40seconds

40seconds is a club which takes its name from the amount of time it takes to reach the club level from the ground floor. Disappointingly, the club is on the 7th floor, and the 40 seconds are more due to a slow elevator than a very high elevation. However, it's still a nice small club with large windows and a great view of the Potsdamer Platz and Sony Center area. The patio outside is particularly nice for enjoying the view, but is full of clubbers who need a smoke.

The decor is nice and trendy, and there are some pretty cool lights/TV screens/projectors. It was one of the only places where we found a hip-hop night, where they had a playlist similar to one you might find at an American club. I also noticed a surprisingly high girl/guy ratio the night we were there, but since the Germans don't dance to hip-hop quite like we do, it was basically a bunch of girls dancing with guys standing around awkwardly. Potsdamer Strasse 58, near U-Bhf Mendolssohn-Bartholdy Park (U2).

Sage/Kitkat Club

Sage is a rock music club open every Thursday night and there’s no cover before 9PM. There’s a pool inside, multiple dance floors, and live music. When we went, there was a Battle of the Bands so it was pretty awesome listening to German rock. On all other days, the same venue is home to Kitkat club, the infamous sex club. I’ve never been myself, but I’ve heard people dress pretty ridiculous—we’re talking assless chaps and the works. The club's address is Köpenicker Straße 76, right outside the U-Bhf. Heinrich-Heine-Straße station.

Ditsch Pretzels

Ditsch stands are everywhere in Germany. This is a great place to get Laugen Bretzeln. The pretzels here are always fresh, soft, and delicious. And even better, they only cost 60 cents. It’s my favorite place to get pretzels cause I’m always sure they’ll be good. Stale pretzels or over salted pretzels can be very disappointing.

Wunderlampe

This was one of our favorite Döner stands because we made friends with Aladin. He’s seriously one of the nicest guys ever; every time we went there he gave us free stuff and had nice conversations with us. Not only is he awesome, but the Chicken Döner’s great too. The mini-Döner is the size of a regular Döner at other stands and the regular Döner is huge, so big that you can’t even close it until you eat some from the center. We haven’t dared tried the Big Döner yet, but I’m sure it won’t disappoint. Very delicious and definitely one of the best Döner places in the city too. Just get off at the Eisenacher Strasse U7 Stop, exit on the Eisenacher Strasse side.

Mustafas Gemüse Kebap

Mustafas Gemüse Kebap, right next to Currywurst 36 at the Mehringdamm U-Bahn station, is a notable Döner stand. This one’s special because it’s a Chicken Döner with grilled vegetables and potatoes in it instead of the usual lettuce and tomatoes. It is then topped with feta cheese and lime. Although it costs a little bit more, you’re definitely getting more than your average Döner. Some say its the best. I only ever eat Döner at two places, and this one of them.

The Famous Currywurst Stand: Curry36

Currywurst is Berlin's most famous snack. What is it? It’s basically a cut-up sausage covered in a special kind of ketchup, topped with curry powder. It makes for a great quick snack. Curry36 is the most popular and the best currywurst stand in Berlin and is right outside the Mehringdamm U-Bahn stop. It’s open really late (until at least 3am daily) so it’s a perfect snack point at any time of day. There's always a long line, but it's well worth the wait.

Oberholz Café

Oberholz Café is an open, well-lit café, and my study place of choice for weekends. Though it's far east, it’s perfect for weekends cause if you go to brunch at Warschauer, you’ll already be in the area. It also has free wi-fi, a requirement for any café that I study at. They make the best Apple Kuchen (it has the crumbs on top and is absolutely delicious); the cheesecake on the other hand, is very dry, so I wouldn't recommend it. I always order the Latte Macchiatto here then go upstairs and find a place to study. It’s a very popular study place. If you go often enough you’ll notice the same people come every time. Just like other good study cafes, they’ll never kick you out. And for some reason, everyone at this particular café has Mac notebooks. It's just a random observation, but if you have a Mac like me too, you’ll be among good company. Check out all the Macs!


