Week 1
How time flies. Since they first day I got here, it has been a week already. The first two days I had a German speaker friend showing me around in Frankfurt so it has not been too hard for me to adjust into the German culture. It has been so tiring for me as well from all the packing and unpacking during the last week in Seattle. I got there on Sunday; my first impression was not a soul. All the shops and stores are closed; there were a few people having coffee or drinks in the restaurants. The next day streets got much more crowded. Frankfurt had a very strong business atmosphere, from just looking at the downtown; almost all the men I saw wore suits. After work, the coffee shop, ice-cream shops, beer bar got crowded. “Frankfurt am main” is the famous quote to describe Frankfurt, and it is indeed like that. Walking along the river Main and walked on the iron bridge. Frankfurt got the perfect combination of ancient German style buildings and modern skyscrapers; leisure culture and business.
On the 16th, we took a train from Frankfurt to Berlin for 5 hours. The train experience was unique as well. Unlike in US, many people chose to take the train for both business and vocation travel. The train ticket was relatively expensive, more than €100 for this trip. There were couple quiet rooms available and you can get a great rest in there, which was very considerate. We got to the hostile around 7pm, and there was no elevator inside the hostile. Dragging two large suitcases about 100lb were really miserable. I was also surprised about the bathroom only have 2 showers, 2 toilets and 2 sinks per floor. However, I was only surprised but not bothered by it because of all the new things are happening in Berlin every second, I just can’t wait to explore.
On the 17th, waking up at 7 am and have breakfast for me was like miracle. We looked around in the city around Humboldt University. Feeling like it’s a totally different college life, I really don’t have a preference but think they are all interesting. What interested me the most is the monument in front of the law building. Decades ago, Hitler burned 2000+ books, now, we have artist built a huge empty shelf room underground to remind us this history. After visiting and had lunch in the university, we went to look around in the alexander Platz for shopping. Later night, we went to a bar to enjoy some German beer and their alcohol chilling life.
On the 18th, we walked around in the neighborhood. Finally got to the site of the old Berlin Wall. Now, the cars are cars so easily driving through without stop, comparing to decades ago, people need passport and certifications to get through. There are so many interesting beach bars and parks. There are just so many histories behind everywhere. The soviet monument didn’t interest me that much, but I found Germany is so much like Russia or soviet in many perspectives.
On the 19th, we visited a newly reformed school, and I went to a 7/8 math class. Kids were quite friendly towards us. The school itself was not like Gymnasium or technical school. Kids have more time to secede what they want like American high school. Because I already heard of it in m German language class, I was not super interested in its system. What interested me was the lunch, since it was Friday, the school served fish and student needed to prepare the table, serve the food and cleaning up. I think this way can teach the kids responsibilities, unlike us in high school, we bought lunch and people were wasting food and the tables were always in a mess. When I grew up and looking back on what teachers has done on us, I really felt it was uneasy and great, they just teach the kids many great treats in every way in their life. This school is especially more like teach the students how to be a great person instead of just knowledge.
On the 20th, we went to lesbian – gay national festival. Although we didn’t catch up the parade but it was still fun to see cute homosexual couples dressing up and some interesting shops. On top of that, the berlin weather was also a surprise for me. It rained on and off all day. It got really freezing when it was raining and super nice when the sun came out. You never know what today’s weather is going to look like. In this aspect, it is like Seattle. In the afternoon, we went for shopping. Things compared in US, was so much cheaper, I wondered how much tariff they charged on the products.