Goodbye Berlin...

(Yes, I'm finally updating about our week in Berlin)

I never expected to like Berlin so much. Throughout our trip when interacting with my host mom and other people in Germany they would all ask if I was going to visit Berlin and encouragingly tell me that I would love it when I affirmed that Berlin was part of our trip. I didn't quite believe them though. In all honesty it's a very special big city that I like. I love Chicago, but that's because I have so much heritage and relatives there, I also love Minneapolis and St. Paul, but they're smallish for big cities, especially when counted seperately.

Anyway the point being that I thought I would get to Berlin and be like "Oh, this is nice to visit" and then go on my way again, instead a small piece of me has fallen in love with Berlin. I suddenly understand why every German I met told me Berlin was a "special place" with fondness in their voices, and I understand why it's being split for so long was such a travesty. Berlin's charm is inexplicable, but without being too annoying I'm going to try to explain some of it here.

Berlin is alive, in fact Berlin is overflowing with life... Being on the streets you can feel it. Berlin is a place where things happen, where strange monuments are built, where personal submarines are invented, where tear-filled confessions are made, it's a place perhaps summed up by the last place we all went together, Tageles. Tageles is this 5 story building in the old east side of the city that squatters and artists moved into and have kept since the wall fell 20 years ago. It cost 2 euro to get in (apparently an increase from the past) and is well worth the cost because once inside you can buy food or drinks at the beach bar while listening to live music (or watching contortionists and fire breathers, or so I'm told) or you can go into the building. Each floor of the building is something unique, on the top, a bar and a viewing area from which you can see art installments projected on the wall of a neighboring building or just look out at the city. The fourth floor is where people live, but is also full of graffiti that instead of looking disrespectful or like an eyesore, looks like it belongs, sort of how I imagine the graffiti on the west side of the wall looked. The third floor is full of artists pedaling their wares including postcards, shirts, prints, oil on canvas, jewelry, and many other things. Second floor is a bar and a theatre that shows things like Slumdog Millionaire alongside German and independent films. The first floor is just the entrance, but the whole building and in fact the whole place just has this air of magic about it. I'd never have guessed I'd like the place so much, but now I can't seem to stop talking about it.

Already I'm planning to return to Germany, perhaps my friend will make it into University in Berlin, or perhaps I'll find a way to feasibly study in Germany again, maybe I'll even go the way of my friend Ellen and work in Germany for a few years. Whatever happens, all of Germany, Berlin especially, has wormed its way into my heart and I'll never be quite the same person I was at the beginning of July.

And so that's all. I might get back on when I return to the USA on Saturday and am not so pressed for time about how much I miss everyone, but otherwise this chronicle is over, just as this chapter of my life is over. See you in 4 weeks for the retrospective.

Sincerely,
Caitlin

P.S. I am writing about my week in London/Ireland on my lj if you're curious including a bit about adjusting after all my time in Germany to the cultural differences.

P.P.S. Sorry about all the run-ons.