Salad invasion and too much crawling

I'm really running out of creative ways to say hello. Do I even need to say hello every time?

Anyway, hi! So now I am 23 and feel no different whatsoever, obviously. My birthday last Monday was spent feeling a bit sorry for myself. Mainly because there was nothing to do at work so I had too much time to dwell on the fact that I was without my family and bored. I bought myself a bottle of wine and some chocolates, and some new clothes because hey why not? I had a nice phone call with mum and Reo called too! They both made me feel tons better. I also got a lovely letter from my niece, which made me cry!

One of the most adorable things I have ever received

In any case though my birthday was pretty uneventful. But Lewis is coming to see me on Friday (eek, not long now) so I guess we shall make up for it then!

On Wednesday I saw my German tandem partner again (okay his name is Tom). We had coffee and another long walk around the city, which included almost getting lost in the Jewish Memorial and me almost having a panic attack because I started thinking about crawling (wow) and me being his tour guide and telling him a ludicrous amount of information about the 1953 Worker's Uprising in the GDR.... I can't help it, I basically only studied the GDR last year! He seemed to appreciate it though.

J and I went to the cinema on Thursday night to see Crimson Peak, and happily for me in the original English! No terrifying German dubbing that night.  The visuals were absolutely stunning and there was a lot of brutal violence (there was a scene when someone got their head literally bashed in on a sink and I swear to God I have never felt more horrified in my life), which is just typical from del Toro. There was also the added bonus that Bobby from Supernatural was in it! That said, the plot was really lacking and it just wasn't a great storyline. It wasn't all that scary either BUT there was a disgusting crawling bit, which you can watch it below, if you desire. My hands will remain firmly over my face.

In other news, I ate steak pie on Friday evening! Tom and I went to this restaurant called East London (I know right! They didn't have pie n mash though so I will be complaining to the management). I was so excited to get my pie fill,  but it was basically just beef stew with a pastry lid. A very nice stew, mind, but still. Also, there was salad on the side. Germans eat salad with EVERYTHING, I swear.

We then walked from Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain, which ended up taking a lot longer than it should have, because the pair of us got confused and Google Maps was not being very cooperative!

When it started to rain quite violently, we ended up going to mine because I think neither of us really wanted the evening to end (wow sorry I appear to have swallowed a rom com) and we watched a hilarious German sketch show. One thing led to another and suddenly we are more than tandem partners. I'm quite happy with this though, it all feels natural, or as Lewis would say 'organic'.

We had breakfast the next day at a caff not far from me. It was so tasty but SALAD! Again! With breakfast! What are you doing Germany?

Excellent, but SALAD

We ended up spending the whole weekend together but  I feel weird writing so much personal stuff on here, so I'm leaving it there, sorry all you nosy people.

On Tuesday last week, Lionel and I met at Italo and it was so lovely! We had the nicest catch-up and ate pasta, drank wine and feasted on a dessert platter for two. It was so great to see a familiar face! We didn't speak French though, oops, but we decided we would do that next time. I was secretly pleased, as I dread to think what my French sounds like at the moment and at least now I have time to practice.

Nothing much of note happened last week, not that I can remember anyway.... J and I went to Hanover yesterday, but that will be a separate blog post as usual.

For now I am just enjoying Sunday. I've done my washing, had some scrambled eggs and some attempt at bacon, and am going to settle down with coffee, biscuits and a book. (After I've finished all this blogging stuff, naturally).

Laters xxxx

"What are pubes? Like children?"

Hello!

It's been a busy couple of weeks here in el Berlino. Work has been busy and interesting. I've been doing a lot of SEO stuff, and had a puzzling time attempting to explain the basics of keyword research in German, to a Romanian. I also read an interesting CV the other day, in which the man had written his date of birth and in brackets next to it 'under Nixon's presidency'. That's really interesting and everything but how is that relevant? Am I missing something? Who cares that I was born when John Major was in charge?

 I can't believe how fast time is going. It's my birthday tomorrow though I must say I'm not that excited. I'm turning 23 and honestly, what is there really to celebrate? It's a bit of a non-age, and I still feel like I'm 19 at heart. Physically more like 80, but there you go.

