Hallo Alle!
So just wanted to say... I want to live in Berlin. It's SUCH AN AWESOME CITY!! When I was there 4 years ago, I had the exact same feeling about it that I got just being there last weekend again. It is such an awesome city. Really. The vibe there is like no other city that I've been in. It's got the exciting, big-city feel, but is still cool and relaxed. But despite being cool and relaxed, everything is on time. Transportation is a science, and I love it.
We (James, Christian and I) got there super late on Wednesday night, and of course had to go for a late-night donair. Usually this is a bad idea, and that night was no different, but those donairs just taste soooo good at 3:00 in the morning. You can't help it. It's like the scents from the dingy little stores find you and call you, and you can't resist. At any rate, after our little snack, we headed over to our hostel, which was probably the classiest hostel I'd ever seen.
The rest of the trip was basically spent walking around and seeing the sights. One thing I absolutely love about Berlin is it's rich history. I'm already huge into German history, and seeing the things that I'd learned about in school was just such a treat. I saw the Reichstag for the first time, and it actually really hit me; this is where all that stuff that I learned about actually happened. THIS is the place!! It really was pretty incredible.
And of course we got a good dose of food and shopping in. There were so many awesome markets everywhere, and one, which was on Museums Insel (Island of Museums), was filled with local art. It was so cool! We also went and checked out the KaDeWe... holy cow. Now THAT is a department store. Best part of that day; drinking wine out of McDonalds cups and eating marzipan in the park. But I spilled wine on my mint-green jeans. Not. cool. Maybe just needs a bit of Oxi-clean lol. I had some pretty awesome food while in Berlin. Obviously I got a jelly donut, a good dose of spetzle, beef and beer at a local brewery, crocodile (SO GOOD!!) and my favorite treat... THE MOST AMAZING CUPCAKE OF MY LIFE. HOLY. COW. It had blue sugar icing with a chocolate on top, and the cake was the most moist vanilla cake I've ever had, and just when I thought I'd had the best of it, the cupcake ALSO HAD MANGO-CUSTARD FILLING. wwwhhaaaaaatttt I was so stoked on that cupcake. It was amazing.
We also got to see the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra place Valkerie by Wagner. So incredible. The best part was that because we bought our tickets the day before, the only tickets that were available were these seats that they save that are only 16Euros, but they're benches that are basically on the stage, right behind the percussion section. Literally, we were on the stage. The stage lights were on us. It was so funny! If the percussionist had had a heart attack or something, I easily could've stepped in a filled in for him. I secretly really wanted this to happen, but for his sake I'm glad it didn't...
So ya all in all, it was an awesome time. We left at about 12:30am Sunday night (Monday morning I guess) and took the train ALL night. We didn't get back to Freiburg until 9:00am on Monday morning, which was really funny because we have Berklee Meetings at 9:30am on Monday morning, so we just got some breakfast and went to the meeting, luggage and all. It was pretty hardcore.
Well that's Berlin!! So far, my favorite city. Tomorrow: CROATIA!!!
Tshüß alle, Herzliche Grüßen :) Bis später!
<3 hannah ;)
ps. pictures coming soon!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Just A Little Update!!
Hallo Alle!!
WOW May's just been FLYING by, I can't believe that our second break is coming up so soon!
I finished all the shows with the Bamboo-Flutist yesterday, and it seemed like all the shows went pretty well! We got lots of good feedback, a lot of people who really enjoyed seeing something a little bit different, so that was really cool. I'm glad the shows went well, but I think we're all happy that they're over; it was pretty stressful for everyone involved.
Now that the shows are over, the time for TRAVELING has begun! This weekend I've planned a trip to Berlin for 4 days with my other collegues James and Christian. Should be a pretty fun time; I'm really excited to visit Berlin again, because the first time I went, I absolutely fell in love with the city. So that'll be pretty excellent. I'll be coming back on Sunday, will have a short week of classes and then the next Friday I'll be on my way to Croatia for an 8 day cruise!! I can't remember if I mentioned it in one of my other posts... needless to say, I'm VERY excited about that. Spending time soaking up the sun rays, seeing the sights, eating delicious food, and just relaxing. It'll be so much fun. I've also heard that Croatia is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL country, so that makes me even MORE excited!! And I don't know anything at all about Croatia, so it'll be awesome to experience a completely new place. I can't wait!!
Classes have been going well. Today was my last German Art History class; we'll be having our final next week. I'm a little bit nervous, but I think with a little bit of reviewing it should go fine. Harmony class continues to be pretty awesome, it actually really is! My teacher, Tom Timmler, is absolutely awesome. I got to class yesterday, and he had brought fresh pretzles for us! So we enjoyed munching on those and just chatting about this and that, and then he says, "Espresso?" Sure!! So we got to have an espresso as well, which is actually pretty common... he makes us espressos quite often :). And I actually really feel like I'm getting a lot out of that class, like I'm understanding the concepts pretty well and I know what I need to do to continue to get better at them. So basically, class with Tom Timmler is the best.
My German's also really been improving!! I can pretty much hold any kind of conversation all in German now. Sometimes I forget words or I don't know exactly how to word what I want to say, but for the most part if there's any doubt I can hack my way through some sentence and people generally know what I'm saying. Now the hardest thing for me is keeping up with conversations that Germans have between each other, as well as getting all the grammar right. I pick up lots of stuff but I also miss a lot. It just takes listening, figuring out what's a figure of speech, what's a dialectal word, etc. But all in all, German's becoming pretty familiar to me, and that's pretty dope I think :).
Well that's it for now. Expect another post with pictures after BERLIN!!!! :D!!!
Bis Bald,
<3 hannah ;)
WOW May's just been FLYING by, I can't believe that our second break is coming up so soon!
I finished all the shows with the Bamboo-Flutist yesterday, and it seemed like all the shows went pretty well! We got lots of good feedback, a lot of people who really enjoyed seeing something a little bit different, so that was really cool. I'm glad the shows went well, but I think we're all happy that they're over; it was pretty stressful for everyone involved.
Now that the shows are over, the time for TRAVELING has begun! This weekend I've planned a trip to Berlin for 4 days with my other collegues James and Christian. Should be a pretty fun time; I'm really excited to visit Berlin again, because the first time I went, I absolutely fell in love with the city. So that'll be pretty excellent. I'll be coming back on Sunday, will have a short week of classes and then the next Friday I'll be on my way to Croatia for an 8 day cruise!! I can't remember if I mentioned it in one of my other posts... needless to say, I'm VERY excited about that. Spending time soaking up the sun rays, seeing the sights, eating delicious food, and just relaxing. It'll be so much fun. I've also heard that Croatia is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL country, so that makes me even MORE excited!! And I don't know anything at all about Croatia, so it'll be awesome to experience a completely new place. I can't wait!!
Classes have been going well. Today was my last German Art History class; we'll be having our final next week. I'm a little bit nervous, but I think with a little bit of reviewing it should go fine. Harmony class continues to be pretty awesome, it actually really is! My teacher, Tom Timmler, is absolutely awesome. I got to class yesterday, and he had brought fresh pretzles for us! So we enjoyed munching on those and just chatting about this and that, and then he says, "Espresso?" Sure!! So we got to have an espresso as well, which is actually pretty common... he makes us espressos quite often :). And I actually really feel like I'm getting a lot out of that class, like I'm understanding the concepts pretty well and I know what I need to do to continue to get better at them. So basically, class with Tom Timmler is the best.
My German's also really been improving!! I can pretty much hold any kind of conversation all in German now. Sometimes I forget words or I don't know exactly how to word what I want to say, but for the most part if there's any doubt I can hack my way through some sentence and people generally know what I'm saying. Now the hardest thing for me is keeping up with conversations that Germans have between each other, as well as getting all the grammar right. I pick up lots of stuff but I also miss a lot. It just takes listening, figuring out what's a figure of speech, what's a dialectal word, etc. But all in all, German's becoming pretty familiar to me, and that's pretty dope I think :).
Well that's it for now. Expect another post with pictures after BERLIN!!!! :D!!!
Bis Bald,
<3 hannah ;)
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Shows Shows SHOWS!!
Hallo Alle!!
So I know it's been a little while since I last posted, and I do apologize. These past few weeks have been absolutely CRAZY for me!! Shows, shows and MORE shows!! It's been stressful, but after the performance is over, I always feel like all the stress was worth it :)
My first gig this week was for Tanz in den Mai, which I wrote a little bit about in my last post. The show was REALLY an awesome time. We played 6 songs in total, ending with Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, which was probably the song that was the most fun. We made it more of a rock version than pop, and I had a great time rocking out. The crowd was awesome too, they were getting really into it and just having a good time, which made the show all the better! There's a video on YouTube of our version of Crazy, so just follow the link BELOW!!
