Gwen Studies Broads

Only ten days since my last entry, and yet so much has happened! I finished up all my classes-- pretty sure I did well on all my finals and things-- and now I'm in Berlin! During my last week in Lüneburg I spent a lot of time hanging out with my friends and watching fußball. In Hamburg they have a giant outdoor screen where they play the games live. We saw the American game-- they lost, unfortunately, but that's okay, 'cos I'm rooting for Germany. The German team is playing right now. I had been watching in the common room in my hostel and I thought it was over, but apparently it's not. I guess they're in overtime or something, but I didn't realize that until a few minutes ago. Oh well. Gooooo Deutschland!

Last Sunday I went to the beach again. I've gotten surprisingly tan for spending a summer in Northern Germany. Who would have thought?

I've been in Berlin since Monday, but today's been my first day without travelling with thirty people. While with the big group we took a big walking tour, went on a relaxing boat ride on the Spree (which was a bit too relaxing, I guess, since I fell asleep!), saw an opera (La Boheme! It was in Italian with German subtitles on a small screen on top of the stage. I was impressed how much of the subtitles I could understand with only five weeks of German), and saw the Brazil-Ghana game on a big screen (in Berlin, not Hamburg) which was very exciting, but I guess it was just too exciting for me since I --wait for it-- fell asleep. My friends took pictures. I'll try to put them up here.

I got to my hostel yesterday. I'm in a room with seven other people, but it's pretty big, so it's not really a problem. I got there last night at 9:30 and four people were already there and they were all sleeping. I tried being as quiet as I could, but I had to dig through my bags to find my pajamas and my toothbrush and all the various things I needed before bed. I did some reading and fell asleep around 10:30. I woke up this morning around 9 and they were all still sleeping! I didn't want to wake them up, so I stayed in bed until 11 or so reading. I got tired of that, so I got up and got dressed and went out on the town! I visited the German History Museum which was really interesting. I did some walking around, then went back to my hostel. It's really nice having a hostel so close to the center of the city, 'cos it means I can walk everywhere. I took a nap, then I went to watch the game. Now I'm here!

Oh, I almost forgot! Yesterday I went with some friends from the program to the Pergamon Museum. They have the Ishtar Gate as well as lots of Greek and Roman Art. We didn't have a lot of time to spend there, so I'll probably go back. I've been getting into most Museums for free with my old Met ID, which has been awfully nice. Then we all went out for Thai food-- it was sooo good! And the place is right near my hostel, so I'll definitely go back!

Posted by Gwen! David at 07:39 PM | Permalink

Who aced her German Culture final?

I aced my German Culture final!

As for my German language class, my lowest grade has been a 96, so I think I'll do fine in that class.

In my Comparitive Public History class, my final project was a tour of the local museum, so I did really well on that as well.

I still don't know how I did for the Spring Semester at MassArt though. I hear they sent out the grades, but mine hasn't been sent to my forwarding address. Oh well.

Posted by Gwen! David at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I was in the bathroom at school and there was this girl was a girl with a nosebleed in there too. She was leaning her head back, which (after having many a nosebleed) I know you're not supposed to do. I wanted to tell her, but I don't know the German word for nosebleed! So instead, I said, 'Meine Arzt sagt nicht diese Weg (here I tilted my head back) aber diese Weg (here I tilted my head forward). Diese weg (here I tilted my head back) ist nicht so gut für deine (here I pointed to my stomach).' (This all roughly translates to, 'my doctor said not this way, but this way. This way is not so good for your...) So then she tilted her head forward! Who knew I'd ever be able to help people in German!

Posted by Gwen! David at 03:52 PM | Permalink

Omigod, so in Berlin there's a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy themed hostel. And I'm staying there! For a mere 14€ a night! I'm so excited. Their website is www.heartofgold-hostel.de

I've pretty much finalized my plans for the rest of my trip, with the exception of where I'm staying once I get to Amsterdam (which will be on July 4th). I happened upon another really good deal (!) for train fare to Paris from Amsterdam, so I'll be leaving for Paris on July 10th. After looking at a million different hostels, I booked myself into the same one that I stayed in last time. The reviews for it on hostelworld.com aren't that great, but I didn't think it was bad at all. It was a little far from the center of town, but after living in Forest Hills for three years I've gotten used to commuting, and use my valuable train riding time for people watching. There are all kinds of interesting people to watch in Paris! The only part of my trip I haven't figured out is where I'm staying in Amsterdam. Hostels there are more expensive than the ones in both Paris and Berlin (which really surprises me), but I have a (distant) relative who lives there who I can hopefully stay with. Otherwise, got any recommendations for hostels in Amsterdam?