It's at the Rosenthaler Platz S-Bahn stop and the address is Rosenthaler Str. 72A.

Havanna Bar: 4 Euro cocktails all the time

Havanna Bar is a cool little bar that we went to a few times. There's nothing particularly special about the place itself, the menu shows a good selection of cocktails and the prices written are pretty normal. However, due to their clever tax evasion Non-stop Happy Hour, all drinks are actually only 4 Euro all the time. So if you're looking to get a few good cocktails on the cheap, check this bar out. Near U-Bhf Goerlitzer Bahnof (U1).

Bilder Book Café

Bilder Book Café is open from 9am until at least midnight every night, and sometimes even until 1AM. It has free wireless and the best thing is that you can stay as long as you want despite how much you’ve ordered or if you’re done drinking/eating (they never kick you out), which makes it a great place to study. It’s very Berlin, with its very unique, noncommercial café atmosphere. It’s like you’re in a living room, with plenty of sofa chairs, bookshelves, house lamps, rugs, a piano, and actual dining tables. My friend Cristina was obsessed with the soups. And my friend Lindsay was so in love with the place and went so often that the waiters there already knew her order before she had to say anything. As for me, my usual order was a Latte Macchiatto and a scoop of ice cream (for only 1 Euro); it made all those nights cramming for my E40 psets and studying German vocab much more bearable--definitely one of our favorite cafes. To get here, just get off at the Eisenacher Strasse stop on the U7 and it's at Akazienstrasse 28.

Beckers Fritten

Looking for fresh French fries? Just get off at the Oranienburger strasse stop and you'll find it right next to Amrit. We found a great Dutch french-fries stand for you. It costs 2 euros for a small and 3 euros for a large order of FRESH fries. Word of warning, we don’t quite understand why, but they are served in a paper wrapped into a cone, which makes it very hard to eat. You’ll see what we mean when you try. For an extra 40-65 cents, you can choose from a variety of sauces, including knoblauch mayo, Indian curry, jalapeño cheese, applesauce and many more. Be as daring as you would like.

Dada Falafel

Outside of Habibi Falafel, this is the other falafel stand in the running for best Falafel in the city. Also perfectly soft and seasoned, this place makes your high quality falafel. Since both places are delicious, it comes down to a matter of location; go to whichever is closer to you when the cravings hit. To get here, just get off at the Oranienburger Strasse stop and the address is Linienstraße 132.

Bar Nou

Follow the steps leading down to Bar Nou

My Daiquiri

During our stay in Berlin, we visited Bar Nou multiple times for its delicious cocktails and its ritzy atmosphere. Here are pictures of us at this trendy, orange-lit underground bar, where I celebrated my 21st B-day with my favorite Germans and Stanford people <3



It's a great place to just hang out and chat with friends. I highly recommend it :)

Stock Market Bar

Brokers Bier Börse

Schiffbauerdamm 8

With a great location overlooking the Spree River, this is a REALLY cool bar at the Friedrichstrasse U/S-Bahn stop where the beer menu simulates the Stock Market. Every 5 minutes, a bell rings and the beer prices on an electronic board change, so the idea is that you can decide when you want to buy which beer. Prices rise and fall following supply and demand just as they would in the real market. Ideally you would follow Wall Street's rule of "buy low and sell high". Unfortunately, they don’t really do the whole sell back your beer when you’re done. Schade. It’s a really fun place to go. I was pretty thrilled when the price of my Hefeweizen went up 1 euro right after I bought it. Sweet! The Stock exchange shenanigans starts everyday at 5PM. Happy Trading!

Rosenheim's: a great, relaxing bar

One of our favorite bars was Rosenheim's. It's a pretty small and classy place, and the drinks aren't particularly cheap, but the place just has really nice feel to it. When the weather gets nice in the spring, they bring out these huge couches and lounge chairs to the area outside the bar. You will always see people enjoying their drinks outside day or night, and the couches were one of our favorite places to have a couple drinks with a group of friends.

It was right down the street from my homestay (and Lily's) so it was really convenient, but pretty much all of our friends made it there at some point. As you can see, the lighting is pretty cool inside when it's dark.

They would project soccer games on the wall some nights, and we watched one of the earlier games for the German national team in the EuroCup. Also, Franziskaner Weissbier (one of my favorites) on tap was always a good reason for me to go. As an added bonus, it's only a block from particularly delicious Döner. Definitely check it out, at the corner of Eisenacher and Rosenheimer Str., one block north of U7-Bhf Eisenacher Str.

Kaiser Wilhelm Church

One of the more famous sights in Berlin is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church. It's an old church built on Kufürstendamm in the 1890s, and then badly damaged during an Allied bombing raid during WWII. While the current church portion was rebuilt, the original spire has been maintained in its damaged condition, and the ground floor is now a memorial hall. This is just one of many WWII or Holocaust-related memorials around Berlin. Right outside the U+S-Bhf Zoologischer Garten.

The Gyros Stand

This stand sells Greek Gyros instead of Döner; there's also wurst. But the real reason to go to this place is cause the guy who runs it is awesome. He loves practicing German with you (he likes Americans), and he'll get really excited and tell you to visit his website and in general, he's just a cute little man. Just get off at Gneisenaustrasse on the U7 and it's on Bergmannstrasse.

Dolce Pizza

Dolce Pizza is absolutely delicious. This take-out pizza joint at Nollendorfplatz is popular amongst all Berliners. There's always a crowd of people in front standing around or sitting on the benches in front since there isn't much space inside. It's one of the best pizza places in the city, known for their oven-baked pizzas served on fresh Italian focaccia bread with fresh toppings.


My favorites are the Ruccola Pizza and the Spicy Salami. It's so good, in fact, that we once saw a girl eat an entire 5 slices by herself (and the slices are huge!). Everyone must try this place at least once while in Berlin. O yes, and last piece of information: it's only €2 per slice, perfect for us pleite (broke) college students.

1/2-meter Bratwurst Stand

Finding wurst (sausage) stands in Berlin takes no effort at all. But if you're really hungry and in the "wurst mood," you can get off at Schloßstrasse on the U9 and try the 1/2m long Bratwurst. You'll find it right next to Starbucks. It's the only place in Berlin where you'll get a full-sized roll long enough for the wurst instead of the usual tiny rolls. So go get some sausage! (no sexual innuendo implied)

das Fitnessstudio: working out while in Berlin

If you're looking to counter all the beer and sausage (and Döner) that will inevitably be consumed while you are in Berlin, there are a couple different options available. If you don't require much equipment, the simplest (and free) solution would be to go running in the nice suburban area around the Stanford Villa, and there is a multi-function weight machine in the basement of the center as well.

Fitness Company is a chain of higher-end gyms. The fee is pretty pricey (~€60/month), and you should definitely try to bargain with them to lower the price (say you will sign up elsewhere or bring a friend for bargaining power). The facilities are very nice, with a row of flatscreen TVs facing the cardio area, a pool, sauna, exercise classes, outdoor terrace, nice locker rooms, etc. I only wanted a simple weightroom, but ended up signing up here because the location (right at U9-Bhf Schloßstraße, entrance as seen in the above picture) was much more accessible than all other gyms I found, and I could get there easily after classes at the center. I basically ended up paying for a bunch of luxuries that I never used, but saved myself a lot of time and managed to offset the extra cost somewhat with some strategically frugal budgeting of my food stipend. They offer a monthly membership that is even more expensive, but you can sign up for the one-year membership because if you move to a location more than 25km from their nearest gym, you are allowed to terminate the contract. Just make sure you bring your de-registration from Berlin to prove you are actually leaving, and make sure to get the cancellation taken care of in person before you leave Berlin.

For you girls looking to avoid huge, sweaty German men at the gym, Fitness Company also has a chain of women-only gyms called Jopp. I believe they are similarly high-quality, and of course pretty expensive as well. Lily worked out there during her 6 months in Berlin and thought it was pretty nice. Their closest location to the center is also on Schloßstraße, but at U9-Bhf Rathaus Steglitz. Because Jopp is only in Berlin, you may need to find a new place for the summer if you end up doing an internship elsewhere.

