My First Woche in Berlin

So,
I've been here for almost a week.

I arrived last Monday, and spent the night in the hostel, as recorded below.

Tuesday I checked into IES, met my new compatriots, and got some mug-shot-esque pictures taken for my public transit card and other official documents. I met my host-frau, Beate, who lives at the Merhingdom stop, which connects to both the U6 and U7.
My room is huge, probably 4x the size of my Smiley dorm. It has big windows spanning an entire wall, and very simple and aestheically pleasing cherry funiture.
It also has a TV. This is the first time, in my life, that I've had a TV in my room. It's very weird, and I've only watched it once. German TV consists of a lot of dubbed american shows, and it plays into that whole "familiar but different" feeling I've had since I arrived.
The apartment is up four flights of stairs, and my windows overlook a cemetery. Which actually (as morbid as it sounds) is nice because it is therefore a quiet street, and there is greenery all around.

Wednesday we had meet and greet at IES, and spent the whole day filling out forms. Then we walked about the city in predetermined groups and had a mentor-tour-guide pointing out things along the way "Hier ist a bank, hier ist a post-office, heir is a good club." After that we all ate dinner together, and then some of us went out later that night. We bar hopped around, and I realized that a beer in Germany is a LOT bigger than one in the US, which is sad, because the feeling of satisfaction when one is done is still the same. It got me into trouble, since we went to three places, so I had a beer at each one, and two and the last, and 4 beers is really like, 2 litres, and I don't think that that is really a reasonable amount for a person my size to consume. Anyway getting up the four flights of stairs THAT night might have been the most treacherous thing I've done thus far.

Thursday I made it to the IES center by 10, and attended the computer training session (which was really really a joke.) I was very upset it was cutting into my sleep time. We had lunch at an Italian restuarant, in a big group of probably about 10 or 12 kids. We were the only ones in the restaurant, so the very italian waiter gave us special attention. In particular, he gave me very special attention. He commented on the the yellow in my hair, and the yellow scarf I had on, and my "yellow" orange juice, and then he decided to draw a picture of me, in front of the whole group. It was actually really embarassing. He was so much a charicature of Italian men it made me crack up - he kept saying "Mamma Mia!" and gesturing with his hands. He told our group if we ate there every day he would give us a 20% discount. But I doubt I'm going back. I got to keep the picture, so if I can find a scanner somewhere I'll post is here. It's really funny. After lunch I was really tired and pretty much kept nodding off in the health and safety lecture. When I got home I went immediately to sleep, and didn't wake up until Friday morning. (Actually like 2 in the morning Friday morning, but then I had nothing to do so I just went back to sleep.)

Friday we had the placement test at IES for german, and although I don't think I did as well as I should have, I don't think that they really ever kick people out for doing poorly on the test. After, we went to lunch, and then had a meet and greet with the german students who work/study for/at IES. It was awful - there was one activity where we had to get up and tell a story in german - like an embarassing moment or a memory from childhood, and since i was in the front row and have some bright yellow hair, i got picked early on. I actually got really nervous and told them I had stage fright (which is actually not really true) so that I didn't have to go. But of course now I just feel like a wimp. But even though I have no problem with speaking in front of people, I really can't comfortably speak german in front of large groups of people yet. On the spot. Of an embarassing moment. Gah. That night some kids and I went out to a hostel bar (very lame, but not my choice) and played a little pool. Then I went home and watched german TV for the first time. And German MTV is now my favorite channel.

Saturday I went and finally got chargers, and then plugged stuff in, and then went out with friends. This was my first actual good night in berlin, or at least what I was expecting out of a night in berlin. We went early and took beers on the S-bahn around the city. After our "booze cruise" we went to a bar and danced and got more drinks, then we went to a different bar because someone got kicked out of the bar we were in, and we danced to some electro, then we left that bar, starting walking back to the other one because we had lost the person who had gotten kicked out, and decided to stop for Currywurst on the way there. Currywurst is this wonderful street food that is like a cut up patak style sausage with ketchup and curry power on top of it. It either comes with a piece of bread or pommes frites. (french fries). Anyway it was super and we went to the other dance club until we decided to leave (it was about 2:30 or 3:00 at this point). BUT on the way out of the club we saw a poster for Total Science (a drum n bass duo) that had a concert that night, so we decided to ask someone where it was. It turned out to be nearby, so we arrived at 3 and the duo had just started. After 2.5 solid hours of dancing and moving to loud bass, we decided to go home, and after figuring out the public transportation, I made it home at about 6AM. The stairs were not so daunting after all the physical activity of the night, but when I got to my bed, I crashed, and woke up pleasantly about 3 hours ago. Hurrah for my first week in Berlin!