(Disclaimer: I will keep the header image of this blog as New York for now because to the rest of the world, I am essentially from New York, except to the one German who knew Rhode Island from Family Guy.)
I was scheduled to fly into Berlin on Monday, the 31st of August, catching the tail end of Europe’s heavy flow of summer tourists. I had a connection in Oslo, Norway, but our flight from New York had been delayed, so in an effort to catch the flight, I found a Norwegian guard to squeeze me through the passport check. I waited in another line of security and sprinted to the gate. I was the last passenger to board the plane. (Not the first time, the first time was in Shanghai…)
I brought a single traveling pack with everything I would need at first along with a carryon. Unfortunately, my bag did not make it to Berlin. However, this meant I didn’t need to lug the massive thing around with me to the hostel! I arrived in the afternoon and met up with Kate (my bestie from UPitt). She has German/Austrian heritage and had been living in Prague for a couple months, so it was such a blessing to be with someone used to traveling around in Europe.
The first day, we walked around Friedrichshain and along the Spree River. We sat at an outdoor wooden bench out on the street to enjoy an unexpected meal of Thai green curry. I wasn’t sure what to anticipate when it came to diversity in Berlin and I was pleasantly surprised at the tons of Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern, and Italian restaurants among the German cuisine. Didn’t see many black people until we entered Gorlitzer Park, and I was like, wow, this is where they all are. We made instant friends with a guy from Gambia, named Djamba, and another guy from Zimbabwe, named Max. Djamba referred to Max as ‘Mad Max,’ and though I haven’t seen the movie, I appreciated the reference. He taught us some words in Gambia’s native language, Mandinka, my favorite of which was ‘attyabettiya,’ meaning, ‘it’s all good.’
(you can click to enlarge any image in this blog)
Oberbaum Bridge
The next day, I was eager to find my school, only 3 blocks away from the hostel. It was unsuspecting from the outside. Can’t wait until I can get inside.
Kate knows Germany way better than I do, so we walked around Alexanderplatz, exploring some anticipated and unanticipated sites.
The Brandenburg Tor.
Lose the selfie stick, make a friend!
One of the most fascinating places we went was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We were on our way to Charlie’s Checkpoint and stumbled upon this grand display. The size and scale of the memorial gave me a haunting sense of the city’s history and what I appreciate about it is that even though the memorial wasn’t built until 2005, the Germans seem to have done a good job of acknowledging their harrowing past in efforts to move on from it.
Of course we had to have a bite of the local cuisine, the ‘brotwurst.’
This was a random section of the Berlin wall that had been placed in a small park on my birthday, October 3rd!
Charlie’s Checkpoint.
‘Berlin, you are so wonderful,’ in the subway station, the U-bahn.
On our way to the Berlin Wall Memorial Park, we stumbled upon the grave of the famous playwright, Bertolt Brecht, and his wife, Helene.
Kate and me outside of the Berlin Chapel.
In the evening, we went to a small, intimate restaurant/bar called, ‘Hirsch,’ around the corner from the hostel. We enjoyed some classic Hefeweisen beer and spaetzle.
We spent hours at dinner, unlike the typical hour-and-a-half-long American dinner experience. I shared with Kate my hopes, dreams, and doubts, and she assured me, attyabettiya.
Kate was leaving for Prague in the early afternoon, so on Wednesday, we went to see the East Side Gallery, which is the part of the Berlin wall along the Spree River. It was very touristy, but for a good reason. There were a lot of powerful images and messages.
In summation, I feel one hundred percent as if I have come to the right place to study electronic music production. In the past few days, I’ve met tons of people from all over the world, encountered art in every nook and cranny of the city, and felt the vibrations of life, music, and culture on these streets of Berlin.
Breezy 