Got the Travel Bug!

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!