Back to Berlin

Well I am finally back in Berlin after an amazing week! I promise I will put up my pictures soon, but I do have to warn you, it will be picture and story overload! There are just too many beautiful things that I have seen that I have to share with all of you. But as for now, I'm dead tired so I will be going to sleep. I'm very thankful to be back in my bed, even though its so cold here in Berlin! I think its 3 degrees Celsius which is about 36 degrees Fahrenheit. 


Oh boy.

Graze!

Sorry I haven't been able to update this but I haven't had much time and I don't think I can do any justice without pictures of Italy! But to keep it quick, Rome is beyond beautiful and amazing, I think I could have spent another 2 weeks there. And on a whim, I went and climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvius. It's a volcano. And I did it in a dress. It was so worth it.

Today is my first day in Ibiza and it's so pretty and relaxing, I love it! The weather is gorgeous and warm, I cant wait to go to all the beaches here. It's also very nice being here in Spain since I do remember some basics from the little Spanish I learned (counting from 1-10, gracias, por favor, banks). Compared to knowing NO Italian. "Grazie" was my favorite phrase.

Vacation!

I am DONE with all of my midterms and I feel like all my studying totally paid off, I feel confident that I did well on all my midterms, even my German test. I felt such relief after all of them knowing that I had all of the material down and now I am so ready to be on my vacation!


I leave tomorrow (Friday) morning at 6 AM! Yes 6 in the morning, so I will probably be waking up at 3 and getting to the airport by 4 am. I land in Rome and I then on Tuesday were flying to Ibiza. I want to definitely try and make it to Florence as well and hopefully the weather will be beautiful! I will try and keep everyone updated and I promise to take a ton of pictures :]


Now im off to go clean up my apartment and pack for a week...how im going to fit a week's worth of things into a small carryon, I don't know!

How the Real Housewives brings people together all over the world...

After a long day with German class in the morning and my midterm for my transatlantic relations class...I had to go to the dentist. I did NOT want to go. When I got there, she pretty much assumed that I needed a filling for one of my teeth and she had everything prepared. Then she asked me if I wanted novocaine (I truly hope it was novocaine because she just called it "spritz"). Do Germans like beer? Of course I wanted anything that would keep me from feeling pain, but I politely said yes. When it was setting in, she asked where I was from and I said California. After probing what county and city I was from (Orange County - Anaheim), my dentist who was pretty formal and to the point the last time I saw her, suddenly opened up and started telling me how much she loves the Real Housewives of Orange County and New York. And how she watches the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills illegally on her computer since Germany has strict copyright laws. When I told her that I had met Jeanne's sons (from OC), she went on to say how cute they are but that the oldest son is a bitch and complains all the time.


It was just a funny experience that reality television is so relatable worldwide, especially the Real Housewives! Also making my experience at the dentist not as horrible. I was also extremely amused when I saw that there is a Coke vending machine IN the dentist waiting room. 

Such a long week.

This week is turning out to be longer than I thought. Since next Monday is a holiday in Germany (I haven't figured out which one yet), I don't have school on Monday! The downside is that next week is my midterms week, so my morning German class and my afternoon midterm got moved up to this Friday.


Instead of having nothing on Friday, I have my morning German class, a midterm in the afternoon, and a dentist appointment at night. I've been having some issues with a tooth since June and unfortunately, its gotten to the point that I have to go to a dentist here in Berlin. Hopefully its nothing major and the dentist can fix it easily and without pain. I went to the dentist on Monday afternoon and German dentists seem to be more time efficient with patients, as I saw many of them go quickly in and out of the office. She was also very formal and distant with me, which is pretty typical for Germans. 


But most of my weekend will be spent studying and preparing for my midterms...

KaDeWe and Oktoberfest (kind of..)

My weekend was definitely a good one and I am once again, sad for it to be Monday. After getting some of my homework out of the way on Thursday and Friday, I hung out with some friends on Friday and decided to go to KaDeWe on Saturday. KaDeWe stands for Kaufhaus Des Westens (Department store of the West) and I thought of it as South Coast Plaza on crack. I believe it was 6 stories and it had everything! All high end fashion designers, jewelers, electronics, chocolatiers, along with restaurants, cafes, butchers, bakeries and grocers. And it was so fancy! I definitely want to go back and wander around more, especially on the food/candy level, where there was a good sized section of Jelly Bellys! We happened to stumble upon an "American" foods section in the grocer and I was so ready to stock up on my favorites!

Mmm oatmeal, I wanted it so bad! Oh wait, its nearly 13 Euros.

American cookies..I miss baking!

Yup, pure maple syrup is 24 Euros

For 18 oz of peanut butter, its ONLY 8 Euros. Only.

Naturally, I made no such purchases there. There was also Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (that has only 3 cups) for 3 euros. And Pop Tarts for 6 Euros. I'm still in shock over the 13 euro oatmeal.

Oktoberfest in Berlin

Heaven! Lebkuchen and roasted/candied nuts.

Due to unfortunate circumstances and not having a money tree...I wasn't able to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. Which was totally fine because I was actually able to attend an Oktoberfest festival in Berlin that was so much fun! Fun fact: Oktoberfest actually starts in the middle of September and does occur during October, but only the first week or so. I know the name is misleading, but most of the Oktoberfest festivities happens in September. We decided to trek it out to Tegel Airport and check it out. It seemed a little bit like a mini county fair with food, rides, games. And then there was a huge beer hall. When we got inside, it was already super crowded. After getting our Paulaner beers (which I liked!) we were trying to find a spot to sit when a few people invited us to their part of the table. As it turned out, the tables weren't really for sitting as much as they were for dancing on top of. Patrick and I had such a great time dancing and singing to traditional beer drinking songs and a couple of American hits. Apparently to the Germans the Rolling Stones song (I cant get no) Satisfaction, contains no other words besides "I cant get no satisfaction...And I try", repeated over and over again. It was such a cool atmosphere and I even got a Lebkuchen! Hopefully I can go to it again this weekend.

Inside the beer tent

I have the "little" beer

With my Lebkuchen...this was after the beer

I'm still debating whether I should post some of the videos I took from inside the tent!

Gedaechtnis Kirche

This church is right in the middle of one of the most touristy-shopping areas in Berlin in the neighborhood of Charlottenburg. It was actually bombed to ruins in 1945. Berlin rebuilt the church next to the ruins and is so stunningly beautiful inside. It is all stained glass and the walls were built so thick, that you cannot hear a sound from outside. The real ruins of the church is now preserved with a memorial hall, but it looks like they might be restoring the towers of the church. 

Inside the rebuilt church

A view from outside

Inside the memorial section of the old church

School!

I know all of you think that I'm on this fabulous vacation, but that is false. Well, it's half true since I am in Berlin and traveling in Europe can be ridiculously cheap. As in after taxes and fees, one of my flights cost 13 Euros. And it's legit. RyanAir and Easyjet are very popular over here.


But I actually have to learn while I'm here. This week was kind of rough in my classes, probably since I haven't been feeling 100%. I just haven't been sleeping well and I might have a little cold. My german language class can be a little overwhelming. This semester, I will be completing 2 semesters of German, so i'm learning at an accelerated pace with a teacher that is less than accommodating. Also 3 hours of this class 4 days a week can be a bit much! Which is why I am SO thankful for being able to start my weekend on Thursdays at noon! I don't have any major plans for this weekend, just getting ahead on my homework and papers, hopefully getting to see a museum and going out with friends.


I'm off to go mosquito hunting...this is always a nightly ritual!