For spring break, I went to Paris for two nights, then to Berlin for a week with my scholars class. I really didn't do much in Paris, because Tiff, Jake, Anne-Louise, Jason, Roanne, Alex, AND Evan were all there. I spent my time eating bread and cheese, and drinking wine. I, according to Alex, am the worst francophile to ever exist. But can you really blame me for seeing my friends that I haven't seen all semester?! I think not. But it is bad that I am not in one picture from Paris. Tant pis! At least I got to speak French.
But then I went to Berlin, which I will undoubtedly return to, for it is now my favorite place in the world. It was so strange. You would expect that with such a tumultuous history, the people would seem somewhat bitter. Not at all! They were the nicest people I've encountered abroad. They were downright giggly!
We are now all infatuated with our professor Thomas Ertman. And luckily he took a liking to me. God knows why, but he did. I'm so glad he was there, because otherwise, I probably wouldn't have done everything that I did. Of course I saw the Brandedburg Gate, the wall, and the Holocaust memorial.
Shenanigans at the Brandeburg Gate.
No Smiling at the Berlin wall!
The Holocaust Memorial was so interesting. It was designed so that the blocks recall tombstones. It was so powerful.
We also went to the Jewish museum, which was one of the most amazing works of architecture that I've ever seen. Then we went to Wansee, and saw the house where the Nazis made the official decision to kill the Jews. And we went to Potsdam, this weird little town right outside of Berlin, where the tree powers met to figure out how to deal with Germany at the end of WWII. In Potsdam we got lunch in this great restaurant (here comes the inevitable rant about food. I swear I am eating my way through Europe). I got eisbein, which is essentially the leg of a pig. I couldn't finish my whole leg, but my friend Sam did, much to my chagrin.
And I finally got KOREAN FOOD!!! It was soooooo good. Fresh kimchi and great bibimbop.
The restaurant was on this great street called something like Altë Schoen Straße. There was a great store on this street where I got the coolest ring ever.
I'm never taking it off. I looooove it. It says "EAST BERLIN" on it. I'm so hard!
The nightlife was crazy. We never went to Berghein, the infamous club of Berlin. But we went to Luzia and Roses (creepiest place ever) in Kreuzberg. We went to Cookies, and Watergate. You are going to have to ask me those stories later. They aren't all appropriate for a public forum.
Sorry this is so long. I had so much fun in Berlin! I miss you guys!
I'm off to Milan this weekend to see this huge Egon Schiele exhibit and pretend that I'm super chic!
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