Thursday, June 18, 2015

Days 1 and 2 in Berlin, Germany

Day 1 June 16, 2015

Today (yesterday?) I flew out of Vancouver International airport with a few of the other students who are part of the study abroad program.  The flights were uneventful in all the ways you would hope, and i ended up watching Into the Woods, reading some Words of Radience by Brandon Sanderson, and taking a short nap here and there. I actually got quite a few meals and complimentary drinks and snacks, which was nice. Though the lines for security were long, we didn't run into any hiccups until we reached Berlin.  At the Berlin airport i found out my checked bag did not make it on the flight to Berlin with me! So, i am waiting for my bag to be delivered to my hostel tomorrow morning.  In the meantime i had a dinner of Currywurst and french fries, and a short adventure to find a toothbrush and now i'm ready to cuddle up in my bed and call it a night!

Image of Humboldt University by Kendra Ferrier


Day 2 June 17, 2015

Today was the first day of our official program, which started with breakfast at 7am. The rolls were fresh and warm, the granola full of fiber, and the coffee strong enough to grow hair on your chest.  I still didn't have my luggage at the time, so after breakfast I braided my hair and borrowed a fresh shirt and to my surprise found the wifi was fast enough for me to video chat with a friend back home.  After i finished my call I went down to the lobby of the hostel to meet up with the rest of the group and to meet Manka, Julie, and Manuella.  From there we departed to Humboldt University where we met in a classroom with faculty from Humboldt to learn about the American Studies program at the University and our syllabus for the program.  We had a short coffee break, and i was delighted to find that the cafe we went to offered lactose free milk without additional charge! Coffee in hand we trecked back to the classroom to finish our class time before we headed out to lunch.  After lunch Manuella took us on a tour of Humboldt University and some surrounding attractions around the University including the memorial for the book burnings, the Palace Humboldtforum and the history of its controversial nature, and the memorial for the Palace of Tears. Once the program events for the day were over, a group of us went and explored Alexander Platz, which is a large shopping area full of stores both familiar and new to us.  Soon our exhaustion caught up with us and we started the journey back to the hostel.  Once back at the hostel I had a glorious reunion with my luggage and was finally able to change into a fresh set of clothes. There is nothing quite like wearing the same thing for over 48 hours to make you appreciate a clean shirt.  Once we had all taken a short rest we met back up to have dinner, and felt quite proud of ourselves for ordering a beer with several other members from our group that we found sitting outside a bar. From there we stopped at a Backerai and made our way to a bar that one of us had found on yelp before leaving.  It was a small place with lots of character and we didn't do so bad at the first round of American music trivia.  A study abroad group of engineers from Michigan blew us out of the water with the video game theme songs though. Dang those nerds!  Around 11 pm we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel, were we continued to stay up until 12:30 talking until we finally thought it might be wise to go to sleep so we could get up at 7am again the next morning. 

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