Standing in ''Stairmany''

I am renaming the country. Germany? No...Stairmany.
So. Many. Stairs.
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My roommates and I woke up early this morning and went straight to the Reichstag. The Reichstag is the building where they housed the Reischstag Parliment of the German Empire a bit before and after the Nazi Regime. They fully refurbished the Reichstag after the reunification of Germany in 1990 and the building is now used by today's German parlimant. Anyways, enough history.

To the right is a picture of my roommates and I at the Riechstag . The cool thing about Berlin is that even though it is huge, everything is reletively close by. It isn't built on a grid system like New York City, it is more like a big circle with an incredibly messy and unorganized train system. None the less, somehow it works and everyone manages to get around.

Next we walked over to The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Such a blunt name, yet appropriate all the while. The memorial consists of 2,711 concrete slabs, each being a different size and shape.

The feeling you get when walking down the long isles of the memorial is a little uneasy. The memorial is pretty intense and the architechure is unique and well thought out for what it represents. What lightened the mood was seeing families walk through the memorial playing hide and seek. It was a neat experience to feel instant solitude when standing in the middle of the memorial, surrounded by thousands of concrete slabes towering over you. In contrast, you hear children playing hide and seek, laughing in the background when you turn a corner through this stone maze. Props to that architech!

After that bomb that we dropped on ourselves we decided to do something fun. If you know me, then you know that fun must involve something with coffee, buffalo chicken or a budlight lime. Berlin only offers one of those things so we trailed our way straight to Starbucks, ironically located beside The Kenney Museum. After I had my daily dose of perfection, we headed to The Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz.

Potsdamer Platz is a really modern and cool area to be in. The Sony Center is like a gigantic outdoor mall covered by a dome that lights up different colors in the night! There is also an English movie theatre in there, which is extremely exciting for me. We walked around, checked out some cafes, the 2012 VW Beetle display and the Boulevard of Stars (just like a 100m long Hollywood. There is also the ''Filmhaus'' inside which I am also really excited about.It is a museum full of televsion, filming equipment from the past century,the history that goes along with it all and what films/shows were produced with them. It's on my to-do list.


On to the rest of the day....more importantly...the BEST part!!

I went to the Olympic Stadium. Wait wait wait...there is more. I actually swam in the Olympic Stadium pool as well! Yes, the one where the 1936 Olympic games took place. The pool was huge and had a nice area to lay out. The sun finally decided to grace us with its presence today so taking a dip in the Olympic pool followed by a nap in the sun next to it was nothing less than perfect (especially for €2.50).

Being in Berlin is different than being anywhere else (such a vague point, I know) but the difference is, is that where ever I may be standing at that point, I am always thinking of the history, or wondering what took place exactly where I am standing or what it looked like 60 years ago. It's like living in a really artsy, liberal history book. Weird to say that about Germany, but more so amazing.

At Charlottenburg Palace gardens, holding up a tree of course.

The top floor of the building that I live in, also known as my apartment...8 flights of stairs :)

I was standing in the middle of a riot...

Last night I was sitting in a friends flat drinking some coffee when I heard what sounded like a gun go off, although I think it was a flaregun or some sort of firework. I ran to the window to see hundreds of people flooding the street that were screaming ''fuck the police'' in German. Much more was said during the riot, but unfortunately the language barrier got in my way of understanding everything. After seeing the flood of people, we see about three German police vans full of fully armed policemen unloading on our street where they quickly tried to barracade the street to keep people from surging in. Of course, seeing all of this happening right outside my window, made my journalistic curiousity take over and I ran outside with two of my coworkers to find out what was going on. Fully functional with my PJs on and Flip Cam in hand, we started asking questions as soon as we got on the street. Luckily, two people were willing to answer our questions in English. I recorded what they said, but eventually I got shut down near the end.

The riot took place in the district of witch I live in, Kreuzberg. An protester for anit-globalization was shot by an Italian policeman on July 21, 2001 and on Saturday, July 16, 2011; people have once again stood up and reminded everyone of his death, raging against policemen. The protester was one of many in the demonstration that threw rocks at police vans and became quite aggressive. What one may note as defence, (Italy's interior minister) others will note as an unnecessary violent attack on demonstrators.
It was interesting to see how the police handled the riot last night. It was different than it would be in America. The police worked around the protesters, not against them. They did not stand infront of them, or yell back. They walked inbetween them in the streets and took the criticism. They created mild barracades around the district so that cars could not go through, creating a safer environment for bystandards during the protest. There was a helicopter hovering above to keep an eye out for the continuous moving riot location.

