Kathleen auf Deutsch

Tage 2 & 3: die Elbe, Eis und Hamburger

2015-06-24T07:12:00.002-04:00

So I am writing this again in the wee hours of the morning as I'm still not quite over my jetlag and Am waking around 4 am most days. I missed yesterday blogging in fact, because I completely and totally passed out before I had the chance to even make it to dinner that evening and although I woke up a few times, I was able to quickly get myself back to sleep.

Host sisters, the girls, Herr Blume & I in front of the main building.

So Day 2 for the girls they went to their first day of classes with their host sisters. I know a few of them had English and German classes, and anything that was being taught in German mostly went over their heads. As they were doing that I was brought on a walking tour of the school grounds. Herr Blume gave me a wonderful history of the school which sadly I can't remember much of. After my tour we went and had breakfast in the cafeteria. During breakfast they serve rolls, bread, (toast for the students), along with a variety of cold cuts and cheeses. They also have some vegetables and fruits on the end, and some yogurts, jams, and musli (cereal/granola cereal). This is a very typical German breakfast spread. I ate with the teachers and then the girls came in with the other students during their first break of the day. They told me about their classes and how they had heard their teachers talking about fairytales in German class, but they have no idea what the story was.

After breakfast the girls when back to class and then after that class the school had lunch. We have been given a special table that the girls and their host sisters and I all sit at with Herr Blume. The lunch they served for our first day was a very traditional southern german meal. We had Leberkäse, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. The principal whilst we were all eating gave out the announcements and also announced the girls and the school welcomed us.

After lunch Herr Blume gave the girls and their host sisters a tour of the grounds. However this was only after I brought the girls back to my apartment to get them some warmer clothing. Several of them were not dressed properly for the weather and I figured letting them get a cold walking in the cold rainy weather on the first day would not be a good way to start, so to the parents of the girls if you see them in clothing you never bought for them in the pictures this is why.

Once the girls had their tour we got into the school van with Herr Blume and took a trip to see the Elbe. I think at this point the girls were pretty exhausted by their jet lag, because for the rest of our time together they just looked exhausted.

When we got to the river Herr Blume explained that this used to be the boarder between East and West Germany during the Cold War and that the land on the other side of the river had still not developed and recovered from this period. This is because during the Cold War there was a 3 mile buffer to the boarder and all of the land was cleared with the exception of a few homes and watch towers for the boarder guards' usage.

The girls and their host sister tried skipping rocks and watched the ferry that is still in operation today, because they have yet to rebuild the bridge that stood there before the Cold War.

Spaghetti Eis

We ended our days excursion with a sweet treat at an Eis Café. Eis being the German word for ice cream. This was most definitely the highlight of the day as the girls got to try something they have learned about for YEARS in their German classes, Spaghetti Eis. Spaghetti Eis is an ice cream sundae where they make the sundae look like a plate of spaghetti. This is done by pressing the ice cream through a press in a similar fashion to the way play doh spaghetti is made. It is then topped with a strawberry syrup sauce, and shaved white chocolate to mimic the tomato sauce and parmesan on real spaghetti. The girls all ordered one and all loved it. MANY pictures of this historic moment were taken. ;) I personally went for one of my favorites the Haselnuss Becher which is a sundae with hazelnuts. Typically it is covered in Ferrero Roche and chocolate sauce as well, but this one was all about the hazelnuts and was also quite delicious.

Haselnuss Eisbecher

After ice cream we drove back to the school and the girls were picked up by their host families.

Tag 3: Hamburg

Today was a pretty cool day. We began as usual with the girls going to class with their host sister, and then having breakfast together. I sat with the girls in the student area, which I think was strange for the actual students at the school, but since I know the girls and not the other teachers I prefer it. That and it gives me a chance to confer with the girls during the day and see what they are up to and if anything needs to be adjusted in their schedules. Today there was a definite need for adjustment after the first period for the girls as Jessica had Chemistry in the morning and was slotted for Biology in the afternoon. This in German is of course a little intense and so I let her and Kat tag along with Anna and Grace to their Math Class which Herr Blume was teaching. While they were in class learning about the Quadratic Equation and factorials, I sat and continued breakfasting with the other teachers who did not have a class that period. I enjoyed being able to talk with them a bit and learn a little more about the school culture here in Germany.

Once class was over Herr Blume and the girls came to get me from the teacher's lounge where I had been discussing with another teacher au pairing as her niece is leaving for Chicago in a few weeks to au pair, and we loaded up in the van to Hamburg. As with every trip thus far in the van the girls' jet lag catches up with them and they all passed out for the majority of the hour long ride to the city. Once in the city we began our day at the Elbe Tunnel. This tunnel is used to this day for day workers in the shipyards and harbors to get to work, however during the work day it is mostly filled with tourists who wish to see the tunnel itself and the view of Hamburg from across the river. Whilst visiting this area Herr Blume gave us a little of the history of the area and explained how due to a high trade industry that Hamburg is home to the most millionaires on the European continent.

Herr Blume then drove us around for a while trying to find a restaurant to get lunch near the harbor, but parking was a little crazy so he gave up and we headed down town. After a little walking he introduced the girls and I to Moenckebergstrasse which a locals shopping street in Hamburg. I explained to the girls that this is kind of like their mall, but instead of a singular building and a roof it was a street and a few side streets with similar shops to our mall. I also restarted a game with the girls that I introduced in the Copenhagen airport to pass the time and get the girls a little more active and communicative. Whenever they see an American brand store or advertisement whomever sees it first and calls it out gets a point. Herr Blume gave me an hour with the girls to go shopping and said he would meet us afterward. We began by walking the street and went into one store Promod which is akin to express or zara at home.

The girls soon had seen all they needed to of the store and told me that they were hungry and wanted to sit down at a restaurant. So we sat and got some fish at a restaurant on the street name Daniel Wischer. The girls each split a vareity plate of 3 different battered fishes and fries and I got Fisch Frikadellen, which are essentially fishcakes with a side of warm german potato salad. When we finished it was time to go meet up with Herr Blume. Jessica had expressed her desire earlier in the day to eat a Hamburger in Hamburg and said it was imperative that

The girls eating their hamburgers in Hamburg. :)

we do so, so Herr Blume as sweet as he is, found a burger place not far from where we were whilst we were shopping and eating. The girls were all stuffed however and so when we got to the burger place they decided to split one burger into 4 quarters and we took video and pictures of them. They cooks and staff found this extraordinarily amusing.

Herr Blume bought us doughnuts.

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Once we fulfilled Jessica's burger needs we headed off towards the older portion of the city that houses the Rathaus, stock exchange, exclusive multimillionaire banks, and the posh expensive shopping street ( Think Champs-Élysées in Paris). We went and saw the waterfront and Rathaus and then continued on to beautiful park downtown and also as a treat from Herr Blume got some dunkin doughnuts. I also pointed out to the girls a statue of one of my favorite German writers Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. I explained the story of one of his most famous works "Nathan der Weise" (Nathan the Wise) and how important it was for it's time. I told them of one of the parables in the book that Nathan tells a Sheik that gives the moral that no religion is better or more important than the others and that we do not know truly which way is right, but that we should all go on living in the best way we know how and be good and kind to others. I personally cried the first time I read this story and was very happy to share a little piece of this with the girls.

Statue of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Once we had seen as much of the city as our feet could handle walking we took the train back with Herr Blume to the car and started our trip home. The girls again passed out as they do on every car trip. Once we were home The host families began showing up to pick up each of the girls, however before all of them left the girls and I decided that we would have a sleepover in my apartment for tomorrow night. In my apartment I have 2 other rooms beside my own and 3 extra beds. Herr Blume has sad he will work on getting an extra bed for one of the other rooms as well. The girls are very excited to have a girls night in with one another and to order in some pizza and do facial masks :). It should be a lot of fun.

OK well that's all for today lovelies!

Tschüss!

Kathleen

Tag 1: der Reisetag

2015-06-22T00:44:00.002-04:00

Day 1 -Die Reise

Well today I began the trip with 4 amazing high school girls to Dahlem, Germany. It began with us all meeting at the airport 2 hours before our 5:30 flight out of Dulles. We got to the SAS ticket counter and MAN was that line long, but we got to the gate with enough time to stop by Starbucks as per Jessica's tradition.

Everything was working perfectly until we got on the tarmac and we got stuck there for 45 minutes. A storm was coming through and we were stuck behind another plane who was being rerouted due the storm. Unfortunately by the time they had figured out the new route for the plane ahead of us, our plane needed a reroute to get out of the city. Finally after 45 minutes we were in the air, but within the first 15 minutes we hit the storm. Normally turbulence doesn't phase me. I have flown often enough that I know to expect it and that the plane is perfectly under control. However this turbulence was the WORST turbulence that I have ever experienced. We had several sudden and prolonged altitude drops that forced me to brace myself on the seat in front of me in order to not smash into it. Thankfully after a few minutes the intensity stopped and the captain explained that we had gone through a storm cloud that we couldn't get around, but that all was well.

The flight itself was OK, but it was definitely one of my more physically uncomfortable flights that I've taken overseas. SAS seems to have narrowed their seats by several inches since the last time I flew with them, and they have also decided that only one non-alcoholic drink is free during the flight. They later explained when I asked that hot tea, coffee, and water were still cost free the juice and sodas were the only non-alcoholics that were limited. The girls and I were all split up, but I think the seat arrangements actually worked out really well. 3 of them are in the same German class together and are very good friends and the other is a year older and from another high school in the county. I was on my own a row ahead of two of the girls and then the 2 others were a few rows back from that.

Once we actually landed we realized how much the delay in Washington had impacted our trip. Our flight out of Copenhagen to Hamburg only allowed for a 45 minute layover and given our 45 minute delay we missed our flight. The transfer desk quickly sorted out our issues, but told us that regretfully the only other flight to Hamburg today was at 2pm. It was 8 am at the time. So the girls and I settled in for a day in the lovely Copenhagen Airport. We had thought maybe we could go out and explore the city, but decided getting a taxi and spending money all over the city wasn't really what we wanted to do. Plus the airline gave us 2 vouchers for food worth €10 each. Unfortunately in Copenhagen that doesn't translate to much food, but we were able to get some Starbucks coffees and I got a ready to go pasta in a container for lunch.

The delay turned out to actually be quite a blessing in disguise. The girls and I ended up spending the day together getting to know one another and bonding as a group. We had fun swapping stories, and I teased the girls for their sport-like boy watching. 15 year olds are absolutely hysterical to watch scoping out boys. They had little code names like my friends and I used to for each different individual or group of attractive males they found. My favorite being, "The Herd" which referred to a young soccer team that the girls saw outside of a café. As we were waiting at our gate the girls and I were sitting at separate tables for a few minutes and Anna turned around once and said to me, "I'm pretending like I'm talking to you so I can look at the boys behind you." I told her I would take a picture so they could scope out the boys a little longer. The picture is below :P

The exhausted girls scoping out boys (and making silly faces).

