What I've been learning:

--Melissa and Judith after seeing (and NOT falling asleep!) Beethoven's Fidelio at the Staatsoper--


These passed few weeks since I arrived in Berlin have been, to be quite honest, difficult and fairly stressful. And it is from those times that we learn the most, about ourselves, those around us, and the places we live in (as the wonderful Maya would remind me). Here are a few things I have learned since arriving by train in the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Perhaps in the following one can find a few tidbits of valuable advice. Note that when I say "you", I generally mean "This has happened to me" - for instance, "you" probably have a better sense of direction than I do so feel free to ride the U-Bahn mapless :-)

- If you feel that you have been made the landing-pad for pigeon-droppings, don't look up.

- More on the pigeon-droppings: If you get pooped on, then you better not stay put. Move to a different bench or else it will happen again.

- Do not trust your sense of direction underground. The subway has overall too many stairways and there is no sun to help you orient yourself. Perhaps it's best to always check the map so that you don't end up, say, going in the opposite direction you just came from when you had intended to switch Lines.

- The German bureaucratic system is awful. It is awful, but unfortunately unavoidable. So to put a positive spin on things, we shall call it..... efficient.

- Always keep spare passport pictures on you. For some reason they are unbelievably handy.

- Photo-booths in the subways like to distort things.

- You cannot escape American tourists. If they have a southern-accent, they will want to stop and chat.

- Sometimes if you're lucky you can see some people walking around in Lederhoesen outside of Munich. You won't be able to understand them, but they will be incredibly friendly regardless.

- Blogs are incredibly fun and rather addictive! I copied you, Anna Rae, and put a link to your blog here too! Thanks, and I can't wait to read more!!

- PC's are not immortal. KEEP YOUR INSTALLATION DISCS WHEN YOU BUY A COMPUTER!

- Macs are also not immortal, but they do have cameras built in and really fun widgets. My new computer and I have a fast-growing friendship.

- Searching for an apartment is a painful process. One should not forget to read the fine print on the web-ads before calling. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end. AND, there are other places to live in Berlin OTHER than in Prenzlauer Berg or Friedrichshein.

- No matter what happens at the University, Erasmus students have it worse.

- Germans are incredibly direct, upfront, and honest people. Until it comes to the "Formal Letter", of course. The Formal Letter is how customer-service in Germany works. Instead of calling, you send all complaints via letter-form in completely sugar-coated and flowery language. Particularly when something annoying happens... like, say, when Deutsche Bank spells a GERMAN last name like WEIHMAYER wrong on your bankcard...

- Taking the risk to move to (better) empty seats in an opera is ALWAYS a worthwhile endeavor.

- I have never seen prisons depicted more beautifully than in Fidelio. I have also never heard of Sevillians speaking such good German, but Beethoven is allowed to pretend that they did, right? Fidelio is the first installment of Melissa's Operatic Experience in Berlin, and I must say it was the perfect way to start. Beautifully done. Imposing. Timeless.

- Having to choose a political party in Germany would be like picking favorites in an incestual love story in a day-time soap opera.

- All a fridge needs for survival is Roete Gruetze and Vanilla-sauce. Roete Gruetze is like a thicker and fruitier version of marmalade and when it's topped with vanilla sauce you can eat tons of it for dessert or breakfast and still feel like you're being healthy!

- Did you know that Englanders call lady bugs lady birds?

- Germany may soon run out of energy resources and thus grow to be completely dependent on Russia, but they will never run out of beautiful stationary supplies. It's just not possible.

- For the sake of packing light, a person should have ONLY ONE guide book for a city... so choose well!

- Maps that fit in side-pockets were a wonderful invention.

- The EU actually does have a very important theoretical and diplomatic function in Europe. What they don't have enough of, is people to work on their public relations.

- Poland is NOT VERY FAR AWAY! There's a direct train from Breslau to Berlin once a day, and it only costs 20-euros!!

- Vocab EVERY NIGHT is the only way to prevent mental breakdowns when it comes to learning German.

- A year abroad is not like it used to be. Even though snail mail will always remain my favorite, Skype is a very close second. Cell phone calls are cheap and it does wonders to make home feel closer than ever at times of need.

- Familial love is unconditional love.

--Boston: Erika teaching Mom how to mow and the good old Logan Airport--

Druecken ihm die Daumen

In short:

Thank you for the postcards, featuring many exotic locations from Saint Petersburg to Savannah, Georgia! I shall be in Boston for a few days this weekend to spend time with my family since my father is recovering from an operation. I would love to hear from you all and will be available via cell-phone.

The longer version:

Every afternoon last week surprised me with a rainstorm. This week has been fairly sunny in comparison. When I was considering one morning whether or not to bring an umbrella with me to class, my enthusiastic and incredibly helpful host-mother Gisela responded that I’ll get used to having one with me pretty much all the time. By the end of the week the rainstorms no longer caught me unprepared. Amidst the varying weather, I am proud to say that I am acclimating to this overwhelmingly exciting and large city.

Patience is really the only way this will all work… patience with my student visa, patience with finding the right classes, patience with the U-bahn and the new neighborhoods I’ve never seen before, patience with the more “academic” German we’ve been learning, patience with the Berliner German which some Berliners can’t even understand, patience with the apartment-hunt, patience until I visit Robert in Poland, and finally, patience in taking in the sights and rather unsettling (in my opinion) history that this city has to offer. I am gathering up the readings and vocabulary lists from the past couple of days. I will soon go to the post office to send a few letters, and then I will do something that I didn’t expect to be doing for at least another six months: packing to go home.

As a few of you may already know, my father has recently fallen ill. All the steps are in place for a gradual recovery, so we are remaining very positive. Many people back in Boston have been there to support my parents, including of course the lovely Erika who rushed to the bus station from Montreal as soon as she heard the news. As for me, I am unbelievably relieved to be joining my family this weekend. I’ll be leaving early Friday morning and then returning to Berlin Monday night. Since my parents were supposed to visit me in Berlin this weekend, this will just be a slight modification in the original plans.

As you can probably guess it has been really difficult being so far away at a time when my family is facing some major uncertainties. Mostly I feel restless since I cannot support them as much as I would like to. I’ve also been a bit overwhelmed since I am not yet 100% settled here in Berlin.

Nancy Bridgewater, my mother’s closest friend from high school and college (who reminds me of my mother in small ways) lives just a few subway stops away from where I am staying now. She been an incredible source of support for me. She greeted me at the train station when I first arrived in Berlin, and helped me with my obsceeeene amounts of luggage (thanks again!). We had a lovely dinner together on a rainy night last week, and she invited me, her son Jan, and his girlfriend Patrizia over for curried-stew and a movie this passed Saturday night. On Tuesday I had the good fortunate of being her guest at a panel discussion on the “American Election”. She showed me the American Embassy on Pariser Platz, plain and understated from the outside but swanky like a hotel on the inside. I must admit I was a bit proud to show my American passport at the front entrance. We walked by the Holocaust Memorial to the “Rheinland-Pfalz” reception room for the discussion. Thankfully it was in English, or else I would not have understood the subtle differences between McCain and Obama that one of the fast-speaking panelists described. The mostly-German audience let out an overarching gasp when one of the panelists clarified that yes, the race is actually a close one and yes, another Republican victory, as unfortunate as that might be, would not be unheard of. For Americans and non-americans alike it was a fascinating evening.

Totally randomly, the program director of BCGS (that’s what I’m actually doing here, short for Berlin Consortium for German Studies) Carmen was also there at the same discussion! She has also taken every opportunity to help me out this past week. My host family has of course also been incredibly sympathetic. Amidst a computer-crash-crisis last week Gisela lent me her computer so that I could keep using skype and email whenever I needed to. There are always delicious dinners in this apartment, so that I hardly need to spend any money here and I am more than well fed when I go to bed each night. Gisela, Judith, David (Judith's boyfriend) and I went to two different art exhibits on Sunday, one in the National Gallery and another in the Postbahnhof, which is an old train station converted into an installation space. We sort of snuck in the back entrance at the Postbahnhof and managed to not pay an entrance fee at the Gallery; Gisela was quite proud of the money we saved. I was glad to spend an entire Sunday thinking about the inexhaustible amount of museums, galleries, and art exhibitions in Berlin. Judith, who is just beginning to study photo in her high school, reminded me of the contingent of Noble students taking Photo I struggling with the many functions of their cameras. She shot an assignment on “Structures” as her first roll of film. It is safe to say that I could not have been luckier with my host-family. Last night: a dinner of Kasespatzel, salad and Berliner Weise (the Green kind)…

Druecken jemandem die Daumen: making a fist around your thumb for someone, literally holding one's thumbs. That is what people do here instead of crossing their fingers. In fact, crossing fingers for good luck sounds pretty silly to most Germans. Carmen, Nancy, Robert (boyfriend-Robert!), Robert’s mother Katrin, my host family Judith, Gisela and Thomas, Nina from Karlsruhe, my language teacher Detlef, and I, we are all holding our thumbs that all goes well with my father.

Erste Fotos von Berlin

"Originale Berliner Currywurst"... the stands in Berlin must get more business when they call it that. Interestingly enough the stands in Heidelberg advertised the same thing, and it was 'original' there too! This was my afternoon snack as two students from my program -Chris and Ian - and I visited the famous Kudamm Strasse about ten minutes walking from my guest-family's apartment.

Massachusetts in Germany? I admit that I have no idea what this sign was about. Apparently there's a contingent of "Bostonofiles" here in Berlin who felt that their Red Sox pride and appreciation of lobster was best expressed through a month-long "Volksfest" in the Berliner suburb of Dahlem. I saw this flier as we toured the FU (short for Freie Universitat... NOT, you know, the other F-U) campus for the first time.

According to writer Jakob Hein there are more than 8 streets called "Berliner Strasse". Why, you may wonder, if not to confuse tourists and visitors? Before 1920 the formal boundaries of the city were in fact quite small. The Berliner Strasse actually did all "lead to" the old Berlin. Now they are part of the city and give taxi driver's the upper-hand; when a tourist asks simply for X-number Berliner Strasse the driver can pick the one in the farthest district and reap some financial benefits! We read some of Jakob Hein's "Gebrauchsanweisung fuer Berlin" today in my language class, hence the influx of information. It's a sort of insider's guide to Berlin if you will, with facts, figures, and most importantly, a bit of Berliner Deutsch for us to misunderstand, misuse and thoroughly enjoy...