This weekend is the Lüneburg Staadtfest, which is pretty much a giant carnival in downtown. It looks like it's going to be really fun!?!

Posted by Gwen! David at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This past weekend was very nice. I finally went to the Marzipan Museum in Lübeck on Friday and it was so awesome! They had the entire history of marzipan and all kinds of old photographs from the factory. I want to go back when I know more German, because all the signs were in German, and my limited German skills don't include the ins and outs of marzipan production. Yet! On Saturday I went into Hamburg and saw the Hamburger Kunsthalle, which is the big art museum there. They have a really neat modern art wing and an entire floor devoted to the video arts which I'm not usually in to, but they had a room where they played this Andy Warhol movie about the Velvet Underground called "The Exploding Plastic Inevitable" which was really interesting. Sunday I spent most of the day in the park sunbathing and reading books. I've been doing a lot of reading since I got here. I finally finished "Crime and Punishment" and then moved onto "Life Before Man" by Margaret Atwood. I also read "About a Boy" and "Long Way Down" by Nicholas Hornby. My roommate has a thing for him and let me borrow them. Today I came across a copy of "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris, which I heard is supposed to be really good.

Today I booked my train ticket from Berlin to Amsterdam! The program I'm with is taking a field trip to Berlin at the end of June, and that's when the program ends, so I'll spend a few days in Berlin and then on the fourth of July, go to Amsterdam on the train for only 29€! Isn't that exciting! I still haven't figured out how or when I'm getting back to Paris, which I fly out of on the 15th, but I've got a while yet!

Posted by Gwen! David at 06:09 PM | Permalink

Once again it's been a while since I've updated, but you'd be busy too if you were in Germany! Heidelberg was very nice. I got to see the castle, but no where sold dirndls! I was so upset. Nevertheless, I will continue my search.

As I'm sure you're all aware, Germany has a lot of cultural differences that I've noticed since I got here. Some things are better than they are in the States, and some are worse. One thing that sucks is the windows; none of them have screens on them! It's such a pain. The windows here aren't at all like the ones in the States. Instead of opening up and down, they open out, like doors. I like having the windows in my apartment open, but bugs always get in, what with the lack of screens-- and this isn't just in my apartment. It's all over Germany. Another thing that I didn't know before I came here is that you always have to bring bags with you when you go shopping to places like the grocery store or the pharmacy. They don't give you bags, you either have to have some with you or they usually have some boxes left over from stocking the shelves that you can use. This especially sucks, because I usually use plastic bags instead of garbage bags, but I can't really do that here since they don't have any. Another odd thing about Germany is that they're really into recycling, which I had no idea about. All homes and public trash cans are divided into about five different sections for each different type of garbage, and it's very confusing. There are things about Germany that are better though. One thing is bread, the bread here has been really great. My preferred variety is Weltmeister Brot, which is a whole grain bread with poppy and sesame seeds on top, flax seeds inside and sunflower seeds on the bottom. It's a seed bonanza! Also, all the grocery stores here stock at least five different kinds of Nutella. There's the original brand, and then there are all kinds of other brands that I've never heard of. Another thing that's really awesome about Germany is the train system. It really puts Amtrak to shame. Oh, and something else that I've noticed that I think is nice; retail employees sit down when ringing up transactions. In all the grocery stores and pharmacies and things, the employees get to sit, which doesn't really affect me at all, but I think it must be nice for them.

Something that I think is funny here is the name of the main toilet paper brand. Happy End. And no, that's not just a funny translation, that's what it's actually called! A funny translation would be Pizza Hut. It's called Pizza Hut here too, but technically it translates to 'Pizza Hat' which I find quite amusing.

Right now it's 1:30, it's a beautiful day out, I'm done with my classes for the day and I'm going to head into town to see if the cute boy at the video store wants to go out for ice cream!

Möchtest du ein Eis mit mir?

Posted by Gwen! David at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)