Once we were finally in Hamburg Jay our point person here in German was waiting with a sign at the exit. He drove us home in one of the school's vans and although He and I had a wonderful chat about the differences in schools in Germany and America the girls all passed out for a much needed nap on the way to Marienau. The host families were excitedly waiting for the girls at the school when we arrived and were promptly swept off and taken to their new homes for the next 2 weeks. Jay then took me on a tour of the school and brought me to my extraordinarily large 2 level apartment where I will be staying, which has a beautiful view of the forest from my living room.

My Living Room

He then dropped me off to get dinner in the school cafeteria (this is a boarding school and the dinners are quite nice), where I met several of the staff members and had a wonderful meal with them. After dinner I retreated to my apartment and after about 30 minutes of sorting through my things and then discovering my American Netflix account now works in Germany without a proxy server, and that this account essentially to my delight switched to a German account and all the shows have German dubbing, I passed out watching Clueless in German. I woke a few hour later changed out of my day clothes and slept again until 3 am which leads us to now when I am sitting in my room at an absurd our blogging the minute details of our trip whilst watching Arrested Development in German.

Here's to a wonderful 2 weeks in one of my favorite countries in the world.

Tschüss!

Kathleen

Germany Trip 2k15!

2015-06-21T07:18:00.001-04:00

This summer I'm escorting an amazing group of students for a two week cultural exchange trip in Germany. I will post about our adventures for the benefit of our families and friends back home.

New family

2013-04-24T05:08:00.001-04:00

Well some of you know already, but many of you don't. I am switching host families. Things with my current host family just simply aren't working out for either of us. I have found a new family that I really think will suit me much better. We seem to be a better fit overall. My new family lives in the 7th district in Vienna, which for those of you who don't know is very close to the city center and has lots of restaurants, shops, and just generally has a very cool vibe.

My new host mother Martha is a single mother with a 2.5 year old daughter named Aisha whom she adopted from from Mali. Martha and I really seem to get along well with each other, and I have been going visit and play with Aisha in my free time. We.already seem to be getting along very well as well. So far we've gotten to color, do puzzles, and play telephone together.

On the 20th of May I will officially move into my new home and will be staying until June 2014. I plan to get a student visa to study German after my au pair visa expires. Another six months away is difficult to wrap my head around now honestly. I miss you all back at home so much and would love to have visitors! My host mother has said that I am allowed to have visitors stay with us. So hey a free bed and cool cultural experience all in one! She thinks it would be great to meet my friends and family from the states or elsewhere. I'm very excited about this new opportunity and living arrangement, and can't wait for it to begin!

Miss and love you all!!!

Kathleen

Prague

2013-03-29T07:41:00.001-04:00

So yesterday I started my journey for my first trip to Prague! I got up early, did some last minute packing, had breakfast with my host family and then left for my bus. It seems however that I truly am my mother's daughter and my grandfather's granddaughter, because I showed up an hour and 45 minutes early... I knew what time my bus was set to pick up passenners, but even though I went and found the stop the night before, I was paranoid that I was in the wrong place and would miss my bus. For those of you who don't know my mother or grandfather they are perpetually worried about the same thing. In fact one of the favorite stories of this paranoia is when we showed up to my sister's first communion 2 hours early and crashed a wedding ceremony...

So I showed up massively early, but I did get some things accomplished -read bought myself snacks for the trip. At 10:20 the first of the other passenners started to assemble and at 10:40 our bus arrived on schedule. In your minds eye I'm sure you see a typical coach bus with tacky 90's fabric with a faint hint of old wafting to your nostrils mixed with the inevitable smells that one might associate with eastern European countries. This image is completely off from what I experienced. The bus was a bright yellow coach that looks modern in its design. On the inside were very nice and large leather seats with touch screen tv's in the back of each so that every passenger could watch a large variety of movies or shows in English or Czech. In the wall by my seat was a plug where I could charge my devices and there was Wi-Fi in the bus! Finally to top it all off they served free hot drinks (coffee, tea, or hot chocolate). So basically this was the best bus ride of my life, and it only cost 35€ round trip. I highly recommend the Student Agency travel line for any of your traveling needs into or out of Prague.

I arrived in Prague at about 3:40 ish and thanks to my friend Tobi who did me a huge favor and printed out my tickets and hostel booking confirmations (which consequently were apparently about 5 page emails each) I had amazing step by literal step directions from where the bus dropped me off to the front door of the hostel. After waiting in quite a long line at check-in (it's Easter break/weekend) I finally was able to check in to my room. I'm staying at the Plus Prague Provinzi. It isn't in the city center, but I have had several friends stay at the Plus Berlin and figured this would be a good bet for a decent hostel. I'm staying in a 4 person mixed dorm, although for my first night it was all girls. Hoping for the same luck the next few nights (since they have all left), but either way it's a good room. It's very clean with nice large lockable wardrobes with 2 single beds and one bunk. It also has great Wi-Fi service in the room, so good that I can Skype from my cell in my room. The only complaint about the room is that the shower floods very quickly. Making showering a race against the clock kind of situation.

After getting myself settled and calling my parents to tell them I'm alive I met my roommates for the night. They are studying in Madrid for a semester and for their Easter break they are/have been visiting a new city almost everyday! 12 cities in 12 days! Since I am on my own and they were very cool, I went out with them them and we saw the old town square and Easter markets. We met up with some of their friends who are studying in Prague in front of the astronomical clock. Christine (one of my roommates)was beside herself with excitement in seeing it in person. She has been obsessed with this cock since she saw it in a national geographic kids magazine when she was 10. So. We met their friends at the clock and went with them to the Cafe' Louvre.

The Cafe' Louvre is a well known traditional Czech cafe' and it has amazing food. I had a dish that they simply called on the English menu Roast Beef in Cream. It was one of the most amazing dishes of food I've ever eaten. I paired it with an out of this world beer called Bernard

. It was a dark beer that looked like a thick syrup. It was thick and kind of heavy, but absolutely delicious! After the meal I honestly couldn't eat anymore, but everyone else got amazing desserts. Two of the girls split the most amazing Apple Strudel I've ever seen. Yummmmm! After dinner we went to Wenceslas Square and walked out to the metro. Such a fun night with my new hostel friends.

International Faith Day

2011-07-20T18:44:00.012-04:00

International Faith Day is a greatly anticipated event celebrated worldwide by approximately 10- 20 people (up to 40 on good years) on July 21st. It was founded on July 21, 1951 when Saint Robert of Cleveland and Saint Virginia of Cornwall herded the faithless geese to the holiest of holy Bethesda, where the geese were cleansed of their avian sins with the help of the glorious purple sponge.

Every year since this glorious date 10s and 20s of people have celebrated this day with much pomp and circumstance. The Parade of Violets with floats of geese made of purple flowers and other purple vegetation is held in Pittsburgh where the holiday is most heavily celebrated.

The traditional garb of the day is a leisure suit in any shade of purple, E.g. Violet, Lavender, Lilac, Amethyst, Aubergine, Royal, Eggplant, Wisteria, Mauve, Biloba, Lotus, Cabbage, Heliotrope and many more! Combining patterns which are made of these shades on a silk shirt with the holy leisure suit has become a popular addition for its most dedicated of celebrators.

In 2011 the chairwoman of the event (AKA the Glaube) moved the main celebration to San Francisco, where revelers have congregated for the past week in order to prepare for the celebration.

This will be the first time San Francisco will have hosted the event and the organizers say they will wow the Berkley and Haight-Ashbury crowds.

This year's event will cost upwards of 100 million MDN , half paid through taxes (at national, regional and local level) and half by private entities, mainly K.Andrews Bank, Yoj of America (based in Arlington, VA, however it is currently starting up a new West Coast branch in the San Francisco Area) and Bobbykins National.

Ups!

2011-07-19T08:48:00.001-04:00

So until just now I have not thought about the possiblilty of a Blogger app. I'm going to try to post some shorter blogs using this before I leave. Which by the way is 10 days... As much as I miss all of you back home, I don't want to leave. It will be super depressing when I have to drive everywhere vs. walking to the closest S-,U-Bahn or Bus to get where I need to go. I have not missed driving in traffic.

The first pic is me waiting on my class to start lol. Lol I'm a little bored... The second picture is of my classroom that is empty except for this kid named Johannes.

Montag, Montag, Alle warten auf den Montag!

2011-07-19T04:34:00.010-04:00

SOOO Last night I had a lot of fun with Heather again. My plan had been to walk home, but then she said she was going get dinner at the best döner place in the city (which is Mustafa's Gemüse Döner off the Mehringdamm U6 &U and I had to join. The döner was AMAZING! I have never liked the chicken döner as much as the dönerfleisch (lamb and other meats) döners, but this was AMAZING. The chicken was really well seasoned and they not only gave me the shaved meat, but Heather said I also got a full grilled chicken breast!!! I was just devouring it so I didn't even notice. The salat (<--- german spelling) was good lettuce with carrots and chives, red onions and and other veggies, The onions had some sort of great sauce on them, and CILANTRO! The sauces were the best sauces I've ever tasted on a döner and the FETA... OMG the feta had DILL in it! It was AWESOME! The cucumbers and tomatoes were also fantastic quality. THEN they put grilled peppers, onions and potato slices on it! BEST DÖNER EVER!!!!

Since heather had never seen Prenzlauerberg and I have been dying to go back ever since our excursion there in my second week, we headed in that direction after eat our döners. It took me a while to get my bearings though. The last time I had been in Prenzlauerberg I was doing a scavenger hunt type of excursion in a down pour, so I had spent most of that walk looking at my feet and not learning my surroundings. HOWEVER we did find Anna Blume, which is where I wanted to bring Heather. We got some amazing crepe and had another very long conversation. Anna Blume is a really cool cafe' in Prenzlauerberg, which my professor had sent my group to on our scavenger hunt. We were to go and ask the people inside what Anna Blume meant, and it was a poem. I think I have the poem somewhere in my facebook album. They have amazing crepes there and during the downpour we were in during our scavenger hunt, it was a fantastic stop out of the rain.

Unfortunately we had forgotten we had gotten out of class at 6 so our sense of time was off. I still am not used to the sun going down so late, So it felt more like 9 when we realized it was 20 to midnight and the U & S-bahns would be closing soon. We sped walked to the U-bahn we had taken there, and it was closed. So we were freaking out a little bit, because our homes were VERY far from where we were and walking that wasn't really an option. So we decided to try the S-bahn at Alexanderplatz. However on the way, we saw the Rosa-Luxembourg U was still open and we took that to the S1 and went home.

It was a crazy night and I had a lot of fun, but I def need to spend the rest of the week in studying. Heather and I have completely different schedules EXCEPT on Mondays and Fridays. We have decided we will be putting alarms on our phones from now on, so that we get home at a reasonable hour lol.

btw the title was inpspired by Rebecca Black's having a new song out... (seriously???? why does she have ANOTHER song???)

Kathleen ♥

Auf Wiedersehen und Hallo!

