Altes Museum

My museum-going buddy Deborah and I took a trip to the Altes Museum after German class. The museum has a extensive collection of Greek and Roman antiquities. It was great seeing so much of what I studied this past fall semester in my art classes. It was also a great solution to being out in the cold!

Oscar Wildes

Just a small group shot of some fantastic girls I've met. (Cadence, Emilie, Sadie and I) We went to a Irish pub that turned into a dance party when a guy from Tennessee continuously played some American hits. :)

Dolores!

After freezing in front of the wall, we made our way to "Dolores"- a restaurant that sells "San Francisco" style burritos. For Sam and I, this was the closest thing to home. The place itself turned out to be pretty great, with a giant floor to ceiling map of the Mission District of SF. "Dolores" comes from Dolores Park in this district. I enjoyed a nice rice, bean and guacamole burrito (= heaven). While there we met a couple American students studying in southern Germany visiting Berlin for the weekend. One kid was from SF and shared our enthusiasm. :)
Nothing like a burrito to make you feel like you're in SF while in Berlin...

East Side Gallery...

On Saturday the 23rd, a group of us went out to visit the "East Side Gallery" which is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall that has art commissioned by different artists from around the world. This day was off to an amazing start when we awoke to the SUN, yes i said the SUN. We hadn't seen the sun in over two weeks and it decided to finally come out! Though it was still only about 20 some odd degrees, it was great to just see the sun. (as you can see in the excitement on my face)

The wall had some interesting, bizarre and beautiful art. Had to keep moving to avoid freezing over but I will definitely return one day to take a closer look at the artwork.

A Trip to the Chancellor's Office.

Here are a couple pictures from our program's visit to the Chancellor's office. Our tour guide Andreas showed us the history and highlights of the office building. The top photo is of the conference room where Angela Merkel has her secret button- a button that mutes everyone's microphone in the room but hers. I couldn't help but thinking of all my teacher-family members who would love this power in their classrooms. :)

There is an exhibit of all the gifts given by various heads of states and prime ministers to Germany. My favorite, of course, was to Ms. Merkel from former President Bush- a collection of "essential" American movies and music. Included were such titles as Lion King, Oklahoma!, Wicked... oh dear. It was put to shame being a case around from a hand-crafted chess set from Nelson Mandela.

let it snow...

I'm currently sitting in the "Wintergarten" of the Brentanostrasse campus waiting out a snowstorm... Just about twenty minutes ago the snow began again and now it looks like a winter wonderland outside. The weather has been, to quote the CNN newsman, "biting cold." The sun has peeked out a couple times but the temperature has been hovering around 20 degrees. I've quickly learned how to wear proper shoes, socks, layers, gloves, scarves, hats..... etc.

Its been about three weeks since i've been here. It doesn't feel that long but I have definitely seen a lot of Berlin. Five friends and I just booked a quite weekend trip to Dresden for the first week of February! Then mid-February I'll be going to Bilbao, Spain for 4 days before heading to France!

I'll get going on what you are all wanting, pictures!

When in Berlin...

I had to share my first visit to a German Starbucks! After a long day of museum going and walking in heavy snow, I enjoyed a tasty chai latte. Tastes just like home, maybe better!

Checkpoint Charlie

This Sunday was my trip to "Checkpoint Charlie"- the most well known crossing point between East and West Germany during the Cold War. The Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum opened two years after the wall was erected and houses an incredible amount of information about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. Spent the afternoon reading about the state of Berlin during the Cold War and the events that took place along the wall. The exhibit about the methods used to cross the border was fascinating- the lengths people took to get out of the East into the West. Some people built small planes to fly over the border, other shot arrows and zip-lined it from building to building and others simply ran for it through the crossing points. My favorite story was of a married couple where the husband was West Berliner and the wife an East Berliner. In order to get his wife over the border, the husband started a relationship with a "girlfriend" in the West that looked identical to his wife but ultimately ended up stealing her papers in order to get wife to the West.
This city has so much history and I've barely scratched the surface....

Museum Island

Exploring the city has been fun in the snow. Putting on my tights under my jeans with two pairs of socks has been a challenge but ultimately necessary. Then there is the couple layers of sweaters, coat, gloves, hat and scarf up to your nose. I've gotten used to it though, which is good since it has been a huge change from one sweater and flats. These pictures are from a trip to Museum Island with Sam, Deborah and Emilie. The first is in front of the Altes Nationalgalarie Museum, which I had to go to for my Art History class so we made a day of it. The second is of Emilie, Deborah and I in front of the Altes Museum, then the third is in front of the Berlin Dome.
I love how everything looks with the snow covering it, but I'm excited to see how this city comes alive with green!

My attempts at cooking...

So far living in the apartments has been amazing, but the trickiest thing is figuring out what exactly to make for dinner. Luckily, Deborah, Sam and I cook together sometimes. The second picture above is of our fabulous pasta night dinner. We made a fresh vegetable sauce and homemade garlic bread! The first picture is of a quick stir-fry and rice I made for myself. But don't let this pictures fool you, I've found myself eating pretzels and diet coke a couple times...

Kathe Kollwitz Museum

On my Wednesday afternoon free, I made my way to the Kathe Kollwitz Museum. She was a German painter, sculpture and print maker who focused a lot of her work on social issues of the time-- war, hunger, government. The museum was in a Charlottenberg, a nice district of the city with beautiful old buildings and amazing shopping. The museum itself is a beautiful four story building full of her work and it was exciting to see so many prints I have only studied in art classes. I was only one of three people in the entire museum that day, so I took my time and enjoyed my first time out in the city by myself. It was a fascinating feeling of independence realizing that I was alone in a foreign country-- and totally fine.