Anyway.

The Saturday before last was Tag der deutschen Einheit, so I went and checked out the festivities at the Brandenburg Gate, and also went to the Deutsches Historisches Museum. It was free thanks to the festivities.

"What things do you associate with the East?" Just thought this person's drawing was great.

I went out with S and her flatmate Esmeralda that night. We went to Matrix on Warschauer Strasse. It was pretty good, mainly because I spent most of the night observing people. There were 3 types of dancers there that night - the ones bopping their heads and taking leisurely swigs from their beer (aka, me), the tourists trying to dance in the cage and deciding that they never want to go home, and the people waving their arms madly like coked-up Mr Tickles.

 I had the worst hangover ever, a headache ALL day, throwing up, could barely eat and just sat sweaty and oozing toxins in bed all day watching Supernatural.... I'd only had 4 beers!!!! What a sick joke this old age thing is. Gone are the days when I could do 15 shots of vodka in a row. (That is not an exaggeration. I wish it was)

I met a new tandem partner on Wednesday, because let's face it, Stephan creeps me out, and my the other one was a bust. It was successful and we spoke for like 4 hours straight without realising! Turns out he is a massive bookworm like me, and so we decided to meet at Dussman's at Friedrichstrasse on Friday. It is an absolutely enormous book shop and we were in there until 10pm, talking about books and poring through the shelves. He can speak brilliant English for someone who is self-taught, but I had to explain to him what pubes were... he thought they were something to do with children?! (Like pupils, he said hahaha). We then went for coffee at a Viennese coffee house (suddenly I really want to go back to Cafe Demel!) and ended up walking around Berlin until, like, 3am. I've honestly not had such a good time with someone in a long time. We have so much in common! He insisted on walking me home, which I was absolutely astonished by. I mean, I am so used to doing everything alone and taking care of myself that I was flummoxed by such a suggestion. But it was very nice of him, albeit a bit silly because it was out of his way and he was waiting for a train home at 4.30 am! However, I do believe I made a good friend.

Surprise underneath my cup "Life is fast enough" 

Berliner Dom and the Festival of Lights

Lionel also got in touch, and as I expected and fervently hoped, he suggested Italo for dinner in a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to catching up with him and dusting off my French hat. Kat and Spencer sent me a thank you card from their wedding and told me they would be back in April so I'm looking forward to having a beer with them too!

I went to the cinema with S and J on Tuesday after work. We saw 'Inside Out' and I have to say it was absolutely brilliant. Addressing mental health in such a way that children can understand is commendable and I was honestly so touched by it.  All three of us cried at the end. It was also hilarious at times though!

This destroyed me. Still weeping.

J and I met today for a coffee at Potsdamer Platz, and then walked to the Hauptbahnhof. The autumn weather really is here. The air is so crisp and fresh, and there's that dead-leaf smell everywhere.

Aside from all that, I have also spent a lot of time wondering what I should do with my life. Go back to England and do a Masters in Translation? Stay here in Berlin and either stay at this job or find another one? Distance Certificate in Egyptology? Masters here in Germany in Marketing? I DON'T KNOW. I thought I had this post-Graduation life sorted, but apparently I too have been swallowed up into the graduate void.

Who knows?

Until next time my friends
xxxx

Fleamarkets, boyworld and why I got a burnt package in the post

.

Hallöchen!

Probably about time I posted again, I reckon. The last few weeks have seen their fair share of strange happenings, but would you expect any less?

Okay, so 3 Saturdays ago, I finally got around to meeting with Stephan at the cafe (otherwise known as the potential murderer). To start with, I was 15 minutes late . Not such a great start. The meeting itself was fine, apart from being attacked by wasps and the fact that he basically just spoke English and I was like, dude, we're supposed to be tandem-ing? Anyway.

So I'll get the boy gossip out of the way now. Well I was also late to meet him a few Tuesdays ago, because I was too busy sitting in a Vietnamese restaurant with S. He text me to say he was on his way and I was like, cool bro, just let me swallow this plate whole and I'll be there in 5. We went to the cinema last weekend, you remember I saw Fack ju Goethe with Sophie and crew? Probably not, but I saw the second one and it was brilliant) .