2011-07-17T15:13:00.011-04:00

Last Friday everyone left as I told you it was the end of the program last week, and most of my good friends are now back home in their respective home countries. We had a Creative Project and Farewell day with FubiS that day as well. This is why I have had that video posted all over my FB profile. It took us a week to put together (quite an intense week of editing for me) and SOOO worth it! All of the groups had really great projects. Ours (Anna Band, Hillary, Rory and I) was of course the video which is meant to be a day in the life in each of the types of accommodations offered, but with a humorous twist. Rory really put the humor into it lol. Nicole, Autumn and Ham did a really cute children’s book of a bear wandering through Berlin (the bear is the city “mascot”). Holly and Chris did short movies showing what things were important to them and how they had spent the past 6 weeks. And last but not least, Arly, Davis, Derek, Matt and Jacob did Bahnopoly which was a trivia game for Berlin where we had to answer questions about Berlin and German vocab in order move forward spaces toward the Hauptbahnhof to win. All were really nice projects.

OUR project however was however shown to the entire FUBiS program at the Farewell ceremony (It was the only student project shown from ALL of the classes in the program!!!) where Rory performed it live! Not only did our class LOVE our video and Rory’s performance, but the program and its directors and CEO’s loved it! It was an absolute hit!

Rory's Performance

The final scene in the video is my personal favorite. After the exam on the last day of class, I stayed in the classroom to work on our video. Claudia our Professor also stayed. It was a really nice day though and Claudia decided she wanted to go out onto the Balcony outside our window. Our classroom doesn’t have a door that lead out to it, but just our window. SO Claudia decided to climb out the window! I thought this was hysterical and as she was preparing and putting her things out there, I prepared Anna’s flip cam and got the wonderful shot of her climbing out the window. SO at the end of our film as the students are walking in it looks like Claudia is trying to escape! She had NO idea I had taken this video and nearly collapsed she was laughing so hard, when she saw it! It was great! After the presentation, we had a free luncheon and I said SOO many goodbyes. I did NOT like that at all! I am going to miss all of them so much! I already do!

After the lunch I went with Nicole out to Friedrichshain and got a few drinks. Watermelon man cocktails are REALLY good btw! Nicole had never been to this area and so I showed her the graffiti and Simon-Dach-Straße. We then went and walked the East-Side-Gallery and took lots of pictures and signed the wall! It was a REALLY great way to end my time with her here in Berlin. We took the train back and she had to leave. That was the first time I REALLY felt upset about everyone leaving. I know I whined the week before, but that is when it really hit me. When she walked off the train, I was SOO upset! Thankfully she lives in Pittsburgh and I’m going to go visit her when I get home! After leaving Nicole, I went back to my dorm and saw people still around and felt a little better. I cleaned my room packed up my things and said a few more goodbyes. The next day I moved into my new place.

This week felt a little weird. Through Monday I had FUBiS friends still kicking around and my friend Rory even stayed with me 2 nights. I’m pretty glad he did, because it would have been a bit lonely and pretty awkward those first few nights had I been alone with my crazy landlady. He and I spent last Sunday walking around Mitte. We started at Friedrichsstraße and then made a big circle to the Museen Insel (museum island) ran into a flohmarkt (which because it was on the Museen Insel was super expensive), wandered through the Insel, down to Gendarmenmarkt and saw the German and French Churches there. We then headed toward the Tiergarten and walked through it on a path parallel to Straße des 17. Juni . It was a super hot day, so the shade on the path was MUCH appreciated. It was a really nice walk though, because the Tiergarten is just beautiful. Then we got to the Siegessäule and paid our €2,50 student fee and climbed to the top. It was super hot and in the stairway it was super stuffy, but at the top it was totally worth it! You can see the whole city from up there! Absolutely Gorgeous! The top was pretty crowded and the side with the shade was even more crowded lol. We stayed in the shaded are for a while and then headed back down.

We then headed through the Tiergarten to my favorite place in all of Berlin, Café am Neuen See! I have visited this café EVERY time I have been to Berlin. The first time was with my cousin Julia, when we met the very flirtatious eastern European men and had fun learning how to row a boat. The second time was with Marybeth and Anna. It took us FOREVER to find the café again! I remember us walking by the zoo thinking we had run into a Jurassic park type park; because the sounds we were hearing were not anything any of us had ever heard before. We finally found it and had beer and pizza and took a rowboat out as well. We got stuck again as I had with Julia in the low hanging vines and tree roots. It was awesome. We went there several times actually and got Pizza and bier, except I always got fresh peppermint tea. With Rory I had a new experience; we ate at the cafeteria style portion of the café and got pizza there. We sat at the long picnic style tables and sat with an old German couple. They were very nice! Possibly the funniest moment with them was when the man was trying to explain to us the type of people that live in Neu Köln. We had just been on an excursion there the week before and knew it has a high Turkish population, and the immigration issue is a big deal in Germany as well. SO when the man told us that Juppys lived there Rory and I just looked at one another thinking, “OMG what have we gotten ourselves into here!?!?!” We thought that this was some sort of derogatory term for the Turkish in the area. Thankfully the man was trying to explain the term to us and then we realized he meant YUPPIES!!!! I guess there is a part of NeuKöln (which is a Bezirk aka borough in Berlin) that is filled with young rich yuppies. We were SOOO relieved when we realized what he meant. He and his wife were very nice. His wife and I teased Rory and the man about the amount of smoking they do.

After a wonderful chat in German with this couple we headed off toward Ku-damm to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche. It normally looks like this:

However they are renovating it right now and it looks more like this a big aluminum box... lame. I had seen it a few times before with Julia and on an excursion last time with FUBiS, but Rory had not. We did get to look inside though. Then after that we headed back to my apartment. I asked my landlady if Rory could stay another night, because his plans changed suddenly. Once I had the OK from her (we had a backup plan of him sleeping on the floor of another friend in our Goerzallee dorm, but my couch was far comfier), he and I headed out to see the House of 100 beers restaurant in Charlottenburg (another Bezirk). OMG it was SOOO good! I got a Wahrsteiner and potato salad and both were delicious. Rory got himself a Guinness (something from home lol) and knackers, which are long skinny sausages. We went back to my apartment again and then went straight to sleep. I had class in the morning and we wanted to get him out early so he could start planning a new trip for himself. I saw him again that night and met a new friend, whom he had met in his hostel, named Alleigh! She is super sweet and was spending just a few nights in Berlin. She headed to Amsterdam and Rory ended up following her there. I’m excited we met her, because I now have another new friend in Cali and she has a beach house I am welcome to visit!!! YAY BEACH!!!

It was sad when Rory left because he was one of my closest friends here. He and Nicole were probably the hardest to say goodbye to. I love you all, but I spent most of my time with them.

Once Rory left and Matt dropped off his things (Matt also was headed to Amsterdam with his brother and dropped off his huge luggage since he is staying for term 3. He didn’t want to carry that around Amsterdam, so I let him leave his things in my room under my bed), just about all of my friends had left the city. I had my classes during the day and I wandered around the city a bit after my classes, but for the most part this week I have been in my beautiful new apartment reading or studying. I watched several movies on my TV in German and OF COURSE watched the World Cup games. My landlady found me fairly hysterical. She and my roommate hadn’t been around the apartment when Rory and I watched the US beat Brazil so they were not prepared for my sport hysterics, Lol. For those of you who have seen me during a game I really care about, you know what I’m talking about. I curse the opposing team to the netherworld, and rejoice like a child given an insane amount of sugar and do everything short of a cartwheel when my team does something good! In between these fits of anger and joy, I pace the room, bite my cheeks, and play with my hands (Lacrosse girls remember the pacing room I needed on the sideline? I need that for every sport! lol).

Outside of the soccer games I have met, just a few new friends at my new school D.I.D. Their names are Heather and Callie. Heather is a PHD candidate at Vanderbilt and got her undergrad at GW, SO ANOTHER DC LOVER!!!! She is from Chicago, but looooves DC. She is getting her PhD in German history (early modern). Her thesis is pretty cool, but a little difficult to explain. Callie just moved here from Dallas, TX to live with her Berliner BF and will be working as a pre-school teacher at the Berlin Metropolitan School. She told me they are looking for another teacher for the pre-school. I’m considering this possibility, although since I don’t have my certification yet, it would be a long shot. I met her on Friday and then after class Heather and I went out to Friedrichshain, one of my favorite parts of Berlin. We went to a café/bar on Simon-Dach- Straße (this is the 3^rd week in a row I have brought someone who had never been to Simon-Dach- Straße to this street/area after my Friday classes!) It was just supposed to be for a drink, but we ended up sitting at the café from 4pm until 1am! I don’t know that I have ever sat for 8 hours and talked with someone I just met before! It was a great conversation. We talked about German history and the ridiculous things that happened in our classes this week, we reminisced about DC, talked about our families, our past and current relationships, PhD programs that are good for German History, and SOOO much more. I don’t remember most of the details of our conversation, but it was really fun!

This Weekend I have basically been a lump on a log. I have sat and studied and read. I did have one annoying thing happen though. I need to buy groceries yesterday (Saturday), because all of the grocery stores are closed on Sunday. I also needed to pull out money at the bank, because I was down to my last €2. I took the train ride down to Rathaus Steglitz, because that was the closest grocery area and ATM I know of. It is about 4 stops on the S-bahn from my apartment. I got to the bank and then realized I had left my wallet with my public transportation pass and my debit card back in my room! I was FREAKING OUT! Had I had my pass with me it would have just been frustrating, but I since I didn’t that meant I would have to ride the train without a pass back to my apartment! The way the metro system works here is based on the honor system. They expect you to have your pass on you. On the busses you must show it, but the trains no one checks. HOWEVER there is control. It is super rare, but they are plain clothes officers who periodically check the trains, and if you are checked and don’t have a pass it is €50 on the spot or a trip to the police station! I not only didn’t have the pass, but no little amount of money to even buy a one way ticket to be safe. My only hope was that I didn’t have the awful luck that my first time seeing the control this Berlin trip would be on this short ride home. Thankfully it wasn’t and I went back got my wallet. I Went BACK to Rathaus Steglitz, got myself some more quarkcreme and jam and headed home. I bought some strawberries at the stand by my apartment and made the best dessert EVER! A small spoonful of jam, quarkcreme and 5 large strawberries cut up. It was divine. If I can’t find the quarkcreme I need to make this when I get home I will be SERIOUSLY sad. Quark btw is a fresh cheese that has the consistency of sour cream and cream cheese mixed together. The flavor is kind of like that as well. That may sound awful to some of you, but I swear it is awesome! Quark is also naturally SUPER low in fat, so it as an awesome lowfat healthy dessert!

Ok well I am having a hard time paying attention to the US vs Japan game while writing this and I have been looking forward to this all week so I’m going to end this here. I don’t know why I can’t make these things shorter! I ramble too much lol. 4 ½ to 5 pages per post is a little crazy. OK well Love you all! See you soon!

Kathleen ♥

OK people I have read through this several times and every time I find awful grammar errors. It sounds almost as if i can't make proper sentences! But I'm going to chalk this up to being here.... It happened last time I was here too. AND I was writing this during the US vs Japan game! SO don't judge me too harshly ;)

Hoppla!

