Busy Day!

I had a busy day today!  First I woke up and had breakfast with my host mom.  We were talking about speaking German, and she said that I am the best student that she's had in terms of being able to speak the language.  (and before you ask, no, I'm not her first student ;) - she's had quite a few).  That made me feel a bit more confident about my speaking!

Today at IES we learned about safety and how to live with a host family...it was pretty boring! But then Tyler, another girl, and I went out to lunch near Hackescher Markt - we went to an Asian place.  They had sushi, and I had GREAT pad thai! That's one of the reasons I love Berlin - there are just so many different cuisines!

After we were done at IES for the day, I walked back home.  Before going home though, I visited my host mom's candle shop.  It's very cute, and she was very happy that I came to visit!  Then I went shopping at the (small) grocery store that's in my building.  I didn't buy much, since my host mom insists that I eat whatever they have in the house!

After that I went to the market at Hackescher Markt! I love the markets in Berlin - there are so many stands and everything is really affordable!  I bought a key chain and a nice scarf! :) After that I met Tyler at the Berliner Dom.  I saw it from the outside when I was here last year, but we didn't go inside.  Usually I'm not too keen on churches, but this one is by far the most astounding church I've ever been in! It's HUGE!  I can't believe how much detail is in the ceiling and really, the whole church.  It's amazing - and something that I can't believe would ever be built today, just because it would take too much work!  I'm glad we decided to go inside, and it was totally worth the 4 Euro to get in!

We ended up climbing to the top as well, which was exhausting, but SO worth it!

My host parents are very busy with work, so they don't end up getting home/eating dinner until at least 8pm most nights.  So they ate dinner really late and invited me to eat with them, which was very nice!

I'd better go to bed...I have to take my German placement test tomorrow to see what German class I'll be in for the next three weeks! (after the three weeks, I have to take another placement test!)

~StephanieAnn

Directions

So today was an interesting day full of a couple of new experiences!

First I had breakfast with my host mom and then got ready for the day.  Then my host mom walked me most of the way to the IES center....explaining to me a couple of times how to get back home.  Since I still get lost in my tiny town of 40,000 people, this was actually quite helpful!

We filled out a bunch of forms today; residency permits, etc. After that we went on a walking tour of the Berlin Mitte (middle of the city - the area surrounding IES) for about an hour and a half.  I had seen nearly all of the things that they pointed out to us when I was here last year, but it was good to orient myself.

After that we had a welcome dinner at a cafe which was nice.  Then I went with a couple of people to Prenzlauerberg.  I was going to go out to a bar with them, but I was a tiny bit uncomfortable walking home in the complete dark.  But then Amber (a girl Tyler and I go to school with at Lawrence) messaged me (she's in Berlin for a few days doing some research) and said that she was going to meet Tyler at a bar, so I decided to go with.  It was a wine bar, where you pay 2 Euro for a glass and then refill it as many times as you want.  When you give the glass back you pay how ever much you think you should.  (One of the Germans with us said that he usually pays 2.50 for each glass he drinks - alcohol is much cheaper here).  This sort of thing would definitely NOT work in America, but in Germany it does - everyone is very honest and most Germans wouldn't even think of not paying.

I was a little bit nervous after that, because I had to walk home alone and it was around midnight and I didn't exactly know the way.  I had a map and I asked one of the Germans for advice...it turns out I was only a 8 minute walk away, so armed with my map, I started walking...

...and I didn't even get lost!  I'm really loving the location of my apartment.  Even though there are no other students that close to me, I'm very centrally located.  There isn't really any public transport super close, but that's okay.  A couple are about a 5 or 10 minute walk away - a good excuse to get out and about!

~StephanieAnn

Orientation and Meeting Host Family!

Unbelievably, I was able to stay up until 11pm (ish) last night, which really helped defeat most of my jet lag!  It's 9pm here right now, and I'm not even tired - which is really good!

So we woke up this morning, got ready, and headed over to the IES center.  They gave us a quick tour and had some sandwiches set out, and then we met some of the other people on the program.  (There are actually a lot more people on the IES program than I thought there were going to be!).  After sitting around and chatting for a bit, we had a mini orientation and got a welcome packet and a little more information about our host families.

Then, we went to go take biometrisch (biometrical) photos for our residency permits and then to go buy train tickets for our first month. After that, we just had to sit around and wait for our families to turn up!

