Frahs Neues Jahrs!
Many many months ago, before even buying my luggage for the trek over here, I was offered the opportunity to go to Berlin over New Years with my host family. What an amazing experience I just had.
I left my family in Rome to head over to my host dad's favorite city. It did make the departure a bit easier knowing I was headed from one grand adventure to another, but I have to admit it was hard to leave them. That didn't matter when I landed, though; sorry mom and dad, but I realize I only have five more months here so I'm going to make the best of them!
As soon as we landed, my host sister and I had a ball attempting to speak tedesco or German. We picked up words like "flügel", "drücken", and "brezel" while speaking Italian. It was nice that there were English speakers around, but I was super happy to be with my family with whom I only spoke Italian. I definitely exercised my brain between learning German, translating English, and speaking Italian!
My host family took me mostly around the cute neighborhoods of Berlin to explore, walk around, and admire the many many many lights. We shopped a lot since the shopping there is much cheaper and convenient than Italy (for the most part), and I finally got some Starbucks after all these months! They were awesome in taking me to all the sights: the Pergamon, Brandenburger Tor, Eastside Gallery, and Checkpoint Charlie just to name a few. I learned a lot about the tragedies that have occurred in Berlin and was truly touched by photos I saw and stories I was told. This city has quite the history. We spent a good amount of time discussing architecture as well thanks to a friend who works in the industry we met up with in Berlin. It's interesting to compare the city before and after the East/West division and the destruction that coincided. Not only that, but we got to go inside a lot of these buildings as well. My personal favorite was the Reichstag Building, or the German Parliament. It has an AMAZING dome of glass that gives you the perfect view of the entire city and it's skyline. It didn't even matter we had a cloudy morning- our climb was amazing and I saw everything from the castle to the synagogue, television tower to the Brandenburger Tor, and the Duomo to Kurfürstendamm. Three of our five days in the city, we ate at the market where there are many stands with food from around the world! Unlike Italian cities, Berlin is really international and the people there embrace more foreign cultures. I've missed Chinese, American, French, and I didn't even know it but German food these past four months! It was awesome to try some new foods (baked potatoes the size of my head, currywurst, and schnitzel) and enjoy some of my favorites that aren't common in Italy. I love my pasta and pizza, don't get me wrong, but it was nice to have a break.
Being in Berlin over New Years was quite the experience. Even though the main events took place in front of the Brandenburger Tor, police were only allowing a certain number of people to be in the area throughout the night. Since the majority had to remain outside and fireworks are legal, the city appeared to be in chaos. BOOM here and CRACK there...and then a siren every once in a while. It was exciting though, and my host family and I were out until 4 AM! We did end up making our way to the big party and had lots of fun with the others celebrating (who were mostly tourists like us).
I am so so so lucky to have rung in the New Year with amazing people in an incredible city. If my time in Germany was any indicator of how great 2014 will be, I'm in for a treat!
As soon as we landed, my host sister and I had a ball attempting to speak tedesco or German. We picked up words like "flügel", "drücken", and "brezel" while speaking Italian. It was nice that there were English speakers around, but I was super happy to be with my family with whom I only spoke Italian. I definitely exercised my brain between learning German, translating English, and speaking Italian!
My host family took me mostly around the cute neighborhoods of Berlin to explore, walk around, and admire the many many many lights. We shopped a lot since the shopping there is much cheaper and convenient than Italy (for the most part), and I finally got some Starbucks after all these months! They were awesome in taking me to all the sights: the Pergamon, Brandenburger Tor, Eastside Gallery, and Checkpoint Charlie just to name a few. I learned a lot about the tragedies that have occurred in Berlin and was truly touched by photos I saw and stories I was told. This city has quite the history. We spent a good amount of time discussing architecture as well thanks to a friend who works in the industry we met up with in Berlin. It's interesting to compare the city before and after the East/West division and the destruction that coincided. Not only that, but we got to go inside a lot of these buildings as well. My personal favorite was the Reichstag Building, or the German Parliament. It has an AMAZING dome of glass that gives you the perfect view of the entire city and it's skyline. It didn't even matter we had a cloudy morning- our climb was amazing and I saw everything from the castle to the synagogue, television tower to the Brandenburger Tor, and the Duomo to Kurfürstendamm. Three of our five days in the city, we ate at the market where there are many stands with food from around the world! Unlike Italian cities, Berlin is really international and the people there embrace more foreign cultures. I've missed Chinese, American, French, and I didn't even know it but German food these past four months! It was awesome to try some new foods (baked potatoes the size of my head, currywurst, and schnitzel) and enjoy some of my favorites that aren't common in Italy. I love my pasta and pizza, don't get me wrong, but it was nice to have a break.
Being in Berlin over New Years was quite the experience. Even though the main events took place in front of the Brandenburger Tor, police were only allowing a certain number of people to be in the area throughout the night. Since the majority had to remain outside and fireworks are legal, the city appeared to be in chaos. BOOM here and CRACK there...and then a siren every once in a while. It was exciting though, and my host family and I were out until 4 AM! We did end up making our way to the big party and had lots of fun with the others celebrating (who were mostly tourists like us).
I am so so so lucky to have rung in the New Year with amazing people in an incredible city. If my time in Germany was any indicator of how great 2014 will be, I'm in for a treat!
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