Last days

So I made it back to Berlin from Hamburg.  After being homeless for a short period of time, I was able to (thank goodness) crash at my friend Yunces.  Now, I’ve been doing a mad dash around town, trying to get everything done that I need to before I fly out in two days (YIKES!!!)

I have to say - it really doesn’t seem like I’m going to be back in California in a couple of days.  It’s very surreal to think about actually.  And that’s how I’m mostly acting too - like nothing big is going to be happening.  Strange.

So, Hamburg was fun though - got to see my friends Sabine and Henrike, and Tobey and Forrest came along too, which was good because I wanted to be able to see them before I headed back (since I who knows when the next time is that we’ll be seeing each other).

So, I’m officially de-registered from living in Germany, my bank account is closed, and I’ve returned my health insurance card.  Now just shopping and seeing friends.  Oh goodness!!!  Anyway, see all you guys soon!  Bis dann denn! =)

London Town

Hey guys!!!

Haven’t updated you for a while - sorry about that!  But, the good news is that I have been having a blast jetting around Europe!  The bad news - this won’t be too much of an update (just more to let you know where I am at the moment and what I’m up to).

Currently I’m staying in Greenwich and checking out the joys of London town.  Little known fact - the recent Sherlock Holmes film was shot in Greenwich.  Pretty cool!  Yeah, so I’ve been having a fun time jaunting around London - seeing Big Ben and walking across the Millenium Bridge and all that.  I was even able to catch a play - Avenue Q.  Very good!!

So, I’m waking up early to go on a day trip tomorrow to somewhere in England (don’t quite know where yet - we’ll see when I get to the bus station).  So yeah.  Then it’s just a week until I come home.  Crazy!!!  So much to do before then - it will be quite hectic I’m sure.

But yeah, hopefully all is well at home for you guys!  Talk to you soon then!  Ciao ciao! =)

Flying solo

Hey guys!  So today saw me up early and leaving the city of romance (Paris) and Natalya to fly solo for the next week and a half in the British Isles.  Landed in Dublin today and will be here for the next few days, then it’s off to London.  Enjoyed a pint of Guiness upon my arrival - drinking it as well as enjoying a delicious Guinness based stew at Dublin’s oldest pub.  Fun fun! =)

Italia

So, I thought I’d update you guys with a few pictures from the past week of traveling through Italy.  There are only a few pictured here, but hopefully that gives you a little bit of a glimpse into what Natalya and I have been up to.  The picture on top is of us boarding the flight to Bergamo.

Skyline of the old town of Bergamo.  Absolutely beautiful!!!

Claudia’s family (she’s the one on the right).  Absolutely delicious, and the family was fun and amazing!!!

Snails in Milan.

Sneakily snapping a photo of the Last Supper (we weren’t allowed to take photos, but I took my cue from grandpa and decided to snap pictures from my pocket)

First pizza in Italy - asparagus, cheese, tomatoes, and egg.

Piazza San Marcos in Venice - the weather was beautiful on our second day.

Trying on some of the famous Venetian masks.

Pizza by weight in Rome (and it was absolutely delicious!!!)

I asked the Brazilian bartender at the hostel to surprise me with a drink that she really liked.  I got this - a sweet tight pussy. =)

Hiking up the Spanish Steps

The Forum

The Colosseum from a distance.  Hoping to hit that up today and also the Vatican.  Then, we’re waking up for an early flight to Madrid tomorrow morning.  So yeah, that gets you guys caught up a little bit then!  Hope all is well back in California!  See all you guys before you know it (it’s crazy that we’ve already been traveling for a week!!!)!  Ciao for now then!!!

Ciao bella!!!

Hey-o!!!

So I meant to update you guys a little bit earlier, but alas that is not the case.  Anyway, I’ll give you a quick update now.

Jacqueline flew in last Friday to come visit me for the weekend (crazy - that was just a week ago!).  We had a lot of fun together, going to parties and bars, seeing fireworks, and watching Germans all dressed up funny.  Was kind of weird seeing her for the first time in 7 months.  Weird, but still fun!

