oh, i'm so behind.



we've been constantly going lately -- trying to squeeze every last drop that we can out of berlin. it's so strange to think that i'll be gone in just a few days and back in my everyday life. i've bonded so deeply with a few people on the trip. we're together from morning 'til night, and i think i'll be expecting that knock on the door followed by "are you hungry?" or "do you want to go out with us?" for the first few days i'm home. there are things that i do miss, though (such as, lately, my guitar). so maybe this is what life is: trying to find that balance. everyone is in the lobby this morning/afternoon working on our projects. they're due tomorrow at 2 p.m., but we're all having a dinner tonight to snap us out of the computer trance that's bound to mask the day.

it's the end of the week already -- time has seriously been escaping me.

i met with berit uhlhorn wednesday afternoon. it was a whim to avoid communication through e-mail (or lack thereof) and drop by tatau obscur. my general idea of where it was -- near potsdamer platz -- was lost when my walk around the block turned into an hour of trying to find my way back to the u-bahn station. what was supposed to be 20 minutes of simple public transportation turned into two hours of aimlessly walking through berlin, but the place is gorgeous. the portfolios are just amazing. some of the artists make tattoos that look like block printing or screen printing... very andy warhol-esque. berit is beautiful, and i know that she will make for a great focus. everything about her is interesting -- her job, the company she is in, her look, her city. spending the day with her for my project tomorrow should be exciting.


little boy in the s-bahn.

after i met with berit, i took a bus back to the hotel. kevin, lora, and i went around the corner and experienced an indian food sensation for dinner. we ate outside as it was getting dusk as the people walked by, and i could really do that forever. i'm so excited when i'm hungry here because there are so many things i want to eat, and they're all so close to where we are staying. a few of the girls went out that night with one of our german contacts, but the three of us in addition to carolyn and vince went to an irish pub in the market square. it was a little tricky to find, and at one point vince asked for directions from two guys talking to, what turned out to be, a postitute. we were chased away as she was flapping around and saying, "can't you see i'm with customers?" we did find it, though -- i did a victory dance.




people approach a u-bahn train.

it rained for most of today. i slept in a little before dumping and working on pictures. michelle, emily, vince and i ate vietnamese for lunch, and then i stayed behind last minute while michelle and emily went along to michelle's contact for her project. it started raining sheets of rain when i got to my road, and i was really disappointed to find out that most stores were closed today in honor of the german's version of father's day. i found a lot of the girls on their laptops and in their pajamas when i got into the lobby -- the rain wasn't very motivating to be out and about; however, i did tag along for kevin's interview. he took photos of philip, a musician, who was having a show with his band. it was a lot of fun to mingle around the locals and talk to new people about where they live and where they have been, etc.

it's 3:42 a.m., and vince and i are updating our blogs in the lobby. i feel like a zombie after another long day of getting nothing done for my project. today was our last full day of group activities -- fat tire bike tour and lunch by the canal, qi, and an italian dinner just before catching the s-bahn back to the hotel. for the next few days, we'll be let loose to dedicate ourselves to our projects.



the other night, we gathered for a group dinner at the thai restaurant that's just around the corner. franka bruns came and informed us about freelance work, and she also joined us for dinner. in fact, we both ordered the same chicken satay appetizer. when i asked for hoisin sauce for my tofu pho, the waitress gave me a dish of chopped chilis in oil.

afterward, lora and i went to the billiards hall for drinks. kevin met up with us, and we eventually migrated to the cinema next door to the hotel. a bag of crispy m&ms sparked up many conversations, and we ended up being the last ones out as they closed.



we woke up bright and early this morning for the bike tour. we met our guide, blakely, at alexanderplatz and picked out our cruisers. i ended up crashing along the canal, and a few others made some riding blunders throughout the trip. coincidentally, each bike was named, and my bike was named "bruiser."








soviet war memorial through wildflowers in treptower park.

it was a great but exhausting day. there have been so many of those -- one after the other. a lot of us are really excited to finally get our hands on our projects, though. the manager of the lobby is playing kings of leon as i'm typing this, and that's just another reminder of how much i love it here.

kevin, lora, carolyn, and i sated our midnight munchies last night with our first berlin doner kebabs. there's a place just around the corner that's open late, and it was actually quite nice. kevin discovered curried ketchup on accident when he had it put on his pomme frites. the kebab had me beat -- i maybe finished half of it in some fashion before giving up; however, it's fantastic for its price, and i'm sure we'll be going back at similar hours. we seem to be the most nocturnal of the bunch.

