Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I started out my day bright and early at 4am to hail a taxi with two other girls from my hostel. They were headed home, back to the States, while I was off to my first European adventure. Of course it was pouring down rain and the taxi driver was too lazy to help us load our bags, but somehow I managed to stay dry. We arrived at the airport and I went through the normal procedures: checking-in, going through security, finding a snack to eat, and making my way to the gate. As I ate my croissant, I ran into Anne, a girl from my program who is based in Huelva. We had a chat about life in Spain and our outlook to the future. She really wants to teach at the same school next year. I on the other hand am ready to start a new chapter, which either means grad school, wwoofing, or finding some crappy job at a health club for a few months while I get my act together. It was nice to see her and get her perspective of life in Spain. She was also on her way home for the holidays. I was beginning to think that I made the wrong decision at this point. It also dawned on me that this was my first time in an airport since I arrived in Seville on September 16. It’s been a little over 3 months.
We parted ways and I waited for my flight to board. Naturally, because of the rain I was delayed for a half in hour. It’s a good thing I had a five hour layover before my next flight in Palma de Mallorca. The AirBerlin flight went rather quick. I was too anxious to sleep despite my lack of sleep from the night before. I got to the small terminal and it was very busy for 7:30-8 in the morning. By 9am the place was empty and I changed locations every half hour just to keep myself entertained. When my gate was finally announced i noticed a whole new rush of people in the terminal. I guess the next shift of flights were gearing off to their exotic locations.
When it was finally time to board the plane, it was now 2:50pm, I was greeted by 80s Christmas music videos on the screens. I’m talking Wham, Band Aid, and old school Mariah Carey. I couldn’t help but laugh. Again, my flight was delayed an hour but we made up the extra time in the air. I couldn’t sleep again because i was too busy thinking about what was to come of the next 15 days. I couldn’t help but think that i packed the wrong things, that i forgot something very important, or that along the way someone was going to pickpocket me. I can’t help but worry about those things. Well I finally landed in Berlin at Tegel airport. I hadn’t really planned out my method of transportation to my hostel but I thought for sure there had to be a UBahn or SBahn attached to the airport. As i waited for my luggage I browsed the free brochures and found one with a map of the UBahn stops and a brochure for a free walking tour of Berlin. Well I was a little nervous about the language barrier and I couldn’t find a metro stop sign anyway so i figured I’d splurge and grab a taxi. I asked the man in the first taxi if he spoke a little English, he nodded and I pointed to my destination. He typed it into his high-tech navigation system and we were off. His car resembled a luxury car rather than a taxi with the clean black leather seats, his navigation system, ipod, and mini tv screen. That’s Germany for you I guess.
I’m not sure if he planned this, but he ended up driving me pass pretty much every tourist attraction I wanted to see. I would ask him every now and then, “what’s that?” He gladly answered, in perfect English mind you, and I got my own indoor tour guide of Berlin. 45 minutes in and I was in love with the city. We arrived at my hostel in what seemed like an empty part of town. Hmmm if i remember correctly, the Sunflower Hostel advertised that they were located in a lively, convenient part of town. Well I checked-in and found a note waiting for me at the front desk from Julia and Megan. I texted Julia once I was settled in and got directions to the bar (Coye Tano) they were waiting at. I was so excited to be in Berlin I just wanted to walk around (in the cold) and start exploring right then and there (7:30pm). When i met up with the girls they were drinking the local drink, Gluihwein; hot, spiced, cured wine. It had an interesting taste to it but I wasn’t sold on it quite yet.
This was only the second time I had really hung out with Julia and the first time I was meeting Megan so I was really nervous to figure out if we were going to click or not. Within minutes I knew that these girls were going to be a lot of fun. They were interesting, funny, talkative, and just as excited as I was about the trip. However, they were tired from their day of travel from Barcelona to Berlin so instead of walking around they just wanted to get some dinner and call it an early night so we could start the next day off fresh. I whipped out my itinerary for the trip and started telling them about all the things i wanted to see and shared all the tips people had told me about the city with them. They were impressed and thankful that i had done research because neither of them had really looked up anything. I finally felt appreciated rather than pushy or bossy.
We looked at the tourist map i got from the hostel and decided to try dinner at a bar/pub that was playing live music. It turned out to be this heavy metal place with a grungy, gothic feel to it. It was kind of funny that we three girls ended up there but we decided to stay and try it out. Unfortunately I was developing a monster headache so I wasn’t much into talking while we were there. It got worse throughout the meal to the point where I HAD to get home, take some medicine, and lay down. I ordered this potato, feta, spinach plate. It was very good. Next to us was this girl and her boyfriend and when we didn’t understand something on the menu she helped us out. Turned out she was from Houston. When she got laid off from her corporate job she decided to learn German so she taught herself and then moved to Berlin. She’s pretty much fluent and is excited to start her first class at a German University after the winter break. She was very nice and offered to take us out on the town to the best night clubs but we politely declined since Julia & Megan (J-M) were tired and I didn’t feel good.
As we neared the hostel my stomach started to turn so I booked it home, said goodnight to my friends (we were in separate rooms because we booked them separately), and headed for my room. Not a minute to soon, for i headed directly to the bathroom and hurled up my ENTIRE dinner. gross I know, sorry. Good start to Berlin. I took some Advil but I didn’t kick in for an hour or so. Eventually I fell asleep but I was woken a few times by my neighbor who talked (in German) in his sleep haha. I wasn’t even mad, I only wish I knew what he was saying. I was later warned by the couple also sharing the room with me that this guy was crazy so I should stay away from him but don’t worry to much since they were going to be in the room with me the whole time I was there.
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