Ich a Berliner!!

This one’s gonna be a long one….get ready!

So you’re getting the shortened version because 1) it’s been a week, so there’s too much to detail about, 2) I’m lazy, 3) My battery on my computer will run out in 54 minutes and 4) I’m probably going to get nauseous if I write on my laptop for too long on this bus ride to Dresden, Germany.

To begin with, I knew that traveling with Karina was going to be an adventure. And of course, we started out with a good one. We stayed in Poznan, Poland for one night after leaving Warsaw to check out one more Polish town. The morning we left, we had the tram times written down and a morning train to catch. Well, our tram never showed up. And neither did the next one on the line we were meant to take to the train station…soooo we had no Polish Zylotec left, therefore couldn’t really catch a cab (unless the cabbie wanted a mix of Euros and Czech Crowns), and our train was leaving in 15 minutes. And we were stuck about 15 minutes (by tram!) from the train station. Miraculously, the tram no.5 shows up. Late and casual. Late by 15 minutes. Like it was no big deal. Just about screwed two girls out of an expensive train ride to Berlin.

So we hop on tram no.5 and guess what? We get off a stop too early. We run as fast as we can with the stupid amount of luggage we are lugging. We find a random staircase to the train tracks and run alongside some blocked off entrance to the train station. No trains coming, so we are okay. We finally reach the platform and I’m thinking we missed our train. We were officially 2 minutes late. We’d have to go into the ticket office, crying and begging them to give us a free pass for a different train to Berlin. And we would get there SO much later than we expected. My body was about to break. But our train was running 5 minutes late. We’d made it! I half cried, half laughed and threw off all my baggage. I didn’t stop dripping sweat for about 15 minutes.

We get to Berlin and immediately head to a free walking tour.  I got some major backpacker advice to do the free walking tours in Berlin. Especially the alternative walking tour. This is the one we thought we’d miss because of our late train from Poznan, but in the end, we made it and for the first 3 hours of our time in Berlin together, Karina and I explored the “alternative” side of Berlin.

As you may know, Berlin is known for having a mind of it’s own. Its street graffiti is world-renowned, and the residents themselves are just as expressive. Our guide took us through many of the neighborhoods of Central Berlin, showing us places like the Tacheles (an alternative art house), the Tommy Weisbecker House (a social needs house/hangout place for artsy folk and bands), and the S06 (David Bowie once played there, a cool underground concert venue). During our tour, we all stopped for a food break. For the first time, Karina and I tried official Lebanese food—chicken schawarma. It was amazing! And cheap. After the tour, we headed to Alexanderplatz, where the big tall TV tower stands. (Europe and their TV towers, sheesh!) The weather was amazing and sunny—25 degrees Celsius aka warm enough for shorts and sandals! We ordered a couple beers, mine mixed with Fanta and hers with Sprite, and sat in some lawn chairs facing the plaza. 

Chillin in Alexanderplatz.

Funny little truck.

Outside the Tacheles.

Art.

Wall graffiti. This girl was beaten to death in her neighborhood nearby, so this is in honor of her.

More wall graffiti.

The Tommy Weisbecker House. Lots of political meaning.

The Moon Man graffiti. See his right hand? There is an Audi dealer across the street and their lights flash a shadow of a flag on the lot right into that right hand. Looks like he's holding a flag at night, and he's all lit up. SO SWEET.

Cute.

Where the Berlin Wall used to stand, they have bricks everywhere now instead.

Next up, it was time to meet Karina’s friend Christian, where we stayed for the night and ate a yum home-cooked meal, prepped by his girlfriend.

The next day, Karina had some new-to-living-in-Berlin errands to run and I headed to my next free walking tour. It’s amazing how much world history I’ve forgotten. I feel so lame and guilty to not even remember the correct logistics enough to give Berlin it’s due attention. As a kid, I could never imagine I would be here in Germany, looking at places like the Reichstag (Hitler’s abode during his rule), or where the full Berlin wall once stood. Therefore, my mind kind of muddled all of European history together when it came to certain wars. My free walking tour gave me a good heave ho! on the historical memory-cells deep down in my long-term memory somewhere.

Bradenburg Gate.

The Reichstag.

Water pipes that exist all over the city are pink and above ground.

The Berlin Wall. Or some of what is left of it. I took only one pic, silly me...

Checkpoint Charlie. On the other side of this pic of the American soldier, there's a pic of a German soldier looking at the other side of Berlin.

This guy built a tree house where the Berlin Wall once stood 20 years ago and has fought his way to keeping it there. It's right in the middle of a major street. He built it to say that the focus should no longer be on a divided Berlin.

Mercedes Taxis.

View from the Lustgarden.

They have Dirty Dancing on stage in Berlin too!!

I checked out apartments afterward with Karina. Since she got stuck in London for a week during the Iceland volcano eruption, she got super behind on her flat-hunt and everything else she needed to accomplish before beginning her internship in a few weeks. We saw 3 places. The rent here is so much less expensive than big cities in the States, it’s great! And there’s so much character here too. She ended up getting one of the places we saw that night, a very clean place with 2 nerdy (but very nice!) boys in Friedreichtstein, a cute young neighborhood in Central Berlin.

We headed to Hamburg, where Karina’s friend Kadda and their friends Timmy (he looks like a blond Robert Pattinson!!) and Leonart met us. There, I got my first taste of the Reeperbahn and some German ways of passing a till-dawn type of night.

Doin facemasks on the way to Hamburg. Yes, on the train. Got some weird looks...

Me, Karina and Kadda.

At the Reeperbahn.

