Berlin, Bees and Byes

How is it already over? It feels like yesterday I was excited to see Stone get off the plane in Philly so I didn’t have to be alone in the airport and now we’re saying goodbye! 

Berlin was a vastly different experience. First, carrying all of my luggage and having to pack everything again was a struggle. Even worse was everyone trying to fit their 80 pound bags on the train. Then getting them off and having to drag them around the Hauptbahnhof to get to the bus. Just a mess.

The bus tour showed us many things that I knew I had to go see and we all struggled to pay attention and not fall asleep. I remembered to write down the important places in my notes to go back and visit them later. We got of the bus, and darted to a Mexican restaurant called Dolores. Being this close to going home, it was the ultimate comfort and some of the spiciest food I’ve had! It was fantastic. That night was the Fourth of July, so we went to an American bar that was having a fourth of July party. Being there was bitter sweet in so many ways. July 4th is my favorite holiday, and not celebrating at home again was sad. It was also sad because sitting there with everyone made me realize how soon we were leaving, and how I would miss all of these people and these moments so much.

The next day was my Berlin day. I was assigned the “bee and herb” group and at first I was very skeptical. Im not a huge fan of bees and am usually the one who gets followed by them or attacked. But boy was I wrong. The day started with Silke almost emerging from the woods in the middle of a cemetery and taking us on a trek back to where the bees were kept. She told us about the reason she keeps bees and about how she does it with all her friends. We picked stinging nettles, ate them on rice cakes with beet spread and tried all kinds of honey/bee products. We ate pollen, “bee glue”, honey in the comb and then regular honey. We also ate just the comb too! 

She took us to a different area of the city where we had an interesting vegan meal, followed by honey straight from the comb. We then learned the real importance of saving not only the bees, but all insects as well. IT was really interesting to learn how many insects in Europe (75%) have died in recent years. We left Silke to work on our presentation, after stuffing our faces at McDonalds of course. Beez in da trap and imma b played far too much, a video was made and our presentations were ready.

I really enjoyed being able to hear everyones presentations and see that they got so much out of their days and that it was so different from ours. I really wished we all could have experienced them! Also, I think we were put into the right groups and that we all belonged there and grew as people that day. Everyone was so appreciative of what was going on and I loved it!!! 

The next day we went to the Charité. Our tour guide was AWESOME. He was so funny and really wanted to engage all of us so much with his jokes about “quick Catherines” and made medical history extremely interesting. 

After having one of the best meals of Pho I’ve ever had, we went to Sachsenhausen. Having been to a few concentration camps including Auschwitz, I thought I knew what to expect. I really didn’t. I learned so much about the different types of people that were targeted and people that I truly didnt know would have ended up there like Jehovah Witnesses, just because they were pacifists. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to learn about these things because history does repeat itself and the best way to prevent it is to be educated.

That night we had dinner at the Lebanese restaurant, saw a belly dancer and got to be with each other, all together, one last time. As we made plans to hang out again in college station, spring break and more, it really hit that this was it. It was over. I woke up the next morning and only was able to say bye to a few people as Catherine and I left to meet our parents. I never thought I’d be sad not seeing German anymore, but I figured out I actually picked some words up even though ill probably forget them as soon as I get home. After being with my parents for a while, I went to the Hauptbahnhof alone to meet Catherine to say bye to her before we went our separate ways.  I watched her get on the bus and actually teared up because it hit me that I wasn't going to see any of them for so long! Siblings in steam, you all have been truly a treat! Thanks for the adventure!