Falling in love with Berlin....

It doesn't feel like I've only been in Berlin a week, I already feel comfortable in my apartment, getting around on the buses and trains, and dressing warmly for the winter cold. So far this trip has been full of exploring this wonderful city. In just one week I've been to three museums-- the Film and Television Museum, the Kathe Kollwitz Museum and the Altes Nationalgalerie. Being so close to so many great museums filled with pieces of art I've only studied in class is so exhilarating. The FU-Best provided us with a museum pass that gets us into all the state museums for free. All the other museums have great reduced rates as low as 3 Euros for students. Now I only have over 100 museums to explore still...

Today was a relaxing day after a late night. We had a welcome dinner for the program where I got to meet my friend Emilie's homestay mother Doris, who was a crackup in half German, half English. Later that night we found a small bar/cafe and just had great convos over great drinks. Today I went to Potsdamer Platz with Deborah (my friend, not mom) where we got some shopping done. I bought a near pair of shoes to get me through the snow, thick black tights, and a huge wrap scarf. We went to see "Bright Star" at the movie theater in the Sony Center, which was luckily not dubbed in German but in the original version. But it didn't matter because it was my 4th time seeing it, yes, my 4th. If you haven't seen it I definitely recommend renting it, I think it comes out in the coming week.

Tonight is a relaxing night in the apartment, probably watch a movie with friends. Tomorrow will be off to another museum and then MAYBE start some homework for the week. My apartment's internet is not reliable so I'll post pictures when I'm at school this week.

Random observation of the city: they love their hair-dye here. I've seen every color under the sun with every haircut under the sun on every age group. Makes me miss my pink hair I had freshman year!

Sam and I took a trip to Western Kreuzberg, a great area with an eclectic scene. We found an English bookstore, Asian market, store of only ukuleles and a small playground! I took the risk of jumping on the tire swing, it was fun but my right hand was freezing holding onto the chain! The slide had too much snow to go down :)

We went to this great museum at the Sony Center- all about the history of German Film and Television. This is just one check on the list of the museums I want to visit in Berlin! It was also a great break from the cold!

This is a shot of the group I've been fortunate to meet and hang out with- Emilie, Deborah, me and Sam. Sam goes to USF, Deborah UCLA (sorry dad), and Emilie UC David. This was a gathering with the program assistants and participants at a local bar. My first German beer!

Bags from my first shopping trip at Aldi! The essentials- food, candy, toilet paper.

This is the view from my apartment's balcony! SO much snow, I love the bench right to the right. There is a train that runs directly in the back. ((Not as loud as the one at the beach house luckily!))

This is a picture from my first trip to IKEA! It was snowing and freezing but I got some things to fill in my apartment.

My First Weekend in Berlin

Hello again! Life in Berlin has been quite busy, but amazing. I've met some really great people who have been good company. On Saturday, we (Sam, Deborah and I) made a visit to Aldi, a discount market near the apartments. Unfortunately, walking back with bags of grocery in the snow wasn't fun but having a fridge full of food was a good reward. Later that day we (Sam, Deborah, Emilie and I) took a trip to IKEA were I grabbed lose ends for my apartment-- bath rug, new pillow, cereal bowls, oven mittens, trash can.

A word on the apartment- fantastic. It is the perfect studio. You walk into a foyer with closets to your left and right, more than enough for storage. The bathroom is good sized with a towel warmer which has come in handy! The living area is beyond roomy with more storage. There is a tv (I am currently catching up on some world news with English CNN), a kitchenette with an oven, stove and sink, and a balcony (which is currently covered in snow). Deborah and Sam live in my building so we've already had a viewing of "Little Miss Sunshine" and ate some dinners together.

Later on Saturday we met the FU Best program assistants and fellow students at a bar for a orientation gathering. There we all indulged in our first German beers and good conversations. Sunday morning I got up for a tour of the historical sections of Berlin by the program director, including the Bradenburger Tor and Museum Island.

Today was my first day of school! I had an interview for my placement in my German class, then spent the rest of the day with Sam exploring Western Kreuzberg on Gneisenaustrasse.

First Days

Hello world! I am in Berlin! Took a while to get internet, but I'm plugged in now and a happy girl. These first few days have been busy with orientation- exploring the campus, getting settled into my apartment and getting used to the snow. It is quite beautiful and cold but I am definitely enjoying it. Two more days of orientation then school starts on Monday morning. I will be taking a German language course; Berlin: History, Memory, Literature; German Philosophy; and an Art History class.

So far one of the funniest experiences was in a McDonalds. I never find myself going there in the USA but my friend Sam and I went to grab some fries and found ourselves hearing Prince and Bob Marley. I have yet to hear any German music in stores. I was in a mall today and a store was playing "miama" by Will Smith!

On the eve of an adventure...

Just about 12 hours until I take off from LAX-- had my last home cooked meal of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, bags are packed, and Mom has already cried. I'm soaking up my last few hours of home (and Brodie). Already some flight changes, the first leg of my flight from LAX has been delayed, only 20 minutes, but enough to make the Schwartz household nervous. I'm hoping for a good flight which I have loaded with new music (compliments of Uncle Dan and Aunt Molly) and plenty of magazines (compliments of the Gannon family)!

So here I go! I'll be in Berlin by Wednesday morning, which is about 1-2am LA time. I'll update this blog as soon as I get pictures of my apartment uploaded. Thank you in advance to all those who are taking this time to check this blog out!