Berlin vs College Station

January 8, 2011

So this Christmas my aunt and cousin continuously sang the “no sense, nonsense” song. I learned most of the words, but now that I am on a train to Copenhagen I can not get the line out of my head that says “Copenhagen was taken, Hoora, Hoora!”. Not that I want Copenhagen to be taken by any means, It’s just a very catchy beat and now it’s stuck.

Oh, by the way, it’s worth mentioning my current means of transportation to Copenhagen. As our train arrived at the station we began to watch for cart 194 to pass by. We saw 192, 193… 195 (that’s weird), 196… and so on, but no 194. We asked someone taking tickets about it and he immediately walked us to the very first car and upgraded our six-bunk room to multiple two bed suits with sinks. Now this is THE way to travel for 12 hours straight.

Anyways, as we left Berlin yesterday to go the Otto Bock I made a list comparing and contrasting Berlin to College Station. I realize that Berlin is a city and College Station is a town and that it might be more accurate to compare say Chicago to Berlin, but I’ve never lived in Chicago or any other city so College Station is what you get.

In Berlin people pay in cash. Even though I will put a five-dollar sandwich on my card when I am in College Station, I can understand preferring to pay for items like that in cash. But I was shocked when I went to Saturn, the German electronics store, the other day to buy a disposable camera and saw that the vast majority of the customers were paying in cash. I was surprised that people would prefer to carry five hundred euros in cash than to put their new TV on a credit or debit card.

The train system. I want one. I realize that these train systems are not unique to Berlin but can be found in all European cities, but I have grow particularly fond of the Berlin system because I have spent so much time finding my way around it on my own. I like the trains for the convenience and the people watching. On a train all types of people surround you. There are wealthy people on their way to work, families with kids working on homework on their way home from school, and homeless people sleeping on the ground or walking through the compartments asking for money. I feel like it keeps you more in touch with the world around you. When I am in College Station I interact with way less people because I am isolated in my car while I travel.

Berliners are opinionated and not at all shy. I know Dr. Wasser told us about this trait before we left, but I’ve found the attitude to be contagious. It’s made me want to speak what’s on my mind more too. They just tell it like it is. It’s kind of refreshing.