McFit is a chain of gyms with the Germans' oddly favorite prefix in the name (along with McDonalds, McPaper, McClean, etc.). It's quite cheap (~€17/month), and the studios have everything you are used to at the Stanford gym (free weights, weight machines, treadmills, ellipticals), and also helpful trainers that wander around offering advice. The equipment and facility is very basic and showering in the locker rooms isn't free, but the inexpensive membership makes it very appropriate for younger people like us. The only reasonable Berlin location for me was quite a trek from the nearest U-bahn station, so I reluctantly chose not to sign up here. However, I worked out at McFit during my internship in Magdeburg, and although it was always really crowded after work and all the ridiculously muscular East German men made me question my masculinity a bit, I can definitely say that this gym was much more suited to my needs (and wallet). McFit offers only one-year memberships (which may actually be cheaper than 3 months at Fitness Company), but the manager at my gym in Magdeburg was nice enough to let me sign up for only 3 months at the same price when I showed him some documents stating that I would be coming back to the states in September. I guess that policy isn't official, but I imagine the managers should be able to make it happen.

whew. Well that's that, happy exercising.

Habibi Falafel

With two different locations (9 Akazienstrasse and 24 Goltzstrasse), this little Falafel place is considered by many as the Best Falafel in Berlin. The other Falafel place in the running for this title is Dada Falafel. The Falafel balls are perfectly seasoned, fresh, and soft. You can order the Falafel Sandwich with your choice of different sauces (I always get the Sesam sauce) for only €2.50. To get here, get off at Nollendorf Platz (for the Goltzstrasse location) or Eisenacher Strasse (for the Akazienstrasse location). Enjoy!

Chez De Nhat

Off on one of side streets from the Oranienburger Strasse S-Bahn stop, is a little restaurant called Chez De Nhat. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin. Every dish is only about 5 Euros and it's delicious. For those of you who'll be taking Ingo's class, you can ask him about it (it's his favorite place too). The decor is pretty trendy and it's owned by a very nice German guy and his Vietnamese wife. Occasionally they have Viet music playing in the background, which is not exactly the most wonderful music, but hey, it's all part of the cultural experience. My favorite dish is the Bun Thit Nuong and for drinks, I always get the Vietnamese coffee--Ca Phe Sua Da (the iced one) or the Ca Phe De Nhat (warm). What is Viet coffee? It's a french-drip styled coffee with condensed milk. The combination makes for really good coffee :)


This is Mei and me at Chez De Nhat restaurant for a nice dinner before heading out to the Bing Concert at the Konzerthaus.

Meeting Germans: The Sprachpartner Program

The best way to discovery Berlin is by meeting the locals; I would’ve never known about half the places to go to or things to do without going around with my German friends. Stanford sets up a couple events for Stanford students and students from the Free University to meet up. It’s usually an informal, meet-and-greet sort of event. And depending on who you click with, you can exchange numbers and emails and meet up again outside of planned group events. Here’s a video from our event Winter quarter, which ended up being pretty fun.

The program really is what you make it, so don’t be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and meet people; they're just as open to meeting you as you are them. They’re usually North American Studies majors, so they’re just as excited to meet Americans and practice English since you are the topic of their studies. We met some really fun people with whom we met up with throughout the quarter. And once you meet one, you meet their friends and before you know it you'll have a group of German friends. Of course there are plenty of other ways to meet Germans besides the Sprachpartner program, but whatever you do, break out of the Stanford bubble and definitely make friends with locals; I promise it'll make your experience that much richer.

The Famous New Berlin Free Tour

If you want a great way to get to know Berlin when you first arrive, The New Berlin Free Tour comes highly recommended. In fact, it's so famous that even my friend Dawn, who was traveling all the way in Prague heard about this 3.5hr English walking tour. It's unique because all the guides work for tips only, which means they're all really interesting, dynamic, and will share with you their love for Berlin. You'll get to see all the main sites and find out a bunch of interesting things about the city. Tours leave daily and the guides are easy to spot (they'll be wearing red New Europe t-shirts). Check out the website for more details on exact times for tours, pictures, videos, and other details. From what I hear, the tour is nothing short of awesome so it'll definitely be worth your time!

