Tearful Goodbyes

I am crying again. These however aren't tears of sorrow, but of joy. I am thankful to have had such wonderful experiences and friends so meaningful to me that it makes me cry when I have to leave.

Somehow the time has come to leave Berlin. Soon it will be a wonderful memory. I am trying to wrap my head around the idea of the semester being over already. I still remember arriving back in August, jet-lagged, disoriented, and quite nervous. I had never been on my own so far away from home, and the idea of 4 months of this scared me. The first time I walked into the IES center and saw all of the faces of the people I would be taking classes with, I was completely overwhelmed. I am actually a fairly shy and awkward person in social situations with people I don't know. It took every effort I had to go in, sit down, and talk to everyone. I sit back now and marvel at how far we as a group have come in the last 4 months. Every one of those people has become a good friend and has contributed a unique element to my experiences in Berlin.

Now for many pictures of me saying goodbye to my friends and Professors (I will upload more when I get home):

Thanks again everyone. No one will ever take the place that you all have in my heart. I wish you all the best in your efforts and good luck with future studies. I am going home with a happy and thankful heart and absolutely no regrets.

I will leave you with my favorite blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and the rain fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Goodbye friends. Goodbye Berlin.

Weihnachtsmarkt!

Hello and welcome to Christmas-time in Berlin! I can't believe I only have one more week here. I have decided that I am going to miss Christmas-time in Berlin when I go back to the States. In Germany, "Weihnachten" means Christmas, so "Weihnachtsmarkt" means Christmas Market. There are several of them throughout Berlin (and all of Europe, for that matter), including three in the vicinity of Alexanderplatz. In case you are wondering what Alexanderplatz is, it's a popular connection point for the Metro Transit system here in Berlin. It is where many subway trains, elevated trains, and trams go. I live a 10 minute walk or only 2 stops away from Alex.

Back to the Weihnachtsmarkt: I'm not sure we have anything similar in the States, at least not in Minneapolis. I've heard Chicago has one, but I don't live anywhere near there. So, it doesn't count. Anyway, if you are curious what it is, take a look:

Granted this is actually the Weihnachtsmark in Vienna, it was basically the same thing. The sign reads "Viennese Christ-Child Market".

It may be a bit hard to see, but this is the main drag of this market. On both sides of the street you can see small huts where one can purchase food, glühwein, and many ridiculous gifts.

Here are some pictures from one of the Weihnachtsmarkts in Berlin:

This was the Weihnachtsmarkt near the Berliner Dome.

These stands were selling random things, such as birdhouses...

Now of course, the best part about the Weihnachtsmarkt is the food/drink situation. Before I came to Germany, I was told that I had to drink some Glühwein before I returned home. I promised that I would drink at least one glass. As it turns out, Glühwein is the traditional drink at all of the Weihnachtsmarkts, as some might say that eggnog is the traditional Christmas drink back home. So, are you curious what Glühwein is? Well it's delicious, that's what it is. Glühwein is a heated wine, typically red (but sometimes white). It's also spiced with things such as cinnamon, cloves, and whatever else that I can't name. In other words, it's really really good. I am going to try and find a good recipe to bring home with me.

But yet again, I digress...another great part about the Weihnachtsmarkt is the food. You can buy all kinds of deliciousness, mostly meat or sweets. On Alexanderplatz, there is a stand called "Fleisch" which means flesh, or rather, meat. There you can but bratwurst, hamburgers, and I think I even saw steak. Another great thing to buy are "Wafflestücke" which are little pieces of waffle coated in powdered sugar and I think you can even get Nutella to go with it. Awe. Some. Other delicious food included: Kartoffel something or others (Kartoffel means potato, but I can't remember what they were called), they were little potato cakes that were fried. I also ate some fried chestnuts, dried fruit, and chocolate-covered almonds. These are just some of the things you can buy.

Here are some more pictures of the Weihnachtsmarkt near the Dome.

I found the hat stand...

Sarah and I eating our Bratwurst mit Brötchen in front of the Berliner Dome.

I went oot and aboot with my friends Sarah and Katrina. We ended up going into the Berliner Dome, where we found out that we were allowed to go to the top of the dome and walk around the outside. It was a challenge to get to the top due to the very scary and rickety old staircases that went several floors up and were very easy to see over. These things in addition to to a very acrophobic me equalled a slow but steady climb to the top. Nonetheless, I was glad I did it because I got some cool pictures of the Weihnachtsmarkt on Alexanderplatz.

This ferris wheel lights up and looks cool at night.

After visiting the Dome (or as the Germans would say: after "wisiting"), it was already dark...which was only about 4 pm. Lame. It did, however, allow me to get a couple pictures of decorations that were lit up.

It was a good time, the needed stress release after finishing a 5 page paper about three different German poems describing Berlin.

Finally, while we were in the Berliner Dome, we happened to see a group of people rehearsing for a concert that was going to be held there later that night. I also happened to record some of it. The quality isn't the greatest, but it was cool. I'd recommend turning the volume down before you press play because it is quite loud. Listen to how everything echoes at the very end of the song.

