Another week in Berlin! Started off with my German class on Monday morning then headed to the Staats Bibliothek to get some work done (check out the IES Berlin Instagram to see a video!). After a good few hours of work, Tal and I headed to a döner place down the road. I tried Halloumi Döner this time which has fried cheese instead of meat. To be honest, I like the regular version better but I'm glad I tried out the Halloumi. I went with Tal back to the IES center to pick up some mail and I was excited to see letters from my Memom and Aunt Karen! I went to my afternoon classes and we took a field trip to the DDR museum for my Welfare State class. It took us some time to get there so we actually ended up staying until about 7pm. The museum was super interesting and has a lot of great replications of DDR apartments (pictures above!), prison cells, and vehicles. I wish I could have stayed longer and I might go back another time! By the time I got home, I was hungry so I had some leftover pasta for dinner and did a bit of homework before calling it a night.
I slept in Tuesday morning, ate breakfast with Petra, then headed to IES for my classes. We watched some of the first episode of DARK (a German time travel show on Netflix - highly recommend!) in my pop culture class which was exciting because I've seen and love the show. I get to rewatch the first episode for homework this week! After pop culture, I headed to Rossmann to do some shopping then met up with some IES people at a cafe to get coffee and cakes as part of the IES program! Not that many people showed up which was surprising but it was really great to chat with some people in the program and eat free cake haha! I wasn't feeling super motivated to work when I got home so I whipped up a grilled cheese for dinner and took a shower before sitting down for some work. I lowkey have a ton of work to do for Wednesday's classes so I tried to get as much as possible done tonight and am leaving the rest of my readings for tomorrow before class.
Went to class Wednesday morning then stuck around the IES center to do some work. I got a slip for a package I've been expecting so I took a break to get that from the post office. I had lunch at the IES center with Tal then facetimed with my friends for Paige's birthday. It was really great to see everyone's faces and hear from them! After that, I walked to the other IES location for my afternoon classes. A lot of people were missing from class today - it seems like there's an illness going around. My classes felt long today but maybe that's because we had to pivot the lesson plans a bit since one of the presenters in class was out sick. I took the U-Bahn back to my apartment and did some reading before heading out to see the festival of lights here in Berlin. It was so so cool to see all of the famous buildings with the light projections and learn more about the artist stories! I was really impressed by the quality of the projections and the stories told. I walked around the city center to go to a few different locations before heading back home. I rewatched the first episode of DARK for my pop culture class then headed to bed.
Pictures from the Festival of Lights:
I slept in again on Thursday then headed to class a bit early to hit a cafe for breakfast. I went to my classes and a few people were missing again. Hopefully I don't get sick! After classes I headed back to my apartment to pack and get ready for the Munich trip I'm going on this weekend. So excited! I had a pretty chill afternoon then ate an early dinner before heading out to see The Driver Era in concert. I saw them back in May and had such a great time so I bought tickets to their Berlin show over the summer! I hadn't heard of either of the openers before but I really liked both of them - especially Almost Monday which I ended up meeting a taking a picture with after the show! I had a really great time at the concert and I'm really glad I went. Afterward, I headed home and went to bed.
Pictures and a video from The Driver Era (Can you tell I like Ross Lynch?!):
Friday morning I woke up early to meet the IES chaperones at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). I was definitely tired after my late night but excited to go on a trip with my friends. We took the train to Munich (München in German), checked in to our hotel, then meet up at Marienplatz to do a walking tour of the old town area. We got to see a couple key spots and our tour guide pointed out a few key spots to check out the nightlife. Afterward, I grabbed dinner with some friends in an alley basement and had the most delicious Schnitzel and beer (when in München!). We went back to the hotel and got ready to go out then did some hopping around to different small bars in the old town area. We got back relatively early to the hotel and went to bed since we had a bit of an early morning on Saturday.
Saturday, we woke up on the early side, got breakfast at the hotel, then met up with the IES chaperones - half of which were going to the Deutsches Museum and the other half of which were going to Schloss Nymphenburg. I signed up to go to the museum and it was really neat! There were so many things there that I wish I could have stayed longer, but ultimately wanted to do/see other things in Munich. I went with some friends to an outdoor market and had some currywurst for lunch, then did some sight-seeing in the area. After lunch, I headed with Gaby to Schloss Nymphenburg to check out the grounds and castle. It was so beautiful! We walked around the gardens for over an hour, then headed back to meet the IES group for dinner at a restaurant. This time I got käsespätzel and a liter of beer. Prost! After a lengthy dinner, we headed back to the hotel and hung out in the hotel bar for a while before heading to bed.
München Highlights:
Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel again before heading back to the Munich Hauptbahnhof and heading back to Berlin. I was pretty tired from a weekend of adventuring and staying out late so I slept for about half the train ride. Willa and I got off at Berlin Südkreuz (a stop before Hauptbahnhof) since it was closer to our homestays and took a bus back to our apartments. I got back and unpacked, did some laundry, and changed my sheets before going out for a quick run. I talked to my dad, made some dinner, then did a bit of homework in the evening. I'm planning to cozy up with some tea, my book, and a warm blanket to end off an eventful week in Berlin and Munich!
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