Coheed and Cambria in Berlin

I was lucky enough to see one of my favorite bands, Coheed and Cambria, when they rolled through Berlin on the European leg of their tour. It was at a medium-sized music venue called Columbia Club. They played a great show, and while I had already seen them a few times in the states, it was pretty unique to see them while I was staying in Berlin. If you're into live music and concerts, keep an eye out to see if bands you like happen to be in Europe while you're abroad. You can also check the Zitty for concert listings, either in print or online.

Prague

Prague (album) was amazing. We went during spring break, before our quarter in Berlin began. The city itself was beautiful, it's kinda like walking through a fairy tale. It was a little cold, and it actually snowed a bit, but in general the weather held out and we got to see all the sights. We had a group of 6 and got an apartment-style room at the Czech Inn (clever, isn't it) hostel. This was by far the nicest hostel I have ever seen, it felt like a 3 or 4 star hotel. Definitely try to stay there if you make it to Prague.

The bars there were great, too. A half-liter beer was only about €1 considering the exchange rate, a fact that I did not really appreciate until I got used to buying beers for at least 3x the price everywhere else in Europe. The sausages sold at stands on the street were also absolutely delicious, I definitely had a few of those.

The Night of my First Beer in Berlin

Getting my first beer in Germany was a difficult task. So the plan was for me, and my friends Artur and Trey, to do this whole "bar a night" thing, where we'd go to a different Berlin bar each night. I backed out of the plan after the first week cause it got too tiring, but congrats to Artur and Trey who stuck it through and actually COMPLETED the challenge; they literally drank one Beer for every day they were in Berlin, and believe me, some of the days were tough. They not only managed to come out of the challenge without any beer bellies, but they also have GREAT stories from it. If you're interested, ask to hear some.




Now back to the night of my first beer. Since it was Sunday and lots of businesses are not open late on Sunday nights, we couldn't really find any bars on the street we were on near Nollendorf Platz. But we finally found ONE that was kind of full. We looked in and decided to go in because we saw this man and this blonde lady who seemed to look like they were enjoying themselves. But the second we went in, EVERONE stoppped and looked at me. We were all confused cause we weren't sure if we had done something wrong. It took us a minute to realize the "woman" we saw was actually a man and that we were in a gay bar; so that's why they were all looking at me! Cause they didn't understand why a girl was there. And that is how we accidentally ended up in a gay bar. What a night. Later, we ended up finding another local bar nearby. It ended up being a nice find--a candle lit bar with a chill atmosphere. We settled in and I finally enjoyed my first German beer (a Pils)!

The U-Bahn and S-Bahn: Einsteigen Bitte!

Get used to hearing those words. You’ll hear it EVERY time you sit on an U-Bahn or S-Bahn. For those with limited German, those two words mean “Board Please”. Pretty soon you’ll get so used to it that you’ll feel like something’s missing if you don’t hear it. When my friends and I went to London all we heard was “Mind the Gap”, which is WAY less cool than Einsteigen Bitte! Not only that, some of the trains never even came; the Tube (that’s the name of the London system) is really old, and at one point, the lights went out while we were all on the train. So needless to say, when we got back to Berlin, we were so HAPPY to finally hear the ever-familiar “Einsteigen Bitte!”. You gotta hand it to the Germans, they definitely know how to run their transportation system. It works like clockwork and can get me to anywhere in the city at any time, day or night. You’ll end up using it ALL THE TIME and you won’t even realize how amazing it is until it’s gone. One day during Winter quarter, all the U-Bahn drivers went on strike so NONE of the trains were running and the city went into complete chaos. Nobody could get to work, none of us could get to school; people couldn’t get anywhere--- it was just crappy. Anyhow, the point is, German trains are the best in Europe, so enjoy the short time you have to use it before you have to go back to Stanford and are forever stuck with the “wonderful” CalTrain.

P.S. To those who are interested, drinking on the U-Bahn is allowed. This little tidbit comes in handy when you're taking your long ride from your homestays on the west over to the east (where most of the nightlife is)...Prepartying on the U-Bahn made for great fun and stories :)

Bar 55: huge cocktails

Bar 55 (map) was one of the first bars I went to in Berlin. They serve these massive 1.3L cocktails, and of course there are different drink specials depending on the night. It's on the east side so it's a good place to go with friends right before heading to the clubs. Last time I was there I had a 1.3L long island iced tea, and needless to say the rest of the night was pretty fun. But whether you're sharing or taking on your own liter cocktail, it'll be a good time.

Homestays

If you're anything like me, one of the benefits of going abroad is the way better housing situation. No more of this 1 room double business. Nope. Here in Berlin, everyone gets a SINGLE! And you don’t even have to enter the draw. In general, homestay rooms are all really nice, and the host families have all been carefully screened, so no worries, you won’t get a weirdo or a rapist or anyone of that sort. Mine ended up being really nice and even made dinner for me every Sunday. I posted pictures of my homestay and me cooking with my host sister just to give you an idea of what to expect.

McDonalds: upscale in Europe?

Believe it or not, this is what McDonalds at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof looks like inside. Yep, they are definitely slightly classier establishments here. While I never really ate at McD's in the US, I have grown to appreciate it here in Europe as an ubiquitous place to get cheap food. Also, we found that American fast food chains are unfortunately some of the only places you can find burgers with normal-tasting beef patties.

They also have this McCafe thing going on at a lot of locations. It's basically their version of Starbucks, with a coffee menu, smoothies, pastries, lighter sandwiches, and other such coffee-joint food.

A Real Winter

On one of the first few days in Berlin, I got ready to go out and explore the city at 5:30PM. Though it doesn't sound that late, it gets dark really early during the Winter. But when I went down in my tennis shoes, the entire sidewalk and street was frozen over with a sheet of ice. It was even colder than it was earlier in the day (-3 Degrees C). Just as I took my first step, I slipped and fell on my butt and this one German guy who was gracefully gliding on the ice down the street just laughed at me. I saw lots of people slipping all over the place so I accepted the fact that there was no way I was going to make it anywhere safely. I went back upstairs and told my host Mom, who then decided to give me snowboots to try on, but told me she didn’t think it’d help cause they were for snow, not ice. With no better options, I put the snowboots on and walked down to the door, took one step, and slipped AGAIN; another hard fall. Needless to say, after slipping 2 times right on my butt, I called it a day and settled for the fact that I still had plenty of days ahead to explore the city. According to my host mom, that day was the worst day of the Winter. In fact, after the first couple of days, the rest of winter quarter had basically no snow; it was just really really cold and there was lots of rain. As a Californian, I'd still prefer the mild winters we get at Stanford, but you definitely start getting used to the harsh weather and then it's not so bad. Plus, there's nothing like eating a nice, warm pretzel when it's snowing outside.

Germans Are Really Nice: Part 3

Part 3:
On my way to the Reichstag, which is the parliament building which has amazing architecture, I was sniffling a lot. I sniffling on the U-Bahn when this one German girl sitting near me got up, said something to me in German, smiled, and gave me a tissue. I replied with danke and was truly grateful. So once again, Germans are really nice. Who says Germans are cold and stoic? Within my first 3 days in Germany, and 3 encounters with very nice Germans, this stereotype had proven to be nothing more than a stereotype. And throughout my time here, I've met many more Germans, all of whom have been caring, interesting, fun, and in general, have broken all stereotypes of how Germans are supposed to be.

Germans Are Really Nice: Part 2

Getting Lost





Part2:


Part of the experience of being in a new city is getting lost in it. We managed to get that item checked off of our Things to Do List our very first night in Berlin. On our first night, it was getting late so we decided to head back from Potsdamer Platz since my host family told me the Bahn system stops running at 1AM on weekdays. So we headed back to the station, but the entrance was blocked! “O crap.” Keep in mind it was 0 Degrees Celsius outside and none of us were dressed accordingly since we had definitely underestimated how cold it gets. It was freezing and we didn’t know where to go; just to get warmth we jumped on a random bus, cause apparently they were still running. While we were on the bus, we started looking at our maps to find a way back, and this nice old 50 year German grandpa asked us something in German. At this point, I've had only 1 quarter of German, a course taken over 6 months before, which meant I had forgotten everything. All I heard was the word “Wo” so I deciphered that he was asking us where we were trying to go. We told him the name of the station, and he just went off in a string of German while pointing at different spots on the map. The entire conversation was really funny cause he was helping us and telling us what we needed to know, but we couldn't understand anything. Once in a while I would try to interject with a couple words I did know in German. Yet somehow within all the jumble, he was able to understand me telling him that the U-Bahn (the train system) was closed, and in response, he was able to tell me in German what I understood to be “No, it’s open.” We said danke to this man, who amazingly was able to help us without speaking a single word of English. We got off the bus and walked around to find the nearest U-Bahn station and low and behold, it was OPEN. For some reason, it was just that one station that we came out of that was closed. Thank you so much to the German man who helped us get home. Unfortunately, even after getting onto that train we still ended up getting lost cause there were all these connections and transfers. But to make a long story short, we kept getting on and off trains, then missing trains, and thus having to wait 10 minutes at a time in the freezing cold, but in the end we made it back to my place at 2:30AM. YAY!

My arrival in Berlin

My friend (and drawmate) Ricky and I arrived in Berlin early during spring break, because we were going to take a short trip to Prague before the quarter started. That night we enjoyed our first German Hefeweizens at Junction Bar in Kreuzberg, and then got some sleep for the early train the next morning.

After getting back from Prague, all of the spring students met for the first time and did a walking tour around the Reichstag area. The weather wasn't great, but we got a guided tour and got to see some of the sights early on.

Germans Are Really Nice: Part 1

Arrival in Berlin



Part 1:
The hardest part of the flight was sitting for ten straight hours on the United plane, in the center seat, right between an old German couple and a young German couple. It was during the 10 hour flight, sitting between the two couples speaking German to each other and understanding about 2 words the entire time that I realized, “Wow, I’m REALLY going to Germany.”

After I got off my plane at Tegel Airport, I rushed down to the baggage claim. I had 2 huge suitcases and 1 duffel bad, so I badly needed to get one of those cart things to push my luggage in. Unfortunately, the cart required 1 Euro, which is a coin (I didn't know that at the time), that you must push into the cart’s coin slot to unlock it. But all I had was a 5 Euro bill, which obviously wouldn’t work. And there was NO WAY I could carry all my luggage by myself. But luckily for me, this nice German lady saw me looking confused and gave me 1 Euro. ☺

Hallo

Hey,
I'm Lily. In January of this year, I packed my bags and headed off to Berlin for what would be the beginning of my 9 month abroad experience. It was my first time to Europe and would also be the longest time I'd ever been away from home (the US). After enduring my first real Winter (I'm from California, so this whole concept of living in snow is foreign to me), seeing the city completely transform during the Spring, and then spending my summer doing a Krupp internship and traveling all around Germany, I can definitely say it has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So get excited about Berlin, and Germany in general! Hope our insights help!

Hallo

Hey, everyone, Naiming here. I was abroad in Berlin for spring quarter 2008, and am currently finishing up my Krupp Internship in Magdeburg. My first time in Europe has been a 6-month stay complete with studying, working, traveling, old friends, and new friends. It has been truly unforgettable.

We created this blog to relive and catalog all of our great memories from our abroad experience, and to provide all prospective, preparing, or current Stanford in Berlin students with an interesting resource to get an idea of what the experience is like, find something interesting to do/see/eat in Berlin, read about traveling outside of Berlin, etc.

Hope it's helpful and/or interesting, enjoy!