Yup yup, then last week was crazy with preparations for my one month trip around Europe.  Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to get around to updating last week then.  But, now we’re in Venice, and our third day in Italy (Natalya actually signed on at the last minute to come with me for part of the journey).  Just taking a breather right now before we go out again, so thought I’d let you guys know a little bit about where I am and what’s going on.

So yes, in Venice currently, and we were staying in Bergamo (took a day trip to Milan yesterday), and came in on the train today.  In a couple days we’re off to Rome and then, from there…well, we’ll get to that later! ;)

Hope all is well with you guys!  I’ll try to update some picture when I get some more time!  Ciao until then! =)

Last Leg of the Journey…

So I’m currently trying to find motivation to finish my ten page paper that is the last thing I have to complete for my schooling.  Grrr…so bad with motivation and forcing myself to do things.

But, in fun news, on Friday I went exploring around and came across the Nikolaiviertel of the city, which is one of my favorite places now (and I walked by it before too without even knowing it was there).  I went in the Knoblauch Haus, which is a free museum, but is also the oldest surviving residence in Berlin.  Was really interesting, chatted with the old man working in there for a bit.  He seemed so enthusiastic and excited when I started asking about the house that he pulled me into some other rooms and told me more about the history of the place.  Very sweet guy and a lot of fun!

And, since I haven’t posted pictures for a while, here’s some from around the Nikolaiviertel:

Looking around the area - the Nikolaikirche is on the left

Lion statues located right next to the Ephraim-Palais (now a museum, which I didn’t end up going inside)

Canalside.  Ephraim-Palais is on the right (outside of the picture) and the city library (now, I don’t know what it was earlier in history) across the canal on the left.  Can see a little bit of the Altes Museum in the distance.

St. George statue throwing a fireball at me.  EGADS!!!

And I leave you with a view off of the bridge over the canal.  The Nikolaiviertel is on your right and straight ahead is the Berliner Dom.

Hope you enjoyed!  Hopefully next time I talk with you guys I’ll be done with everything school related.  Here’s hoping!  So, until then!  Tschau! =)

Long time no see

Hey-o!

So it has been a little bit of time since my last update, hasn’t it?  Well, that’s because I have been busy with various things going on here in Berlin from, visitors and museum visits, to studying for tests.  I actually just took a test this morning (and did really well actually!  Was SUPER stoked about that!  It also helps that the professor is super nice).  I was originally going to take this test last week, but it got moved back along with my presentation (was supposed to be Friday but is now this Friday).  But, hopefully by the end of this week I will just have my Hausarbeit left to write, and hopefully I can get that done before a certain visitor comes to visit me in Berlin next weekend.  But we’ll come to that later.

First, just a short recap of what has (recently) been going on with me.  I’ll try and post pictures and, possibly, further commentary sometime later too.  Anyway, last Monday and Tuesday were absolutely beautiful days!  Beautiful, sunny, clear-skied days!  Days where you couldn’t stay inside, and days that made me realize how much I really miss the sun and non-overcast weather.

But, this weekend Forrest and Tobey actually came to visit, so that was fun.  It was the Lange Nacht der Museen, where a whole bunch of museums were open from 6 pm to 2 am, and you just had to pay one ticket to get into all of them (which also included transportation).  Nothing like staying out late being cultured! =)  Also, I had another fun experience this weekend - went and saw a silent movie, Nesferatu, with a real band backing it up.  Quite interesting.

Anyway, I think that’s about it for now.  Sorry I haven’t gotten into too much detail, but I’m tired and can’t really bring myself to elaborate any more for right now.  But, sometime I will probably get around to posting pictures.  Don’t know when, but sometime! =)

Take it easy guys!  Bis später denn!

I’m Walking on Sunshine…

…and don’t it feel good! =)

So I was out taking a stroll around my neighborhood today, doing some reconnaisance work on some bars and eateries to check out (because, as I found out last night, there are actually a lot of cool places around where I live; and here I’ve been traveling for half an hour or more to go hang out at other places; now I just need to see if I can wrangle up some interested friends to start checking these locations out), when the sun came out.  Whoo-hoo!!!  I saw it for all of a minute, but it was nice - a verz nice day today (though, glancing outside right now, it’s actually snowing; hmmm…I guess no more sun then).  It was still absolutely freezing outside, but at least there was sun, and it was bright instead of dull and overcast.  Felt good.  Everything seemed instantly so much more cheery and happy.  So yeah, despite the cold (it’s supposed to be -7 C during the day today, but feel like it’s -12; wow - I didn’t actually know that before checking the weather!  This weekend is gonna be getting even colder too) I wanted to walk around and explore.  Like I said, scoped out a couple of places that I found online last night, and uncovered a few cool cafes that I would like to check out.  I’ll keep you guys updated on how all these places turn out.

But yeah, yesterday turned out being a pretty fun day - I have been trying to get work done on this presentation I have next week, and so was hoping to do some of that work yesterday.  Nuh-uh.  Not happening.  Ended up waking up late (because I have been having a really hard time sleeping - maybe due to the crazy hours of this Berlin lifestyle), then went and met Alaia and Liz (from our program) at a Cafe and sat and chatted.  See, that’s the crazy thing - this was the first time I have hung out with these girls outside of an organized “program” setting.  They go to Freie University, which is part of the problem.  We were discussing how weird it was that the Frei kids and the Humboldt kids never seem to hang out together - and it really is true!  So yeah, that was fun then.  So after, it turned out the Cafe was right by my friend Eliza’s place, so I called her up to see if she was home so I could stop by.  Turned out she was, so it was tea and quatschen for a bit - nice and relaxing.  Then, it was a quick jaunt back to my place to drop off my stuff (silly me had brought my backback with me because I thought I would be doing some work sometime that day), then it was off to the movies with Ruth to see a German film called “Friendship.”  Very good actually!  It’s about two East German friends who, right after the wall falls, decide they want to go to San Francisco, but only have enough money to get to New York.  So yeah, they end up road tripping/hitch-hiking across the US.  Watching it brought on a little bit of Heimweh, especially when they got into Las Vegas and crossed over to California.  I do miss California and the outdoors and the roadtrips and, of course, the people too!  But yeah, I just kind of miss the land.

So yeah, that was my eventful day yesterday.  So now I’m in the library trying to be fleißig, but you can see what has become of that so far! =)

Anyway, take care everybody - don’t be strangers ya hear!  Ciao for now!

Ohne Sonne

So Hilliary alerted me to the fact Sunday night, but I actually just looked up and confirmed it on the internet - Berlin has broken a 46 year record.  That’s right, go Berlin!!!  What record you may ask?  Well, turns out this is a 46 year old weather record.  On Sunday, it was the 12th consecutive day we have had without sun.  Before that, the record was only 11 days.  And, the great thing is that we didn’t have sun yesterday, and probably won’t have sun for the rest of the week, so that record is just gonna keep growing!  I feel so famous by association! =)

http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin-aktuell/article1240659/Berlin-bricht-46-Jahre-alten-Wetterrekord.html

Bootie-licious!!!

So, I was able to successfully attend Bootie on Friday night, though at one point I thought I wouldn’t end up getting over there.  I had called up practically everyone I know in Berlin to see if they wanted to go with me, but no luck.  It was 12:30 in the morning, and I was about ready to go and pull a hissy-fit because no one had responded to me, and going to a club by yourself sounded lame (though I was actually considering maybe going later, just because I had been looking forward to it for a little bit), but then a ring clang out through the still air of the night.  Natalya on the phone.  YAY!!!  Great success!!!  Turns out she was in a place with no reception and so couldn’t get my calls.  So yes, then we were off!  Woot woot!!!

So the club itself, Cassiopeia, is pretty cool - tucked away in some beat-up abandoned building.  I wouldn’t really have known how to get there if Natalya hadn’t have been there previously.  But yeah, two floors of music and party mayhem.  The bottom floor was kind of disappointing, but DJ Morgoth had the upper floor pinned down with nothing but 80s mash-ups.  Pretty fun, especially when he came out with some Michael Jackson mash-ups.  It kind of trailed off after a while though (there are only so many good 80s mash-ups you can do, methinks), so then we ended up just chilling and listening to the toons.  I was hoping for some good more mainstream mash-ups on the first floor, but I had heard the featured DJ before I came (the Kleptones) and didn’t really like their stuff, so it was no surprise that I didn’t like the music when I was at the club.  We decided to check-out early (club-wise) at a respectable 4:30 in the morning.  It was funny though, right as we stepped out the door, we heard them starting to play some good stuff on the bottom floor - they must have switched DJs or something.  But, anyway, I was very happy with the experience.  I was so giddy with excitement when I walked in and it was just mash-ups playing.  Natalya must have gotten a little tired of me in those first few moments! =)

But yeah, then we decided to grab the mandatory after-party Doener and go back to her place to eat and watch some South Park.  Then, it was back home and off to bed at 6:30 am.  Sha-bootie!!! =)

So yeah, here are the rest of the pictures from the night (not too many taken).  What isn’t shown here is that I actually went out to coffee beforehand with Nan, which was really nice because we haven’t really been hanging out much.  But yeah, party pictures are following.  Oh!  And smuggling Jaegermeister into the club was fun too!  We’re such rebels! ;)

This sign was supposed to mean something, but I forget what it was.  Mash-up maybe?

The party animals in action!!!

Photo shoot outside the club!  It’s cool cause the whole exterior is completely covered with graffiti.

Oh, also, if any of you decided to take a listen to Bootie’s best of 2009 mash-up cd and liked some of the tracks, you can download them all here (including the whole cd, if you really liked it):

http://www.bootiemashup.com/bestofbootie2009/

That’s the great thing about mash-ups too - they’re always free!  Yay!  I like free things! =)

Alright guys, thanks for reading!  Catch ya on the flipside!  Bis dann denn!

Bootie Berlin

Best of Bootie 2009 v.2 by bootie

So, I’m (hoping) to be going to Bootie tonight - a giant mash-up party at the club Cassiopeia.  So far I haven’t been successful in finding someone to go with me, but hopefully I’ll be able to convince someone - cause going to clubs alone doesn’t sound too fun, but I really want to go.  Anywho, in case any of you are interested in mash-ups, they’re pretty much multiple songs interlayed together to form a new song.  Here’s Bootie Berlin’s best mash-ups of 2009 mix.  I’ve been listening to this - good music to get in the mood for some dancing!  Enjoy! =)

A Night with the Stars…

…which is hard to do, considering Berlin is mostly overcast all of the time.  But when the stars come out, oh boy do they!!!

So, I was just walking through the foyer of Dorotheenstrasse 24 (where most all of my classes are, and where I spend a good majority of my academic time) and saw a booth with a contest for meeting Robert Downey Jr.  You had to taste test some new prune juice this one company had just come out with and then, once you had done that and done that and filled out a simple little survey they entered you into a drawing to see the big man himself - the Jr. (Rodrigo as I like to call him now).  That stuff was pretty disgusting, so I could see why they were bribing people to try it out.  Anyway, I thought little of that contest until a couple of days later when I was checking my email and…BOOM!!!  Message from Prunemeister GmbH.  If I had just recently indulged in some of their product before checking my mail, I would have been pooping my pants at about this time.  But, instead, I just sat there - clean undies and all - and read what the letter said.  “Du hast gewonnen!”  I never win anything!!!  So yeah, Robert Downey Jr. and company were in town for the German premier of the new film “Sherlock Holmes,” and so I scored front frow meet and greet tickets to this event.  Noice!  So, Tuesday night, with ticket in hand, I set out to meet…the Iron Man!  Showed up early, got my bag of WB goodies (ooohhhh…edible gummy Watsons!  Num num!!!), watched a few trailers they were showing, and soaked up the ambience (I did like the Victorian-style streetlamps they had - very nice touch).  Then, the cars starting pulling up, and the celebrities started piling out.  First out was Guy Ritchie - the director.  Then, Mark Strong followed suit (he played the villain), followed by the ever pretty Rachel McAdams (she must have been FREEZING in that dress!!!), and then…du du DUHHHHHH!!!  It was time!  Rodrigo had arrived!  What a gentleman he was as he got out of the car and helped his wife out, then they both made their way over to where I was standing.  Noice!!!  He shook my hand, asked who I was, what I was doing in Berlin, and all the pleasantries.  Very nice!  He even said we should go out for coffee after the premier was done, since he was interested to hear more from a member of his core fan base.  And then we hopped on a motorcycle (with attached sidecar) that just happened to be standing right there (how convenient), and off we went through the streets of Berlin - cool air whipping over our faces as Rodrigo maneuvered our ride around the Allees and Strasses of the city.  And then, as if by magic, Jelly Beans started falling from the sky.  “I hope you like the strawberry flavor” he said with a twinkle in his eye as he plopped one into his mouth.  Yes, looking around with candy filling the streets all around us, I had to conclude - it was definitely a very sweet night!