See you next time...sadly the next update will be my farewell to Germany and Berlin.

Patrick Goes to a Soccer Game

So going to a soccer game was one of my top goals while here in Germany. For a while I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fulfill that goal (no pun intended, by the way). But then one day in my Deutsche Populär Kultur class, our professor asked if anyone was interested in going to a "Fußbol Spiel" and immediately over half the class raised their hand. So he set us all up with tickets to the match between Berlin and Frankfurt.

The train to the stadium was incredibly packed. Just when I thought no one else could possibly fit in our car, 2-3 more people somehow managed to force their way in. If I may digress for a moment, I must say that I have gotten over my "claustrophobia" of overly-packed public transit due to the ridiculous amounts of people on some of the trains and buses I've been on. Anyway, we managed to reach Olympiastadion without any problems, and no one got pick-pocketed. It was about a 30 minute train ride from where we were.

By the time we got off the train, I was happy to be able to breathe again. It was also about 20 degrees cooler. It was only about a 10 minutes walk from the train station to get to the stadium.

Olympiastadion literally means "Olympia Stadium" and is where the 1936 Summer Olympics were held...hence the name. This of course was about 3 years after Hitler had come to power, so there were racial tensions going on. Despite this dark time in their history, the germans are still proud to have such a stadium in Berlin.

Here is the stadium from the side.

And here is the monument that serves as a reminder of the '36 Olympics.

Outside the stadium I couldn't resist buying a scarf with the team colors on it. Besides, I felt like I was more in the spirit of the occasion by wearing the colors. Plus it is a cool scarf. Afterwards, we went in a took our seats. We were in the nosebleeds, but we still had a good view. Before the game started, I bought a Bratwurst mit Brötchen (a bratwurst in a delicious bread roll) and a .5 liter of beer. Everything was delicious.

This would be the stadium from the inside. The players were all warming up on the field.

What made this game so fun was watching all the fans. I thought people in the States were hardcore about their teams, but these Europeans are absolutely crazy. There are different sections of fans in this stadium. We were sitting in the "Fan Club" section, but below was where the hardcore fans were sitting. The Europeans are so crazy that the hardcore fan section has to be fenced off so that they don't go start fights with fans from the other team. This was also the section that started all the cheers. They were on their feet jumping, hollering, and screaming the whole game. It was cool to see all of their hands clapping in unison for some of the cheers. And there were times when they would wave/twirl their blue scarves in the air, which also looked cool.

This would be the hardcore fan section waving banners and cheering.

One thing I don't really understand is why these fans were so hardcore. Berlin is an awful team this year. They were beaten by Frankfurt 3-1. When I told meine Vermieterin that Berlin lost to Frankfurt, she was very angry. It didn't really matter that Berlin lost, the game was still really fun. If I could do anything again, it would be to go to another soccer game.

And here I am sporting my teams colors. Thanks for visiting my blog. Only 2 more weeks left here!

Herbst in Deutschland

Welcome back to my blog. In this very special double feature, you can see Germany when fall was in full bloom as well as well as an "Augenblick" back to my birthday.

23. Oktober 2009 was a significant day for me. 23 years ago on that date, I was born.

What made it exciting was that it was my golden birthday. Surprisingly, not many people in the IES program nor people here in Germany know what a golden birthday is. I had to explain that on the 23rd was my 23rd birthday, therefore it was golden.

My Vermeterin and roommate (from Minnesota!) baked me a chocolate cake complete with candles and a frosting "23" on the top. It was very nice and unexpected. They lit the candles and came into my room and sang Happy Birthday. Pictured are meine Vermeterin Katja and former roommate Amanda.

I ended up having a more "low-key" night. Rather than going to the bar or a club and drinking and dancing and inviting the possibility of drinking too much and not having fun, I met with a small group of friends in Kreuzberg. We bought some cheap beer and wine along with some snacks at the Kaizer's (a big grocery store chain in Berlin) just outside the U Bahnhof. We then proceeded to go to my friend Saundra's apartment. We all just hung out, sang, danced, and laughed a lot. At one point we made another alcohol run to Kaizer's where I danced in the aisles and took some pictures. Here are some good ones from those moments:

The birthday was fun. I even coined a new term: "Arschtisch". Someone asked what the word for toilet paper would be auf deutsch. Without thinking I said Arschtisch when I meant to say Arschpapier. Instead of saying "ass paper" I said "ass table", neither of which are correct. It was a good time.

The very next day, I went outside with the sole purpose of taking many pictures of the German Herbst. I really like the Fall in Minnesota, but the last few years have been lame.I was interested in seeing if there was much of a difference. I found that the weather is very similar, but the colors here are much more bright and..well...colorful. I walked to a park that is not much more than 5 blocks from the apartment where I am living. It is a beautiful park, and I got several good pictures. Take a look: