Acclimation

Ahhh...one week done. It's been busy. We've seen and done lots of stuff. Adding photos directly to blogger in large amounts is apparently very unwieldy, so I made a Shutterfly account to upload photos at: http://www.marktrailforprez.shutterfly.com/ . Also, on Facebook.

First of all, it's worth mentioning that Berlin dogs are the best-looking, most well-trained dogs on the planet. I have yet to see an unappealing dog, and almost everyone I see makes me think "boy, would it be fun/nice to have that dog". Probably half can walk without a leash, even with aggressive drivers around, and I've twice seen dogs waiting for their owners outside grocery stores. Amazing. And somehow, they all look good. This morning, I saw two owners with adorable puppies, and their dogs were meeting each other, and playing cutely as they did it. I swear, that happens every day. Dan Lojovich (another member of the Carleton group) told me that Berlin has the highest per capita rate of dog ownership in the world. That's pretty lofty, but there are a lot of dogs here. It could be true.

Not much culture shock really, except a few minor things. For example, the skimmest milk they have here is 1.5% (Fettarme Milch). I can deal with that. Also, at the grocery store, you have to pay for bags if you don't bring your own, which got me the first time. Also, the checker lady checks your groceries like an unfriendly automaton, regardless of where you go. Today, I went to Tiergarten, a huge park in the middle of the city, and was surprised to see lounging naked people in the park, most of whom were middle aged men. Wasn't really a problem, though. Just kind of a funny place for a nude park. I didn't even know there were any nude parks anywhere.

This is a cool city. There's so much to see and do. Earlier in the week the group went to the Deutsche Komisches Oper to watch an awesome modern ballet called "Alice's Wonderland", based on the story. The dancers were freakishly amazing at their jobs. It was truly beautiful. Otherwise, I've become expert at navigating the U-bahn, and we've found some cool restaurants and bars (since one can drink at age 16 here. Also smoke, which is much more prevalent here). I never liked beer until I tried it here, where it's actually good. Which, mom and dad, does not mean I'm drinking it by the gallon. Don't worry.

We're reading "Minna von Barnhelm" by G.E. Lessing in class, a 18th century comedy centering around the relationship between a former 7 years war officer, his love interest, Minna von Barnhelm, and their servants. It's hard, but I can get the gist of it, mostly. Also, there are archaic spellings and forms sometimes, which doesn't help. A good story, though. We're going to see it performed in the Berlin Theater on Friday. Cool, huh?

On Saturday and Sunday the whole group trekked by train to Hamburg (1.8 million people), the highlight of which was the beautiful churches they have there. There are several with tall steeples, one of which we were able to go inside and climb to the top. The bells were ringing as we went up, which was cooly loud or loudly cool. I was entirely pooped to the point of exhaustion because of some lack of sleep, so while some friends checked out the Reeperbahn, the Hamburg Red Light district (reported it was "interesting", which was backed up by their stories), I got some extra sleep. The hotel we stayed in was really nice, except that it had shoddy beds, in that some of them literally cracked when people laid down on them. Mine was fine, but Alex Higgin-Houser's bed frame cracked in half as he was lying there trying to fall asleep. Sehr lustig. All in all, three beds were broken one way or another, through no fault of our own.

I went running the other day, which was truly incredible. So many things to look at, and the canal outside my host's apartment has a trail that goes for miles, so I'm really set. At one point, I was running under a four-lane street canopied by the huge trees on its sides.

All in all, it's been really cool, and clearly different than anything I've ever experienced. The city is really alive, and it's really a different feeling when the shortest building for miles is four stories tall. Now that I'm a little more settled in, it seems like I'm already understanding people better. I can talk to my host pretty easily (mostly vocabulary problems), and we even talked about American politics and God and other lofty things over beer on the first day. That helped to ease myself into it.

Next up, more exploration, and Minna von Barnhelm.

Tschüs,
Kevin