Chapter 5 - Postdam

Chapter 3 - Friday June 11

On Friday we started off the morning by walking by the British Embassy which is right beside our apartments. It is interesting to see the angular structures in purple and blue appear to explode from a ‘missing’ section of the plain stone facade. The building provides a playfulness that breaks up the bland façade. It subverts from the rules of the rest of Pariser Platz standard required style of horizontal stone banding next to the Brandenburg Gate.

Chapter 4 - Adventures in Sassy Town

June 12 & 13

Over the weekend a group of us decided, randomly, to head north to the Baltic Sea and explore Rugen Island of the coast of North Germany. The extent of our plan was to get to the main town of Bergen, in the center of the island. Our train left at 6:34 so we gave what we though was adequate time to get there and decided to meet at 5:45. But of coarse someone oversleeps, therefore we weren't able to leave until 6:10. To make up lost time we decided to run for the U55, the train that connects us to the main station to the main station, which of coarse happened to be closed, to clean the floors. By this time we only had about 15 minutes to make our train, so we decided to run for it. I was in charge of directions, so i took a wild guess, and started sprinting to what i hoped was the train station. And i am glad to say we made it, barely! It was nearly 1.5 miles to the train station, and i swear up hill the entire way.

On the train ride through the German country side it was interesting to see how people outside of the city live. In the U.S. everyone is spread out all over the landscape, where as in Germany, everyone lives together, either in a city or a small town, we never saw a random house out in a field or on top of a hill. Through every small town in which we traveled there seemed to be a strong sense of community, more so than in the U.S. The towns were very peaceful, clean, yet full of life.

Chapter 2 - Learning the German Transit System

On our first full day we learned out to move about on the extensive underground and above ground subway system that connects and unifies today's modern Berlin. We started at the Hauptbahnhof Berlins newest train station which is also the largest and most modern in Europe. (On the left) The transparent design of the railway station as well as the central well that connects each floor, allows daylight to light each floor, providing an inviting friendly atmosphere that is easy to navigate through the station.

Chapter 1 - Getting to Berlin

The trip is off to a great start! German customs was a breeze, they looked skeptically at you, then stamp your passport, no searches, questions or anything. The bus ride across town allowed us our first glimpses at the city we would be exploring for the next 5 weeks! We made it to our apartments safely, which are just a block south of the Brandenburg Gate, just across from the Holocaust Memorial, that is visible from my bedroom room window. The first real surprise was 19 hours of daylight, the sun rises a little after 4 am and sets a little before 11 pm. The first morning i found myself getting up at 4:30 am ready to go for the day. Also there is an amazing restaurant at the entrance to our building that always smells of curry wurst, they are great a must try in Germany!