Skip Mandatory Field Trips, and go to the Zoo (and get rammed by a goat) Instead!!!

So last weekend there was a mandatory NYU Berlin fieldtrip to Hamburg...about that...

I woke up around 6:30 to make sure I made it to the 7:15 call time outside, and yes, I did. We all moved in great anticipation to the main Berlin train station, HBF aka Hauptbahnhof...only to miss our train.

Apparently we were supposed to meet at 8:15 ON the train (or maybe they all met and forgot about me and dave, im not sure which is worse), and not on the platform (which still makes no sense to me). Basically me and Dave went to grab some coffee because everyone went shopping...then we waited on the platform to see our advisor...only we never did. We probably sat for a good 5 minutes looking at our train waiting. Then it disappeared.

After we got the go ahead to enjoy our day in Berlin, what happens? We decide to go to the zoo. Sounds friendly, right? NO.

I get RAMMED by a goat. Gosh, I don't know how to convey it with the real pain I felt. Not to mention the fact that Dave dragged me into the petting zoo...and I did not go willingly.

This is the bitch who got me.

And this is me now, four days later. In case this photo doesn't do justice, the bruise is about the size of my palm.

And this is the boy who let it happen to me (oh yeah, and he watched!)

Making New Friends or NOT

So I realize that not everyone will agree, but I'm just reporting what I think is true for me.

When you go into something strange and unordinary, its easier if everyone is all in the same boat. It's easier to make friends. Easier to be bold. Easier to relate to others. Unfortunately, this "boat" can be defined too many different ways, so you never really know until you look at it in retrospect.

I found this out yesterday for sure when my new friend Kathleen and I went with a random boy to a random club. In almost an instant he ditched us to talk to the others rather than us.

Not to mention that the two other kids we were with were too into themselves and seemed terribly and falsely intellectual. I could bet a lot of money I'm a lot smarter, and I'm not say it in a IM SO FULL OF IT way, but rather, THEY WERE TOO FULL OF THEMSELVES!

You can't judge a book by its cover. You can't judge someone's knowledge based on how they talk. You can't judge people based on how they act just be seeing, but rather by understanding why.

Anyhow, we should have known better and just stuck with our pals over in NYU Berlin. Gosh. Lesson learned!!! Of course this won't stop us from being adventurous, but perhaps we should do it together next time since we are in this together :-).

After all, the fact that we practically GREW UP in different programs in Berlin made a difference...they had their clique and weren't open to newcomers, and we had ours. Yeah we tried to break the boundaries, but oh well, right?

Deustche Bank the devil that ate my ATM card...aka former employer. lol. jk i love you db.

So Deustche Bank is affiliated with Bank of America. Only one problem—their ATM ate my ATM card today. Can you imagine what it feels like to be in a new country for only three days, only to have your ATM card just be TAKEN AWAY?

Yeah—well that’s me.

I’m not really sure why it was taken away. I’ve heard different thoughts that perhaps there was fraud with a whole bunch of accounts or perhaps I put in the wrong pin. Either way it was miserable. And apparently, since it isn’t a Deustche Bank card, it is likely that it has been shredded.

Then I had to be transferred 4 times before begging a BofA representative to help me .

OMG. But yeah, I think I’m taking it with much grace :-P. GAHHH!

Mitte Tour!!!

So if its not obvious to you, because you don’t necessarily think about these things (like me), Berlin was severely destroyed by lots of BOMBS! KABOOOOM.

And so, they had to rebuild some (all) buildings, so keep in mind they are all relatively new!Which is certainly good enough for me. Sure lots of history is gone with the actual buildings, but oh well, it looks nice right? Better to look at the brighter side of life J. But that’s enough of that, just look at the pictures!!!

In NYU Berlin shop with patience

I was in a rush to find shampoo and conditioner so of course I paid quite a premium, but I was convinced everywhere was expensive! So we went to the expensive shop called Kaisers for some Garnier and Pantene—only to realize it was 50 euro cents more expensive, that’s 75 US cents, and 1.50 total potential savings!

WHERE IS WALMART WHEN YOU NEED ONE? AND YES, THIS WAS BEFORE I HIT THE LADY IN THE FACE (READ ON)!!!

Credit Cards or NOT

No credit cards, sure they warned us. But the electronics store? Are you kidding? Cash? Supermarket too? What a nightmare. I guess it’s a good habit at least. We then realize how much exactly we are spending day to day!

The day I hit a woman in the face…

So the story begins with my rush to buy electronics. What is only natural, yet banned in my former HS (shout out to MWHS!) is to high five or wave our arms in the air and point at people in the hallways because of the congestion.

Have I learned anything from this?

Of course not.

I hit a lady in the face.

And my new facebook status is currently…”hit a lady in the face today with full force, oops. thanks jenny for reminding me, lol. SO THAT'S WHY NEXT TIME YOU COME TO GERMANY, THEY WILL HATE YOU!!! LOL."