Apart from that and living in a strange, temporarily insane bubble, I have finally got a housephone (however I cannot get it to work). That was an ordeal in itself. I queued for like 10 minutes for the till lady to inform me that I was trying to buy an empty box. I came home to my long-awaited Skype headset (because my laptop is ridiculous and needs a microphone to skype) to find they were in a noticeably smoke-damaged packet. There was a letter apologising for the delay, but the warehouse caught fire. They even included a picture of the warehouse on fire. Okay, I believe you! If that wasn't enough for one Saturday, there was a fault with the water drainage in the washing machine. It costs 3 euros for every wash so I was forced to remove my still sticky clothes from a murky puddle of water, rinse them in my sink and watch ruefully as threateningly large puddles formed on my balcony.

This is the basement where washing comes to die

This is a man sitting on a dining chair, on the S-Bahn. Standard Monday eve commute.

I've also finally bought a duvet, and have very much enjoyed having a real bed again! That and the fact I have also signed up for Netflix (I am so late on the bandwagon it's embarrassing) and consequently have resumed my binging of Supernatural.

Fafel and halloumi sandwich + Sam and Dean = my kind of Saturday evening (I am such a loser)

Work wise, it was just me and J last week as S was ill. It was a little bit stressful at first, because J had a lot of German proofreading to do and so I had to pick up all the admin slack. But it was all fine, and by the end of the week I also had a few translations to do.Also, since I've been here, I've only had three serious anxiety attacks, which considering I have been here over a month, is damn good going. It just sucks a bit when they've happened at work. The girls are so kind about it though and check to make sure I've not actually climbed under the desk and tried to burrow to the centre of the earth,

This weekend I spent with myself which was actually quite nice! On Saturday, I just went for a walk around Friedrichshain, and wound up in that brilliant bookshop again and spent 3 euros on FIVE BOOKS. 3 EUROS ON FIVE BOOKS. Somebody stop me. I went to a flea market on Sunday and decided I desperately missed Niamh! I didn't buy anything, but I did thoroughly enjoy watching the hipsters squabbling over vintage polaroid cameras and gilets that had seen better days.

Carina is away in Hamburg from Tuesdays to Thursdays at the moment so I have the flat to myself tonight. I grilled some chicken (she's a vegetarian), played Kylie Minogue very loudly and went to the toilet with the door open. Not at the same time, mind.

This honestly was so much more delicious than it looks!

But she is so sweet. Last night, I came home to a note on my door telling me I could help myself to the rest of her noodles and home made sauce. A couple of Sundays ago, we went to Neue Heimat which is now closed forever! It's a food market off Warschauer Strasse, where you can eat Mexican street food and listen to techno at midday in a warehouse that's basically falling down.

Lastly, I received confirmation today that Lewis is coming to see me on the 30th October! So excited! Mum is coming on the 11th December AND I also just booked my flight home for Christmas! I've got a comfortable 10 days off, and will be inhaling the air of Stansted airport at 22.00 on the 18th December.

For now, I have a glass of wine and an episode of Supernatural to finish.

Laters xxx

A month in: friends, falafel and finally online

Hello!

Since I have now been here a month today, and since I now have functioning internet at my flat, I thought it was time for another update.

Where to begin?

So Carina has now been here since last week and is indeed as lovely as I thought. We drunk a bottle of wine together last Friday night and got to know each other better, which was nice. She also asked if we could speak English at home so she can practice, which is actually quite nice because obviously I only speak German at the office and to my work colleagues so it's definitely relaxing to come home and speak English, especially after a particularly stressful day! She also brought a hoover with her (a fantastic Dyson nonetheless) so that is also a bonus!

The weekend before last (so the Saturday after I missed the internet bloke), I took myself off to the Neues Museum to see an Ancient Egyptian exhibit and promptly spent the entire day crooning around the rest of the Egyptian exhibits. It turned out to be the Lange Nacht der Museen which made me suddenly miss Sophie as we did that together last year!  I spent a good hour in the shop umming and ahhing over books. Needless to say, I eventually bought one and have considerably intensified my already swotty knowledge about the Pharaohs.

