Thank you all for following along as I blog about my year abroad. I will not be able to blog every day, but when I am able to post, I hope that you all enjoy! I know that it makes it easier for me just knowing that my family and friends are reading at home and supporting me even when I'm away!!
So me and Hannah have this game
going. More me than anyone, I suppose. Hannah takes pictures, and I
photo-bomb them. Photo-bombing is where you ruin someone's picture by
jumping in front of their camera. I don't like to think of it as
"ruining" the picture though... I like to think that I am adding beauty
to what was otherwise just a normal picture! So here are my
photo-bombing exploits of the past year.
I am quite proud of all these!
Vienna.
"Emily photobombs my picture.
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, I suspect." -Hannah
To which I say, "You would be correct Ma'am".
At the Schoko-Markt.
I almost didn't make this one in Paris.
I got it the second time around!
What a beautiful head.
Bombing at the Eiffel Tower!
At Wine Tasting.
Who couldn't love that face.
Finally, at Berlin.
I had to work for this one!
As I look back, I feel that my year here in Europe was fulfilling. Look at all these photos that have been improved merely by my presence. You're welcome Hannah! :)
With my second to last weekend, and as my last hurrah, I went with Hannah to Berlin!
As a student studying abroad in Germany for a year, how could I not see Berlin? So I finally made it!
I left late on Friday night, as my plane left Stuttgart really early on Saturday morning, and there was no way for me to get there so early without dishing out the money (which I don't have) to take a taxi. On the way to the airport on the trains, I was surrounded once more with drunken people. Always drunken people. You know, you're not really helping the German stereotype of beer lovin' people there... During the course of the night, I got to see at least two people who had just turned seventeen (the drinking age in Germany) and also their entire group completely drunk. They would sing songs that made no sense, and scream really loud. All the while, I was trying to sleep while also not missing my stops. After a while, the drunken people got off, and I made it to the airport.
I had about five or six hours in the airport, during which I found a bench and decided to sleep. While I was sleeping very uncomfortably across three out of four chairs of the bench, a woman came up and told me to move my bag that I had my head on so that she could sit in the fourth seat. So I did. Then I went back to sleep. She woke me up twice to yell at me because my bag was touching her, or because my bag had crossed over the threshold from my seat to hers. Eventually I gave up on sleeping, because it seemed like any time I got to sleep this lady woke me up to yell at me for something. When I sat up and gave up on sleeping, the lady stretched out along the two chairs that I had just freed up, and went to sleep. At this point, I was just like, so she just wanted me to move so that she could sleep. She could have just said something, instead of yelling at me. Although, I'm pretty tall, so it's not like I could've slept on only two of the chairs so that she could have had the other two.Ugh.
Eventually my plane came, and after two very sleepy flights and a transfer at Frankfurt, I found myself in Berlin.
We dropped our stuff off at our hostel, although we couldn't check in until later. From there, we caught a tram into the city!
When we got off the tram, we found this store. Nice name. Right next door was a store of just footy pajamas for adults.
The famous Ampelman!
Here we have a church with the Fernsehturm in the background! (TV Tower).
More lovely sights!
I'm always a fan of fountains that have spitting animals. Although my favorite was when they were cute little forest creatures.
It was really sunny, but pretty chilly out the first day!
I loved this! This little boy was trying to control the water fountains! WATER BENDING! Sorry for my nerdiness! But I thought of Matt when I saw this! So I took a picture! And his identity remains safe, as his face is covered!
The Berliner Dom.
This building was gorgeous!
After we walked around a bit, we went to meet our free walking tour at the Brandenburger Tor.
Oh, hey there Brandenburger Tor.
For the tourist who does not want to slow down while drinking... they have this convenient bike that allows you to drink at a table while you pedal. Seems smart right?
This made me feel sick just looking at it. No drinks, but I felt so bad for the person who had to go backwards on that thing.
A memorial for the murdered Jews from the Holocaust.
The American flag was at half mass because of the shooting at the movie theater.
This building, according to our tour guide, used to be a Nazi building, then was taken over by the Soviets. Now it is a German tax building. Haha. Irony.
What's left of the wall.
Around Checkpoint Charlie, they have bits of the wall up for display. I thought this one was really sad.
Oh Germans. What are we going to do with all your puns.
A plaque in honor of the wall.
There's the super tourist-y Checkpoint Charlie, that actually is not anything remotely similar to what it used to look like.
A University building.
More buildings of the Uni.
The Berliner Dom again.
This was on Museum Island. What a magical place.
After the tour, we went to the DDR, or GDR, Museum.
Driving a Soviet car.
In the museum, they had so much on life as a "true Soviet". So, comrade, whenever you're wondering if sports are important...
Creepy Soviet gnome. Does the fact that it's a Soviet gnome make it even scarier than a regular one?
Here's Hannah being interrogated by the Stasi. She actually had to put down her elbows on these pads, which then sent up the vibrations of someone talking up to your ears so that you could get information about what this room was about.
This was great. "They probably sacrificed themselves for their Socialist homeland". Great!
Here's little ole' creepy me, in prison.
Hannah driving her own Soviet car.
Road rage? Surprise? Disgust? Not sure.
Here I am, irritated because my comrades won't get out of my way.
The next day, we went back to the Brandenburger Tor to take some more pictures.
For some reason, Hannah took a picture of my feet. I decided to keep it.
I'm not sure why anyone would want their picture taken with a bear that yells at people walking by (he was in a fight with some guy right before I snapped this. I also don't understand what Darth Vader, and obviously non-American American soldiers were doing there. But they were all there. Look at those soulless eyes.
We got to walk through.
On the other side, the Reichstag!
A cute little Wurst stand.
After the Reichstag, we went to the Pergamon museum.
Inside, it was really hot. They had whole sections of buildings, altars, and gates.
From here, I doubt I can regale you on what each picture is, so I will just let you enjoy the art as I did... meaning that you will enjoy it perhaps not understanding it... which is how I enjoyed it.
Hannah really liked the museum.
I'm going to give you the Wikipedia definition of the Ishtar Gate: "The Ishtar Gate (Arabic: بوابة عشتار) was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city." It was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the world for a while. Then it was replaced by a lighthouse.
Outside the museum. I had to give this guy credit. Most people just sit there and don't do anything. This guy, was playing the wine glasses.
Although he was no Sandra Bullock, he did pretty well.
The museum was the last real event that we did in Berlin. Hannah had an early flight in the morning, because she had a final Monday morning. I had one on Monday in the evening.
It was a good weekend. I feel like I should have maybe had more time there to really experience Berlin. But it was nice to get a taste.