Ok, so that wasn’t an entirely truthful story.  Only a few details were changed (like he doesn’t actually go by Rodrigo - he likes Rob-a-dub-dub better).  But I did manage to get a picture with the man.  This was after seeing a newsblurb about the premier on the U-bahn that morning, and then deciding to go after class to check it out (since I didn’t know what time it actually started and there was no information I could find to alert me to that fact).  Ended up waiting around in the cold for 2 hours, but it was a fun time in the end.  Plus, it makes for a good story, no matter how you tell it! =)

More pictures of the event can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2500960&id=3231660&l=9ede849820

Crazy. Berlin. Nights.

So, I haven’t really, in all honesty, gone out all that much since I’ve been here (all things considered).  Therefore, it was quite a change of pace to go out not just once, but twice in one weekend.  Add to that the fact that I went out twice in a row.  Goodness!!!  Quite crazy times, I must say!  I have actually been wanting to try out some new clubs (since I haven’t really found anyone in particular that has really stood out, in my oppinion), but this was quite a challenge.  It all started because I had nothing to do Friday night and, so, wanted naturally to do something.  I really wanted to go out, because I hadn’t gone out to the clubs for a while.  So, on the bus ride back to my house (from my outing that I talked about earlier), Anna gave me a phone call and asked what I was up to for that night.  I said nothing, so she invited me over for some food and hanging out action.  So, I got home, took a nap, woke up, and then gave Natalya (my party go-to) a call to see what she was up to for the night, and to see if she wanted to do something.  I actually don’t remember actually what happened, but I think she said call later after dinner.  So, on to Anna’s place (no pictures here unfortunately) where we did some quatschen (good German word!  Look it up on this free online dictionary if you’re curious about its meaning: http://dict.leo.org ), some good eating, and a little bit of celebrating.  She had just found out that she got an internship to go work down in Africa for 3 months (or so) - very cool!!!  Yeah, then I read over a document she wrote in English (SOOOO hard to correct English - such a crazy language, my goodness!!!  How does anyone ever learn it?!), and then it was off to meet up with Natalya.

She and her roommates were at a bar not too far away from Anna’s, so it wasn’t that difficult getting there.  Very interesting place I must say.  They had a constant video loop playing of 80’s jazzercise people dancing, followed by weightlifting competitors doing some sort of crazy dance.  I really wish I had memorized that dance, since it was absolutely classic.  Anyway, usually I just buy beer when I’m out, since it’s the cheapest thing.  This night, however, I gave into the pressure from Natalya to get a mixed drink (I figured - why not!  I don’t usually do it, so why not splurge once).  So, a 6 Euro Mai Tai and 5,50 Euro Mojito later, and I was doing alright (Mai Tai’s and Long Island Ice Teas are crazy drinks, by the way - they are pretty much nothing but alchohol, and yet they don’t taste as strong as they actually are.  Deadly!).  Then, it was off to wondering through the snow (it was snowing) and off to a club.  We arrived at Lido at 3:30 am and, after some confusion with the coat check (who in their right mind wouldn’t take money to check coats, no matter how late it is?!), we hit the dance floor.  Not exactly the best music (it was all rock), but there were some good numbers.  For most of it, though, all you could do is some headbanging since there is no good rhythm to follow along to.  But, with my long hair now (don’t know if you have noticed - haven’t cut my hair since I got here), headbanging is surprisingly fun!  But yeah, partied it up, left the club, grabbed a Doener at a place close by with Natalya, and ended up getting home around 7 am.