Creepiest comb ever?

"Exhibit being prepared". The pig was a fantastic touch.
Disproving the 'Germans aren't funny' theory one day a time.

This isn't Ancient Egyptian, but is still awesome, because it is a hat. A giant golden hat.

Moving on. Work has been hovering between so stressful I have almost cried and so slow that I've wanted to sleep on the desk. That said, it's going well and my confidence in German is increasing. Best part is, I have finally overcome my fear of speaking to clients on the phone! Though I have also had my fair share of client nightmares in the last week. I'll say this and this only: Google Translate.

The girls and I have been out for tea after work a couple of times which is nice and I am currently nursing a horrendous falafel food baby.

"Chicken Food" Are you sure that's what you mean?

S (one of the girls) and I went to a salsa night on Saturday, which was really surreal but fun. I also hit it off with one of her (German) friends. We went out Tuesday night and hopefully again on Saturday night, so we'll see.

Also, fairly sure that the German guy who lives downstairs is not a murderer. Haven't met up for a tandem talk with him yet, but he did message me yesterday so I should probably answer before he does indeed turn into a murderer. OKAY SO SECONDS AFTER I WROTE THAT he rang the bell. Now I feel bad. Going for coffee Saturday lunchtime. Also I am still alive, so I am going with 'not a murderer'.

And a final piece of news about my apparently flourishing social life: Lionel the French tandem partner! He answered my email about meeting up again so hopefully I will see him soon and go back to Italo and eat lots of cake like we used to.

For now I think I am going to catch up on Popstars! because there is nothing like German trash tv after a long day.

Laters xxxx

Internet Cafe Life

Hello!

I can't believe that my first week at work has gone so quickly! Although incredibly surreal, it's really great to be back. I really do feel privileged that not only do I live in the city I love, but that I also love my job.

This is the actual life! Apart from the horsefly bite, of course.

Pettenkofer Straße

Anyway. I am still waiting on the internet to be set up (next Friday!) and I am sat in an internet cafe writing this! Apparently that's how much of a loser I am.

But you'll be pleased to hear that the two other girls at the office are lovely, and last night we went out for dinner after work together. They are funny and helpful, and seem to find my English habits highly amusing. S already knows there is no point asking what tea I want, because the answer is always black, mit Milch. There's already been hilarity r.e. jobs, but I think it wouldn't be funny for anyone else and it would take too long to explain so I won't bore you.

Weirdly, the conversation at dinner turned to, well, mental health. Which I was a bit unnverved by, but it wasn't awkward at all. J saw my tattoo on my wrist, and S asked me if it was to do with self-harm. It was actually so refreshing to be able to say yes and not feel in any way judged by my past!

As for the flat, I am still on my jack there but only until next Sunday! On Monday, I got in from work, went to unlock my bedroom and got the absolute fright of my life when the other bedroom opened next to me. Her name is Carina, she's from Lower  Bavaria and seems very sweet. Also, she brought tonnes of stuff with her so my need to buy stuff for the kitchen has drastically lowered. She doesn't start work until September so only came to unpack.

ALSO, a bloke knocked on the door on Tuesday night looking for Carina (already? bit creepy). She obviously wasn't here and he started talking to me. Somehow, I agreed to be tandem partners with him and he went away. Then he came back five minutes later with his phone number. Okay. So he is either just very friendly and desperate to practice English, or he is a murderer. It remains to be seen.

Looking forward to actually hanging out with these people! 

Bis später

xoxo

Allet jute aus Berlin

Four days in and everything is looking good so far. Apart from the fact that the apartment was like, bare. Sure it's furnished, but I've had to spend the last couple of days kitting it out. A kettle was obviously the first priority. It really is lovely though, and I love my balcony. Note to self: buy a plant of some sort!

View from my balcony

I registered on Tuesday and my goodness what a kerfuffle. I ended up going to the Ordnungsamt instead of the Bürgeramt. So instead of trying to register myself I was in fact attempting to register a trade. Make your jokes now.

I managed to order my internet but now it's a case of waiting for the installation, which sod's law guarantees will be when I start work.

In other news, I have been watching a lot of TV (to practice, I tell myself but really it's because it's too hot and I'm lazy). Current favourites are: a programme about family problems. The last one I watched was about a man whose family were worrying about his health because he took part in schnitzel-eating competitions. The other fave is Adam sucht Eva. Basically it's a bit like our Love Island except everyone is butt naked. It's strangely fascinating.

My new favourite thing in the entire world

I'm sitting in Köllnischer Park feeling rather disappointed, as I came here to see the Berlin Bears but they aren't out. There's only one left and last I heard it was possible that it might be put down. Poor dear. 

Bears?

I'm enjoying time to wander around and soak up some sun before work on Monday!

Bis später x

I have arrived... well only at the airport

Hallo Leute,

So in true Kirsty fashion I got my arrival time in Berlin wrong and so am running over an hour early for my key pickup. I spoke to the caretaker and we agreed I would wait at the airport until he calls me back... So here I am, all excited to see my new flat and I am perched on a bench outside Schoenefeld clutching at my hideously large bags. I'm blogging from email and attached a picture from this morning but god knows if it worked...

Aside from all that, the flight was fine. I did end up sitting in seat A when I should have been in seat C and consequently was on edge for most of the time. Maybe when the German teacher in Mean Girls yelled "Stay in your assigned seat" I took it too personally...

Here's hoping I leave the airport soon!

Ciao xo

Return of the Worrywart

Greetings! It's been a disgraceful amount of time since I updated this blog but quite frankly I didn't have much to write about really. Well, I went away for a week in Cornwall but that's not abroad so  I didn't think it should count... would the Cornish disagree? Anyway, fortunately that has all changed!

I'd begun to worry about what I was going to do after graduation, and after a few job applications it was looking like I was going to be hanging around Chelmsford for a while before doing a Masters next September. I'd been in contact with the company I worked for in Berlin during the Year Abroad but it wasn't looking like there would be any room for me.

The obligatory photo

Happily I was wrong and I am going back to work for them for a year! I've managed to find somewhere to live which is a relief, as obviously I was beginning to worry about that as well. It's a room in a shared flat, but not the same as last time, i.e. it's not someone's home and so I am not as concerned that I will be walking into a nest of criminals.

The only thing left to do now is the usual running around to see people before I leave and the dreaded packing...although this time I am taking two suitcases.

Time to make some lists!

Back soon x

My Top Ten Moments

This was quite difficult to compile, but here it is. I can't even decide on an order, so it's bullet points instead!

• Watching Germany win the World Cup at the Kulturbrauerei

Machine

• Hearing and seeing the Blue Danube at a dinner show in Vienna

• Experiencing the gorgeous Christmas markets in Strasbourg

• Playing the Mind Maze in Prague with Sia and Sarah

Happy defeat

• Exploring Plitvice National Park in Croatia

Just call me Kirsty Two-Pairs

• Spending my 21st birthday in Paris with my best friend

Possibly my favourite picture of us ever

• Going to the fashion show at Galeries Lafayette with Elinor

Yeah I don't have any pictures of the actual show, soz, have this beautiful tree

• making Stollen with Niamh and Joe

It turned out wonderfully

• Seeing a Lippizaner perform a Levade in Vienna

The Lippizaner's saddles

• Having a 3 course meal in an empty restaurant with a view of the Alps

Pie in the sky

Oh and going up the Eiffel Tower at night with my sister!

Up in the fog

Last day in Berlin

After I got home from the bus station, I packed all my stuff and went straight back out for a coffee at the bakery. Then I made for the DDR Museum, which was so interesting and interactive, but there were just too many people so it quickly became frustrating.

Exploring a house in the DDR Museum

Some random graffiti near Mehringdamm

I headed to the Jewish Museum, which I had been meaning to go to since forever and was suitably impressed. It's the biggest Jewish Museum in the world and I was pretty exhausted at the end, but it was really worth the visit and I learnt quite a lot!

Schalechet's installation, Fallen Leaves

After wolfing down some noodles, I went back to Hermannplatz and bought some last minute souvenirs. Spencer, Kat and I all had dinner together at the flat, had a sing a long to Queen (not really sure why but it was a good laugh) and that was it! All over.

I'll be back Berlin, 'hab dich wirklich Lieb

x

Odds and ends

So my internship is over. I've had a brilliant six months in Berlin and know for definite now that I want to translate as a career. It was sad leaving on Thursday. My boss gave me a book about the history of the German language in German, and a nice card. There were a few tears on my part when I finally left, but he did say I was always welcome there. Careful, mister, because I may just have to take you up on that in a year or so.

I also realised that, despite sending a huge suitcase home, I still have far too much to take as hand luggage on the final flight back to England. I mentioned this to my boss and he gave me a suitcase that he had in the office. It's a perfect size, and yes I've had to pay for hold baggage, but I'm much less stressed now.

Though I have just realised that my trainers are white and brand new, so I'll look a bit like a dick. Might have to scrape them across the curbs or something, you know, to look cool and all that, because spanking white trainers are a bit too much. Perhaps I should have slept before my flight and not decided to stay up eating cheeseballs, because I'm chatting poop now.

Anyway, my rucksack is all packed and ready to leave for Spain in the morning. Can't believe it's come around so quick! It doesn't seem possible that in just a few weeks now I'll be at home in Essex.

Before that though, it's the summer holidays and I intend to make the best of them!

Laters
xxx

One lone Muskeeter

So I'm pretty much getting ready to leave Berlin now! I'm pretty much packed for the next 3 weeks, and my big suitcase has been shipped back to England already. (Mum just text me to say she has it, relieeeef). Finishing up at work has been sad, but my boss gave me a glowing reference and I can safely say that I'm really proud of the last 6 months! Can't believe Thursday is my last day there. I really enjoy it and would quite happily stay if, well you know, I didn't have a degree to finish.

Last week, Sophie and I went for dinner on Tuesday evening at an Italian place that Hilary kept telling me to go to! It was definitely worth all of her hype and we were very impressed.

On Wednesday, it was Sophie's leaving thing and we all got pizza and sat in the Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which was really relaxed and lovely. Then we all headed to Seemanderstrasse for cocktails, obviously, and Sophie had her last falafel in Berlin. It was sad times. Got even sadder when Guy and I had to wait 30 minutes for a bus back to Kotti, then I had to get another bus back to Hermannplatz and walk home from there. Oh well!

I don't think anything else exciting has happened at all! I went for a nice walk along the canals on Saturday and sat in a cafe for 3 hours reading. I really should have contacted Lionel over the weekend, but no use crying about that now. I might see if I can meet him tomorrow evening.

Monday I was off work because, well, quite frankly, I couldn't stop vomiting everywhere. So I spent most of the day  watching True Blood and getting a bit too hooked.

And so we come to today, and my netbook is home again. For how long, I dare not even estimate. You may or not hear from me before I jet off to Spain on Friday!

Oh yes, and the teeth are sorted! I fully recommend German dentistry, seriously. Aside from the fact it's 1000% more intimidating, it was overall a rather okay experience, and I'm happy as larry with the result! (Let's just hope it's a while before I have to do anything else to them, hmm)

HELLO HOLLYWOOD

Off to have pizza, wine and tv with the flatmates now. Only got two more days left with them!

Bis bald (hopefully)

xxx

One Musketeer down

I meant to update this before I went away for the weekend but unfortunately my latpop is back at the repair shop, because apparently it just does not like me or anything I try and do with it. Ugh.

Let's get some boring updates out of the way first: I still don't have a bridge! I have to wear this plastic one until Thursday 24th (I've had it now for a week). As long as it's sorted by August, I guess it's ok. Secondly, I managed to get the pill here, even though it cost 36 €!

So the Saturday before last was nice, I met up with Sophie and Hilary in Charlottenburg, where we wandered around the gardens and took in some scenery. Then we went back to Hilary's for tea (and pistachios) before heading onto Bergmanstraße for dinner. There was a very peculiar parade going on, as in people in extremely bizarre outfits shouting to what sounded a bit like the Sex Pistols. We met up with Hilary's Belgian friend at a Vietnamese and sat nattering away for hours.

Hilary's mad photo skills

On Sunday, I was actually quite productive. I woke up at 9 (I know, maybe I'm not well), did some yoga and updated my CV. Then I spent the afternoon watching Endeavour with my flatmates and having to explain some very British phrases. It was time for the World Cup final that night! We met up and went to the Kulturbrauerei, after having our faces painted with the German flag by Kate. It was such a good atmosphere and when Götze scored in extra time, the place just went mental. There were showers of beers and fireworks, flags in people's faces, shouting and chanting. Basically, it was superb. After we watched Angie hug her boys, we started home. People were gathered in the streets, everyone on the U-Bahn was shouting and when I got into bed I could still hear fireworks.

So sieht Sieger aus! (Sophie's picture)

Looking like a right chubster, but rather happy to be alive

Merkel hugging her boys

On Tuesday evening, I met the girls at the Tränenpalast after work. I'd been planning to go for some time, since Sia recommended it to me. I will now recommend it too! Tränenpalast literally means 'Palace of tears', and it's what the locals came to call this building as it was a check point, and obviously many miserable memories happened here. I think one of the most interesting things there was some newsreel footage about the 1953 uprising. They had footage from both the West and the East and it was incredible how differently they spun the stories. I also read some documents chronicling the movements of an author as he regularly went East and it was horrible. There were photos of him, just labelled with 'Objekt' and a number. If you ever find yourself with an hour to spare on Friedrichstraße, you should go.

We had dinner together and sat talking for hours, my favourite type of evening!

On Wednesday evening, I met up with Lionel, for the first time since May! It was really nice to see him again. Obviously we went to Italo for coffee and cake, and he told me all about his holiday and his new job. I told him about my series of unfortunate events. I also think my French was okay, considering I hadn't spoken it in so long, but for whatever reason, my language was co-operating with me!

I did however tell a woman that she was on her way to Neukölln, when she was in fact, not. I was too busy reading to notice I was on the wrong side of the platform. I hope she made it wherever she was going. Oops.

Thursday night was Hilary's leaving meal :( We had dinner at White Trash near Schlessi, and it was a really good night, you know, aside from the fact I won't see Hilary for a while! I'm planning to go to Edinburgh in their freshers week and harrass them all, so it won't be long really. We've had some exellent times in Berlin together though, some good friendships have been made! (These are yet more of Hilary's photos!)

On Friday, Sophie, Guy and some other people went to the Freiluftkino in Friedrichshain Volkspark and it was great fun! The film boasted a rather tasty main character and we all understood enough to laugh along with everybody else, which was obviously great.

The open air cinema, excuse the stupid speaker in the way



And then I went away for the weekend, but I'll write about that when I get my laptop back, otherwise there will be no pictures at all! 

Tonight is Sophie's last night, boo! We're all going to chill in Volkspark Friedrichshain with pizza and beers. It should be good.

Something about the weather to finish? BERLIN IS A SAUNA.

Tschau! 

xxx

p.s yes I posted this at work, but I wrote it on my phone last night and did the pictures on my break, don't tell on me

Me, myself, and my sister

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my sister visited so I reckon I should probably pull my finger out and write a blog post about it! I left work early to fetch her from the airport and found out her flight was delayed which was a fabulous start, but we were soon reunited with a bear hug and headed straight to my place for a cuppa. I gave her the tour of my flat and then we headed off to our hotel-weirdly opposite the place I was taking my language classes. Weirder still was that our room directly faced it!

The room was gorgeous and although we were both tired, we headed to Kotti for a burger. It was really strange sitting opposite my sister at the same table I'd sat with Sophie a few weeks ago. We decided we'd get some sweets at the supermarket and chill back at the hotel and talk into the small hours, which we did, and it was so lovely to have some sister time again.


The next day was sightseeing, but a lot less strenuous than mum's visit. We walked to the Brandenburg Gate, saw the Reichstag and couldn't really see the Tiergarten properly because of the Fanmeile.