We hung around Hamburger, aka Hamburg (all these signs say Hamburger Bank, Hamburger Pub, Hamburger this, Hamburger that—in German of course—so funny!) for Friday and then headed back to Kadda’s house for a night of home-cooked German schnitzel (OMG OMG OMG….can’t…express…how…good…this…is…in…words) and something else I can’t name bc I don’t know how. Wine rounded it all off with some good chillen out.

Me, Kadda and Karina in Hamburg.

Saturday, Kadda waved Karina and I off at the train station and we headed back to Berlin. Kadda had been a part of the German Exchange program at Buena High when I was there. Karina wasn’t her exchange partner, but her and Kadda stayed very close afterward. Karina also studied in Germany for a semester during college, so their visits made that easier. I  felt like Kadda and I had been friends for much longer than 2 days by the time I left. And once again, I was hit with that emotion I’ve gotten quite frequently while backpacking myself through Europe: complete gratitude for these amazing people that God has graced me with. I’ve met up with so many genuine and generous people throughout this trip, it hurts inside to know that I can’t thank them enough for their time, their selflessness, and for sharing their home/friends/food with me. I just hope that my billion “thank you!!’s” get that point across.

Saturday was May Day in Berlin. Ahem ahem…this means it was one of the biggest German celebrations of the year. And Berlin is apparently the hot spot to be. It’s the Labor Day of Germany. Everyone is off work and in the streets, drinking and celebrating life. In Berlin, bands line the streets next to stands of street food and draft beers. The punk crowd is commonly milling around, especially in the neighborhood of Kreuzburg, but it’s easy to find rappers and DJs and the annoying screaming-IS TOTALLY-music (not) folk nearby as well. In the evening, however, the scene isn’t apparently as friendly. Neo Nazis like to storm the city and often, protests against the Neo Nazis occur. Cars get lit on fire. Mobs arise.

Karina and I decided to try all this out. We had a couple hours of light, and Richard was in town! With Tino! Who’s been living in Berlin for 2 months now. Tino was the one who made that super yum Brazilian dish for dinner one night for us in London my first week in Europe. Anywho, Karina and I milled around the crowds, drinking the favorite German beverage and enjoying the sunny evening. We eventually met up with Richard and Tino and made plans for the night. They had dinner and evening-out plans all ready.

Busy May Day celebrating.

DJ and crowds.

We saw this guy DJing and couldn't decide....was it David Guetta!!??! (Mom and Dad--very popular DJ)

Too much trash. But Germans still follow the rules and put it NEXT to the trash can. So orderly.

Lots of these guys bc Neo Nazis like to cause a ruckus.

Oh no! Euro in the beer... :(

Tino, Richard, Karina and I.

Since Karina and I are on a known budget, the boys treated us to a dinner at White Trash. It was an American themed bar and we even got to see a band. We were joined by Tino’s friend Nicky. He speaks great English and is a medical student. Students, by the way, in Germany study for a much longer time, yearswise, than in the States. Therefore, he was only with us for a little while of our long night due to his studying duties. We went to a posh bar/club where some jerk at the bar called me out on speaking English to the bartender. I wanted to turn to him and say, “Excuse me, but I’ve been through 11 countries over the past 2 months and have taken the time to learn “please”, “thank you” and “excuse me” in each one. But because I’ve had a friend with me who speaks fluent German here, I’ve not taken the time to learn the basics in this particular country. JUST GIVE ME A BREAK! Jerk! Danka shen”

In anycase, the night was fun. We finally headed to…dun dun dun…the Berghain. It’s a very exclusive, popular (apparently voted as one of the Worlds Best Clubs) Club where everyone who works there gives off the aura of, “Fine, I’ll grace you with my presence. What do you want to drink already??” Besides this, it was an incredible experience. Tino’s roommate has connections, so we got to bypass the hour-long (+) line outside and walked right on through for our 1:30am reservation. Now see here. People who attend this club come late. They even have shutters inside on the windows so that when dawn arrives, it can stay dark inside. Karina and I lasted until 4:30am while Tino and the rest stayed for a few more hours. As we were walking out, the line looked even longer than an hour. Apparently, this was the crowd that arrives at 4:30am and stays till they close at 4pm. Yea. Crazy. By the time Karina and I lay in bed, the sun was already shining.  

Sunday we woke late and went to the flea market with Tino and Richard. Lots of crazy stuff, and Richard even got an old Communist hat as a souvenier for Shane Border. After the flea market, the 4 of us went to Tino’s place and he allowed us to help him make dinner. Yummy chicken salad. And maybe it was because I was vegetable deprived, but it was probably because Tino’s a great cook, but the meal was amazing! Felt good to just chill out with very good people. Chilling is my new hobby. Once I need to practice more this summer J  That weekend, we were staying at Karina’s friend, Julia’s place (also had met during the German Exchange program with Buena). Julia lent us the keys to her place for Saturday (so nice!) so we had to leave Tino’s and head back to her flat to meet her as she came back home. And she is great. Just like everyone else Karina is friends with in Germany! 

At the flea market.

Richard found a souvenir. For a friend....yea, right.... ;)

It’s a weird feeling though, to say goodbye to people who live in another country. I know I will be traveling the rest of my life but there is so many places still to see and experience that Europe may not be happening again soon. Although, flights are rather inexpensive if you catch the right kind and head to the right place. And buy early or on sale. For instance, saying goodbye to Tino, I said, “Not sure when I’ll see you again!” And that’s when I got sad about leaving Europe. Because there’s been lots of times where I’ve met new people and I don’t know when I’ll ever see them again! But I believe in the idea that if it’s meant to be, it will happen. People will keep in touch if they truly wish to. And in the end, friendships are a two-way street.

I’ve got two days left here. It’s been 75 days since I’ve been in Europe. Off to make the most of the rest!