Berlin it was fun.

For the dates 12/31-1/6

Today is January 6th and it is my last day here in Berlin. My time in Berlin has been special and it is truly been one of the best weeks of my life. However, my first impression was not the best because the city was not very easy to look at. Berlin contained even more graffiti than Bonn, and the Communists certainly did not help the cities beauty by adding lots of homogeneous square buildings. Still though, I liked the big city feel and the people of Berlin. If I had to make a comparison, I would say the city reminded me of a much friendlier New York. I say that because going around on my own was so easy and fun, and unlike New York everyone in Berlin seemed willing to work with me as I went sight seeing. It was much more laid back than any big city I had ever encountered, and as time went on I liked it more and more. In fact, its probably the only big city in which I have truly enjoyed myself, because I usually prefer small towns. I think it's amazing that I feel this way now because my first day in Berlin was quite hectic.

Our first day In Berlin was a bit chaotic. It was new years and that meant we were going to the million-person party at the fes mila. The thing I enjoyed the most about the fes mila was meeting so many people from different nations. Germans, Spaniards, French, English, Chileans, Australians, and more were all at the legendary party and having a good time. However toward the end people were hopping fences and shooting fireworks into the crowd, making the party seem more like a riot than a celebration. In fact I would go so far as to say that it felt more like a war zone than a party by the time 2013 actually rolled around. Still though I managed to have a really good time. The music, food, and fun spirit made the evening enjoyable and memorable despite the out of control people, and I would definitely say it was a great life experience to be in Berlin during the new year. It was probably the most memorable New Year's celebration I have ever attended and I know it's a story I will be telling the rest of my life.

The next day all we did was a tour of Berlin via a Welsh tour guide. He was a fun guy who definitely did not take himself too seriously. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Fredrick the Great and the influence he had on the Prussian Kingdom, and thus Berlin. I had never heard of the guy, and to find out that he was one of the greatest rulers of all time was astonishing. His libraries were massive, and it was his courtyard in which the Nazis burned the works of famous Jews. I was amazed to learn that these book contained findings from great minds such as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. Apparently Einstein studied at the University which sat across from Fredrick's courtyard and he fled to America because of the Nazis. I found this fascinating because in one courtyard you could see Berlin's history, both the good and the bad, as well as see that Germany was the center of the world's intellectual minds prior to the war. Later in the tour we saw Checkpoint Charlie, and the area where Adolf Hitler died. I was amazed to find that these historic locations were not commemorate into museums, but instead almost intentionally forgotten. Checkpoint Charlie had been turned into a kind of tourist trap, and Hitler's bunker was replaced with a simple parking lot. I found this interesting because it shows how history surrounds us in our everyday lives without us even knowing it. I think another good example of this are the small plaques that have been placed all around Germany, especially Berlin, which show the houses were Jewish people used to live prior to the Holocaust. These plaques are meant to remind people of what happened, but I also think they are a neat way to show how everyday places could be a spot were significant history actually happened. I really started to appreciate the long history of Berlin during this tour, but I think it wasn't until the following day when I started to appreciate the long history of Germany.

The following morning we took the train to Dresden for the day. Although my time in Berlin was fun, I think Dresden was probably the highlight of the week because of its beauty and fascinating history. To be honest I had never really heard of the city of Dresden, and I think this added to my surprise when I arrived and found out all the city had to offer. First of all, it had the natural beauty that I had been expecting since I arrived in Germany. Also, the city had many impressive buildings all located right next to each other, creating a kind of "square of beauty" which I had never seen. One of the most impressive buildings in the square was the Church of Our Lady, in which I had a very profound experience. Something about it being a Protestant church that was rebuilt as a symbol of peace struck a chord with me and I felt quite emotional. In a way, it was kind of my version of a small pilgrimage. Still, the most memorable part of Dresden may be their famous collection of art pieces. Treasures that were literally beyond my imagination were saved in the basement of the museum, and their beauty was stunning. An ivory ship carried by Poseidon, Hercules lifting a crystal sky, a golden clock, a tea set that a king had to save ten years to pay for, and a doll set with over 400 diamonds and 12 pearls all displayed for the public to see. Not to mention they had a 41 carat green diamond that was literally priceless. In fact, I would say all of the things in the museum were priceless. Even the ship made of ivory was so finely crafted that they said that they could not recreate it today, because the secret of making fine ivory in the shape of a sail was lost in time. After our tour, we then went to the Museum of Hygiene. While there, we got to give our own presentations on the human body, which actually turned out to be pretty fun. Whenever I go to a museum, I have always wanted to be the guy giving the tour because it seems like fun. Sure enough, it was fun to play the expert and teach my peers something that I had learned. I think Dresden was one of the highlights of the whole trip.

The rest of my time in Berlin was exciting as well but in a different way then the beginning. This time was fun because I was on my own more, and I got to have some small personal victories which made me feel very European. One of these moments came on Thursday when I was able to find the Ampleman Liben, a store devoted to the small figure found on the street lights in Berlin, by myself. The ampleman symbol is a signature of Berlin and finding the perfect souvenirs at the store made me feel like a real Berliner. It was also a personal victory because it took me over an hour to find the place, and I had to talk with many Germans who could not speak a word of English in order to find it. By the time I found the store it had become more of a mission than a simple task, and the gifts I bought became more like trophies than silly toys. Thursday was also the day I visited the Riechstag, the house of the German government, and got to learn about how Germany was governed. I found the differences between their government and ours fascinating, and was amazed that they had an over 80% turnout during election season. To be honest, I liked their system because it seemed like there was a good mix of conflict and compromise and a lot of people are politically active. By the end of the day, I felt like I understood more about Germans, and I think I started to appreciate the cultural differences between us. Whether it be mastering the subway system, finding the perfect souvenir, or learning about the German government, I started to feel much more European than I had in Bonn.

Friday was not a particularly memorable day because I was so sick. All I can truly remember is going to the Otto Bock Science Center and learning about the new prosthetics that are being made. This was actually a really important lecture to me because I knew so little about the developments that have been made in prosthetics. All I had heard on T.V. is that they were not good enough, and that the only development of the last 200 years has been trading in wooden prosthetics for plastic ones. Learning that they had made legs with computers in them that can read gyroscopes as well as measure string tension to help the leg move to the appropriate position, gave me a lot more faith in the future of medicine than I had before walking into the building. The only other thing I remember from Friday was finding the hostel I was staying at. It was kind of hard to find and I was so excited when a coffee shop owner could help me that I gave her a 2 Euro tip just for pointing it out. It was a nice place called Plus Berlin and I had a very good time there the rest of the weekend.

The weekend was a kind of fun test of my comfort with the German culture. Unlike the rest of the trip, I was alone in Berlin and got to experience Europe by myself. The first thing I did was go to bed early Friday so that I could wake up at 2 a.m. to watch the Aggie Cotton Bowl over Skype with my girlfriend. It was fun because it was the only thing I have done this trip which reminded me of home. It was also fun because my Internet didn't work in my room so I was forced to watch the game in the hostel lobby in my pajamas. This was actually a pretty interesting experience because several people came over and started to watch the game with me. I met some British and Irish people and explained to them American football and the significance of the game to me and my school. Sure enough they started to root with me from a distance and it kind of became an event. After the game was over I took another nap and then started my day off with a trip to the Kadewe. The Kadewe is a legendary store in Berlin and it definitely did not disappoint. Wheter it be a 45 Euro meal or a 60 Euro pen, this place had some of the nicest things I have ever seen. I was so inspired I even bought a nice Steiff bear while there. Steiff is a toy making company which started in 1880 in Germany and its toys are known for their extremely high quality. This was another souvenir that I bought that made me feel like an educated visitor to Germany because it was the kind of gift that only a person who knew something about Germany could appreciate. My next stop was at the East Side Gallery, which is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall that has been painted by famous artists worldwide. The art was gorgeous and I found myself walking the entire length of the wall (1.3 Km) and taking about 20 pictures. However this was kind of a bitter sweet sight because so much of the art had been damaged from petty graffiti, which really made me mad. The graffiti has bothered me since I got here, but seeing it on this beautiful art really did make me mad at the locals for not preserving this treasure. Still though, it did not ruin my time because the art was simply too beautiful for me to be in a bad mood. That was all I could manage on Saturday because of my fever, but I still think that this day was one of the best days of the whole trip so far.

Before I got on the train, I did take the time to enjoy one last sight of Berlin. I checked my bags in the German bag drop off and headed to the Natural History Museum of Berlin. This museum was completely different than any other we had seen because it had almost nothing to do with medicine or German history. Honestly it was a nice change of pace, and I loved seeing the famous exhibits that they had. The two main exhibits they boasted were of the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world, and a wet collection containing over one million specimens. The wet collection was also used as an active research collection, making it the only research collection to be publicly displayed in the world at the time. To accommodate the collections massive size, only 90,000 were displayed at any time, which was still enough to fill a large room from floor to celling with specimens. This room was incredible to walk through, and I did not know something like this existed in the world today. The other most interesting exhibit was of a mounted dinosaur of the Giraffatitan species, which is one of the largest animals to ever walk the earth. This exhibit was impressive as well and definitely was a life experience to see.  This museum is definitely a highlight of my time in Berlin.

Berlin has been a blast but I am really looking forward to moving on to Vienna, which is a city I know virtually nothing about. Goodbye Berlin, it was a blast!