Berlin hat mir Spaß gemacht, natürlich, aber ich vermisse sehr viele Dinge von Amerika. Erstmal, Klimanalage in der Uni…das ist ja schön, nicht schwer zu schwiten, während der Klasse. Echt. Ich hasse es, wen mir sooo heiß ist, aber egal…in vielleicht 2 oder 3 Wochen werde ich zu kalt in Lecture Center C! Haha!

Auch vermisse ich meinen Hund, meine Famillie, meinen Freund, und mein Bett. Und auch mit einem Ventilator schlafen. Es tut mir Leid, ich bin sehr verwöhnen!! Haha, dennoch ist Berlin ja sehr toll and gefällt mir sehr gut.

Heute Abend gehen wir im Bier Garten, eigentlich die Biere Meile, ein größes Fest mit über 2.000 Biere.  Sehr toll. Ich freue mich darauf!! Dann Morgen fahren wir nach Polen, um ein Abenteuer zu erfahren!!

Hoffentlich kann ich Montag mehr posten, über die kleine Reise auf English, damit die andere verstehen können.

Schönes Wochenende!! =)

There seems to be an unspoken yet overriding theme at Humboldt’s Sommeruni this year: Superiority.

On the one hand, I feel it is good to be diligent and studious when learning German, but on the other hand, being inherently inflexible and a little too hard core in one’s manner when offering critique and/or corrections only serves to raise the anxiety for students who may be more inclined to take the polite road.  And I am not talking about other students who happen to be German. I am speaking of students, all of us in the Sommeruni program, who have come form other lands to LEARN. Not beat down and judge, not to be laughed at or glared at. It is seriously like a war zone in the Sprachenzentrum during the hours of 9am-1pm. And that, ist kein Witz.

It was something I wished I had done last summer, but I was too busy with my new friends to take time to experience all that I can while here in Germany. I’m so lucky to have  a second chance to experience even more here.   I think I ended up taking 100 pictures just there.

Aside from the obvious observations, it was also a little odd that the memorial and museum place is now situated in what appears to be a very quiet suburban-like town.  Just across the street are single family homes with Volvos and BMWs parked in circular driveways. Life goes on as normal, yet just out of sight lies the memorial. It just struck me as odd.

I hesitated to make a post about this trip, as I realize that for many talking about the traumatic and horrific past is just not done—but for me so far, it has been one of my favorite experience I’ve had this summer—and that in and of itself feels weird to say.

When I reply to an English answer with my slightly imperfect German, I get attitude, but when I answer back in English, that seems to irritate the other party as well! What is one supposed to do?

I have a tendency when I am seeking advice/help/service to want to speak with the other person in a respectful manner, because not only am I seeking help, but I normally don’t like to piss off the person making my food and drink.  However, here—I feel trapped sometimes, because at the same time, when someone yells at me for no good reason, I generally don’t like to give them my business. Kind of hard to do that when dealing with an irriated Kellner when trying to figure out the bill after I have eaten the food I wish to then pay for.

I realize that the standard of service in Deutschland is different (if  not non-existent) than what I am accustomed to as a North-American, but beyond that, I still have not figured out the way to handle the choice of languages: Englisch, Deutsch, oder Denglisch? Maybe a Mischung of alles? Wer weiß!!

Letzten Sommer hatte ich vielleicht zu VIEL Spass gemacht und nicht genug Grammatik gemacht, aber diesmal mach’ ich anderes. =)  Jeden Tag bschäftige ich mich mit Hausafgabe und Vokabular und versuche viel und gern den ganzen Tag Deutsch zu sprechen. Es ist aber ganz schwer und fühle mich immer noch müüüüüde. Aber es ist total lohnend!!

Und ich möchte auch sagen, für die Leute, die vielleicht meine Grammatik immer noch kritisieren….ich bin NOCH Studentin und hab’ nur 2 Jahren Deutsch gelernt…ganz intensiv lernen, dennoch nicht sooo lange Zeit. Ich bin nicht schon perfekt. Wahrscheinlich werde ich ewig Fehler machen. Aber es ist mir egal—Deutsch ist mir interessant und ich habe viele Gelegenheiten gehabt, zu reisen und neue international Erfahrungen zu haben. Ich finde das wunderbar, if I do say so myself!!!

However, this year, I find it much easier to deal with, although it is still quite infuriating sometimes. I find myself to be generally a good natured person, and I smile often at people, even those that I do not know. That goes not so often in Berlin. So most of the time I walk around feeling like people think I am a simpleton or something. Oh well. It still frustrates me thought that I try so hard to be approachable and open to the new experiences, but yet a typical Berliner will shut that down real quick. I find this to be the case about 99% of the time by where the Student apartments are, but in Mitte and other touristy areas, people are generally more receptive to foreigners. However, it probably does not help that I look very German (fair, blonde, blue-eyed), and so when I speak with an Accent it is probably mostly a schock.

Overall, though, I find the experience thus far to be better than last year, because I am more comfortable and prepared for the little differences we take for granted when at home.

A very important task I have been trying to figure out is how to bring my iPhone abroad without coming home to a $4000 bill. And I am not exaggerating. Just Google ‘iPhone abroad’ and start reading horror stories of people who unknowingly took their phones to Europe or wherever and incurred the ridiculously high roaming charges for data usage. It is one thing to know that making calls from your US mobile phone while overseas will cost you an arm and a leg, but surfing the web and checking email could cost you a whole lot more than just a couple of appendages.

So I have been doing my research. Yesterday I called my cellular service provider and had them turn on international roaming so that I can use the phone in case of emergency.  I hate calling the phone company. It is inevitable that you will wait on hold for 45 minutes and then the connection will be bad or the customer service agent will try to push some ridiculously expensive new „package“ on you, when all you have is a simple question. However, I was shocked that she didn’t insist on selling me a data package or some other monthly service that would cost me hundreds to remove after I return home. No, instead she easily agreed to turn on  the international roaming, and in her words I quote „because you just want to be able to use your iPhone for emergencies ONLY.“ Yes, that is exactly it. Thank you very much.

She then proceeded to tell me about 5 or 6 times to make SURE I turn OFF data roaming BEFORE I leave the US. Haha. I guess some people didn’t do their homework when taking their handy-gotta-have-it-with-me-at-all-times-iPhones with them abroad.

So if you are an iPhone user/enthusiast/freak then check out this page on traveling with the iPhone.

http://www.solvate.com/solutions/2009/01/27/iphone-users-must-read-before-you-go-abroad/

This is a very comprehensive list of exactly every step you must take to avoid an offensively high mobile bill while abroad.

I swear, taking this gadget abroad is way more complicated than traveling with paper maps (who can ever fold those things back up??) and the complete Oxford Duden dictionary in your carry on bag.

I’ve seen the phrase ‘Berlin liebt dich‘  used as a touristy city slogan, and I even have a T shirt that makes this bold statement in not just German, but English as well. But it’s not just a catch phrase–for me anyway.

Last summer I had an amazing time in Berlin. The people I met and the experiences I had were priceless. And while the creature comforts are mostly the same, I fell in love with the lifestyle in Berlin.

It’s not merely the hipster vibe or the vast array of art and culture experiences to be had. Sure, that adds to the allure for a relatively young traveler such as myself, but Berlin is so much more than that. It’s a way of life.