My host parents seem pretty nice.  I only briefly met the man (Norbert), but the woman (Eve-Marie) showed me around and seems very warm-hearted.  Neither of them speak ANY English, though, so that might be a struggle in the beginning, but hopefully it will improve my German!  She owns a candle shop just down the street, so after she gave me the tour, she had to leave.  I ate a little bit and unpacked a lot! I didn't really feel like walking around because I had had kind of a busy day and just wanted to relax a little!  So I read a little bit of my book and resisted the urge to fall asleep!

Tomorrow we don't have to be at the IES center until 11, so I'm going to wake up early and explore the area that I live around - here's hoping I don't get lost!

-StephanieAnn

I have arrived!

So I've arrived safely in Berlin.  My plane out of Chicago was delayed by 40 minutes, and since I only had a 50 minute layover to catch my plane from Munich to Berlin, I was quite worried!  

The flight itself was pretty boring...it was a bit bumpy, but that didn't bother me!  I was able to sleep for probably 3 or 4 hours which is good.  I'm still pretty exhausted, though.  But anyways, my plane landed in Munich and I literally sprinted to my gate.  It didn't help that our arrival gate was on the opposite side of the terminal from my departure gate.  So I was literally running down those moving walkways passing everyone.  (I'm not kidding you, I did what is easily a 20 minute walk in about 10 minutes).  I could see the gate just as they were saying "Last call for Lufthansa flight to Berlin" so I sprinted the last 50 yards or so and made it just on time! I was the last person on the plane. 

Ayse (A German exchange student that was at Lawrence last year) and my friend Tyler, who's on the IES program as well, picked me up from the airport. I was pretty convinced that my suitcase wasn't going to make it since it had about a 15 minute window to get from my plane to the new one, but it did!  So then Ayse, Tyler, and I took the U-Bahn to her apartment in Neukölln (I had to drag all my stuff up 5 flights of stairs! Ayse and Tyler helped a lot). I took a shower (much needed after my sprint through Munich!) and then we went to grab some food (I had a Döner - picture included), then we went grocery shopping and now we're back at her apartment.

My first meal in Berlin! Funnily enough, it's not even "German", it's Turkish!

Tomorrow we'll go to IES for orientation and then we'll meet our host families!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

AHH I leave tomorrow!  I'm (mostly) all packed - I don't have a whole lot of extra room, but I'm not close on weight, so that's good.

Yesterday my mom, brother, best friend/roommate, and I went to the Packer game as a sort of last hurrah!  Even though we lost, it was a really enjoyable game - and the perfect way to say goodbye to Wisconsin!

Tonight, my mom, her friend Mary, and I are going to go out to dinner and just relax (while I probably repack - again.) And then tomorrow we'll have a relaxing morning, and then we'll leave around 3 to Chicago.  It doesn't really feel real yet!

I've had some contact with my host family, who seem super nice!  They live about a 10 minute walk away from the center where I take all of my classes - which is great!  They're an older couple (about 50 years old) and they just renovated their apartment, so I'm really looking forward to meeting them soon!

That's it for now...next time I post, I'll be in Berlin!!

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" - John Denver (My theme song for the next day or two!)

-StephanieAnn

T-minus Two Weeks!

Oh my gosh. Two weeks until I leave for Berlin! I feel so unprepared.... In the next two weeks I have to move out of my room at school (where I've been doing Psychology research with a Professor all summer), pack everything (I haven't even started yet), drive to my dad's house, finish packing, and then drive to my grandparent's house (they're driving me to the airport). SO MUCH STRESS.  Not to mention that it's exactly two weeks until I leave and I still don't know any information about my host family!  I guess there isn't anything I can do about that, but it's still quite nerve-wracking.

So I leave from Chicago on the 25th, have a 50 minute layover in Munich, and then continue on to Berlin!  I'm a little stressed about having such a short time for a layover, but I'm hoping it will be okay.  Thankfully, I've traveled enough, so I'm really not stressed out about the actual being on a plane thing.  Although I'll probably get pretty bored!

I'm glad I was in Berlin last winter, so I have some idea of what to expect weather-wise as well as what stuff I want to see.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to do some traveling around Europe, but I'm sure there will be enough to do in Berlin that I won't ever be bored!  I'm excited about what's to come - just a tad nervous about packing and other things that I need to do before I leave (like calling the bank!)

So that's it for now...I'll try to write another time or two before I leave - and then as often as I can when I'm in Berlin!

~StephanieAnn