I have been spending the last week getting settled into my study abroad group, my new apartment for the next two months, and my class. There are probably 75 or so total students participating in the Summer University program for international students (weird to think of myself as a foreigner). Only 5 of those students used API as their vehicle to get here. So the 5 of us go on excursions both with our Summer Uni class and with API. Before classes started on Monday, the 5 of us spent a good time getting to know the city a little better.
Berlin is very big. It is split up into several different neighborhoods, each one of them different from the next. I am not sure if I will ever get tired of exploring this city. Our student housing is in old East Berlin. And it LOOKS that way. We keep joking about feeling like we have been thrown back in time. Our housing is block style, and the whole area in which we live is really kind of depressing. When our taxi driver first dropped us of here with all of our luggage he said, "don't ever live here, I would rather rent a hostel in the city, there is nothing to do here." hah. Needless to say, we only really sleep here and that is all.
We live in the epitome of East Berlin.
On Monday, we had a language placement test, a tour of campus, and they took us on a long boat tour of Berlin. The boat ended up being really hot and kind of too long, and the tour guide spoke completely in German. So after three hours, I was ready to leave. Berlin is experiencing this massive heat wave right now, so it has been pretty hot all week. (By hot, I mean like, 95). It is interesting because all of the people I am with have obviously never experienced a Texas summer. Everyone keeps exclaiming about how hot it is outside. I do not mind the outside heat too much because I am used to it. However, most of the buildings do not have air conditioning, so that is what gets me. Neither our apartment nor our school classrooms have either air conditioning or fans.
My study abroad group
Mauer Park- longest remaining portion of the wall
The t.v. tower seems to arrange itself perfectly in every view of Berlin
First day of class- boat tour. I could get used to this.
So much has happened this week, I am not entirely sure what to write about. So I will just point out a few interesting things:
1. I have gotten decent at converting celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa. Because NO ONE in this world uses fahrenheit except for us.
2. Germans are very proud of their bread, and rightly so. The streets in Berlin have a bakery on every corner where you can find pastries, loaves, sandwiches. OH the sandwiches. Nothing has preservatives, so it is baked fresh daily.
3. Germans are rule followers. Something funny which I noticed almost right away is that at crosswalks, if there are NO cars for miles, but the walk sign is not on, Germans WILL NOT cross the street. And if you do, you will be looked at as if you were a criminal.
Thats all I will write today because I do not want to make this post too long. Jesus is teaching me things, but I will save that for next time!
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