2011-07-07T09:10:00.002-04:00

So I’ve missed telling you about 4 weeks of my program and have once again only made 2 posts to my blog during that 6 week period. My class with Fubis is ending in the morning (I’m writing this at midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning). I have my final exam in the morning and then my creative project is due Friday. Then I am done with FUBiS... as an enrolled student this summer anyway. I am moving out of my prisoner-like living conditions at Goerzalle Student Wohnheim (this is a running joke with those at our dorm, we visited an actual Stasi/Nazi/Russian torture prison and in the Stasi portion of the prison it actually seemed as nice if not a tiny bit nicer than our dorms. The main difference being we were not forced there, we can sleep on a mattress and in any position we choose, and have quite a bit more fun and human contact… Although, our communication outside of school prior to people getting handys (cell phones) was almost as bad as the prisoner’s knocking communication system.) on Saturday at around 1ish and into my knew and unknown apartment in Shöneberg. The new apartment is on the same street Marlene Dietrich was born and Albert Einstein lived in Shöneberg when he lived in Berlin.

It has quite an awesome history, which you all know is my favorite part of Berlin. I’m not far from a lot of really amazing historical sites in my new apartment and as my prof. Claudia showed us on one of our excursions (which I will blog about later I swear) there are tons of signs all over Shöneberg that depicted laws against the Jewish community, which was quite a large part of the population in Shöneberg. The signs are absolutely ridiculous and truly horrifying when you think of how many there are and all the small things that were prohibited that added up to a horrendous life in the ghettos and then deportation. People just let these laws occur to their neighbors and friends. It is really hard to comprehend that thought process. Anyway there is a LOT of history in this area and well in Berlin in general.

I love this city so much, because it has such a deep and fascinating history. Although I’m already just a bit homesick and DESPERATELY wish to see my friends, family and MY RUBY, I don’t know how I’m going to get myself to leave this city. I really love it. It works like it should, it makes sense, it has a ridiculous counter culture attitude that fits perfectly within the main culture. That sounds like it doesn’t make sense, but I promise you here it does. The main culture of the city is so open and accepting that counter culture becomes a celebrated norm. Of course even with this open attitude, a good deal of these Germans have a stick up their butt. I was actually told to shut up on the bus ride home last week, and I was VERY cognizant of the fact that the bus was quite quiet and kept my tone low. The crazy man who sat in front of me just was ridiculous. Others on the bus were on my side and told me he was an idiot, but he still is not alone in his curmudgeoniness (btw this man was in his late 30s not an old dude!). My friend Hillary has been accosted by 2 older Germans while trying to get off the bus. The first of which stood in front of her as her stop came up and told her she wasn’t going anywhere “Sheißkind”! What you should know about Hillary is that she is possibly the shiest, quietest and most polite girl you could ever meet. She is small and blond and wears almost exclusively black. There could be nothing that she had done to offend this man except for existing. HA I started this paragraph looking to praise the wonders of Berlin and all the things I love about it, but instead I talk about the curmudgeons! Alles in Ordnung!!! Typisch Deutsch! They say Germans don’t have normal small talk they just complain and talk about their wars. I don’t think this is really accurate since I don’t believe I have ever heard my uncle Marco talk about the wars, but it’s kind of funny.

I really do love the city. It’s kind of dirty and backwards, but it is truly amazing to behold. When you think of what the city was less than a century ago, it really is quite amazing to see what is here now. There are literally 2 mountains of left over rubble from the war in the city limits! I think what I love most about this city is that everything has a purpose and meaning. I feel like that is something missing in my life. There is no “meaning” in sterling and as much as I say it to anyone outside the city I’m not actually from DC so any meaning that city has prior to my birth doesn’t quite feel like it belongs to me. My parents aren’t from the city. My dad grew up around it just like I did, but his family was in the city quite a bit more than ours is. Still I don’t feel like there are parts of the city that are mine and what belongs to me in sterling I have quite literally outgrown, my schools in particular. My friends have mostly moved away, (minus the awesome new ones I have acquired through Justin & Katie J) and I pretty desperately want to move out of my parents house and begin my life. I really would like to hang with my rubes (poppy I don’t care what that word means, I am going to call her that anyway!) forever and ever, but unfortunately as a new to the adult world and an entry level position worker, I don’t think a dog would work well in that environment. Anyway I love that this city has so much that means something! There is just about nothing here that isn’t the ghost or relic of something from their past. I’m living in this dorm and I’m quite sure this must have been US army barracks during our Berlin occupation. If I was offered a job here tomorrow I would take it and just not come back. That is how much I love this city and its history and color, and nature, and art!

Schöner Tag!

Wow that ended up being a little sad.... I'm not depressed I swear. I was a bit delirious, because I had spent the entire night editing video... but other than that I am ok. Today was a bit of an odd day. It was the the last day of real class and we took our final. I'm going to miss everyone in my class so much! We just are getting to know one another and there is no real drama, which is refreshing to say the least. B2 Class kicked major butt! Hopefully I will see some of you again! Ok well I must go work on my creative project again! Tchüssi!!

Ach So!

2011-06-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Week 1 - Ach So!

So it’s the end of the first week, and so much has occurred in the last 7 days! I have made LOTS of new friends and experienced Berlin in a very different way than I did last time. As many of my friends know I have decided to move up to the B2 class. I’m still not sure this was definitely the best choice for what it is I need to accomplish here, but I’m definitely going to become more fluent. We (my friends and I) are trying to speak German as often as possible. At times we just decide to go with English, but more than I spoke outside of class last time. OK So let’s recap on this week. Tuesday ummm I can’t remember anything in particular other than moving up in classes that happened on Tuesday. Actually wait maybe that was the day Rory, Chloe (a swiss girl in C1), Olivia, Derek another person although I can’t remember who right now and I all went out to Friedrichshain again. They had all gone on the Spree boat tour that the program set up for us. I was supposed to have gone as well but had transportation issues. Lol I seem to be having quite a few of those this trip. I am not remembering how the U and S-bahns connect very well and so I had decided to just take a bus…. BAD IDEA. As bad of an idea as trying to take a bus in DC during rush hour and attempting to get to your desired destination on time…. Mostly it was bad, because it was definitely Berlin rush hour when I took the bus. It took me an hour and a half to get somewhere that should never take more than 30-40 minutes to reach. GAHHH! Well I figured at that point the boat tour would be getting back to the pier when I arrived, and I might as well see if they wanted to do something in the city. So I sat with Olivia and her friend (who is the person I couldn’t remember before… but still can’t remember her name :/) and waited on the boat to get back. Olivia and her friend had been on the earlier of the 2 tours FUBiS had set up for us. When Rory, Derek, and Chloe got back we all went to a Mexican place. It was basically chipotle. Olivia and her friend have been here longer so they are a little tired of German food and missing home food apparently. From there we went to hackeschermarkt and sat at a restaurant couldn’t believe the drink prices and then left the table. Some of the group thought it was a little rude, but the rest of us refused to pay €8 for a drink just to be polite. SOOO from there we went to Friedrichsheim. By this point we had been wandering around for quite a while and some members of our group DESPERATELY needed to use the WC. So we just chose a restaurant that looked like it would be cheaper and had a few drinks there. We just had a beer or two at a restaurant and went home. We had spent so much time looking around for places to go most of the night was already gone, and we all had class in the morning. This was my first night actually staying up later than about 4 in the afternoon so I was beat.

Now onto Wednesday… Wednesday was another epic day in Berlin. I went to class had some fun there and learned that June 1^st is ascension day (which I already knew),that Germans get that day off, and that it is also Father’s day in Germany. The way Germans celebrate Fathers’ Day is getting a large case of beer and hiking and/or just walking around town, drinking and singing. Then at night the fathers take their sons out and buy them their first beer…. And then their 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th beers soon follow. In a nutshell German men drink and sing all day long in big groups and then get their sons at night and get them drunk. I think it is a pretty fantastic way to spend that holiday lol. SO after class Matt, Jacob and I (Jacob is one of the Jacobs I described last week. He is super tall and is as he describes a Medievalist.) went to the tiergarten to witness the holiday festivities. Matt is a little bit more adventurous than Jacob and I and he decided we were going to just walk up to a few groups and see if we could get invited to the festivities. The first group was nice enough; they talked with Matt for a while and explained the day to us again. We then moved on and found another group of guys playing a game with wooden blocks and batons (batons as in the batons used in a relay race, but made of wood). We watched for a while and then Matt again struck up a conversation. They invited us to play and told us it was called Wikingerschach which translates to Viking Chess (immediately thought of you Big Steve!). I have some video footage of it I will try to put up later, but basically there are 2 teams standing about 20 feet from one another. Each teach has about 6 wooden blocks in a line in front of them and one tall block in the middle that has a red crown. In addition to the wooden blocks on the ground there are 6 batons. There is only one set of these batons, because each team uses these to try and knock over the other team’s wooden blocks. When a block is knocked over, the team whom the block belonged to, on their next turn, throws that block before throwing their batons as close to the other team’s blocks as they can. Wherever this block lands is the new line from which the other team is allowed to throw from, which is always just a bit closer. Whoever knocks over all of the other teams blocks first then gets to try to win by knocking over the king block in the center. However to knock this block over you have throw it facing backward between your legs granny style. My team lost, but it was SERIOUSLY fun… although I’m sure that my long description was not nearly as fun as my experience playing lol. ANYWAY after we played a game we went with the Germans we had just met (who were all college students as well) to a sixties restaurant. It was American and the Germans had already planned to go there prior to our joining the game and they invited us to join them. We spent the evening just having fun talking to the Germans drinking beer ( I actually didn’t drink I was already quite tired from the night before) and sharing stories. We got their contact info and we’re FB friends with one of them now so we may meet up with them again.

I honestly just can’t remember what I did Thursday. Not that I drank so much I don’t remember or anything like that. It has just been a crazy week and I don’t remember Thursday. I feel like I did something, but oh well I’m sure I had fun lol.

Friday I had planned to go to the Goerzallee Welcome party… but I fell asleep. I met one of my flatmates though and he and I had a tea and got to know one another pretty well. He’s an Indian guy named Abul and he is just a cool guy. He’s promised to take me to watch a cricket match while I’m here! After my tea with Abul I crashed and slept until about 2 am. I had a lot of missed calls and texts from friends and then finalized my Saturday plans with Rory to go to Potsdam. THEN I went back to bed.

SO Saturday… all I can say about Saturday is that it was awesome. At about 11:30 Rory Jacob and I headed out to Potsdam to see the city. We walked through the main streets of the city grabbed some lunch and then saw the Nauentor (which we thought was a fake installation at first), the Jaegertor, and the original Brandenburger Tor. All three were nice to look at and interesting. Then we headed off to Sanssouci! I just LOVE sanssouci! We didn’t pay to go in but we wandered all around the parks and gardens. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day! We watched these absolutely adorable little kids playing with their parents in the shade of the Neu Palais (I’m definitely not sure of this name) and rested a while there. It was a crazy hot day and we all needed a rest from the long walks in the city and gardens. On our way back to the Potsdam Hbf, Rory taught us a word game. Each person in the group has to give a letter trying to not be the person who ends the word. The words can’t be less than 4 letters long, no proper names or nouns, and the person who ends the word loses the round and has to start the next round with a new letter. If at any point you believe the person before you is not actually spelling a word and is instead just giving a random letter, you can call challenge. If they have a word in mind and the letter they gave would once the word was completed be part of a correctly spelled word, then the challenger loses. If the person challenged has no word or the letter given would create a misspelling of that word, they lose. It sounds a little boring, but it is super addictive. We added some more rules as went, just to make it competitive, but they are essential to the play of the game so I will leave them out. SOOOO after we got home we went our separate ways and got some work done and rested. After about an hour or so I went and hung out with some other FUBiS people at a bench outside and we decided to get some dinner. We went to an Italian place not far from our dorms and omgosh was it delicious. I had already made a sandwich and eaten before I knew the dinner plans so I got something small and inexpensive. I can’t remember what I thought I was ordering, but what I got was snails in hot gooey mozzarella. HOLY CRAP WAS THAT GOOD! Chloe and I left a little early from the table, where a nasty political argument had broken out between some of the FUBiSers and german guy who is a flatmate of one of the people in the group. We paid for our food and made plans with other people mainly Rory, Jacob, and Matt to go out into the city. We went into the city with the people from dinner and the boys previously listed and had a great time at a happy hour in Kreuzberg. Chloe and I were the only girls in the group lol except Derek ;) who we met up with on the way and we all just had some nice girl talk, and had fun talking with the boys and watching Matt and Rory see which could finish a tall beer faster (Matt totally won btw under 5 seconds!). Rory and Chloe then struck up their own little romance lol and we began to head back to Goerzallee. Derek and I had fun chatting on the way home. Then when I got home I went straight to bed. I woke up around 2 in the afternoon Sunday morning, went to the silberlaube after a shower and much needed absorbent breakfast and chatted with my mom and Kelly. I SOOOO needed some girl talk with a friend from home. I miss all of you sooo much! Not having internet at the dorm is really very hard for me and I am definitely not a fan. Abul said he may be getting internet soon, since the person he was sharing with recently changed the password on him, So I might go in on it with him. We’ll see what happens. OK well that was my week! I hope it was entertaining and informative : )

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Kathleen

First Few Days in Berlin

2011-05-31T10:40:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I’ve been so disconnected and it is really off-putting. I tried to get onto the internet today, but my passwords weren’t letting me on. I’ll have to talk to the Fubis Admin people tomorrow. BUT enough about my internet woes, that as evidence of your ability to see this are no longer applicable. I’m writing this blog on Monday the 30^th. SOOO much has occurred since I last spoke with anyone. Let’s start with the plane ride.

So on Friday I got to the airport super early for my 1:55 flight. I got to the terminal and it actually said it would be leaving at 1:30, which seemed odd. Flights aren’t supposed to leave before the time the passengers are given. Well not one passenger had an issue with an early departure, because our plane was stuck in Cleveland until 4pm. When we finally got on the plane, it was just that a PLANE! It had 2 propellers and everything! I fell asleep almost instantly after takeoff, so I don’t know how the flying was in between takeoff and landing, but other passengers gave me the impression it had been somewhat of a living nightmare. I have to say if the landing was in anyway indicative of the rest of the flight, I’m inclined to believe them. I woke up minutes before it was time to touch down and the plane was wobbling. Then the actual landing just about gave me a heart attack! I had never hit the ground so hard during a landing. I feel like the pilot was either not used to this kind of plane or was just generally awful. Well after that terrifying experience I had to run to catch my next flight. We had landed at 5:40 and my connecting flight to Berlin was scheduled to leave at 5:55. Of course continental’s flights and attendants make no effort to communicate with one another and even though I ran the fastest I have run since I was 15, I missed my plane by ONE MINUTE! GAHHHH! So now, not only have I just woken up 15 minutes earlier and waited hours for my first flight, but I was going to have to rebook a flight at the help desk very groggy and disgruntled.

The people at the continental help desk in Newark are the most silent and rude customer service agents I have ever met! Having worked at Kohl’s and dealt with awful customers, I make an effort to be a good customer anywhere I go, but the woman that helped me was just ridiculous. I walked up explained the situation and she asked for my boarding pass. That was it for our conversation for about 10 minutes! I asked twice if there were any available flights that she could see for Berlin that night and she didn’t even acknowledge me! THIS IS AT THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DESK! I get customer service sucks, but really? A huge part of your job is to help reassure me that something is being done to help my situation. I know she heard me, because she would roll her eyes when I asked about the availability. Whatever… after about 20 minutes of standing at the desk in almost silence she finally spoke and told me I had two options I could either take a flight that went through London or through Munich. The Munich flight was later, and I was going to have to go through security again so I decided that was my safest bet. WOW was that a lucky choice! Due to the Volcano eruption most flights through London were severely delayed. It was an even luckier choice, because of how AWESOME my flight with Luftansa to Munich and Berlin were.

The flight from Newark to Munich was AMAZING! I was in the second center row of coach which is one of the best rows on the flight. The first row only has 3 seats and the 2^nd has 4, and I was on the end of the row, so I had SOOO much leg room! There was only one other person in my row and he was on the other end of the row with an aisle seat as well. I had a few glasses of the complimentary wine and after watching No Strings Attached (Kelly I totally chose that movie, because of you), I slept for 4 and a half hours. It was fantastic! In the last two hours of the flight I finally went to stretch and use the restroom. OMGOSH the bathroom was sooo cool! The bathrooms were DOWNSTAIRS! I had never been on a flight before that had multiple levels! There were 4 super well lit bathrooms that were super cleans as well. They were also the biggest on flight lavatories I have ever seen. I didn’t feel like I was in a tiny pee filled box at all! There was never a wait for the restroom and it was just fantastic in general. The food for both dinner and breakfast was delicious. I had roasted chicken on rice with cream sauce for dinner and a roll with jelly and butter, a chewy bar, and fresh berries for breakfast. I loved that flight. Luftansa gets 2 thumbs up from me! Continental… well I don’t think what I wish to say about continental is quite appropriate for this blog. Let’s just say continental and I are no longer friends.

So after an 8 hour flight to Munich and a one hour flight to Berlin, I had finally arrived! Now my greatest concern after exiting the plane in Berlin, was getting my luggage. After all of the ridiculousness of my flight situation I was worried that my luggage might have been lost in the confusion. Well my first piece of luggage (that had been checked by luftansa, but I had intended to keep as a carryon) was the LAST piece of luggage to come onto the carousel. I was LIVID! I went to the luggage lost and found desk and despite my boiling anger, I was again a good customer to the lady behind the desk. She found my luggage almost instantly… however it was only a digital find. For some reason my luggage had taken the very flight to London I had turned down and had been delayed in its arrival to London, which caused my luggage to miss ITS connecting flight. They told me it would be arriving at the airport at 7 pm and since I was in a dorm and not a hotel, my luggage would be delivered to me on Sunday. However I had no phone and they said I needed a phone number or to reply to an e-mail in order to schedule a drop off time. …. Really. I was so close to just being done with this traveling thing and having no phone number and no access to internet was going to keep me from it???? Well after taking the 90 minute trip to my dorm by bus, I went with some friends I made when I was waiting to check in (Nancy from the New School in New York and Matt for UD… btw aren’t they a CAA school and we destroy them in football every year?) to go get a sim card so I could call and give luftansa that information and finally get my luggage. It’s nice to actually know my way around this time! I am honestly shocked at my ability to retain that kind of knowledge. I have not gotten lost yet and have in fact been leading people around to get groceries and other necessities… and getting home from nights out ;).

Anyway I finally got my luggage at noon on Sunday an hour before I needed to meet with our guide to get us to the main campus for our orientation meeting. I FINALLY had soap and a towel and was able to shower. Oh glorious shower! It was sooo nice to get the awful plane grossness off of me after having been on the ground for 24 hours… So I went to the orientation and met a lot of really nice people there. Rory Mclearny (sp) who I found out lives on the floor just beneath mine, a Norwegian girl named Pauline and several others whom I will talk about at another time. Rory, Pauline and I sat together for the meeting which wasn’t too bad.

ACTUALLY when they showed the slide show at the end I saw SOOO many of my friends in the pictures! Stephanie Poucher I saw you in a picture on the Spree boat tour… you were actually in a few pictures. Mouna and Fiona, I saw both of you in a picture that has been at least one of your profile pictures. It’s the one where you and a lot of other FUBiS people are standing in a hallway together laughing and smiling. And Parker! I saw you in a picture as well. I’m not sure where it was taken, but you looked cute in it J

Back to the orientation. After our meeting in the Horsaal, we went and had ate at our welcome buffet. Last time the food was not that great, but wow the food this go round was fantastic! They made us chicken and vegetables in curry sauce on rice and a vegetarian lasagna. Both were absolutely delicious! Not at all typish deutsch, but a good hot meal all the same. I ate my meal with Rory and after finishing we went in search of an open grocery store. On a Sunday this really is a mission of sorts. All but, VERY few stores are closed all day on Sundays. We tried at Rathaus Steglitz, but as I had feared it was closed. Well as I always say, C’est la vie! He and I then trekked home, which I think could have been a lot quicker, had I really been thinking clearly (the jet lag has been getting to me); however it was nice to just walk and get to know the area again with Rory. OH btw although some of you may already understand this, I feel I should clarify. Rory is a boy. My Gilmore Girl loving friends out there, were I’m sure assuming the opposite ;) He’s from the UK, really all over the UK it seems. He was born in London grew up there, and lives and goes to school in Edinburgh, but is of Irish Nationality. Although to get back on track with the story, He and I walked and took a few trains and walked back to our dorm. It was a decent walk so he and I got to know one another a little better.

When we got back to the dorms we found my friend Matt from Delaware, drinking some beers with 2 other guys who are both named Jacob (I’m meeting a lot of Jacobs this year!) out front of Matt’s building. We hung out with them there for a while and made plans to go and get some drinks and food. Rory and I had originally hoped to just go to a bistro we had passed on our way back to the dorms and just chill, but the other 3 really wanted to go into the city. Rory had been here for a few days already and knew a few great places to eat and party. I am drawing a blank on where we went, but it was one of the areas I had not yet been, so I was excited. When we got off the train there was a kiosk selling beer and whisky and coke pre-mixed in cans. The boys all got a few beers and I got my typical Jack and coke…. And we drank those on the way to finding food. Yes, you can just walk around Berlin drinking beer and liquor and no one thinks anything of it. We got some AWESOME currywurst for dinner and the boys got a few more beers with dinner.

After a great dinner of good conversation and amazing food, we headed off to, as Rory calls it, the bottle shop. It’s just the liquor store, but I like the British way of saying it better. After the guys grabbed a few more beers and wine, we headed to this SUPER sketchy looking area, but it was totally fine. It was an abandoned warehouse district turned awesome gratified club scene. The clubs hadn’t opened yet, but we sat and drank a beer and looked at the awesome graffiti. Oh and we made a few buddies who were sitting on the platform near us who were listening to American rappers and doing awesome stunts. I had run out of euros, because I forgot all of the money that I had exchanged before leaving the states at my house. I also have been afraid to pull out more from my account, because I hadn’t been able to check my balance. Rory was really nice and offered me one of his beers and OMG I found a beer I like! I think it was called Farsteiner? I’ll have to ask Rory later. It is one of his favorites too. He gave to me after I found out how much I liked it and we just chilled talking and admiring the graffiti. We headed home after a while and got to bed so we would get up in time for our interviews.