So then, next day.  Wake up around 1:30 pm, then it’s off to breakfast at a friend’s place that doesn’t live far away (it was supposed to start at 12:00, but I slept in, and they were still there when I arrived).  Then, off to plan the day, and what a fun-filled day it was.  Met Ned and saw him for the first time since Christmas break (he went home for Christmas), then it was off to Potsdamer Platz to catch a showing of “Where the Wild Things Are” at 6:15 pm with Eliza and her friend, as well as Mallory and Lynna.  Pretty good movie (absolutely gorgeous, and the music is outstanding), but I couldn’t connect to it as much as I had hoped going in.  So yeah, then we were off to dinner, where Anna met us right as we were leaving (she told me the night before that she wanted to go out Saturday night), and then it was off to the Fire Bar (my personal favorite bar so far) where we would meet Natalya and her friend David as well as possibly my friend Justus (the German party-master).  Ended up chilling at the bar for a while, just sipping drinks (I had a Cuba Libre that night, in keeping with the Cuban theme since I had a mojito the night before) and chattin.  Pretty soon it was just Natalya, David, Anna, and me.  Then, we headed off to Alexanderplatz where we grabbed a snack, said goodnight to Anna, and then headed off at about 2:30 am to Icon for some Drum and Bass action.  Now, Natalya loves Drum and Bass, and so was looking forward eagerly to finally going to this club.  I had actually been to Icon before, but during a weekday and with people I didn’t really know that well, so it wasn’t the best time.  But, yeah, it was a fun experience, but I don’t think Drum and Bass is my thing.  The band that played most of the time we were there though was very disappointing to Natalya, so that wasn’t the best either.  But, we made the most of it, and danced our money’s worth.  Then, I decided to take an early exit and head home, since I wasn’t really digging the music by then.  So yeah, arrived home at an early 6 am, a whole hour earlier than the previous night.

There ya have it!  Now, for those interested as to why we were heading out so late to the clubs, let me explain Club life here in Berlin - you usually start heading out to the clubs around 1:00 am.  Quite different from life in the States I must say, but now I’m used to staying up late (which may or may not be a good thing), so I’m game.  Some of the clubs don’t even open up until midnight or 1:00 am, so you can’t go out before that.  I think most of them open around 11:00 pm or so though, which is why you head to a bar first to chill and hang out, and then hit up the clubs.

Anyway, so that was my crazy Friday and Saturday.  Hope you enjoyed reading about the crazy adventures!  For pictures, hit up the link posted below!  Thanks for reading you guys, I’m off to bed now! =)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2500998&id=3231660&l=e8b0b19f45

A white New Years indeed!!!

So, as predicted, New Years Eve was chock full of snow…RIDICULOUS amounts of it!  Woke up the next day to this wonderful white surprise.  So, Forrest and Tobey came up to visit for this holiday, so it was fun to see those guys again.  Still don’t have the best situation for hosting people (borrowing whatever I can in the way of sleeping pads), but they plopped some blankets down on the floor and that was that.

New Years Eve itself consisted of heading out with the boys (Forrest and Tobey) to a photography exhibition at C/O Berlin.  I had never been to this gallery before, but it was really a very neat place and probably my favorite museum I have been to so far.  It was just photography, and the current exhibition was of Don McCullin’s work - a typically wartime photographer.  His work was really quite stunning - makes war look even more ridiculous than it already is, looking at all his photos from places like Vietnam, India, the Congo, and Northern Ireland (among many others).  Really stunning - the pictures just kind of burn images into your soul.

Anyway, that was a good start to the day, then it was off to a bar to get some burgers and beer.  Then, I said goodbye to the crew as they had other plans.  Went back to my place, picked up some champagne and a BIG firework (they’re legal here and sell them just at your local supermarket; so when I was grocery shopping and saw one, I just couldn’t resist, and for 6 Euros it wasn’t too bad), then it was off to Mallory’s place to blow stuff up!  Well, slight setback - turns out we didn’t really have anything to light the explodables (I was actually thinking of bringing matches, but figured they would probably have something; there’s a lesson here children - never assume).  So, off to find a Spaetkauf (because everything else was closed) to find a lighter.  The one we got was probably the hardest lighter to get to work…ever!!!  Definitely slowed down the explodie-fun, but we were still able to get everything blown up - no worries there.  I was actually really surprised with the firework I got - way better than what I was expecting.  It was in a box shape, and so I thought it would be like the fireworks we get back home that have a similar shape - just throwing up fountains of sparks and maybe a few sparkles.  Nah!  This thing had some actual fireworks!  20 shots.  40 meters in the air.  BOOM!!!  I was as giddy as a little boy…wait a tick, that’s not any different than usual (never get old - stay young forever!!!)!

