Hello again! I
am writing this on the train back from my weekend in Amsterdam. But before I
tell you about that, let me recap the last week.
Last weekend I
had a ticket to go to Weimar for the weekend with my school program. I decided
not to go, though, because I wanted to see Berlin for a weekend! It is sort of
weird that, even after several weeks in Berlin, I feel like I don’t know the
city very well. We have been away almost every weekend, and we live so far away
from the center of Berlin that going into the city takes at least an hour each
way. It was a tough decision not to go on the trip, but as soon as I woke up on
Saturday I knew I had made the right choice! It was SO nice to sleep in, go on
a run, get work done, and then spend the whole afternoon and evening in the
city with just a couple friends. On Saturday afternoon we went to a jazz
festival in Kreuzberg, a really cool neighborhood of Berlin. The area itself
had a lot of restaurants, cafés, and little shops, and the festival was packed!
Several blocks of Bergmanstraβe were filled with booths of arts and crafts,
food, and clothes. The jazz bands were really impressive, too! We had so much
fun walking around, listening to music, and checking out all the booths. I was
also excited to find a dried fruit stand!
I was so happy to find this dried fruit stand. They had all kinds of things!
My favorite band who we heard!
Kürtőskalács, or "chimney cake," a traditional Hungarian dessert: warm pastry dough rolled in cinnamon sugar, almonds, or coconut.
In the evening
we sat in a beer garden in Kreuzberg to watch the Brazil-Chile soccer game,
grabbed some dinner from the street fair, and went to a wine bar in another
neighborhood for an hour or two afterwards. An overall relaxing and enjoyable
day! I even went back to the jazz festival the next day with a couple other
friends, and went back to explore the area on my own for a few hours on Monday.
I was so glad to get to go back to a cool area of Berlin and to do things at my
own pace, rather than with a huge group. As much as I love all the friends I
have made here, it can be overwhelming and sort of stressful to travel around
in a pack of students. Everyone has their own opinions and preferences, but no
one wants to make a decision! Good thing we all like each other so much! J
On Wednesday I
went to two modern art museums with my literature class. Modern art is always
so fascinating, but it can be hard to understand! It was fun to see something
different, though! Also, the area of Berlin that the second museum was in was
really cool – I hope to go back during my last week! That night, a friend from
UNC who has been studying at Freie Universität since the fall came to hang out
with my friends and me at our apartments! It was so great to see her and hang
out with a big group of friends!
During the past
week, one of my friends had been staying in my room because of bug bites that
she thought she got from her own room. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but our
apartments are NOT the cleanest rooms around, so I wouldn’t be surprised if
there are bugs. On Thursday during class, I noticed a few bug bites on my own
arms. I told my friend who had been staying with me, and we went to the
dermatologist who told us she thought I had flea bites! So, instead of spending
the afternoon taking a nap, going on a run, and doing ALL the homework, I spent
the afternoon riding the bus back and forth to the doctor and the laundromat,
putting all my clothes in plastic bags, and cleaning out my entire room. I
finally went to sleep on a thin floor mat in my friend’s new, bug-free
(hopefully…) room after 1:00. Fortunately, I had a fun weekend trip to
Amsterdam to look forward to! Unfortunately, I had to wake up EARLY on Friday
after going to sleep so late. We caught the 5:19 am bus to the Hauptbahnhof,
and then took a train about six hours to Amsterdam. Luckily, I slept for most
of the trip, and felt a lot more rested when we arrived in Amsterdam.
Feeling happy to be off the train at Central Station in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam, we
found our somewhat-sketchy hostel, dropped our bags, and went to eat lunch and
explore the area. As strange as our hostel was, it was in a really fun area,
with lots of bars and shops right around us. We walked around for a few hours
and then sat in a café to watch the Germany World Cup game.
On Saturday we
went to the Dam, which I later realized is the most famous square in the
Netherlands. The Dam has a royal palace, a beautiful church, a monument, and
lots of shops. We also went to the Amsterdam Museum, which had so much
information about the history of the city. We could have easily spent another
hour or two there! After lunch, we went on a canal tour. It was really
impressive to travel through the city by boat. I have never been to a city with
so many canals! We learned that the houses along the canals lean slightly in
towards the water at the top, and that having a narrower house used to mean
lower taxes, so a few houses are wide enough only for one window on each floor!
The tour was really fun way to experience the city.
The canals were just so beautiful!
Dam, the most famous square in all of the Netherlands, by night! On the left is the Royal Palace, and on the right with the steeple is an old church.
My napkin was so cute that I had to take a picture! :)
In the evening,
we watched the Netherlands-Costa Rica soccer game. I was so tired that I didn’t
even make it up for the whole game! I heard lots of celebrating out our hostel
window though, so I knew the Netherlands had won!
This morning we
all woke up bright and early (not really – it gets light at 4:30 here!) to get
to the Anne Frank House before it opened. We were glad to have gotten there so
early though, because the line really started to build up as we waited to
enter! I had some very brief memories from visiting the house thirteen years
ago, but I’m sure I couldn’t completely understand it as a little girl! I am
always blown away by how thoughtful Anne Frank was at such a young age. Seeing
the house and reading about her story was so powerful.
After the
museum, we ate some Dutch pancakes and then went to see a new area of the city.
Some people in our group had bikes, some people went into an art museum, and I
chose to walk around some cute parts of town with one other friend. There are
ever more places to see and explore!
Looking back on
my entire trip to Berlin, this weekend has been my favorite weekend yet.
Amsterdam was so much more beautiful than I had ever imagined, and to me it is
a much more manageable size for a city than Berlin. The architecture and canals
make the city so gorgeous! I would love to live in a city about that size
(especially if there were many fewer tourists!). Also, it made a big difference
that our hostel was so close to the excitement in the city. I think my
experience in Berlin would have been much different if I had lived closer to
the city center! It was also really refreshing to get to choose which museums
and neighborhoods to visit, rather than following a guided tour. I am so glad
we organized this trip, even if it was a bit expensive! Also – trying to read
Dutch was fun because it is so similar to German! J
I really can’t
believe that a week from now I’ll already be out of Berlin. This time next week
I’ll be watching the World Cup game in Prague! I’ll try to document all my
sightseeing carefully for the two and a half weeks that I’m traveling, because
I won’t have my computer. You’ll have to wait a few more weeks to read about
and see pictures from my travels through Prague, Rome, Florence, Nice,
Marseille, Lyon, and Paris!