Now we are caught up to today Monday May 30, 2011. Today was the day for our placement interviews. The professors talk with you for a few minutes and based on how well you speak German they place you in the appropriate level. I did ok in my interview. I walked out thinking it went really well, and then as I analyzed it on my way to Rathaus Steglitz to change some cash I had from home to Euros, I realized I had messed up a lot of my grammar. Ugh… Well my placement was B1, but the professor came up to me after our first class intro meeting and told me that if I wanted to move up to B2 after observing our class for a few days I could do so. It is a totally different book than I used last time and a different professor, So I’m sure I’ll learn new things, but I am tempted to move up. The people in my class seem to be a little umm…, well they just don’t know German very well. They all are also about 2-3 years younger than me, whereas all of my friends I have met thus far are in B2 and most are either upperclassmen or grad students like me. We’ll have to see.

I skipped one portion of the day though, after our interviews Matt and I went on the campus tour to familiarize ourselves with the layout of the main building. We then went to the Mensa and grabbed some lunch. Wow I had forgotten how good the big Mensa was!!! I didn’t get anything all that special, but sooo typish deutsch. Matt and I both got a bockwurst, Sautéed spicy onions, and potato salad with a half liter of chocolate milk. OMG SOOOO amazing! We only had to pay €3,30 (in Germany they use commas and not periods, so in the US that would read $3.30) and we absolutely stuffed ourselves. I could not finish more than about half of what was on my plate and I felt a little sick lol. Matt wished he had stopped sooner, because we were both completely stuffed and had to walk back to the Brentanostrasse classrooms by 2pm to get our placements. After we ate we met up with Rory and a tall red headed guy from texas (kinda the build of a FB player, tall and beefy lol) and another guy who goes to emery college… I unfortunately don’t remember either of their names. We walked the whole way back, and It seems Rory and I were the only 2 that didn’t wimp out and take the bus lol. Matt and the Red headed guy got on and then realized the very next stop is where they needed to get off.

Anyway so we got our placements and had our intro day and then went to use the computer lab for a bit. I had foolishly not brought my laptop so I had only a few minutes to check my FB on Rory’s computer. Some of the 16 notifications and E-mails were nice to see, others were a bit devastating. As many of you know my dog Ruby has been sick for the past week or so, and had multiple seizures in the week leading up to my departure. I found out from my sister’s status and a message from my mom that Ruby my beautiful and wonderful little sister of a coonhound has pancreatic cancer. My dad has her on a diet that keeps her blood sugar up so she won’t seize, but pancreatic cancer for a dog is a death sentence. I’m hoping I’ll be able to see her again when I get home, but I have not heard from my mom yet what the next steps we are taking will be. I got this news and was really just heartbroken and decided to go home and just get away from all of the chaos of FUBiS. I took a long way home, which allowed me to walk with my thoughts for a bit.

When I did finally arrive home I changed out of my jeans, scarf, and cardigan into shorts and a T and slept. I woke up at around 10 pm my time, got redressed and went to see if the boys were out at the bench. They weren’t, so I came back up to my room and began writing the blog. It is definitely therapeutic to write all of this, and I think having come with no friends from home I will have more time to write these blogs. None of my friends have made the decision to get a phone or sim card yet, so unless we make plans before we separate there is no chance we will see each other again until the next class day. I don’t really mind that, but when you are looking for someone, it become a bit frustrating. How did we function before cell phones??? I mean really I can’t figure out how people got together! Did they all just sit at home waiting by the phone to figure out what was going down? Mind boggling. Anyway so that is a brief (hahahahahahaha this is 5 freaking pages in my word doc here) synopsis of my first 3 days. I think in the future I should be little less specific. I basically gave you all complete play by play. I only excluded the conversations and a few of the walks home and to shopping. Btw I would like to point out that I have been making a TON of guy friends this year. The majority of the people I hang out with at home and abroad are guys…. Definitely a different trend for me, but I like it J OOOOH and Pav I see signs constantly for Bitburger and it makes me think of you. Miss you all sooo much!!!

Tchüssi!!!

Kathleen

It is now Tuesday May 31^st and I am adding to this post before I update it. We do not know if ruby has pancreatic cancer that is just what my sister understood from what she had been told. She is apparently doing much better. I also am very heavily debating moving up a class. OOHH and the place Rory took us was Friedrichsheim. Ok well Tchüss!

Berlin 2.0

2011-04-26T02:15:00.006-04:00

I'm going back to Berlin and FUBis Again! Although this time I'm going for 11 weeks!!! I'm doing this on a tight budget and am going to find a way to make the most of every euro I have while I'm there. As it stands my budget will be €10/day or €70/week, for food and entertainment expenses... All else is paid for. It won't be much, but let's see what I can do with it!

My goal is to do a weekly Vlog that shows the highlights of my spending and activities. I want them to be fun and light, but also informative so I can show travelers on a budget that they can do it too! I ambitiously want to say that I will blog everyday and chronicle my spending, but I know myself too well... Given that this blog lasted a whole 2 days last trip I think that is asking a bit too much of myself. I think setting up for a minimum of 2 blog entries per week will be reasonable. It will force me to not only keep you, my lovely friends and readers up-to-date, but help me remember later all of the great things I did on this trip :)

I really would love for this blog to be interactive with anyone reading this. Feedback and comments on any post are welcomed along with any advice on how to save money or some inexpensive activities that I haven't done. So I'm going to start this portion of the blog with a request:
For one of my 11 weeks in Berlin I will not have a dorm to stay in, So I am looking at other options. The dorm is available for me if I MUST use it, but I'm hoping to string together some couch surfing stays and save some of the dorm fee to spend on something fun! So if anyone knows of a friend in Berlin that would be willing to allow me to stay on their couch for a few days to a week I would greatly appreciate it!

That's it for the first Blog See you soon!

Whoa A Lot of Germany!