Then the walk to Potsdamer Platz and the Jewish and Homosexual memorials on the way. We stopped for some baked goods, before setting off again and saw the remains of the wall at Topography of Terror. Joy was horrified by it all and couldn't believe that she was 8 when the wall fell. She just couldn't get her head around it! Then we walked on towards Checkpoint Charlie and stopped at the old-fashioned photo booth to get our photos done. I did this with mum and it is adorable! It costs 2 euros for 4 photos, they're black and white and like the old photo booths where you could change your pose every picture. We did it twice so we could each have a strip, then realised a queue was forming and the photos took like 10 minutes to develop. Ooops.

The paps caught me

After Checkpoint Charlie, I showed Joy the currywurst museum where we got samples to try, then declared it was time for coffee so we sat outside Coffeefellows for like 2 hours, putting the world to rights and nattering away. Then we took a walk down Unter den Linden, seeing the Berliner Dom, before going to the Nikolai Quarter. We wandered around for a bit, and I acquired a new friend! Thank you Joy!

Meet Müller (after the footballer, NOT the yoghurt. Joy, I am looking at you!)

We sat and had a beer, then we had dinner at a nice little restaurant, and thought the food was nice, but the guy on the table next to us was, quite frankly, a complete tit and shouted the place down about how awfuk his schnitzel was. He even called the waiter a 'fucking idiot'. What confused me though was that when he was ordering he asked what 'Kalb' was (it's veal) and then after the whole incident we heard him say to his friend that he'd been coming to Germany since he was 3 and that was the worst schnitzel he'd ever had... well, how did he not know what Kalbschnitzel was then?! In the succint words of Rik Mayall, he was an "utter, utter bastard".







After that, we headed to Alexander Platz (by the end of her visit, Joy was also calling it 'Alex' and I am very proud). We were up there a couple of hours, enjoying the views as the sun went down. I tried my best to look for where I live, but just couldn't spot it, even with the binocular things. It was a bit cloudy on the horizon so we'll blame that. We took a stroll home, going past several prositutes very suddenly, and finished off our sweets in the hotel.

Elephant selfie!

We allowed ourselves a bit of a lie in on Saturday and we toddled off to the zoo at about 11. The Zoologischer Garten is home to the most exotic species in the world, and, because there is more than one zoo in the city, Berlin has the most zoo animals in the world. I know right? It was pretty awesome. We saw an Asian elephant rub her eye with her trunk, a baby elephant, POLAR BEARS, grizzly bears, hippos, Melmans (giraffes), lots and lots of monkeys, wolves... I could go on and on. We went into the lion house and were horrified though. One lioness was outside and the other lioness and lion were inside. They were boiling hot- the lion was pacing and panting, and the lioness was sitting on her haunches scratching the hell out of the door. It was horrible. Then all of a sudden, they began to growl and whine. I have never heard a lion make a noise before, and it was pretty insane. The whole building was just echoing with these poor lions. I probably would have wet myself if they had actually roared... We tried to put it behind us, but it definitely made us uncomfortable. We sat for a bit at the restaurant and then went to the aquarium which was fun-I've never seen so many jellyfish!

Sorry but I love this

This was just too adorable not to post.

I tried to grow up once. It failed.

That night I took Joysie to the Oberbaumbrücke and East Side Gallery briefly, before we headed to the Mexican that Joe and I had been too before. It was better than I remembered. Mainly because we were watching the Brazil-Chile game, we had cocktails, and then a strange ruccus happened outside with a man and his bike. He was shouting all up the street and at one point threw his bike in the middle of the road. a lady got out of her car to move it, it was in her way, and the man shouted 'no you leave my fucking bike there'.  Sorry, what?  The police turned up and he eventually sidled away, with his bike in tow. Odd.

Next day was our last day sadly. We checked out of the hotel and headed to mine, where we had lots of baked goods and tea for breakfast. We spent the day looking at my photos and watching YouTube videos. It was good to just hang out! Time went too fast as usual, and suddenly we were back at the airport. We had a coffee together and then about 30 million hugs. There was a girl saying goodbye to her mum there, and we figured she might be a Year Abroader as well, which was making me well up!

This is me and the Bear outside Rathaus Neukölln

And my favourite selfie 

All in all, it was so lovely having Joy here, and I'm glad I got her the chance to show her this brilliant city. Everyone that has visited has said I am less stressed and more comfortable which is great to hear, since I've informed them all that I will be returning at some point!

Tschau xx