Happy Easter, Berlin!

Where, oh where to begin? It’s been quite a week. Well first off, last Thursday I learned it really does not matter what country you’re in; girls will be girls and take seemingly forever in public restrooms making the line go for literally ‘kilometers’ out the door. I’m quite unhappy with my gender about this, if only they could… I don’t know, if only they could pee faster or something.

Now that we’ve gotten the introduction out of the way, let’s see! Last Thursday I went to a soccer game for Hannover 96 with my Rotary Club. I can’t help but imagine what the bus must have looked like to outsiders because there were 40 well dressed older men, and one casually dressed 18 year old girl. I got the pleasure of sitting next to the club president and explaining the game to him because he’s not the biggest soccer fan in the world, and sadly Hannover 96 lost to Madrid, which means they’re out of the European playing field this season, but they still have a chance in the German league. The 49,000 person stadium was filled to the brink without an empty seat in sight, and I must say, Hannover 96 played a horrible game, they could have done much better. Nonetheless, it was a blast (Thanks Rotary Club Hameln!).

I spent Easter weekend hanging out with my friends, and while I sadly did not get to decorate any eggs, I did have a lovely time watching my friend Marn create a basket of them. She offered me her pen, but I am simply not nearly as creative with a marker. We played a lot of Foosball (despite my inability to play Foosball, as everyone learned), and Easter morning I went to brunch with my best friend’s family and spent a majority of the day with them. Along with Easter bunnies, a German Easter tradition is going to the “Osternfeuer” or Easter Fire which is where they collect and burn all the Christmas trees from a few months ago, so we stopped by to see it on the river side.

Now here we are, the ‘star of the show’ so to speak. I spent all of Tuesday and most of Wednesday in Berlin with my host-dad/sister where we became tourists for the day(s). Berlin. Is. Indescribable. If I didn’t already want to live in Europe again after my exchange year, it defiantly set that thought in stone. We took a tour with a British tour guide and saw all the hotspots of East Berlin, as well as an art museum, the Parliament building, and we saw a movie. There was a strike going on right outside the theater (typical Europe) so a lot of the films were no longer playing, but luckily ours still was. The weather was perfect, and for a city of almost 3.5 million people, parking is unbelievably easy to find… but maybe I’m only saying that because I’m from the San Francisco area and finding parking for under $20 an hour really is a miracle. Touring Berlin made me thankful to have taken Honors World History in 10th grade though, because I had a great teacher for the advanced class and actually put the history I learned “in it’s rightful place.” (For example, click on the picture to the left of cement blocks to discover how powerful it really is.)

Host-sister: “What’s this band called again?”

Me: “I don’t remember… something weird…”

Host-dad: “Lady Gaga!? "

On the three hour drive home from Berlin my host-dad and I had a sing-along session the whole ride. I find it hilarious how he knows more of the lyrics to the Backstreet Boys than I do, and he was very impressed with all the Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Rolling Stones (thanks Dad!) that I know.

While I’m here, I might as do a closing note on food. Everyone is always asking me my opinion of German food and here it is: German food almost always looks absolutely disgusting, but tastes delicious (and yes, that even goes for the sauerkraut).

Hopefully your week is as magical as mine was!