Berklee Study Abroad plays Crazy by Gnarls Barkley at JazzHaus, Freiburg
My last few gigs have been with my friend Jason who plays the Bamboo Flute. They've been interesting, some good parts and some not so good parts, but all in all it's been a good experience. Jason is an AMAZINGLY talented player, and his passion for music really is inspiring. I've also been having fun especially with one of the songs, because I get an open solo. At first during rehearsals, I was getting really nervous and thinking, oh man, this is an open solo in an Afro-Cuban sort of feel, definitely NOT my forte as a drummer. But then when then in the actual show, I realized, hey! I have the freedom to play literally whatever I want to play! I'm just going to have fun! And so that's what I've been doing, and so far I've been pretty happy with my solos! It's also been really fun to play and interact with the other musicians in that song; it's a great experience. Who knew jazz could really be so much fun! We've got one more show on the 14th of May, so hopefully it goes well!
Besides the shows, school has been plugging along as normal. One thing that's really struck me is that I really don't have very much time left here, and it's making me kindof sad! I feel like I'm just starting to really get the hang of living here, getting to know people better and hanging out, and it'll be really sad when it's time to go :( BUT that time hasn't come yet, I've still got lots of fun things coming up. INCLUDING a trip that I've just planned for myself; a cruise in the Croatian Islands! I decided to book a tour with a company called Contiki that do tours especially for 18 - 35 year olds. I think it'll be a really fun and relaxing time, getting to know people and spending lots of time in the sunshine :) I'm really looking forward to that.
Well that's all for now. As my friend Achi aus die Schweiz would say... Ciao Ciao!!
<3 hannah ;)
So I know it's been a little while since I last posted, and I do apologize. These past few weeks have been absolutely CRAZY for me!! Shows, shows and MORE shows!! It's been stressful, but after the performance is over, I always feel like all the stress was worth it :)
My first gig this week was for Tanz in den Mai, which I wrote a little bit about in my last post. The show was REALLY an awesome time. We played 6 songs in total, ending with Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, which was probably the song that was the most fun. We made it more of a rock version than pop, and I had a great time rocking out. The crowd was awesome too, they were getting really into it and just having a good time, which made the show all the better! There's a video on YouTube of our version of Crazy, so just follow the link BELOW!!
Berklee Study Abroad plays Crazy by Gnarls Barkley at JazzHaus, Freiburg
 | ||
| The Tanz in den Mai Performing Gang!! From Left to Right: Christian, Achi, ME, Rob, James, Jan, Bruno, Tasha |
 |
| Too Metal for words. |
My last few gigs have been with my friend Jason who plays the Bamboo Flute. They've been interesting, some good parts and some not so good parts, but all in all it's been a good experience. Jason is an AMAZINGLY talented player, and his passion for music really is inspiring. I've also been having fun especially with one of the songs, because I get an open solo. At first during rehearsals, I was getting really nervous and thinking, oh man, this is an open solo in an Afro-Cuban sort of feel, definitely NOT my forte as a drummer. But then when then in the actual show, I realized, hey! I have the freedom to play literally whatever I want to play! I'm just going to have fun! And so that's what I've been doing, and so far I've been pretty happy with my solos! It's also been really fun to play and interact with the other musicians in that song; it's a great experience. Who knew jazz could really be so much fun! We've got one more show on the 14th of May, so hopefully it goes well!
Besides the shows, school has been plugging along as normal. One thing that's really struck me is that I really don't have very much time left here, and it's making me kindof sad! I feel like I'm just starting to really get the hang of living here, getting to know people better and hanging out, and it'll be really sad when it's time to go :( BUT that time hasn't come yet, I've still got lots of fun things coming up. INCLUDING a trip that I've just planned for myself; a cruise in the Croatian Islands! I decided to book a tour with a company called Contiki that do tours especially for 18 - 35 year olds. I think it'll be a really fun and relaxing time, getting to know people and spending lots of time in the sunshine :) I'm really looking forward to that.
Well that's all for now. As my friend Achi aus die Schweiz would say... Ciao Ciao!!
<3 hannah ;)
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