Berlin!

So there's been something of a gap in my blog posts. I keep meaning to write another entry but get intimidated by the fact that I'm so far behind. Then that time gap just keeps increasing and I become stuck in a never-ending cycle that never leads to the publishing of another post. So on this fine Sunday night I need something to do while I procrastinate from homework and decided I should break the cycle.

It is now my second month in Germany and its hard to believe the time has gone by so fast. Classes have started and its kind of nice to be getting back into the school routine even if it does mean a lot less free time. Registering for my classes has been a real pain. The German registration system is basically different for each and every course and then crafting a schedule that includes courses I can hopefully accredit to my major has not been fun at all. But I finally found 5 courses for a total of 16.5 credits that may just work for me. The courses thus far have been interesting though as I am enrolled in a few master's courses it is clear that they will be very challenging this semester.

Jumping back a few weeks before school started I made a little trip to the capital city of Berlin with a few of the other international students. On Sunday the 1st of October I woke up early and met two students from Mexico, one from Brazil, and one from Belgium in the Cologne Hauptbahnhof. Our plan was to rent a car from the Avis office there and drive that to Berlin. I was definitely excited about the prospect of visiting the German capital and about driving on the world-famous Autobahn for a second time, though I was also a little nervous about the latter. Due to the confusing and complicated political system this world perpetrates, only myself and Roberto from Mexico were legally able to drive a car in Germany it was up to both of us to drive for the duration of the 5 hour journey.

Roberto volunteered to take the first shift and I allowed him. He seemed nervous at first but once we got on the Autobahn he relaxed a bit and ended up driving the entire way there, despite my offer to assist. We arrived in Berlin at around 3 pm, quickly checked into our hostel and departed to see the city. Our first stop was a portion of the Berlin Wall that was fairly close to our hostel. We walked for about 15 minutes before coming to a small segment that was all that remained of this portion of the once ultra-divisional wall.

Unsere kleine Mercedez A Klasse

Our group by the Berlin Wall.

After that we walked another half an hour to the Jewish History Museum that all sources said was a must-see. The museum was huge and had a very interesting and unique design. We walked through the twisting exhibits and stopped inside quite and small "reflection rooms" that had been designed by Jewish artists. One such room was covered with a hundred tiny gold disks with faces cut into them. Our favorite site however was a large maze built of pillars of stone that stood in the exact center of the museum. It was outdoors, with the floor slanted downhill. The pillars however were slanted in the other direction and the effect was very strange. Sensations of vertigo overcame you as you walked through the maze and more than once you were forced to reorient yourself.

In the Jewish History Museum garden maze

After two hours we were beginning to grow tired from the long drive this morning and the stagnant museum. We left and took a tram back to our hostel, changing in Alexander Platz were a mini-Oktoberfest was taking place. We kept it in mind as a possible point to return to that evening. We stopped at our hostel and rested and changed clothes before venturing back out to find a club. We stopped by one that had been recommended to me but discovered it did not open for another two hours. So we decided to walk back to the mini-Oktoberfest we had seen earlier. 

This turned out to be a very good decision and we spent the rest of the night there, talking and laughing. At around 2 am I returned to the hostel with Lorraine from Brazil and Roberto from Mexico. The other two boys remained at the Oktoberfest.

The next day we awoke much too early. I showered and dressed quickly, returning to our room to find the two boys who had stayed out later last night (Jeremy and Ricardo) were still asleep. We decided to leave them there and meet them later once they had regained consciousness. Our thought was to walk along the famous road Unter den Linden until it reached the Brandenburg Gate so we took a tram to Alexander Platz and then a bus down Unter den Linden. We got off before we had expected to though in order to see the giant Berliner Dom. It was beautiful and the area around it was really amazing. We lingered for a time in the park just in front of the Dom before continuing on foot. 

The Berliner Dom

The buildings lining Unter den Linden were all gorgeous and we passed so many museums it was unbelievable. Many of the buildings were styled after Roman architecture and one section of the road was guarded by statues of Athena accompanying her favorite Greek heroes. At the end of the road was the Brandenburg Gate. the platz in front of the Gate was packed with people and a huge concert stage had been erected behind it, probably in preparation of the celebration of der Tag der Deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity) that was the following day. 

After viewing the gate we walked to the main governmental building, the Bundesrat. We wanted to go inside and take a tour but the woman at the information desk kindly told us that you had to make an appointment at least four days in advance and that there was nothing they could do. So we walked back toward the gate and around to the Jewish Memorial. The memorial was huge! It was a maze similar to the one in the Jewish Museum but much larger. It was comprised of 2711 coffin-like stone squares and quite a sight. After wandering through the monument we headed to Postdamer Platz, a trendy and fashionable neighborhood that hosted the massive Sony Center. We ate lunch there and I had my first full German Apple Strudel. Amaaazing!

The Jewish Memorial

Postdamer Platz tram stop

After Postdamer Platz we walked to Checkpoint Charlie, the checkpoint in the Berlin Wall were important dignitaries and officials and crossed from east to west and vise versa. The checkpoint was cool to see but consisted only of one guard station. Right across the street stood a McDonalds so the effect was ruined somewhat. As the day light was winding down we took a train back toward the Dom and met the other two travelers in an ancient civilization history museum. The museum was housed some very cool artifacts but was kind of small and tedious (a tone not helped by the fact that all of the artifact labels were in German and thus took three times as long to read). We left right as the museum was closing and headed back to the hostel. 

We rested there for an hour or two and then went out to the Brandenburg Gate again. We sat outside the Bundesrat for a time, talking and enjoying the cool night air. After an hour or two we headed back to the mini-Oktoberfest and sat outside a raucous club resembling a cabana house in the beach chairs that had been placed there. Around 2 am we headed back to the hostel as our daily train ticket was about to expire, ready for a good night's sleep.

The next day was der Tag der Deutschen Einheit. We got up early again and split into two groups. The boys had seen the inside of the Berliner Dom yesterday and Roberto, Lorraine and I wanted to see it. So we headed for the Dom while the guys headed for Checkpoint Charlie, which they had missed yesterday. The inside of the Dom was as beautiful as the outside. We went up to the top for 4 euro and got a great view of the entire city. We then climbed back down and headed back along Unter den Linden. When we reached the Brandenburg Gate a festival much like Oktoberfest was in motion. The road was packed with people and carts of merchandise and food. We walked along the festival for a time before deciding to head back to the hostel and meet the other two.

We got back around 2 pm and loaded up the car. I said I would drive home since Roberto had driven on the way here and we took off. We hit traffic about an hour outside the city, which greatly lengthened our return journey. Around 8 pm Roberto said he would take over again and drove the remainder of the way home. When we got back to Cologne we were all tired and worn but flushed from the glow of a successful weekend.