"If the world ends today, we're in the right place!" : Osterferien Part Two: Jordan

Thanks to Ohioan taxpayers, I was able to live in a dorm all 4.5 years that I was a full-time student at Miami. During my victory lap, I was in the Scholar Leader program, and it just so happens that the Scholar Leader RA is a Fulbright researcher in Jordan! We didn't know each other especially well, but when both of us ended up with Fulbrights, we joked about visiting each other at some point. P may not have realized that I'm pretty serious when it comes to making travel plans. :)

I got the impression that the German Fulbright Kommission was less than thrilled when they received my email requesting permission to go to Jordan for a week. I had to go on the American and German embassy sites and prove that there were no travel warnings. The paranoia was unnecessary: at the moment, Jordan is an oasis of calmness and peace.

I was fascinated by the mix of modernity and history. It's not uncommon to see shepherds riding camels while talking on cell phones. At malls, women wear everything from burqas (least common) to hijab and modest clothing (most common) to the latest Western fashion trends (semi-common). Some women work outside the home, although I get the impression that they're encouraged to choose stereotypically "feminine" jobs. Women are treated better in Jordan than in many MENA countries, but that's not to say that Jordan isn't sexist. It is. Some examples of little things that I had to respect, even as a tourist: I had to remind myself not to run every time I crossed the street (in my defense, I don't have the modesty issue that many women have...!); I couldn't sit up front with a taxi driver; and I had to wear fairly modest clothes to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Other interesting combinations: P's apartment has high-speed internet, but you can't drink the tap water. There is hot water for showers, but you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet. (There's a garbage can.)

On Thursday afternoon, P and I drove down to Wadi Musa with two British guys who live upstairs. We got there just in time for a quick dinner and for the Petra at Night tour. (For the record, I preferred Petra in the daytime.) The following morning, we wandered through Petra for about five hours. The hotel drove us down to the entrance gate, and we rode with three British tourists (two were English, one was Welsh) who had just arrived from Israel. One of the women was very chatty and told us all about Biblical predictions, complete with Scriptural references. Apparently, Petra will be very important during the End Times-- and it's getting closer! We're almost to the end of an age! For the rest of the day, P and I joked about hoping that the world would end that day: I'd take great pictures and videos and would sell them to National Geographic!

There aren't synonyms that can do Petra justice. Stunning. Amazing. None of these really encompass my thoughts, but maybe some pictures will do. P and I looked at the Great Temple for a few minutes before climbing up to the monastery (about a 25 minute climb). After stopping for lunch back at the bottom, I decided that my legs were feeling all right, so I told P that I wanted to climb to the High Place of Sacrifice (about 30 minutes uphill). Somehow, we took the wrong trail back, and it took 30-45 minutes longer than we had anticipated to get to the bottom. The back route is more interesting, though, so it was worth it!

The Treasury 

An assortment of tombs

The following day, I went with S (one of P's flatmates) and her mom to the Holiday Inn resort next to the Dead Sea. Yes, you float. I tried to walk as far as possible, but I lost my footing when I was about waist-high in water and ended up on my back.

I'm running out of steam, so I have a few more shoutouts. We had Easter with a group of Americans and Brits. Thanks to everyone for cooking, to L (I think?) for hosting, and to S for giving me a tour of the neighborhood! I also want to woot-woot at Hashim's for having amazing food. Garlicky hummus, beany fuul, all vegetarian. Go there. Mmmm. And, of course, Vielen Dank and shukran to P for letting me sleep in one of her beds!

Osterferien Part I: Copenhagen

"Where'd you go for Osterferien? You got a sunburn!"
"... Denmark?"


When other ETAs and I started to plan our spring break trips, we had one requirement (relatively inexpensive) and one want (sunny and warm). Not too hard to find a place that fulfills both, right?

Well, Spain and Portugal were out-- too expensive. Southern France was out-- also too expensive, and none of us wanted to hang out on a beach for more than a few hours. Greece was a possibility, but the discount airlines were out of tickets. None of us had a strong desire to go to Italy. We tossed around Prague, Budapest, and Croatia as other possibilities but decided against all of them. Eventually, J, K, and I settled on Copenhagen.

Fortunately for us, Denmark had a heat wave while we were there, and K and I ended up with a sunburn! (Mine was limited to my left ear; K wasn't quite as lucky.)

At first glance, Copenhagen looks exactly like a stereotypical European city: colorful three- to five-story buildings with big windows, a lot of big churches, and a lot of bike paths. My friends and I joked that Copenhagen was a smaller, upscale version of Berlin. The differences can be subtle, but by the second or third day, we were pointing out little differences between Copenhagen and other cities: sculptures near churches that resemble Greek or Nordic gods, exercise stations for adults in the middle of the city, and very slight architectural differences. (Oh, and the boats, I guess.)

We flew out on Friday morning, left our luggage in a storage room at Absalon Annex (a budget hotel in a great location-- pretty clean, pretty good breakfast, very thin walls), and wandered around the pedestrian area of the city while waiting for the official check-in time. Somehow, we ended up in a toy store and comparing our childhood toys to the current trends. Nostalgia, anyone? After checking in, we went to the National History Museum and learned that Vikings were not actually as bloodthirsty and violent as most think-- after all, they founded several settlements around the coast. (J and I had a few issues with this explanation.)

On Saturday, we went to Rosenborg Castle and Amalienborg Palace. Personally, I preferred Rosenborg, but I was also a little distracted because I was appointed the official group photographer. It was a little rainy, so we called it a day mid-afternoon and went back to the hotel.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day: we went to the botanical garden and to the Glyptotek before taking a short break. I'd recommend the botanical garden in Dahlem over the one in Copenhagen, but it was such a beautiful day... When we were climbing around in the garden, we were joking about making it to the top (one section is a mini hill with steps), and a grandmother started singing, "We Are The Champions" to us. Very random. It was definitely directed at us, too, because she kept sneaking looks at us. We looked at her and started laughing, and she smiled, finished the stanza, and then sheepishly said, "Sorry." We're the champions for climbing 10 feet? Go us!

The Glyptotek's layout is a little confusing. We wanted to see the French Impressionism first, but somehow we ended up in the Degas section (which was fine; we wanted to see the Degas anyway). We continued to look for the French Impressionism and then ended up in the Danish art (which was fine; we wanted to see that, too). On our third attempt, we ended up in ancient art (which we didn't want to see; we have the Neues Museum in Berlin, and we really just wanted to see the French stuff)-- and then we decided to ask for directions. (Eventually, we did find the French art, and it was worth the wait! I was hoping for a little more Monet, though... oh well.)

For dinner, we went to a restaurant around the corner from the hotel that had a deal on burgers and drinks on Sundays. Our burgers were huge. We ended up taking off the top and eating it with forks and knives, European style! Mmm, it was the best veggie burger I've had in awhile.

We decided to save the canal tour for Monday because the weather was supposed to be really nice. We thought it would be a good idea to take a boat from the southern end, switch at Nyhaven, and then ride up to the Little Mermaid statue. Yeah, well, it turns out that only one boat line was running, but the boat company didn't advertise that at all. We waited for almost an hour before giving up, walking to Nyhaven, and learning about the one open line. (NOT COOL, DFDS!) Honestly, I was disappointed in the tour. It might have been a great Day One activity, but it was less informative than I had expected. (The tour was in three languages, so that didn't help.) We got off at the Little Mermaid statue, took pictures with it, and then wandered around the Kastellet for about an hour.

Next up: Osterferien Part II: Jordan!

Betriebsstörungen, Death Threats, and a Trip to My New BL

New BL and I have been talking about meeting up one weekend for about two months, and we finally decided to meet on Saturday at 2:30 PM. It takes about 47 minutes with the U- and S-Bahn to get to her stop. Not a big deal, right?

Yeah, well, I wasn't paying attention, so I went the wrong direction on the U-Bahn. I figured out my mistake pretty quickly, but then I had to wait another five minutes for the other U-Bahn. Then, when I got in the S-Bahn, I realized that we were moving slowly. Very slowly. We waited at one stop for about three minutes for no apparent reason (no crowds), and then we chugged along at, oh, 10 miles per hour. And then we stopped. And waited. And waited. And waited. About ten minutes later, there was an announcement that told all of us to get off, no explanation. The train left, and another S-Bahn rolled in about 5 minutes later. We boarded. And then we waited, waited, waited... and another announcement told us that there were Betriebsstörungen at Friedrichstrasse. The S-Bahn was not running in either direction.

I still don't have a functional cell phone because I can't find a place to buy minutes for my plan, so I started to look for a pay phone. During my trip up and down the platform, a woman stepped into my path and started screeching.

I think her exact (translated) quote was: "I hate you Chinese! Go away, Chinese girl! If you come closer, I'm going to knock you dead!" In most cases, this would be slightly terrifying. However, even at that exact moment, I did not feel particularly threatened. Why? Because the platform was pretty crowded, and because she was running backwards, making shooing away gestures. To put it into mass market fiction terms, it was like she was one of Dracula's minions and I was a vampire slayer with garlic, crosses, and a squirt gun full of holy water. My first reaction was to be upset at the racism, but within five minutes, my line of thought was closer to, "Hey, is the Tea Party in Germany? This is going to make a great blog post! Oh. These thoughts make me a terrible person."

(Yes, I considered yelling back, "I'm not Chinese! I'm Korean! And American!" (with a number of inappropriate words mixed in there) or shouting, "BOO!"-- but I am classy, so I smiled sweetly, turned, and walked in the other direction.)

(I realize that making fun of an obviously mentally ill person is disrespectful and full of able-bodied privilege, which is very much not classy, but, given that I was on the receiving end of a death threat, I think I earned the right to a little black humor here.)

Anyway, after walking away from Dracula Woman, I determined that there were no pay phones anywhere at the Brandenburger Tor station. (Yes, that makes this story even more random: I wasn't exactly in Marzahn. Brandenburger Tor? I wonder how many Asian tourists she had scared off that day.) So I tried the next best thing: I asked strangers if I could use their cell phones. I'd pay them, of course.

Fortunately, I chose well, and not only did a very nice family let me use their phone, but they also asked if I wanted to join them. They were riding up to the end station, and they could tell me how to get from that station to New BL's stop. Sweet.

About 45 minutes later, I arrived at New BL's Haltestelle. When I spoke with her on the stranger's cell phone, I told her that I had email access, and I had emailed her from my Kindle on the bus. I waited for about twenty minutes before checking my email and realizing that she wanted me to go directly to her apartment.

I found the correct intersection, but then I was supposed to find a specific color building. I looked to the left and to the right, and all of the buildings looked pretty darn similar to me. I ended up walking up to every door and looking at the names on the bell. Eventually, I found her name, rang her bell, and was buzzed in. And then I didn't remember which floor she lived on, so I just took the elevator halfway and checked every door until I found her name. (I knew she lived semi-close to the top, so that helped.)

I had baked some cookies before the visit, so I brought a few for New BL and her sons. New BL's younger son asked, "What are the cookies called?" "Sie heissen... chocolate chip pudding Kekse." "Wie heissen sie?" "Auf Englisch heissen sie chocolate chip pudding Kekse." Then, New BL entered the room. "Mama, wie heissen diese Kekse?" "Amerikanische Schokolade Kekse, oder? Du kannst K fragen." "Sie heissen immer noch chocolate chip pudding Kekse..."

After we finished eating cookies, her chocolate marzipan brownies (which were AMAZING), and homemade cappuccino, New BL and I went on a 90-minute tour of her Stadtteil. It's a very green and family-friendly area with a lot of parks. We also saw the Stadtteil Rathaus and two churches, and she told me the history behind the names of two sections of the Stadtteil.

When we got back, New BL started dinner (a Tunisian dish-- eggs soft boiled in tomatoes, herb potatoes, and Kiba, also known as cherry-banana juice), and she thought it would be a good idea for me to play a game with the boys. "Sie spielen gerne V. Hast du von V gehört?" ('V' was pronounced like the English letter 'V.') I claimed that I had never heard of a game called 'V' and asked how you played, just as the boys broke out their Wii system. Ha! I won the first game of bowling (beginner's luck), but they demolished me in the second round.

After dinner, we played two rounds of "Zocken," which is a dice/gambling game that was actually a lot of fun. (I lost twice.)

Fortunately, the way back to my apartment was much less eventful than the way there. The most excitement was when a drunk guy fell and dropped champagne in the U-Bahn. Of course, the champagne exploded, and everyone jumped. Fortunately, no one was close enough to get sprayed by the champagne or by the shards of broken glass.

And so ended my day.

A Summary of the Past Few Days...

Went to bed late. Woke up way too early. Tiptoed around. Knocked over stuff in kitchen. Oops. U-Bahn. Bus. Tegel no haz security. Sat on runway for four hours. Got to Munich four hours late. Smiled sweetly at employee and got both flights rescheduled. Oh, wait, my new flight boarded 15 minutes ago. Ran to new gate. Got two seats to myself!!!!! Studied. Slept. BART. Oakland. Hug from stranger? Don't know names.

Figured out names. Slept on couch. Woke up early. Went to school. Helped to prep classroom. Went back to apartment. Shower! Cafe. Pretended to study. Arizmendi Bakery! Yum, pizza. Walked around Lake Merritt. Sun! No ear muffs needed! Woo! CVS. Apartment. Studied. Mini nap. TFA Meet and Greet. Stood around awkwardly, tried not to fall asleep. Must eat food. Went to food court at restaurant. A vegan restaurant!? Yay! Mario Kart. Lost badly. Early to bed.

Woke up early. Played Mario Kart. Nap. Studied. Ready for test? Checked bag once, twice, then a third time. BART. MUNI? Oops, MUNI bus, not MUNI subway. Out of change. Grrrr. New ticket. Board MUNI bus. Sit. Wait. Pretend to study. Check in. Someone brought the wrong calculator? CSET time. Subtest II. Brain hurts. Where's the bathroom pass? Why is the free response so much easier than multiple choice? Subtest I. Much easier than Subtest II! Back to Oakland. Totally won at Wii Frisbee Golf. Fell asleep on couch while the others went to a club. (Such is my life.)

Loud people back at 4 AM. Dancing in kitchen. Devouring chocolate. L is dancing with boiling water? Hope the neighbors like Phantom of the Opera. Taboo! L tells me to wear stilettos and a suit while teaching next year. Others went to bed. I played Mario Kart.

Nap. Mario Kart. Nap. Check email. Mario Kart. Shower. Sun! Sconehenge. Mmmm @ the Mexican veggie omelette. Berkeley is lovely! Sat in sun! Mario Kart. More sun! Pack. First run-in with new security scanner at SFO. Surprised they're not doing strip searches. Guy ahead of me gets the full pat-down, but I waltz through. (Young Asian women don't make people suspicious.) Sleep. Hit head on window. Sleep. Run to catch plane. Berlin! (Still no security at Tegel.)

Goodbye, sun. I miss you already.

Mini-Trips #5, 6, and 7-- Dresden, Nordhausen/Schierke/Brocken, and Weimar

As soon as I learned that I would be Fulbrighting in 2010-2011, my parents started saving for a Christmas trip to Deutschland. They flew over on the 20th and arrived without their luggage. One suitcase showed up on the 23rd, and we went to Tegel on the 25th to try to track down the remaining things. (We found two. We told Lufthansa to fly the last suitcase back to the US.) Well, at least they got a nice discount on some clothes over here!

They spent most of the first two days in bed or on the phone with Lufthansa, but they went to My Gymnasium on Wednesday and went party hopping. :) None of my classes had normal instruction because it was the last day before the break, but I think it worked out pretty well. I expected the 9th graders to talk to my brother more than they did, and I was totally shocked that the 7th grade monsters crowded around my entire family to ask questions, while the more disciplined 7th grade class barely acknowledged their presence. After school, I introduced my family to Turkish food, and they walked away saying that someone needs to open a Turkish restaurant at home! We also went to the Pergamon Museum, which should be on every tourist's to-see list.

The following day was my first day of vacation (we had class through Dec. 22nd), and I spent it playing tour guide with my family. My brother whined the whole time, but we went from Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof to Reichstag to Brandenburger Tor to Checkpoint Charlie... and was that everything? I think so. It took about 7 hours after we stopped to take pictures, munched at cafes, found a place for dinner, and split a Rittersport McFlurry. (The only Rittersport they offer is strawberry yogurt.)

On the 24th, I had promised to keep my family out of the way for as long as possible so Dumpling and Mama could celebrate Christmas together. It didn't quite work out the way I had envisioned, but I think everyone was satisfied with the results. My family was still a bit jetlagged, so they slept until about 10:30. My mom woke up before the others, so we went to Soluna (an AMAZING local bakery) for rolls and bread. After we ate breakfast, I dragged the others to the grocery store, where we wandered and wandered and wandered and still didn't find everything. I forget what we did in the afternoon-- probably spent it complaining to Lufthansa and Tegel-- and I think I also took a nap somewhere in there. I had assumed that I would take my family out for dinner so Dumpling and Mama could have a quiet dinner and open presents, but Dumpling wanted us to stay while he opened his presents! :) None of us were in the mood for cooking, so we agreed to get Indian and Arabic food from some local restaurants. Mmmmm. Mama also made some amazing baked apples with cream and cinnamon-- we need the recipe! After dinner, we made chocolate chip cookies with Dumpling! It was very cute; he had never seen chocolate chips before, and he spent half of the time sniffing the bag.

We slept in (again) on the 25th, and the only productive thing we did the entire morning was walking Puppy. I showed my parents the graffiti wall around the corner, and my brother slept. Dumpling and Mama left to visit friends in Brandenburg, so we kind of took over the apartment. We cooked for quite awhile, but the final result was definitely passable for having limited space: baked chicken, basmati rice, green bean casserole, potato salad, salad with feta and pears, and Turkish flatbread.

On the 26th, we rented a car and drove to Dresden. It was beautiful!!! We really only made it through the Altstadt area, but it might have been even more amazing than Munich. I also highly recommend the apple cinnamon Gluehwein.

We were supposed to leave for the Harz mountains pretty early on the 27th, but we had to clean, do laundry, and run to the store to replace the toilet paper and laundry detergent. While we waited for my dad to return with the car, I did a little photoshoot with Dumpling, Mama, and the two dogs. As we lugged our stuff to the car, Dumpling got very sad because he thought I was leaving for good. He perked up once Mama said that I would be back in three days, and he told my mom (auf Deutsch; Mama translated it for my mom): "You can go back to the US, but you have to leave K here." Hahaha. We piled into the Mercedes with bags and suitcases poking into our sides, and heard Dumpling yell from the window, "Why did you get a Mercedes? Everyone knows they're small."

The following day, we went to Mittelbau-Camp Dora, which was a forced labor camp during WWII, and which is best known for serving as a production factory for V2 rockets. I didn't realize that some of the major working camps had been demolished after the war; very little was left. At the risk of sounding crass or insensitive... don't take non-German speakers here; take them to Buchenwald. After we escaped from the tour guide, we headed to the Harz mountains! When we arrived in Schierke, we discovered that we missed the last train to Brocken (the highest point in the Harz mountains, I think) by about 10 minutes but decided to walk 1 kilometer (uphill, in the dark, with snow and ice on the trail) to the station to figure out times for the 29th.

I definitely recommend visiting Brocken during the winter, and I imagine it would also be a great hiking area during the summer. The trees were covered in snow, and some of them looked like really cool snow sculptures! The largest ones were strong enough to climb, but my mom and I both ended up waist-high in a snowdrift after taking pictures near a tree that looked like a sea serpent.

On the way to Frankfurt, we ran through Weimar to take pictures of Schiller and Goethe's houses. I meant to get a picture of their statues, but I just discovered that I took a picture of the wrong dude. Oh well, it was really late. My mom and I ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant about a block and a half from Schiller's house, and it was seriously the best food I've had in Germany so far-- barley pearls with spinach and goat cheese? Lecker! My mom's cheese ravioli was also-- forgive my cliche-- bursting with flavor. (Meanwhile, my dad and brother went to McDonalds, where my dad discovered that Roesti is a potato pancake and not a local name for bacon or beef. Should've asked me first...)

My parents flew out of Frankfurt on the 30th, and I took a train back to Berlin. All of us arrived safely but with a few minor issues: the missing suitcase still hasn't arrived in the US (!!!), and I had to stand the entire 5 hours (there were delays due to the weather) back to Berlin.

I think my parents enjoyed their visit, and I'm not sure whether my brother appreciated wandering around Berlin-- but it was definitely nice seeing them and spending a few days in an English-speaking bubble! :) I appreciated having a personality again-- I still have the personality of your average robot auf Deutsch-- and they seemed to like playing with the dogs. Considering that my brother has three snakes, two fluffy and friendly (but exhibitionist!) dogs have to be an improvement!

Sleepy Puppy says, "Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!"

Mini-Trips #3 and 4: Postdam and Mainz

A few weeks ago, J and J's friend decided to visit Potsdam before the weather got too bad, and since I'm an adventurous person who has a Semesterticket for the ABC areas, I decided to join them.

So, off we went. Germany always feels so empty on Sundays, and Potsdam was no exception: it felt almost like a movie-- gorgeous buildings with no one in them. I love how every German city feels a little bit different (Munich: schickimicki; Bremen- gemuetlich and friendly; Berlin- chaotic, grungy, but still pretty relaxed; Potsdam- beautiful but empty). Even though Potsdam is less than an hour from my WG, it's in a completely different world.

It was a beautiful, peaceful, and empty world. To be fair, that's partially because we visited on a Sunday, and even Berlin is quiet on Sundays.

This week, I briefly visited another Fulbrighter in Mainz before taking the CBEST in Frankfurt. Mainz reminded me a lot of Bremen: it had the small-town charm in a slightly larger setting, and a lot of the buildings are very stereotypically German. I loved the orange/pink buildings with the white trim! As we were walking back to E's apartment, I commented that it was very quiet, even for a Wednesday night.

Well, it was calm and pretty until we ran into a group of teenagers, who asked us if we were interested in being models. I got the "you're very pretty" speech from yet another creepy guy, while E was complimented on her hair. I also got a strong impression that they would have given us a harder time if we hadn't spoken German; they intercepted us as we were talking in English, and they completely surrounded us. Sooo... yeah, okay, don't walk alone in cities!

Trip #2: Bremen

I think I mentioned Trip #1: Indianapolis at one point, but my weekend trip to Bremen was my first trip in or close to Europe.

I have a list of places that I want to visit this year, and Bremen was pretty high on my list. I knew that Bremen was one of the three city-states and had heard of the Stadtmusikanten (town musicians), but that was about the extent of my knowledge of the town. It turns out that J, one of my Berlin Fulbright friends, has a German friend in Bremen, and I tagged along with her.

Really, the only bad thing was that I had to wake up around 5:30 to get to the train, and I was up until 1:00 talking to my parents on Skype. I tried to sleep on the train, but there was a little girl with a piercing, obnoxious voice that narrated every event that was happening on the train. If you've ever seen the Youtube video "Kittens Inspired by Kittens," it was that voice but in German. I made it to Bremen on time and very, very sleep deprived.

F (J's German friend) gave us a walking tour of Bremen, and we hit the main sites: Die Sogestrasse, die Gedaechtniskapelle, die Stadtmusikanten (of course), Roland, and a Glockenspiel. By then, we were hungry and ready for food, so we stopped at a cafe and ate. It was so comfy and warm, and I was totally falling asleep over dinner. Oops!

We walked around a little more after getting food, and I convinced F to take us to the windmill, even though our legs were about to fall off. It turns out that a few of F's friends had driven to Bremen, so we packed into their car (breaking several laws, I'm pretty sure), where I promptly fell asleep on F's shoulder. (My only quote that made it onto a gymnastics t-shirt was, "I could drive, but I'm slightly narcoleptic," which pretty much sums up my sleeping habits in moving vehicles.)

F attends a private German college, where the main language is actually English. When we got back, we had a few minutes to relax (the guys took showers; I slept) before heading to Deepawali (Diwali). I enjoyed learning a little more about Diwali, but I have to admit that the Miami production was a lot more impressive. Afterwards, they had Indian food (I need to figure out what I'm allergic to; it must be a spice because there weren't any nuts in the dishes), and we went back to F's room to hang out before the fireworks!

German safety standards are not quite the same as the standards in the US, so some students launched fireworks from one side of the field while we stood at the other side. There was also a fire juggler (there has to be a technical name for that, right?), who appeared to toss his burning sticks or ropes on the ground every so often (they did a few fireworks, then the juggler did a few things, and they kept switching back and forth).

Let's see, what else? F, J, and F's cousin, also a J, wanted to go clubbing downtown, but I was exhausted and had already fallen asleep spontaneously three times that day, so I decided to stay in F's room. Since I was going to be asleep when they got in, they decided to give me the bed (still don't quite understand the logic of that), have J sleep on the couch, and have the guys share the air mattress. Anyway, I was sleeping very peacefully when something hit me on the head: a poster! I don't know what it is with me, sleeping, and things falling on my head, but I'm not liking this trend! :)

All of us woke up late on Sunday, so we just wandered down to breakfast, annoyed the lunch ladies because we took so long to choose food, ate, packed, and set off for the train.

Miscellaneous impressions of Bremen: it felt like a very stereotypical German city with old, beautiful architecture, a thriving cafe scene, and a pretty gemuetlich atmosphere. There are bizarre quirky statues scattered throughout the city; some are spinoffs of the Stadtmusikanten, and some are completely random. This mini-trip to Bremen definitely highlighted the things that I like and dislike about Berlin: Bremen felt very peaceful and relaxed-- and also very ethnically German!

Thanks for a great weekend, F and Js! :)