ich bin ein berliner!
The hardest thing about living in Germany, as opposed to just traveling here, is learning to grocery shop. It was hard enough in England where everything was unfamiliar but still in English. Here...there are just way too many different kinds of cheese and meat to get to know. And I'm so impatient to know it all already--the city, the people, the language.
I've been speaking mostly English with Henrike, my roommate, but we're easing into the German. We had a conversation last night, and I was appalled at how rusty my own pronunciation has gotten since four months or so ago, when I last had to speak German frequently. I understand most things fine, so it's disappointing when it doesn't come out of my mouth the way I hear it in my brain.
I went out last night with Henrike to an indie pop club and saw this band live. It was a small venue, really low-key and lots of fun. Just walking around, I've seen posters advertising concerts for so many bands I know. I'll have to get used to living not just in a foreign city, but a big foreign city. There's so much here, and I want to see all of it.
Yesterday I wandered around the city center, Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenberg Gate, which is mostly what I've known of Berlin until now. I actually found the first place I ever tried currywurst, a Berlin specialty, and ate lunch there.
Tomorrow I'll go to my school and meet my teacher, and then the real Fulbright stuff begins. I'm a tiny bit nervous, but looking forward to getting my brain working again.
Oh, by the way, it stopped raining in Altenberg, so there are pics on flickr of the whole compound we were staying in there. Click on the badge to the right...
I've been speaking mostly English with Henrike, my roommate, but we're easing into the German. We had a conversation last night, and I was appalled at how rusty my own pronunciation has gotten since four months or so ago, when I last had to speak German frequently. I understand most things fine, so it's disappointing when it doesn't come out of my mouth the way I hear it in my brain.
I went out last night with Henrike to an indie pop club and saw this band live. It was a small venue, really low-key and lots of fun. Just walking around, I've seen posters advertising concerts for so many bands I know. I'll have to get used to living not just in a foreign city, but a big foreign city. There's so much here, and I want to see all of it.
Yesterday I wandered around the city center, Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenberg Gate, which is mostly what I've known of Berlin until now. I actually found the first place I ever tried currywurst, a Berlin specialty, and ate lunch there.
Tomorrow I'll go to my school and meet my teacher, and then the real Fulbright stuff begins. I'm a tiny bit nervous, but looking forward to getting my brain working again.
Oh, by the way, it stopped raining in Altenberg, so there are pics on flickr of the whole compound we were staying in there. Click on the badge to the right...
Labels: Berlin life
