Berlin...

Hello Everyone!

First off, I'm sorry that this took so long for me to post, but I'm sick and haven't really felt like writing it all down, but now it's here!

I had a great time in Berlin.

I really tried to use my German skills, but I was extremely intimidated so I didn't use it as frequently as I would've hoped.

So our trip starts off good. We met at about 9am to get to the airport early for our 12:50 plane. Getting there was very easy, take bus#2 downtown, walk 2 blocks to the train station, buy the tickets, get on the train and get off at Arlanda Airport. We got our tickets very easily though we had to wait a half hour before there were people at the counter to actually check us in, we were there terribly early. We made it through security easily, we don't have to take off our shoes here thank goodness. Our flight was delayed until 2:30 due to heavy snow fall in Berlin. While waiting, we kind of just hung out and played cards. I, being the graceful person that I am, found myself on the ground at one point. I went to get up and get a bottle of water when I slipped on my purse and toppled to the ground, but I got up quickly and laughed it off, it all happened so fast.

The flight was uneventful and went really fast, it only took us an hour and half to get there. When we arrived, we weren't connected to the airport, so we had to use the stairs to get off and then they shuttled us to the airport, it was actually pretty cool. After people used the bathroom, we proceeded to try and figure out how to get to our hostel, Hostel Schlafmeile. We weren't getting anywhere by asking people, so we gave in and got into a taxi to take us there. Since I could speak some German, I was instructed to sit in the front of the taxi van. A half hour later, we made it to our hostel. After checking in, we asked the people who run it, one of them is from New Zealand :), where we could find a pub. We didn't really use their instructions since we kinda got lost, but we found this pub called "Bariton." I had to help people figure out what they were ordering, and my first meal in Germany was a Quesadilla. We were there for a long time, about 3 or 4 hours, and there was this awesome Irish Folk band there, and apparently we were being really loud since they came and asked us where we were from in between sets or whatnot. On our way out, we found this park across the street so we obviously went and played there, a few of them were a little impaired which didn't help with walking on ice, a lot of people fell on their behinds. We made our way back to our room, which was like a store front, which was weird. We found out that we had 2 roommates with us, but they weren't there at the moment. We all got ready for bed, and Kristen, Stefan, and I played go fish for a while, and as it turns out, I am very good at go fish. Our roommates eventually showed up and as it turns out they're from Melbourne, Australia. They are living in London at the moment doing Rugby or something like that, they're names were Billy and Chris. In the morning, everyone was really tired, but the girls took over the bathroom for a while. Mary Beth and Matthew, first nicknames "The Boy" and since nicknamed "Tomcat" due to his cat-like dance, went to breakfast with the Australians at the hostel owned restaurant while the rest of us finished getting ready, and eventually met up with them. Since Emily, Mary Beth, and Tomcat didn't want to go a Concentration camp, they left with the Australians and took a free tour of Berlin, while Stefan, Kristen, Jackie, and I went to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the camp and it was probably the right way to see one, when it's dreary and cold outside. We were there for a good 3 hours and decided to take the train to Potsdam. We walked in the wrong direction at first,and by the time we turned around, Stefan's hip was hurting him (he hurt it playing hockey), so we had a late lunch. Afterward which ended up being another 2 hours on the train. The train ride back was interesting. Stefan was wearing his Canada jacket, so the guy we were sitting next to asked if the US and Canada were in a Union, when he said no, he went on this racist tirade about America and the Turks. I was really angry, so I pretended that I didn't know what was going on, and Kristen was laughing by herself on the other side of the train. It was interesting, and now I can laugh about it, but it was bad at the time, my American Pride came out during that time. Anyway, it was dark when we got there and we went the wrong way, so we ended up eating in the train station and then heading back to the hostel. After another long train ride, Jackie took a nap while Stefan, Kristin, and I played go fish again. The other group left for a bar crawl when we left for a late dinner, where I had kangaroo and a glass of wine! Our next stop was place called The Matrix, and I can honestly and legitimately say that I am not a club person and I have no urge to go to another one the rest of my life. It was about one in the morning when we got back, but while I was trying to sleep, the others were trying to open our door and failing, so I listened to them for about 5 minutes fiddle with the lock until I just decided to open it up for them. The next day went