Ich bin in Berlin, aber ich bin kein Berliner.
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!