2009-06-21T06:44:00.003-04:00

So it has been a little over 2 weeks and, as many of my friends have reminded me, I have been once again slacking with the postings. But I am here now :) OK soooo the reason I have yet to make a second post is because I have been one busy girl! So last time I told you all a little about my loft and was going to meet up with MB (Marybeth) and Anna for orientation. That was quite the experience! Alexander dropped me off at the Silberlaube (FU main building) so I wouldn’t get lost and be late for my first day, but gave me the simple instructions on how to get home alone. After some time of trying to figure out how to get into the building (because Alexander had something about it being under the building) I noticed a group of students being led by a man with a Fubis name tag. SCORE! So I followed them into the building and was able to get my orientation folder. After I got all of that it seemed like we were just supposed to sit around meeting one another and waiting for the big intro meeting. So I began my search for Marybeth. I looked in the line that she should have been in and no Marybeth. I wondered if she was late, lost, in the bathroom, or all of the above. THANKFULLY I found Anna wandering around looking just as lost as I was. I asked if she had seen Marybeth, and she too said no. Hmm getting a little worried… I guess I was just super early, but it felt like we had waited forever. She was only about 15 minutes late, because Perot, a boy she by chance met on her way here noticed she looked lost, asked if she was from fubis and then found the way there together. The rest of the orientation while interesting and useful to me would be rather boring to you all so I will be kind and skip it. The next morning we (Marybeth, Anna, & I) we all had very early interview time slots. I mean in reality 8:45, 9:15, & 9:45 isn’t that early, but when you have sever jet lag all things that early are evil! Anna and I met up at Onkel Tom’s Hütte, got to our interview rooms on time and even grabbed a bite to eat. Meanwhile I hear Marybeth’s name called and see no Marybeth. ONE HOUR goes by and I am just a tad worried. I go on facebook though and notice her status says she is coming and it was posted an hour before, so ok she must have made a mistake on the U- or S- bahn. 30 more minutes go by and I STILL don’t see Marybeth. I occasionally check in with the ladies running the interviews and they still hadn’t heard from her. I write Marybeth a message telling her where Anna and I will be and how worried I am. This is all made much more frustrating by the fact that none of us has a working phone. Finally as the SECOND HOUR rolls around I check in with the Fubis ladies and they tell me yes Marybeth is up giving her interview! OMG relief rushes over me. Of course it would be Marybeth that gets lost and walks the wrong way off the U-bahn for an hour and 30 minutes. It was totally fine and she made it before interviews were over, but omg my heart was pounding! OK so result time (drum roll………) Marybeth, Anna, and I all had wanted to be in beginner 2. I really wanted to fix my grammar so I wanted the lowest class I could take. Well Anna and Marybeth got their wish and are together in beginner 2. I on the other hand did better than I thought in my interview and was placed into intermediate 1. At first I was upset, but I think it is a perfect fit for what I want to accomplish here. The people in my class are really awesome, and I think I am going to make/making some good friends here.
First day out!
We only have class 3 days a week for 6 hours, so Tuesday Maryb, Anna and I all went out. First thing we did was buy phones, so of course we spent our first few hours of freedom in a mall :-P. After that we went and found the tiergarten (literal trans: animal garden). It is like central park in NY. Historically it was filled with animals for the kings, Kaisers, or other aristocracy to hunt. As Julia (cousin) explained to me last year. I was totally caught off guard though when while trying to find my favorite café from last year we ran into caged animals such as llamas and exotic birds. We also kept hearing this crazy sound that Anna decided could have only come from a dinosaur (We later realized this was the backside of the Berlin Zoo). After our exploration of Jurassic Park, we FINALLY found my café! Café am den Neusee. We sat and shared pizza, which was absolutely amazing (!!!) and some beers. I have found that really will never like beer. So from now on the rest can have a beer and I will have wine or mint tea. Maybe I just need to go back to Landenhausen and drink that beer again. After we ate and drank, we decided to do the rowboats, just like Julia and I did last year. Unfortunately no eastern European men were yelling catcalls at us, but the ride was just as hysterical. Since we had foolishly drunk the beer prior to entering the boat we nearly tipped ourselves over due to our poor coordination. Anna and Marybeth got us caught a few times in the bushes, which was fantastic! Don’t worry, I definitely messed us up a bit too… LoL. At the end of the ride I my whole torso hurt from laughing so hard. I really enjoyed that beer! All in all the day was (to steal a word from Marybeth) phenomenal!
Class!!!
Ok so my first day was phenomenal! I love my professor and my class! We all seem to click really well together. No one is incredibly better than anyone else so it feels incredibly comfortable and relaxed. Claudia (professor) is super patient with us and gives us lots of good and helpful constructive criticism. I have made a few friends in my class so far. I haven’t hung out with them yet outside of class really, but that will come… So far I have turned in 2 journals, one essay, and learned konjuntiv I and II. We also have gone on an awesome outing all around Berlin on June 17th which is a very important day in German history, because it is the day East Germans held a strike against the DDR. We went to the memorial on that day and it was covered in roses and other flower arrangements! SUPER COOL! I will be stealing pics from friends of this stuff because I didn’t find my camera in my purse until the end of the day… typical me; it was in there the entire day! We went to a bunch of memorials for communist rebels, a train station (Anhalter station) where 9.600 Jews were shipped to concentration camps during WWII, a haunted bunker, the place where Hitler’s bunker formally stood, and Treptower Park. The last was definitely one of my favorites, just because it was really well huge and beautiful (in an odd way). It is a memorial built by the Soviets to remember their fallen soldiers of WWII. There are lots of quotes from Stalin on huge marble blocks, which on the sides have scenes from the war carved into them. Then at the end of the park you see a GARGANTUAN Soviet soldier carrying a Nazi baby and stepping on/crushing a swastika. Definitely interesting! The class stayed for a while after Claudia left and enjoyed the day of sunshine. Oh I forgot to say how INSANELY cold and rainy it has been here! It’s JUNE and I feel like it is March! But this day was the first gorgeous day since we have been here and we all enjoyed lying on the monument and absorbing the sun. I personally absorbed a little too much and my face got burnt.
Ok So there has been a lot skipped or missed in this post so far so I am gonna try and back track a little to get everything in. One of the days, I don’t remember which, we all went to the German history museum, which was fantastic once again. I will have to go at least 1 more day to get the rest in though. It is an absolutely massive museum! Anna I got to unter den linden first, because Marybeth’s family had prepared her a huge breakfast and caught her just as she was walking out the door to leave. So Anna and I went down to the Brandenburger Tor and saw an awesome breakdance street show. Anna thinks she got it on video, but we aren’t sure lol. We then walked to the museum, and after a few hours of waiting for Marybeth (who apparently did show up, but had forgotten her phone and thought we were supposed to meet downstairs) we went out to get some food. We ate some sausages on a TINY brotchen. Marybeth saw us and got one herself. Her sausage was super long and looked ridiculous in the tiny bun lol. Totally wish I had a pic of that! We ended up going through as much as the museum as we could before 4, because we had been invited to eat cake with Marybeth’s host family. Kristin is the mother, Peter is the father and they have 2 children, Felix (13) and Charlotte (11) (LOVE THAT NAME!). We ate the cake, a wild cherry jelly cake that Kristin had made from scratch. Then Charlotte hopped on her UNICYCLE and she and her mom brought us to the wall. They showed us where it had been and gave us a little background on the neighborhood. After we took some great pics, Anna had to go, so she could cook the fish her guest mother (Rosemarie) had left out for her. I stayed and went on a walk to the park with them and played on the trampolines with Charlotte. This girl is absolutely adorable!!! She started to pose and play model which Marybeth and I completely indulged and took lots of pictures. Afterward Kristin invited me to dinner and Marybeth and I helped by slicing and dicing the carrots. The meal was OMG fantastic! Pork in some sort of gravy (made from the juices) with mushrooms and then carrots and potatoes! After dinner Kristin and Peter pulled out the Pastis’ a French liquor that tastes like anis and we talked a lot about German and American history and politics. It was SOO fun! I love hearing this stuff from the German perspective. I then stayed the night with Marybeth, given it was so late, I the Pastis’ is pretty strong, and we had already had wine.
Speaking of nights of drinking, our first Thursday, Anna, Marybeth, Perot (Marybeth’s savior from the first day), and I went out to Oranienburger Strasse. That evening was truly PHENOMENAL! We found a totally random and AWESOME Indian restaurant and had some great food and cheap drinks there. Perot was getting a bit tipsy and very outgoing. Then we went a few doors down and got a few more cheap drinks there. And Perot got much tipsier. After a while there we decided we ought to go home, but when we got to the S-bahn station the gate was closed. Completely shocked we eventually got a taxi and went back to Marybeth’s. Perot was just ridiculous at this point and kept insisting on going home. Since he lives not far from me which is about a 40 minutes by train from marybeth’s we made him stay in her apartment until the trains opened at 4:30. He apparently still had all of his homework to do.
On Tuesday Anna, Marybeth and I went to the zoo and took hundreds of pics of the awesome animals. We also found ourselves getting very lost and at the end of the day we found everything we wanted to see except Knut. How sad is that I went to the Berlin Zoo and no Knut . Well not too bad because it was fantastic anyway. After trapsing the whole day through the zoo we decided we wanted to get more pizza and drinks at our fave café. I instead of beer got a fantastic Pfeffeminztee which had fresh mint floating inside and honey in a jar. It was absolutely delicious!
OH OK so again with Marybeth’s family. This past Monday, they invited all of us (me, mb, and anna) to see a play at Charlotte and Felix’s school. The play was hysterical even though I didn’t understand the words most of the time. At the intermission we went out to get some snacks and they were serving WAFFELS with nutella and applenut sauce. It kind of tasted like apple cider. Totally delicious and unexpected, Thank you Kristin! After the play, Charlotte invited me to come for a “show and tell” in her English class with Marybeth. We were basically going to teach a class on America and our two states. We gave the presentation Friday and the class LOVED IT! They asked tons of questions and were really excited about talking to us. Definitely one of the best experiences I have had here! Later that night I went with my family to see Maibritt’s choir concert. It was really cool. They had the band and choir perform in the same evening. They sang lots of American songs from musicals, for example Mama Mia, All I Want, and Summer Days. They also sang a Jewish song, which is pretty significant. 60 years later and Jewish songs are being performed by German students. After that we (the fam, their friend christiane, and Maibritt’s friend lili and I) all went out for drinks.
OK soo I haven’t put everything in order here, or even gotten all of the wonderous details, but this is the best of what I have done thus far. I will try to update every few days from now on. The biggest problem I am having with it is the unsteady internet… even now I am having problems connecting. Ok well check back soon for more updates and pics

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!
Tschuss!

OOOOH also if I am being negligent once again in my blog Marybeth is doing a Fantastic job with her’s and I am in almost all of the posts. SOOO check hers out at http://petescma.blogspot.com/ her blog has lots of those fun details mine is missing right now.

And it Begins...

2009-06-07T05:35:00.005-04:00

OK sooo i had written quite a bit here, but then Firefox crashed... soooo I'll write a shortened version. On Thursday I got to the airport with my mom at about 3 pm. Security and everything went super smooth and once I got to my gate I got to talk to a few friends before I left. All in all pretty good. I get on the plane and after the flight attendants announce boarding is finished I realize no one is sitting in the seat next to me. BOOYAH!!! So I start getting settled for the 8 hour trans- atlantic flight when not an hour in air the pilot comes on and tells us we are having a technically difficulty and they are not sure what is wrong, so we are going to return to Dulles immediately. When we land several fire engines swarm under the plane and disappear. The pilot tells us that our breaks are too warm so the firemen are hosing them down. 20 minutes later we taxi to a gate and several firemen come down the aisles and rush to the back of the plane. People start taking picture and calling family to let them know what's going on. About 20 minutes after that we are told that we are going to leave the plane and should take all our belongings with us. So we get off and wait or about 3 hours and they us that we are going to leave tonight, but the problem was with the oven so they are giving us 20 dollars to use at the restaurants in the terminal. I go and get some pizza and drinks down the way since everyone went to all the closer places and the lines were ridiculous. As I am walking back they say over the loudspeakers that is is final boarding call, and everyone starts to freak out! They had never had a first boarding call! Turns out the attendants thought it would be cute or funny to do that to get us back faster, and that this was hopefully the final boarding call for our flight. haha. SOO finally we do get on the plane and everything is working just fine. I couldn't sleep, but that had nothing to do with anyone else. In the last hour of the flight the begin to tell us what and where our connecting flights are. My flight from Copenhagen was now supposed to be at gate D4 at 14:15 ( or 2:15 pm). When we land I go with basically the rest of the people on my flight to the transfer center to get my new boarding pass. Unfortunately my US phone wasn't working as I had hoped and wouldn't keep a signal. The German phone did work, but I had no minutes on it so I was stuck and had to somehow let my host family know when my new flight was. ( I had e-mailed them before, that my flight had problems and would now be arriving later.) I did eventually get to text my dad the info so no worries, but at the time I had no idea if he had received it and shared it with Alexander (dad in host fam). I get to the gate and wait 3 hours with another girl from my flight headed to Berlin. We chatted a bit she was really nice. We notice that no one is coming to our gate and it is almost time to leave so she runs to look at the departures board. We then both realize that our plane is at a gate at the complete opposite end of the airport and we only have 10 minutes to get there! So we get all our crap and haul some seriously exhausted ass to the other gate. Thankfully we see as we get closer that it is full of people and have not yet begun boarding. The attendant tells us after she swipes our passes that our flight is being delayed due to... you got it, TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES! So we just look at each other and laugh. Thankfully this wait was only about half an hours so not too bad. Finally I get on the plane and arrive at Berlin-Tegel with shockingly all my luggage and as I exist the baggage area Alexander greets me and takes some bags. So in the end not too terrible lol.

The Horns live in Zehlendorf, it seems kinda like a suburb of Berlin, but since Berlin is HUGE it fits well within the limits. They have a 2 story home with second story used for students like me and as Elisabeth's office. The parents (Alexander and Elisabeth) sleep in the basement, the kids (Jannik 16 and Maibritt 13) sleep on the middle floor with the kitchen and living/dining room, and I sleep in my loft upstairs over looking the awesome backyard (pictures to come soon). Alexander has so far done all the cooking and is REALLY good at it. The first night he made 4 diffrent pizzas from scratch, dough and all! And last night he made this really awesome potato, bacon and egg dish, kinda like quiche with no crust. It was OMG awesome and for breakfast this morning we had rolls with cheese, Nutella, butter, and or strawberry jelly. Some of you may have notice I skipped a few meals, that is because I slept until 4 yesterday. Jet lag really bothered me lol. Today I am going to meet up with Marybeth at the Uni (short for university) for our orientation. OK well That is basically all that's happened so far... bis später!

Tschuss!!!

Packing!

2009-06-02T15:30:00.001-04:00

I am so not a fan of packing! But I love the shopping :-P. I leave in 2 days and I just can't believe it! It still feels like a dream that I'm going to Berlin for 6 weeks with Marybeth! I have been dreaming of going with a friend since I started german in 7th grade!

ANYWAY... I have been packing for quite some time now and now that both of my bags are almost completely done I just want to get on the plane already! I have a few things coming in the mail still, aka my new camera. I might change my smaller bag for a slightly bigger bag. I have 30 more lbs. I can use with that bag if I want. The only real problem I am having began this morning. My computer decided to go nuts and will not allow me to use internet. EVEN if I have a wifi or ethernet connection! Hopefully my dad can figure out why it is doing this. BUT I found out I. Can still use my phone's wifi in germany so I can still blog and facebook! However, when I get over there I am only going to speak german except for on the 4th of July and during blogging. I figure one day of full english will not undermine the trip :). Well I best be off to finish off my last bits of packing. Check back frequently for updates from Deutschland!!!