more smoothly, since the other group had seen what we were going to see today, they stayed in bed and went to the zoo while we went on our own tour of Berlin. We were about a ten minute walk to the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall, so we walked along the wall until we got the the East Train Station. The Wall is interesting and very colorful, and something I think everyone should see once in their life. I actually stood in both sides at once, which was pretty cool. After we found our way to the S-bahn, we went to see Brandenburg Gate. Unfortunately, the gate is getting a face lift, so there were things covering one side of it, or something. Fun fact, the hotel that's right in front of it is the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the balcony, Kristen took a picture of it. We strolled our way to the Reichstag where I thought I could get warm, but after waiting in the line for an hour, we went to the top and it was not indoors. I would've appreciated it more, I think, if it had been warmer. We were so cold that we decided to go to lunch after we got out, we ate at a car dealership or something, I don't remember what kind of car it was, but it was German, hahaha. The food was delicious, and thankfully the waitress explained what the menu said, because I really had no clue. We then made our way to Museuminsel, an island with a lot of museums and the Berlin Dome. We didn't get into any museums because we turned a corner and saw the Berlin Dome, and spent a good 2 hours in there. It was beautiful and huge, and I loved it. I'm still awestruck when I see pictures of it. For reference, it's the inset picture. I remember thinking that however beautiful it is, there isn't a real need for anything that extravagant except for tourists. But there isn't anything I can really do about that, I would've given the money to something that needed it. We could've stayed for the 6 o'clock service but we decided to leave and meet up with everyone else, and get our luggage that thankfully the Australians let us leave in there since we were kicked out. When we finally got back to our Hostel, they weren't there yet, so we sat in a place called "Schmitz" where I had the most delicious hot chocolate. Eventually the other group got there and we figured out how to get to the airport. We ended up taking the train to Alexanderplatz and then jumped on a bus that took us to the airport. We were getting there pretty early thinking that things would be open there, but we were very very wrong. We got to Tegel airport at approximately 10pm. and there was NOTHING OPEN, and a few of us were starving. We found the place where we were supposed to get our tickets, but they were closed too, so we settled down. My group was getting hungry, so we made up our minds to see if we could go find food, and if all else failed, we were going to take the bus back into the city and get something there. We left our bags with the others, Mary Beth, Tomcat, and Emily, while we tried to find food. Outside, we thankfully found someone with Burger King, and Kristen asked where they got that, and not speaking very much English, the lady said go over a bridge and walk and walk and walk. We took her directions, and after a while I found the sign that pointed to Burger King. It was in the middle of no where, and it felt as though it took forever to get there, however it was only about 1o minutes. When we got back to the others, about an hour later, they were being kicked out of that terminal since it was being closed, so we were instructed to go to a different smaller terminal. We ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport. I didn't get much sleep, I was too uncomfortable. At about 5:30 am, we got up and went to get our tickets. We were all exhausted, and a little testy. The flight seemed to fly by, pun intended, since I fell asleep as soon as I got on the flight, however I missed free muffins and I was starving. Arriving back at Arlanda, we got back on the train to Uppsala and then the bus back to Flogsta. I slept for a long time, however I could've slept for another day and a half.

Since then:

Saturday was a lazy day. Sunday I went to church with Emily and free pancakes. Then at night, Emily, Jackie, and I had a Valentines Day dinner and movie. Jackie cooked, and we had fajitas. I started feeling sick then. We watched Finding Nemo, such a great movie, and I made my way back to my room. I had a bad headache by the time I went to sleep, so I took medicine. The whole night was bad. I kept waking up with that pounding in my head, and I was dizzy and lightheaded, and I almost fell over when I went to the bathroom in the morning. I barely made it to class that night, but I did, I'm such a good student.

Today, I had a full blown cold, but Emily and I went into town anyways and had fika. We were told by our interpreter at church that we had to eat a certain pastry before Ash Wednesday, so we had that. I had to go to my first Swedish Language class at 4:15, and it went well. I think I will sleep a lot tomorrow to help this cold along. I hate being sick, and being in a foreign country doesn't help.

Well, that's it, I will try to write more frequently, but I can't promise anything. Sorry for such a delay.

Lindsay