Goodbye Berlin (01/04/13)

Today was one of the few days that we got to wake up late. Dr. Wasser and Suzanne told us the night before that we did not have to meet downstairs until 11:00am. Unfortunately, Ari and I still have to do laundry, but by the time we were done with the day’s program the night before, it was not enough time for us to go to the waschsalon. Therefore, we still had to get up fairly early to do laundry because we desperately needed to wash our clothes. Ari woke up a little before I did to shower and I finally got up when she got out of the restroom. We both packed our dirty clothes in a bag and headed out our hotel room around 8:00am. We did manage to whip up a quick sandwich to take with us to the waschsalon. We also asked the reception guy how to get to the waschsalon, but his English was poor and gave us directions that were not as specific as we would have hoped. Ari and I walked around two blocks in distance before we finally arrived to the laundromat. We would not have had to walk that far if we kept our eyes open, but nope; we did not pay attention and totally missed the waschsalon completely. We had to ask directions again from these two ladies at a corner store. They were a lot more helpful than the reception guy. Anyways, at last we found it and Cassie was there, almost done with her batch of clothes. Ari and I each picked a washer and started maneuvering through it. We were completely lost at first, but Cassie and this lady there helped us. Cassie left when Ari and I finally got our washing machine working. We both had about 25 minutes on the clock of the washer. We ate and talked while waiting and next thing we know, our clothes were done “washing”. The nice lady was still there when we were putting our clothes in the dryer so she helped us operate that, too. She left not too long after though. The sad thing was that I packed my clothes in the washer, so by the time I had to throw them in the dryer, they were still soaked. Therefore, the drying time took twice as long as Ari’s clothes to dry. We were not able to leave the waschsalon until 10:10am because of me. Right after Ari and I got back to the hotel room, we finished packing and headed to downstairs we our luggage to catch what was remaining of breakfast, which was not bad at all. Dr. Wasser and Suzanne appeared at 11:00am and told us we were able to leave our baggage in a room at the hotel so we did not have to stroll them around. After that, we headed out to one of the building we were at the night before to receive a lecture from Dr. Wasser. The lecture covered a range of scientist who made a contribution to the many things we know today in the medical world. After lecture, we rushed out to a cafeteria place to have lunch. AIB paid for us again and we had a really good meal. I enjoyed what I got, especially the salad because it was a satisfying small portion with AMAZING vinaigrette. I cannot wait to go home, look up for the recipe, and make it. It was very good and even Ari agree! After lunch, we headed out the building and noticed that it was raining. Of course, it rains here and there, but it never stopped us from carrying out what was planned for the day. However, this time it was pouring and the fact that Suzanne and Dr. Wasser were not really sure how to get us to our next destination was not helping the case. Therefore, Dr. Wasser and Suzanne ended up stopping taxis and getting them to take us to somewhere close to the Otto bock because it was the fastest way to get us there. Our appointment was at 2:30pm and we were all actually running late. When we finally got there, it was about ten minutes past our appointment time and we were all pretty much soaked. We headed downstairs to put away our coats and bags to start our tour. This tour was actually very interesting and it was definitely one of my favorite ones. I learned about the new technology behind prosthetic legs and arms. Sadly, the tour was cut short the group can head back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and catch the train to our designated places for the free weekend. When we left Otto bock, the rain slowed down a bit but it was still sprinkling. We all made it back to the hotel and got our luggage. After that, the whole group rode the tram to Alexanderplatz and that was were we split up. Ari, Aaron, Austin, Kassie, and I caught the next train to Berlin Haupbanhof and got to designated platform right on time to catch our train to Hamburg. We were all very excited we made it because we were kind of cutting it close. When the train arrived and we got on to look for our compartment, we saw that an old lady was already sitting in the compartment we have reserved. We stumbled and fumbled around until we got all the baggage up and then we finally sat down. We were so loud the entire process that I think we startled the old lady. The ride from Berlin to Hamburg took about two hours and I thought it was a tad bit awkward because of the old lady. Due to that, we kind of did our own thing – Ari was watching the office, Austin was writing his blog, Aaron was playing a game on his computer, Cassie was watching Aaron play his game, and I was watching the big bang theory. According to Austin, the old lady was “watching” Aaron play his game, but we will never know if that was what she was really doing. We got to Hamburg around 7:30pm and when we got off the train, I can immediately feel the difference of it being another city because even the train station was different. The feeling of anxiousness rushed through me briefly because we were on our own completely without guidance from Dr. Wasser or Suzanne. Thankfully, I still got Ari, the twins, and Cassie. When we finally go out of the train station and into the street, Cassie split ways with us. Us four kept walking in the direction the tourist information guy told us to go and eventually we arrived to our hotel – Hotel Continental. Outside did not look as nice as in the picture, but we had no other way to go but into the hotel. After we checked in and everything, we went on upstairs to our room. We got room number 46B and the boys 41B, which means we were heading to the same floor, but the elevator was so small, only two of us can fit in it at the same time with luggage. The twins were great gentlemen and went ahead and took the elevator first. Ari and I just shook our heads at them. When Ari and I finally got to our room, we were left with dropped jaws. Our room was literally a bed with four walls. There was barely any walking space and the closet door could not even open all the way because the bed was in the way. The twins called it our little prison. Their room was just down the hall and it was bigger compare to ours. We all hung out together in the twins’ room for a little bit, but then Ari and I headed back to our room to rest. We both headed to bed not too long after. Right before I went to sleep though, I made sure I held on tight to the edge of the bed because unlike the other hotels we were in, we were actually sharing a single “queen” size bed. With my crazy sleeping habits, I did not wants to pull something random on Ari. Therefore, I made sure I remain on my side of the bed for the night. Nonetheless, it was relieving going to bed and knowing we did not have to wake up the next morning at a certain time. Finally a day we can sleep in peacefully.