today, freeman had a extravagent walking tour planned for us. we walked everywhere and saw everything, some up close and some in the distance -- the reichstag, the berliner dom, the holocaust memorial, museum island, the brandenburg gate, checkpoint charlie, the berlin wall and its line throughout berlin... there's so much history in, what i always thought seemed to be, such a small city. after walking through it for four and a half or five hours today, i have to admit that there's a lot more to it than i had imagined.




where the outer wall once stood.

everything was pretty quiet when we got back to the hotel. a lot of people took showers and naps, a lot of people dumped pictures... michelle, vince, kevin, lara, carolyn, and i went to get dinner at a vietnamese place just around the corner. the check ended up getting lost in translation, but it was a nice evening otherwise. plans to go to a strange, awesome russian disco bar fell through for for some of us, which is where kevin and kelly are out with lauren celebrating lauren's birthday. tomorrow, hopefully, i'll make contact with the person i found for my project. it's hard trying to stay focused when i want to do so many things at once.

i'm playing catch up and hoping this doesn't happen often.

yesterday was such a time warp. berlin is a very interesting place due to the fact that so many people speak english. it really didn't feel like i was in another place much at all until today. our rooms look like they're from some sort of ikea dollhouse. the room i'm in is shared by jennifer, jenna, emily, and michelle.



we pulled it together enough last night to make it to prater biergarten. i had a bowl of -- what was rumored to be -- carrot and ginger cream soup, some sundried tomato and olive pasta salad, and my very first glass of rot (red) berliner weiss.





afterward, we walked around prenzlauer berg and found a gelato shop. i think, by this point, most of the group would have happily slept on the street. jennifer fell asleep standing up at one point during the day -- true story. it was like the day that never ran out of hours. if i thought anyone would understand besides my mother, i would reference a certain episode of buffy the vampire slayer. the gelato was very good, though.

after my 10-or-so hours of sleep, the nuttella waffle and cucumbers i had for breakfast really rocked my world. the bike tour that was planned for today was cancelled due to unfortunate weather, but we annie leibovitz photography exhbit instead. i've always seen her covers, but i've never seen so much of her personal photography. it was gorgeous, and it was all arranged so perfectly; however, a lot of the group finished ahead of the others, and we waited outside for five, ten, twenty minutes... we got the go-ahead and direction to navigate our way to the next location, kurfurstendamm, on our own.



it's a strange feeling to think that you're so absolutely prepared for something and then you realize that you're not. i felt that when i went to put my fisheye on my nikon while taking pictures of the kaiser wilheilm church. i thought would be captivating with wide angle, but... why wasn't my lense screwing on? why aren't the threads matching up? i forgot my adapter, seriously? i help my lense up, and vince laughed at me as i used it without it even being attached. "yeah, that's what i would do."

we all ended up getting distracted and absorbed in the different events going on -- the food, the shopping, the street entertainment. lara and i bought a nutella (so much nutella!) and banana crepe after looking at postcards. i bought 10, which should be sufficient... forever. we found kevin, and we realized that we were the only ones left in the plaza. the three of us roamed to see the berlin sculpture, talked to some street musicians, tracked down and indulged in an irish pub, almost got trampled/eaten by rowdy fussball fans, and found our way back to the hotel. personally, i think we deserve navigation certifications.





it all sank in today: i am in germany. i love the style. i love that there isn't a style. everyone is just who they are, or so it seems. i ordered a coke in german today, seamlessly-ish. i think this will be alright, though i hope there aren't any more fussball games. i'll just scurry around the fighting and try to blend into the s-bahn poles. i seriously can't remember the last time my days have been completely full, morning to night. it's midnight and my stomach is growling. i wonder if the germans have a wok n' roll?

i'm in the berlin-tegel airport with michelle, jenna, and jennifer. we look like a laptop parade at gate a4. professor freeman will be arriving with amanda, allison, and katherine in about half an hour. conincidentally, michelle and i had seats in same row and became aquainted with each other when she recognized me on our flight to berlin. my sleeping positions got pretty creative near the end, and i hardly remember what happened in the tale of despereaux. all i want to do is go to the hotel, wash my face, and remember what it feels like to walk for more than three minutes at a time.

fortunately, the prater biergarten will be having some visitors tonight. anthony bourdain's berlin episode of no reservations really got me excited for all of the food in the city -- though, anthony bourdain owns a large portion of my heart. it's seemingly frigid outside, and i realize that i forgot an umbrella. i need an umbrella -- only another excuse to roam prenzlauer berg.