She was an old lady—a sad mean angry old lady. Its also horrible that my first response was, its not my fault you are so short, but I didn’t really say it ;-). I asked her if she was okay, but of course she had no idea what I was saying.

Yeah she didn’t say anything. Nothing funny or entertaining in German, but I made a dash for it, hahahah how embarrassing but terribly entertaining for everyone except the poor lady.

The good news was that when I was pointing, it was to the electronics store, where I found my 15 euro hairdryer with three speeds and temperatures. Also a light for my super dim room (its very dark at night)!!!

What’s cooler though was the soda maker. Me and my new friend Dave were absolutely fascinated by it. Or at least I was :-P. If they had that at home I would most definitely buy it!!! Actually, only if its reasonably priced. It was 35 euros here, so maybe so long as it is around 40 USD or cheaper. Knowing us though, it’ll be outrageous, like that thinkgeek.com website with all those Asian things they mark up 900%!

Yummy Street Sausage and Fancy Food that wasn't Yummy!

So today I had something which is apparently a classic Berlin dish as per a NYU staff member, it was called the "cross gebratener havelzander auf sautiertem gurkengemuse" AKA roasted pike with cucumbers in creamy dill sauce with basmati rice. I have to honestly say, it was not very pleasing.

Call me American, call me spoiled, call me what you like, but I do not, do not, do not like fish with bones (whether edible or not, in fact with most Chinese fish with edible bones I still pick the bones at). Besides the bones, the texture was like pike, and wasn’t crispy as I expected a breaded piece of fried fish to be. The sauce wasn’t exactly spectacular either. If I had paid it would have cost 10.50 Euro, or about 15 USD. Not terrible, but anything that doesn’t taste good in Europe is expensive. (On the other hand, anything that doesn’t taste good in places like Xian, China, IS CHEAP! Oh how I miss the days of 3 dollars for pounds and pounds of delicious Chinese breakfast food.)

For dessert there was some strange “Red and Green Mousse” as they called it. It was DELICIOUS. The texture of it was really more marshmellowey rather than like a mousse. One was berry flavored and the other was lime! Mmmm. The hearts on the plate were an added bonus and extremely cute.

Apparently we ate in the special Humboldt faculty club called Cum Laude, but it really wasn’t so great besides the dessert!

After all of the proper food of course for an afternoon snack, or as we called it in Hong Kong,

afternoon tea, was rostbratwurst just from a guy on the street! AKA Roasted/Grilled bratwurst. In my opinion its the only real way to eat a bratwurst, because when I last visited Munich at all the restaurants they just served boiled ones, so the skin isn't crunchy and it is really just a strange texture. WEIRD!

We all got one besides Jenny (because she newly went over to being vegetarian-HAHAH in Germany mind you, but its okay Jenny we love you, and thanks for taking our picture!!!).

Kreuzberg and Turkish Encounters

So today was pretty random, and while I won't say overwhelming, I can promise I didn't retain too much of where I was or how I got there.

I am convinced that I have to be somewhere alone in order to really appreciate where I am, or to even be alert...My new friend Jenny mentioned that to me today--we both agree that in order

to get our bearings we have to just wander alone, not follow people around!

Anyway, because of my lack of retention, not much to say about what I did today, besides how delicious the food for dinner was. Basically the best Turkish food I've ever had in my life...It was called Hasir usulu ile, which is mixed lamb barbecued on skewer seasons with slices of radish. It came with rice they called basmati, but it was more like barley!!!

I'll skip the lengthy descriptions and you can just have a look :-).

Oh, and my camera decided to FAIL and delete all my former photos...ew. So, some pictures from the tour I went on today of Kreuzberg (the area within Mitte that I live) were lost. I'm sure I'll be walking by them again though!

The Former Berlin Wall

So I had no idea until I saw for myself what happened to Berlin physically after taking down the wall. Turns out that before the wall went up once apon a time there was in place a canal that connected the more local areas into the big canal. Then they put up the wall...but now? There are lowered gardens! It was pretty neat.

Also saw an interesting small tiny garden. It was technically considered Eastern Berlin but they were so frugal they wanted the wall to be curved rather than have a corner. Thus resulting in a rectangular plot of land basically in West Berlin in everything but official law jurisdiction.

The man was Turkish and created a weird unkempt garden, but it was a pretty cool idea. He lived an "alternative lifestyle" as our RA Cornelius described it. Thus, he was used as propaganda for the east to the west. HAHA!

I didn't think to take any pictures because this was my local area...I figured I'd see it everyday and not think much of it, but I forgot I was blogging!

Currywurst and Konigsberger Klopse

First day in Berlin...what should I eat?

Nothing but popular Berlin food!

So I tried the currywurst which is said to be a sausage covered with ketchup with a dash of curry powder. Right, doesn't sound too appetizing but it was DELICIOUS. Basically the ketchup wasn't really strong in seasoning like ketchup, but rather a more mild tomato saucey ketchup.