There were a lot of loud noices, yelling and hurt in the air. However, there was no violence. What sounded like something incredibly horrendous happening, turned out to be much more remorseful and peaceful than presented. In America, I think one would be more likely to get punched while in a room with two opposing fans of the NFL, than last nights riot in Berlin.

"Standing in a Sea of Sparkling Water"

When in Germany...do as the Germans do...yes? Well one thing that the German's just can't seem to get enough of is Sparkling water. Sadly for me, I'm not much of a fan. When going into a restaurant or bar, asking for still water really isn't socially acceptable. Luckily today, I finally found the non carbonated goodness at a store called "Litle" which is like the equivalency of an "Aldi" or a "Go Grocery" in the US. The reason I was so adament about getting the gracious water was because my first 2 days in Berlin have worn me out. Would you like to hear about it; The story of the American girl blowing fuses, racing in Frankfurt airports, and losing a very important key?

Day 1 ---

Getting to the Charlotte airport was pretty smooth, aside from the TWO times I misplaced my wallet, luckily for me, someone turned it in each time. It would be unfair to not mention the $150 baggage fee I had to pay for the extra weight in my bag...word for the wise..don't over stuff your bag, just take two when traveling to Europe..you'll save about $100.

I got on the plane and was extremely wired about traveling that far. Eventually....well...9 hours later I landed in Frankfurt, Germany. Once in Frankfurt, I had to recheck my luggage....which was a huge hassle in itself. After getting the baggage situation settled and dumping a few bottles of soap and shampoo to reach the weight limit... it was 5 minutes until the plane boarded. I was told, "SPRINT RUN GO'' ...so I did.

I made it just in time too. The 45 minute flight flew by and finally, I was in the sexy city of Berlin!!

My project coordinator met me right at the door and I recognized the sign that read "City Travel Review" and he quickly helped me with my bags and we were able to get a month rail pass, and exchange my dollars for a few Euro.We got straight on a train a trailed our ways in the pouring rain to my new flat.

I ran into my roommate in our room and immediately asked her if she wanted to grab dinner...little did I know.. it was 11am in Germany and nobody in their right mind eats dinner at 11am; Jet lag much?

I settled in and then we went out for lunch where I had my first German meal. I had a Doner Kebab, which is what the picture is of on the right. It's usually lamb served with vegetables and a side of bread. It is one of Germany's most famous dishes.
Later on that night we went out and I had a Choco Coloda at a little cocktail bar on my street. It wasn't the best cocktail I have ever had, it was really strong and tasted like straight Baileys. After that, we went to a little mini mart where I stocked up on the ever so famous, pasta!! (Traveling isn't cheap, sooo...bring on the pasta!!) I also bought 3 different types of bottled beer. I only paid 2.50 Euro for 3 beers and I was very excited about that as opposed to ordering dollar PBR at the Bone Shack. I didn't like the first 2 beers that I tried, so I was hoping I would like the 3rd, luckily, I loved it! The taste is very similar to Blue Moon and I am so pleased that I have found a beer that I can enjoy while in Germany. It's called Schofferhofer, but I plan on keeping my still water and open mind. The mini marts around here are made up of 80 percent beer, 10 percent cigarettes and the rest is basically sausage.

After gathering the necessities (pasta and beer) we headed back to our flat only to find that we had locked ourselves out and had to stay at our neighbors flat next door who are also doing the project. It was a very long night, to say the least. The next day was much better, after we were let back into our flat, I washed the airline and jetlag stigma off and decided to dry my hair. Long story short, I used the wrong converter and blew a fuse and had my own July 4th fireworks. Luckily, no major harm was done and I went to work for our first staff meeting. The walk to work is only about a 15 minute walk from the neighborhood I am living in. We had an orientation meeting and discussed a few things about the expectations. That night my Europen flat mates and neighbors talked me into celebrating the great American holiday,July 4th. So we all put on our red, white and blue and headed out for the night! It was a great night. Germany takes a lot of getting used to, especially since everything..and I do mean EVERYTHING is written in German. Hopefully these German classes will treat me well and I'll learn to use the RIGHT converter, keep up with a key and stay away from Frankfurt airports for a while. All is good here, and I will keep you updated.