On the Act of Blogging

I thought it would be appropriate to write a blog on the topic of blogging as my time as a blogger draws to a close. When I first set up this, I was a little iffy on my ability to share my experience here in Berlin through this Internet forum. I’ve never been able to successfully keep a journal so I thought the same would be for this. However, with the encouragement of my Mama Bear (or should I say forceful reminders?) and hearing how all of ‘you’ were enjoying it, I kept up with it. I think it’s become my virtual scrapbook of my time in Berlin. Of course, as you all know, I’ll be spending my summer in a pile of paper, glue and pictures as I construct an epic scrapbook of my life in Berlin. This blog will be special though in that it was created during my time in Berlin as the memories were fresh in my brain.
Also, I luckily had a fellow blogger as a dear friend here. Deborah, my museum-attending, Zara-and-Anthropologie loving, Cola-Light drinking and movie-going friend, is also a blogger! Our group of friends got used to us constantly taking pictures “for the sake of the blog”! Above are a couple pictures of us caught in the act of blogging!

Kollwitzplatz Market

This past Saturday a group of my dear girlfriends and I went to one of my favorite parts of Berlin—Kollwitzplatz. It is in the Prenzlauer Berg district where all the hipsters and their adorable children live. There is an outdoor market every Saturday with delicious food, drinks, homemade goods and sweets. This day was the first time in Berlin where the sun was out and it was actually WARM. It was such a pleasant day to walk around, snack on food and enjoy a day outside. We sat in Kollwitzplatz which is a small park with a nice spot of grass. We sat amidst a crowd of families with their children running around and climbing trees. To top things off, we enjoyed some delicious ice cream… a perfect day!

Bode Museum… Completion of the Island

After our ‘end of semester’ meeting, Deborah, Sadie and I headed to the Bode Museum on Museum Island. This museum is perched on the corner of Museum Island with its large dome roof. It houses art from the Middle Ages, Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance periods. To be perfectly honest, I’m not the biggest fan of these periods but I was determined to finish the Island! We grabbed the audio guides to keep us entertained which helped naturally.
There were some beautiful and interesting pieces, mostly religious pieces stolen from churches around Europe. This museum’s collection was put in a bunker in Berlin during WWII but that bunker was unfortunately bombed and a fire followed. Certain pieces had text next to them indicating that that piece was damaged during this event. Some pieces were lost to the fire as well.
I did get to see one piece that I studied in my ‘Survey of Western Art’ class in the fall—Michiel Coxcie’s “The Descent from the Cross.”
Deborah and I have now completed Museum Island! We visited all 5 museums! We deserve props because we didn’t half a$$ them but rather took our time and even struggled through hallways full of coins, rooms full of statues and figurines with misshapen body parts (like the massive foot above!)

Neue Nationalgalerie... round two

As my time wears down in Berlin, I’m making the rounds of my “bucket list” for Berlin. On Wednesday morning, I had a German oral final but was done for the day by 10am. After going to Starbucks to get some studying done for my written exam, I headed out to the Neue Nationalgalerie. I had already visited this museum with my art history class but wanted to visit it again in order to see all the paintings I couldn’t soak in the first time. It’s a great museum who’s collection has an interesting history, as some of it was displayed in the “Degenerate Art” exhibition the Nazi party created in the years leading up the WWII.
Most exciting was that three of the works of art I wrote about in my art history research paper are IN this museum. I wrote on WWI’s influence on the Dada and New Objectivity art movements. It was great standing in front of the George Grosz, Otto Dix and Hannah Hoech paintings I had written about.

My 21st Birthday Weekend

Just as Jessica and Jeff were leaving, I welcome three more guests into Berlin. Joshua, my dearest friend Addysen and her boyfriend Cameron came to Berlin for my birthday weekend! They all arrived on Thursday and we spent the weekend seeing the sights. On my actual birthday, we walked around the Kollwitzplatz market—one of my favorite things in Berlin. We enjoyed delicious treats from the different stands and hid in an apartment entrance while it poured for a good 10 minutes. Then we got MORE delicious goodies at one of my favorite cafes in Berlin “Anne Blumen.” After some rest back at my apartment, we got dinner at a little restaurant in Prenzlauer Berg (my favorite district of Berlin). Then we went to a place called the “Weinerei” where you pay 2 Euros for a wineglass and then refill it as many times as you’d like (or are able). At the end of the night, you pay as much as you think you should. It’s a great place to just sit back and enjoy talking with your friends. An assortment of couches, coffee tables and chairs makes it feel like you’re relaxing in your friend’s living room.
I was so thankful to spend my big 21st birthday with my closest friends from home, school and that I’ve met here. All of my friends were too giving and I received some great presents that I’ll cherish. I can’t believe how old I’m getting!

Back in Berlin

The last couple of days in Berlin with Jessica and Jeff were spent showing them different sights. While in class, they would go to museums or hang out in my apartment (which surprisingly got incredibly small with a couple suitcases and air mattresses). With Jeff’s super-art-world connections, we got a tour of Olafur Eliasson’s studio. Without knowing, I had actually seen an exhibition of this artist’s work at the San Francisco MOMA so it was incredible seeing his studio. Our last day together we did some last minute sight seeing including a couple visits to the Ritter Sport World. For all of you who DON”T know Ritter Sport, please go out to your local Trader Joe’s and buy a Ritter Sport bar. They are DELICIOUS. In Berlin, however, they have every flavor imaginable—from cappuccino to hazelnut to cornflake. Needlessness to say, I have done some research into the subject and have developed a great relationship with this chocolate. I have a feeling a better part of my suitcase home will be filled with them…
Our last night we spent in my apartment, as I had to pack up a suitcase to send home and Jessica gave me a haircut—a successful haircut in fact!

More Prague photographs...

Mini Family Va-ca to Prague

A couple days into their time in Berlin, Jeff, Jessica and I left for a weekend trip to Prague. We spent Easter weekend touring the city. Prague is quite different from Berlin. More compact and more historical districts but like Berlin its got an incredible history. We took two walking tours, one of the main sights of the east side of the city and one of the west side which houses a castle (the city is divided by a river). The city was quite crowded because of the Easter holiday but not horrible. There was a great Easter market in the Old Town Square with PLENTY of delicious snacks. We indulged in some delicious sausages, potato pancakes, waffles, chocolate covered strawberries… Sorry, I know you must be feeling a little hungry by this point. Both walking tours were great. The first one was “free” in that you pay at the end if you think it was worth your time. Of course it was and we decided to take the castle tour with the same company (that’s how they get you!) We also went to a classical concert in St. Nicolas’ Church. One of my favorite sights was a huge metronome at the top of a hill where a 100 feet statue of Stalin used to stand. It stands perched high above the city ticking back and forth for 24 hours/ 7 days a week.
Overall, I really enjoyed Prague. It’s a beautiful city with great architecture and charming streets. Its history of WWII and the Communist regime following was quite interesting and I learned a lot about what happened there that history books does not shed light on.

Jeff and Jessica in Berlin!

Three days after my extravagant trip to Budapest and Vienna, my beloved brother and sister arrived in BERLIN! After picking them up at the airport, our whirlwind adventure began. The first couple days we spent in Berlin. I gave them the walking tour of the main sights the first day- Holocaust Memorial, Reichstag, Bradenburger Tor, Unten den Linden, Museum Island, etc.. Of course this tour included asking people to get pictures of the three of us to make sure our mom had a couple choices for this year’s Christmas photo.  The second day (Thursday) I, unfortunately, had class but they were able to keep themselves busy with some great museums.