Berlin was fantastic! IAMX was awesome, I had a great time hanging out with Eric and his friends, and the food was amazing! Getting there proved to be a bit of a challenge, but it was totally worth it.
Somehow I had gotten it into my head that my flight was at 9:00, but I realized once I got to the airport that my flight was actually at 6:15. When I went to check in, the woman at the counter gave me a confused look and told me that my flight had left an hour ago. After freaking out for a few minutes, I shelled out more money than I care to admit for the next flight to Berlin that day. Though I managed to make it work, there was much facepalming.
I had to transfer in Amsterdam, which would have been cool if I'd had more than 15 minutes between my flights. Sadly, my only experience of Amsterdam was running through the airport to another terminal, but I made my flight, and I at least got a stamp on my passport.
Eric met me at the airport, and we took the U-Bahn back to his place. After having a little snack, we took the U-Bahn over to his university, and I wandered around the area taking pictures while Eric was in class.
Humboldt University, where Eric studies
Mercedes-Benz restaurant
After Eric got out of class, we went to the Ritter Sport store, where you can actually get your own custom-made Ritter Sport with all kinds of crazy stuff. The line was pretty long though, so I just got a little miniature assortment.
This is only one small corner of the store
After that, we went to Mustafa's, a renowned doner kebab stand. Even though it was raining, the line was huge, but Eric assured me that it was totally worth it, and it absolutely was. Apparently this place wins all kinds of awards every year, and is featured in most guidebooks you'll find, and rightly so. This doner kebab was one of the best things I have ever eaten. I don't even know how to describe it. SO GOOD.
We picked up a couple beers and ate on the way back, so I could get changed before the show. Eric wasn't going to the concert, but the venue was just around the corner from a bar he wanted to go to, so after helping me find the place, he met up with some friends at said bar.
The show, of course, was awesome. The place was significantly bigger than wherever it was that I saw them in SF, and it was PACKED, but I still had a lot of fun. They did a German version of one of their songs, which was neat! Chris Corner is such a massive charismatic presence that I often forget that he's also quite tiny and cute. During "President" (one of my favorites), he sort of conducted the audience with his drumsticks and had us all swaying in unison. Good times! I bought a poster afterward, but unfortunately I accidentally left it in the border control area when I was filling out one of those landing cards last night, and they wouldn't let me go back and get it. I even called Lost Property at the airport today, but sadly it hasn't turned up. I might try again tomorrow, but I doubt I'll have any more success.
The next day, Eric showed me around Kreuzberg, home to the Berlin punk scene in the 1970s.
SO36, a famous club where David Bowie and Iggy Pop frequently played back in the day
A traditional German snack of Weißwurst (white sausage), a pretzel, and sweet mustard
Tasty!
That evening, Eric's friend was hosting an "ABC" party--that is, a party where you wear "Anything But Clothes"--so Eric and I picked up some supplies and headed back to his place to work on our outfits.
I rode the U-Bahn wearing this
Pippo didn't come to the party but he still got a little outfit
Eric won the costume contest
We did some more sightseeing the next day, though we had a little adventure first. When we got to the U-Bahn station, I needed to buy another day pass, but the guy in front of me was taking forever, and our train was approaching. You can get on the trains without a ticket, but you run the risk of being "controlled"--that is, when the "Controllers" randomly get on the train and check everyone's tickets. This is done pretty regularly, and unlike in San Diego, these people check everyone's tickets--not just one or two people who look like they might not have paid. The probability that the Controllers won't get on your train is pretty good, but the 40 euro fine generally serves as a deterrent.
Anyway, since there was no way for me to get a ticket in time to get on our train, we decided to just take the risk, and what do you know--the Controllers get on our train. I played the dumb American, and pulled out my expired ticket from the day before. "Dumb American" really wasn't a difficult role to play, since the Controler was only speaking German and I couldn't understand a word that was being said. However, after Eric explained the situation (or some version of it) of him, he was nice enough to not charge me the 40 euros, and instead give Eric the 7-euro fine for forgetting your student pass but still being able to prove that you're a student, which was the best possible outcome of this situation. As Eric pointed out, the Controllers really are human.
After that, I bought my ticket and made sure not to lose it, and Eric showed me around more of Berlin.
Beer bike
Ampelmann in action
Gas lamp museum. They have all kinda of gas lamps from all over the place.
This place is historically or culturally significant for some reason, but I can't remember what
After having some dinner with Eric and his roommate Jenny (pronounced Yenny), Eric took me to the train station where we got some coffee, and then I was off to the airport.
Walking back to my flat from the bus stop last night, I realized two things: 1) It's kinda nice being able to hide behind the language barrier sometimes, especially when drunk people approach you on the street; and 2) British food isn't bad in the sense that you eat it and go "Wow, this is unpleasant!", but there is a certain something that it lacks, that you don't notice until you go to another country where the food is exciting and delicious. I am now determined to find a Turkish bakery in Edinburgh. I'm not going to bother with doner kebabs here, because I know they won't even compare to Mustafa's.
Another thing that I've noticed since I've been in Europe, but I noticed especially in Berlin, is that people are treated like adults at a much younger age than in America. I'm constantly surprised to find that people I meet are my age or younger, when I assume that they must be older because they seem like real adults. I think German children's stories might have something to do with it.
I'm sure I'll think of more to say about my trip later, but for now, here are some more miscellaneous pictures:
