Anreisend / Arriving

I can't believe that I'm finally here.
For months now I've been telling folks that I'm moving for Berlin through the end of the summer, and it didn't actually hit me until I was exploring my new neighborhood this afternoon.

In writing this first blog post, I keep wondering how I should structure this blog. I feel like there are several different groups of people who this is directed at and I'm not quite sure how to make it appropriate for all at the same time. I have my family, my friends, prospective exchange students, prospective Hampshire College students - and the list goes on. I'll do my best to try to include information that will be valuable to all of you (which will be more photos and personal things for my family and friends, more logistical things for prospective students, etc.).

So after almost 20 hours of traveling and living in airport terminals in Logan, JFK, and Munich, I made it into Tegel and saw the top of a familiar black hat (belonging to Daniel, our program advisor from Hampshire) waiting behind a wall of glass, waving to me - yay! I'd made it!
Unfortunately though, this happened at the exact same moment that I realized that the airline had lost my luggage. You win some, you lose some. (It's all getting figured out and hopefully I'll have it within the next few days. I'll just have to be thrifty to make the clothes on my back and the few things I had in my backpack last until I get the rest of my things.)
After we reported my bag missing and went through all of the red tape involved in that, Daniel and I sat and had a coffee at the airport while we waited for two other students on my trip to arrive. He told me about how Berlin was when he last lived here in 1978, and explained to me how different parts of the city have changed since then. The other students' flights came in as scheduled, and soon we were all in the car that Daniel had rented for the day, heading to our respective apartments throughout the city.

As we drove, we got a decent tour of Berlin through our car windows, and I was surprised at how short it was. I usually think of most cities as being tall (which I suppose is an American thing? maybe?) but Berlin's a little shrimpy. What it lacks in height, though, it makes up for in charm and history. The reason there aren't a lot of tall buildings here (at least I think) is because most of them are historic buildings. There are certainly a few sky scrapers in Berlin's skyline, but for the most part, the buildings don't exceed maybe four stories.

The room that Hampshire is renting out for me is in Kreuzberg, which is known to be hip and artsy (you can read about it here if you'd like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreuzberg) is adorable. I live on Oranienstraße, which is one of THE streets in Kreuzberg (also called X-Berg I've learned) and in all of Berlin.

I'm living with a professional Tarantella dancer from Italy who is in India until the end of March, but we've emailed back and forth and I can't wait to meet her. Her son, Circo, was here to greet me though, and is so nice, welcoming, and hospitable. Right now we have a third roommate who I haven't met yet, but I hear that she'll be home this evening.

Here are a few photos of my room (I don't have any stuff to put in it yet, but I'm sure it will be extra nice once I do!):

View from the door looking inside

Desk area (I especially liked the little drums and stuff in the nook above it)

Futon/Bed & Window to the courtyard outside

After I unpacked what few things I had, I went out and got an international SIM card for my international cell phone that my dad's friends Susie and Mike let me borrow, and then walked up and down Oranienstraße, as well as around a few little side streets. It was pretty cold, and I wasn't really in the mood to walk around too much because I'm so jetlagged and exhausted, but I did take a few pictures of things that I thought were neat in my immediate neighborhood.

Kreuzberg has (and I'm pretty sure is known for) its awesome street art. I saw a lot of that on my walk, which was mostly what I took photos of:

This is my street, Oranienstraße. I live right next to Core Tex Records - the largest local punk label.
I walked by,  and it looked awesome inside. I will definitely be checking it out soon.

Front of Core Tex Records

I live in the Hinterhaus, but this is the front door I go through off of the street.

The graffiti on either side of our front entrance.
Some of it's pretty neat.

The graffiti on either side of our front entrance.
Some of it's pretty neat.

I saw this building when I was walking and just thought what was on it looked interesting.

A close up of the picture directly above.
A ghost busters sign denouncing christianity, maybe?
Lots of stuff like this around my neighborhood though.

This is a little cafe I found that looked cute.
I didn't pop inside today, but probably will in the near future.

Some really incredible street art on my corner.

Another thing I took photos of was the Ampelmännchen - "the little street lamp men". The last time I was in Germany I noticed them a lot too. I think they're really cute and make crossing the street seem like more fun. It's just that the red one seems so serious and then the green one seems so playful... My high school German teacher, Mr. Vaitones, used to have a t-shirt with one on it. I was always jealous of it and will buy that t-shirt if I see it anywhere!

Halt! Bitte nicht gehen!

Okay! Du kannst jetzt gehen!

I think that's it for now, folks! I'm exhausted and trying to keep myself up until a decent hour tonight so I can start getting used to the time change. My best friend from high school, Gina, also lives a short way from me so I'm going over to her apartment for dinner in a little while. It will be so nice to see a familiar face!

All in all, I'm really excited to be here and can't wait for the opportunities that it will bring me. I already miss my biological family, as well as my chosen family, but I'm really excited to get to know the city, get to know some new people, and maybe create my own little Berlin family.

Tschüs!