Week Seven

Sorry this entry is a little late. I just returned from a weekend in my favorite city in the whole world - Berlin! But first things first. Work was pretty uneventful this week. I made progress on my project, although I still have a sinking feeling that I'm not doing it right/well. Also, a bunch of us girl interns have started eating lunch together regularly, which is pretty nice. Inevitably, we linger way over our 30 minutes, but no one seems to really mind. The intern happy hour started off a bit rough this week, because many of the interns I knew before have left, but then I got to know some new people, so that was fun.

Now the Berlin trip! I left work early on Friday and hopped a plane to the Hauptstadt. Upon my arrival, I took the S9 all the way to Warschauerstraße where I met Sam by her work. It reminded me of the times we used to get off there to walk to Friederichshain and go to hookah bars. =) Sam and I then traveled up to Wedding, where she just moved into a new apartment with her husband Felix. We wanted to go out for the fireworks (yes they had 4th of July fireworks, I think sponsored by the embassy) but the weather was really nasty, so instead we stayed in and played WiiFit. This was almost as good. I rock the ski jump game!

On Saturday, Sam and Felix went to their local Mieteverein to try to get some backing in a dispute with the company that owns their building. I made the trek across the city to Rathaus Steglitz and then to Brentanostraße where I surprised Günther! We both had really silly grins on our faces the entire time I was there. I ate bockwurst with kartoffelsalat and bought a Bild Zeitung for old times sake (there was no naked woman! I was so surprised! Has Axel Springer cleaned up his act?). Günther told me about his recent hospital visit, his new boat, and how there are fewer FU-BEST students coming to see him these days because the dollar is so weak. We visited for about two hours before I had to head back to Wedding to meet up with Sam and Felix to go to Amerikafest. He gave me a bag full of brötchen and a piece of cake to give to Sam and Felix for "putting up with me" haha. So we made our way to Friederichstraße (or Fred, as Sam likes to call it) and walked down Unter den Linden to Pariser Platz, where some good old-fashioned American fun was under way. This festival was to celebrate the opening of the new American Embassy on Pariser Platz, although no one is actually allowed into the embassy. The fest went all the way down Straße der 17 Juli, so it was pretty exciting. At night we went back to the apartment where Sam made lasagna.

On Sunday, I left the apartment for the last time (at least for this trip). I went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche on the Ku'damm, which is my favorite place to go in Berlin. I wish I'd had time to go on a day that wasn't Sunday, so I could've shopped, but oh well. You can't go into the Gedächtniskirche any more because it needs to be renovated, but they weren't able to get funding from the government, so they're trying to raise the funds privately or it will have to be torn down. =( I took lots of pictures in case that happens. Then I went to the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz, where I was seized by nostalgia. When I studied abroad, we used to hang out there a lot, because there was free wireless internet, an English movie theater, and fantastic ice cream. After that, I went back to Friederichstraße where I got some great Berliner döner (it really is the best in Germany) before hopping an S9 back to the airport.

I've always known how much I love Berlin, but being there again, the feeling was about ten times stronger. I was constantly reminded of the things I used to do when I lived there, and it made me want to drop everything and find a way to move back. I was never homesick in Berlin, because it was my home. It's just one of those places that you fall in love with. I wish my internship were there instead of in Mainz. It was very sad to leave the city that I love to go back to a place that I feel nothing for, but in another month, I'll be going back for my birthday. So I'm holding on to that. I may try to go back earlier, depending on money and time. After all, there are still many places I used to haunt that I didn't have time to go see!