So yeah, after this fun, we went on over to meet up with Anna and her boyfriend Olaf (who I had heard so much about, and had actually spoken with him, but never met him).  My goodness!!!  If you want to see something absolutely ridiculous - go around Brandenburger Tor on New Years Eve.  SOO many people, and so many drunken people setting off fireworks.  There was one guy with a good 20 feet long strip of firecrackers that he set off, then decided to run around with - spraying sparks all over the people around him.  There was a fire-eater here too (as kind of seen in the pictures I’ve posted to facebook; link at the end of the post).  It was absolutely freezing out but this guy was tough - no shirt on!  But yeah, Lynna actually got hit in the arm by a stray firework during this whole process, giving her a nice bruise.  Oh, and I almost forgot - amidst all the thongs of people, Anna and I got separated from the group for a while and lost them.  Craziness!

But yeah, we eventually made our way around the back, trying to get into the party mile - the closed-off strip of Strasse des 17. Juni from Brandenburger Tor to the Siegessaeule.  We stuffed our booze down our pants, and made our way to security.  You could totally see the bottle of champagne under my jacket, and I thought they would have me get rid of it when they had me raise my arms, but they just waived me on.  So yeah, we were able to get all our booze in (I think they were mostly looking for fireworks anyway).  Olaf had actually brought some interesting liquor from Poland, so that was a new experience.  But yeah, the party mile was insanity!  It was alright where we first got in - enough room to dance around and party (which is what we did).  But then we tried to push on closer to the Brandenburger Tor so we could get a better glimpse of the fireworks (I thought, wrongly, that the Tor would be completely rigged with explosives; kind of disappointing).  Goodness! I’ve never been smashed between so many people before in my life!  Everyone was trying to push forward, and tensions were kind of high between people.  But then, we were able to find a lull in the crowd by a Waffle stand where we could actually stand without being pushed with the tide of people (you really had no choice in the matter once you were in the crowd - you went the way the crowd was going).  Ate some waffles, met some nice Chinese students who were studying in Germany but had just come up to Berlin for the celebration, and even caught a little glimpse of Crazy Frog (though it was just a guy in a suit dancing around while the music played), then got ready for the countdown.  A clock showed up on the screen and everyone stopped moving (for once) to all countdown in unison.  Then…BOOM!!!  Off with the corks and on with the fireworks!  Turns out our location wasn’t the best because the fireworks were actually being shot off from behind where the Waffle stand was, so we couldn’t actually see them that well.  But it didn’t matter, we were having a good time - dancing and partying, passing the champagne bottle around between everyone.  The Chinese were joining in with our celebration too, so that was fun.  It was great though - cause tensions were high amongst the crowd before the New Year happened, but afterward everyone was all of a sudden friends.  Really neat!  I was shouting “Prost” to everyone and they were shouting it right back.  Clinking our bottles/cups together, dancing, having a good time!  Man!  What a crazy experience!  Don’t know if I’d do it again, but it was definitely fun for that one time!

So yeah, then we walked back to Alexanderplatz in the falling snow (since the S-bahn station was absolutely packed with people - there were, after all, 1 Million people at the Tor).  I parted way with everyone who was going home to sleep, then I was going to meet with Forrest and those guys to go to a club.  Turns out, though, that we spent the rest of the night on a wild goose chase trying to find some party to go to.  Where we ended up was really lame, so Forrest, Tobey, and I decided to bail and just walk home.  Grabbed a New Years Doener (because a night out isn’t complete until after you’ve had your Doener), which made things a lot better, and then headed home to sleep.  Got to bed around 5 am methinks.  But yeah, quite a memorable night!

So yeah, I hope all of you were able to have a wonderful New Years!  Thanks for following! =)

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