. After only 5 1/2 weeks I have grown so much, learned so much about myself, about other cultures, further developed my understanding of the world and my place in it, and have started to (very slightly) figure out the direction in which I want my life to go.
On that same note, traveling with friends is an incredible way to spend time together, and will be an intimate and rewarding experience, but at least one time, go somewhere by yourself. Do something on your own, only you. I highly value independence, and I am definitely still very dependent on my friends and family for support, but I am learning to just need me (& God!) on a daily basis, and how to be alone. Funny, that we as humans need to practice being alone, but we do. We totally do. Try it out for yourself, and learn to be alone without being lonely. You're stuck with you for the rest of your life, so you might as well learn to enjoy your own company and to love yourself - I am trying!!
I will leave you with the knowledge that I get to research and find really cool stuff at my internship every day, and leave you wishing you were a French kid when Adidas did this "experiential campaign:"
I hope I didn't already share this one with you!! Apologies if I have!
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