One year later

2009-05-25T14:50:00.000-04:00

Last year's trip was absolutely amazing! Truly a memory I will will last a lifetime! I got to see the small town german life and festivals and then I got to visit the big cities of Frankfurt and Berlin. It was an absolute whirlwind of a trip. I can never thank the wohnigs enough for those experiences and their generosity. A lot has happened since last year though. I have taken more german courses, I have been accepted into my Education Program, I turned 21 and my little sister got her driver's liscence. About a month ago my official favorite Aunt Joy, offered to send me to Berlin for a six week program at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. I am beyond excited about this trip and opportunity. I am going with one of my very good friends Marybeth and another german student Anna, and I am certain we are going to have the most amazing time ever! We are all staying with Berliner Host families and can't wait to meet them!!! I am going to blog on my trip as often as I can since will have very limited access to everyone from the US this year. I have 10 days until I leave, so until then I will be packing and planning like crazy.

RIP Robert Crosser,Jr.

Meine Erste Post im Deutschland! (my first post in Germany)

2008-05-09T18:24:00.004-04:00

OK, so I have been a bit negligent with my postings, but hey I have been a busy girl :) In the three days I have been here I have done sooo much! It feels like I have been here a long time already! So I guess I will start with the flight. I sat next to this old, but nice Bulgarian man. He could not speak a word of English, but his grand son who was sitting in front of him was able to help when I couldn't understand what he needed. I had wanted to sleep, but unfortunately when the Bulgarian man slept he moved a lot and his elbows kept hitting me in the stomach... I got about 45 minutes total on the plane. On the plane I flew over Ireland, England, and Brussels before entering Germany. It was really awesome! When we landed I got off the plane and actually went on to the runway. From there we took a shuttle to area where we went through passport control. I sat next to this nice old woman on the shuttle who I wish I had stuck with the whole way. I instead followed these other American teenagers who seemed to be going to the same place I needed but then I realized they were headed for a connecting flight. Thank God I noticed it when I did or I would have gone the completely wrong way. I asked a lady at Auskunft (information) where I could get my luggage and she pointed me in the right direction. Once I got to baggage claim I saw the old woman I sat next to on the shuttle pulling my bag off the belt and looking at it to see if it was hers. I told her that it was mine and she was excited to see that she had helped. I waited a few minutes with her and helped her find her bag on the belt. Hers was much heavier so I am glad I could help her. After that I thought I was going to need to go through a lot more customs, but I just kind of walked through. On the other side, I immediately saw Karin Wohnig, (the mother of my uncle) and waved. She and Co (? I have no idea how to spell his nick name, but his true name is Andre). He can speak English pretty well. Anyway we went to the car and drove the hour and a half to Landenhausen. The drive was absolutely beautiful! There are a lot of fields of yellow flowers called "raps" that they use for car, food, and animal oil (and no i have no idea why animals need oil). The flowers up close look like ragweed... i wonder if that would work better for Americans than corn? although allergies would go nut :-P Anyway we first stopped in a small town called Lauterbach, so we could get lunch. They had wanted to bring me to a German restaurant but we were too late, so we went to a Greek restaurant instead. I found it hilarious that the first thing the waitress did was bring us a shot of licorice schnapps. Co didn't drink his because he was driving so he offered it to me. The shot was good, but I didn't want to right off the bat look like I am some sort of wild child who drinks shots all day, but when I refused the second his mom downed it! Ordering lunch was funny because I thought I had ordered a gyro and instead I ordered a HUGE plate of meats! As I have learned over the past few days in Germany portion size is not small! That is a definite myth (or at least in the small towns). The mom and the grandma keep trying to make me eat more and more! After lunch we went directly to their house in Landenhausen. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen! It is seriously straight out of the forties!!! I mean it has some modern touches tv, computer, etc., but she doesn't own a washing machine or a dishwasher. One of the refrigerators is as big as the one I have at school for the dorms, and the other is only a little bit bigger. they don't really use the first one only the second. Everything else is kept cool in the basement. The decor is truly retro, but I find it chic it in its own way. They live at the top of the highest hill in Landenhausen and the view is truly magnificent. You can see for miles & miles!!! I unfortunately forgot the cord for my Camera so until I either find one or get home there won't be any pictures. I then took a nap... that went well much longer than I meant it to. When I woke up I found Karin with a small meal ready for me in the "wintergarten" or what we would call a sun room. We talked (with some difficulty) about the house and the animals that were running around outside the house (dear, birds, etc.). Then I met the next door neighbor, "oncle Hans". He was Marco's (my uncle, sue's husband) English teacher. It's funny he has an extreme British accent. He came over to watch the soccer game with Adolf (Karin's husband) I cannot remember the team's name right now but they won :) ... After the game we all went to bed where I slept until about 6 am.

DAY 2
At about 11 Ralph (Marco's middle brother) came and dropped off Nele (his 8 month old daughter) at with us. We went on a little tour of Landenhausen with her in the stoller and then to Oma's for lunch, where we had fish and potato salad (more like potatoes au gratin with dil). On the tour I got to see a lot of animals and the cemetery where I saw the graves of several generations in their family. Then we went to the church which dates back to the 1600's. Everyone in their family had been baptized and confirmed there. When we got to the Oma's I met her and Opa. They are both very sweet people. We all played with Nele on the floor. She loves to roll on her stomach and then back again. After lunch we went back to the house, which was a feat, because Nele was crying and I had to rock her back and forth in the stroller. Also I said earlier they live at the top of the highest hill in Landenhausen. Pushing a stroller up that is a bit difficult! Then we all took a nap again mine was too long... this jet lag is not agreeing with me. I ate dinner again with the mom and then Ralph his girlfriend (?) and their other child Jonas came and we played soccer and colored for about an hour. Jonas is a kid with a lot of energy! He is really cute though. I couldn't understand a word he was saying! He is only three so neither of us are very good at German :-p ... It is now about 1 in the morning here and I am getting VERY tired so I am going to go ahead to sleep more to come tomorrow!

Today is the BIG DAY!

2008-05-05T16:02:00.002-04:00

Today is finally the day! I leave for the airport in less than 2 hours, and I will be in Germany at 11:45 their time (they are 6 hours ahead of us)!!! I said in one of my other posts that if you want me to send you a post card to post your address here on my blog... DO NOT POST YOUR ADDRESS here!!! Instead either e-mail or send me a facebook message with your address.

Ok well I need to go and do my final check... MISS YOU ALL!!!

Almost the BIG DAY!!!

2008-05-02T00:40:00.004-04:00

So I am completely in euphoric shock mode right now :) I just can't believe that on the other side of this weekend is Germany! I mean it just seems surreal... right now I am packing my apartment up, and Monday I will be in Landenhausen! I have soo much to do in one weekend! I'm nervous and excited... more excited than nervous... I just have been dreaming of this trip for as long as I can remember! I mean in 7th grade Katie, my bff all through high school, and I were talking about a graduation trip to Germany, and now it’s actually happening! I can't even imagine how amazing it is going to be when I get there. I am going to be really experiencing true German culture, not just the big city life... I am staying in a little village with a ton of amazing history!!!! (yes, I know I am using an inordinate amount of exclamation points, but I am really excited :)

This is going to be one of the most intensely anxious weekends of my life... I feel like a little kid at Christmas time!!!! :-D

Who is Kathleen?

2008-04-21T02:15:00.016-04:00

Hi my name is Kathleen, I am 20, a college sophomore and live just outside of Washington D.C., ... Any who I am keeping this blog to stay up-to date with my friends and family while I travel the world for the first time this summer. I have only left the country once and that was to Canada when I was 10, so that barely counts.

I look forward to getting comments from everyone over the summer!

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Last year all of this was true I had never been to europe, and was a 20 year old sophomore. Now I have spent 3 fabulous weeks in Germany and plan to go for 6 weeks with a friend for the FUBiS program. I am also now 21 and a junior.

Can't wait for the fun to begin :)

Love you all!!!
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So I'm back to try to do this blogging thing again! I'm now 23 and I'm headed back to FUBiS. I have received my degree, so this is more for fun and learning... no worries about the credits this time :) Although I do want to do well in the class lol.

I won't be going with any friends this time. Although I may meet up with some for a few days here or there, nothing is certain right now. My goal for this trip is to improve my German and immerse myself fully in the language and culture. I will be taking the intensive courses this go round and will have less time for touring Berlin. Thankfully I have seen a good deal of the city, so I can just revisit my favorite spots and spend my limited touring time finding spots where the locals really love and just enjoying the wonders of Berlin :)

Questions?

2008-04-21T01:50:00.002-04:00

If you have any questions you want to ask me while I'm on my trip leave them here :)

I'm going to try to get back to everyone as soon as possible, but while I'm in Germany the postings may be more spaced out... internet is apparently pay per minute there and I don't want to run up the Wohnig's bill.

Gift for the Wohnigs

2008-04-21T01:33:00.007-04:00

A digital picture frame! Seriously, I am so excited to give this to them! They are housing me for free for three weeks, and refuse any sort of reimbursement. I am going to load a bunch of pictures of their grandson/my cousin Noah and my Aunt Sue and Uncle Marco onto it. Pictures say a thousand words in English or German! :-D

If you are family looking at this, don't tell them ;-)

Where am I going?

2008-04-20T16:00:00.009-04:00

This summer I will be staying with my Aunt Sue's In-Laws, the Wohnigs, in a little German village called Landenhausen for 3 weeks. That's about an hour northeast of Frankfurt. I am so excited about this trip! I will be meeting up with a friend of my Aunt's in Fulda named Katja, who has this adorable 2 year old little girl. Hopefully I will also be meeting up with my cousin Julia and go to Berlin with her! So these are my plans so far for Germany.

After this big trip I am going to Chicago! I am going to be a nanny for my Aunt Sue. I am going to be helping her out with my adorable cousin Noah and the soon to be baby Wohnig all summer. I will be speaking almost entirely in German so that Noah becomes bilingual. His daddy already speaks to him solely in German, so I would just be another German voice. :)

Anyway those are my plans for the summer!

Dates:
Germany: May 5th- 27th

Chicago: June 3rd- August 13th4

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Above was my first trip to Germany. I have since gone back to Germany and completed a 6-week course in Berlin with the FUBiS Program. It was an amazing trip and is one of the most special and life changing events in my life. I now having done both of these trips still yearn for more Germany. I am returning to Berlin this summer to do another course with the FUBiS Program. However this time I will be taking classes for 6 hours M-F, instead of M,W,F like last trip. I also will be staying for the second summer session this time and will be in Berlin for 11 weeks.

I think that this trip will be possibly even more amazing than either of the first two. Since I am going alone, I will have an amazing freedom that I had a small taste of when I went backpacking over a weekend during my last Germany trip. I can do exactly as I wish, when I wish to do it! ... as long as it is not during class hours ;). I can't wait to get there and begin my new adventure!

Two weeks until the big trip

2008-04-20T14:13:00.004-04:00

Two weeks until the big day! I'm a bit nervous about it, because I have never been in a foreign country (well Canada, but that hardly is a huge difference). I'm also going alone, which for me is kinda a big deal. The only place I have traveled alone was to my Mimi's! But I'm REALLY excited, this is going to be an awesome experience!

Leave me comments and send me e-mails. I will be spending a lot of time alone exploring neighboring villages, sitting at cafe's, so if you know of any good songs or books I should buy let me know :) I'm really going to miss you all!!!

BTW send me your addresses so I can send you all postcards from Germany!