The pasta is my friend Sarah's lunch!

The Konigsberger Klopse is a meatball dish. I'm not sure how to describe it exactly based on how it tasted. There was a very plain and simple white gravy with three big light colored meatballs as the main idea of the dish. Each meatball was the same ordinary meatball texture, and no real original taste, but had some capers inside. The dish came with yet again boring potatoes. It was satisfying, but when I think about it now, it wasn't terribly delicious or special, but practical and real sustenance. I read somewhere that's how the Germans are, so maybe I'll start to believe what I read...

Mind you this was all yesterday, but today I ate a veggie burger and fries. Tried to be a little more healthy, but this veggie burger was pure carbs...definitely not healthy. The fries here are just too delicious though...

NYU Berlin Rooms

So I must say that when I first moved in I was in pure shock. I was having a pretty miserable day, with unfriendly American encounters and big luggage worries because they were sitting in the rain for quite some time (some of my clothes were damp from when they took it off the plane)

. Oh yeah- and that fact that one piece of my luggage was 50 pounds with the other around 35. Turned out that other people had even more luggage than me.

But then things turned around. When I first arrived I coincidentally saw someone who was also with NYU, a girl I had friended on facebook randomly! She helped me with my luggage, etc etc…and I then I saw my room with pure amazement. It is gorgeous. I have two beds just for myself.

I unpacked everything in the first shot so I could find something to change into. Pretty exciting to see the huge closet of

sorts. Its probably 3 times the size of my one in my NYC apartment.

With an awesome living room and kitchen.

YEY!

Day I – My flight from New York (JFK) to Berlin (TXL) connecting through Brussels.

So far I’ve been disappointed in who other—my fellow Americans.

It all started early this morning where I stepped literally one step out of the line (which happened to be 2-3 persons wide anyway) to fix my bags. Thus letting one family pass me. But then what happens? The rotten brat behind me accused me of cutting the line once it actually started to move and I returned to my position. She made a small scene, then shoved me when her boarding group was called. Absolutely ridiculous. I was seriously and literally one step out of the line but I blended right into it anyway.

Then what happens? I get off the plane, wait in a line at the border protection into the EU. It turned out that my line was extremely short so I hopped into another. One guy had accused me of cutting him there too, even though it was obvious he and his wife/gf/lover/friend was in the other line. How preposterous. At least this one didn’t make a scene! Maybe its because I let him cut me, grrr.

Why am I the victim? Yeah, sure this really isn’t a big deal, but I hate when people think they can just get away with small nonsensical things. Maybe it’s the fact that I just accept and predict the fact that people are rude and awful in NY so I don’t notice (I’m the same way when in NYC). OR its just that Americans are rotten, disgusting, obnoxious people when they are in other countries. Of course I responded in the utmost grace, only to be absolutely mad on the inside.

Normally I am very proud to be American. But of the polite and sweet sort—not the obnoxious, self-serving people I encountered today. Definitely by making me look bad they looked worse. But what is awful is that they were not rightfully accusing me. I hate when that happens, let alone TWICE.

The flight was great otherwise. Normally American Airlines manages to mess up any international to Europe flights I’ve been on except this one (remember, I spent 5 years of my life as AA Platnium because I used to fly a lot)! I was seated next to fellow study abroad students (small world) who were connecting from Brussels to Antwerp. They were uber friendly and just wanted to chit chat…I felt bad because eventually I put on my bose headphones. It is just much more relaxing than listening to the airplane engines!

My feelings towards study abroad? I feel a bit lost already and I haven’t even gotten there. I realize I have no idea where anything is, and by using my DK tour book so far I have yet to become more acquainted. Not like Paris or London where you could just give me a map and I would be fine. I’ve just never been to Berlin…and it’s really hard to memorize the street names when you have no idea how to pronounce them!

I also feel a bit out of place, like I’m not really sure what to expect, but I’m not anxious. Maybe its an OUT OF BODY experience ;). I really just feel nothing! Not really excited because the weather is so dreary in Brussels (and when there is no sun—nothing can be beautiful!!!!!). Not really scared because there will be other students with me. Not really happy because my family and friends are not here (including my cat).

Okay maybe all of that emo stuff is half a lie—I’m very excited to meet new friends and go out to explore nightlife, something that I haven’t really done except when I visited Priya last spring break and we went to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day! Oh, and in Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong, but mind you this has only been 5 weeks total of my life!

Anyhow, I need to find a way to backdate this because I wrote this while sitting in the Brussels airport. What good is it to get here early when they haven’t even posted the gate number? And yes—I was in a panic because I thought I was in the wrong terminal. I was looking for 8:45 instead of 9:45 as my departure time (8:45 is the boarding time!). Dummy me—lesson learned? Never let airports frazzle you and never let being in a different place make you lose your cool! Things always work out in the end.