Phew!

I feel like I had the longest weekend ever! It was definitely a great one but I was so busy the entire weekend. On Friday, for a project for one of my classes, I went to the Olympic Stadium that Hitler rebuilt for the 1936 Olympic Games. I was amazed at how condensed all the areas were: the actual stadium (where the Bundesliga games are played!), the swimming pool, training fields, hockey center, and May Field were all right next to each other. I guess I have never really been at the site of Olympic Games, but I always assumed that they were more spread out throughout whichever city was hosting them. It was really interesting to read about the history of the complex and what uses Hitler had for it. I was unaware of it, but Hitler was obsessed with architecture and was actually very good at it. I read that when an architect drew plans for the Olympic Stadium, he had a very modern design that would have been made out of all glass. Hitler apparently hated this design and threatened to not show up to the games if it wasn't changed. So another architect improved the existing design by adding natural stone onto the existing plans, making it look much less modern. Another thing that I learned was that Hitler wanted to shake hands and congratulate all the international Olympic champions, but refused to shake US runner Jesse Owens' hand, because he felt that blacks were an inferior race that had an unfair advantage in sports. Instead of publicly refusing to shake Owens' hand (which would have been internationally criticized), Hitler chose to shake none of the champion's hands and just privately congratulated the German champions.


It was very interesting because the next day, I was at the stadium again, but for a soccer game. The vibe was quite the opposite - everyone was drinking, singing, cheering, and sometimes swearing! It did remind me of big football games in America, with all the die hard fans and cheering. It was so much fun to be there and enjoy the game with Berlin's home team Hertha BSC, even though they tied.


Also this weekend, Sally and her sister Brittany came to visit me! I was so excited to see her and I had such a great time visiting with her and showing her around Berlin. I took her to a good Mexican place that I was just told about, called Delores. Let me tell you, there is a massive shortage of Mexican food in Berlin, let alone authentic Mexican! But this place was sooo good, it reminded me of home :]


Good thing that I did a lot of my homework before the weekend because I was going non stop. And I also had to make some purchases to ensure that I wouldn't freeze to death here in Berlin. I would like to say that its the combination of living in southern California all my life and having a naturally lower body temperature, but I think that I just can't handle the cold! I bought a pair of ugly, but amazingly warm wool socks and I'm debating buying another jacket. I really don't want to! I feel like it would be pointless but hopefully my body will start to adjust better and I can suck it up. And then, this Friday I'm off to Poland for a week! I'm very excited because I have never been and it looks like I'm going to be seeing a lot while I'm there with my program.