I'm Here!!

Hello All! I made it safe and sound to Berlin. I'll try to put the events leading up to arriving in order but don't hold it against me if they're not. So here we go:

I prepared for this trip for at least a month before leaving. It was ROUGH! Well...kind of rough. Lots of emails, shopping trips, and other preparatory things (basically boring stuff). After the buckets of tears shed (I'm talking about you Dad) I was off. Going through the airport was fine but got a little cold during the strip search (just kidding). The flight to Philadelphia was good. Sat next a nice guy (Hi Kai!!) and left 30 minutes later than was scheduled. This resulted in me having to use my fast-paced walking skills to get to the next gate for my flight to Frankfurt. I made it just in time and got to enjoy all the free movies and complimentary meals. Only slept for about 15 minutes but the guy next to me was insisting on me sleeping on his shoulder. I told him thanks, but no thanks. On arrival in Frankfurt, I found out that I was going to be on a plane with about 20 French middle schoolers. This made me a little nervous since at the gate they were pretty loud and rambunctious. But once on the flight I was perfectly distracted by the awkward public display of affection from the couple next to me. At least I got a free candy bar out of it.

Finally, made it to Berlin. Took a taxi from the airport to the apartment that I will be staying at for the two weeks that I'll be here. Here are a couple of pictures:

I know, I know. I took the picture of my room this morning so my suitcase is open and my stuff is already all over the place. My host's name is Simone and 20 minutes after she greeted me, she had to leave for 3 days to go and visit her parents. I'm here on my own for the next couple of days so I'm going to get the feel of the land. Yesterday I didn't really unpack or anything because I almost had a mini-tantrum since by electricity adapter/converter didn't work on my laptop charger. So I made a trip to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. IT WAS AWESOME!!!

It is the main railway station in Berlin and is filled with cool food places, shops, and is just a cool building overall. I did get my adapter and had a nice dinner there. The walk there was about 30 minutes and I got to see a little of the city. After I got back from my excursion I got in my pajamas, turned on Friday Night Lights and passed out!

So today I'm just been catching up on some stuff and now I'm going to see where my language school is at. I'm still a little tired even after getting about 12 hours of sleep but everything is going good so far. The people that I have encountered here for the most part speak English which is awesome. I was worried that the first few days here I would feel stranded since I don't speak the language and Simone is gone. But I've got my maps and I'm ready to do more exploring!!

Keep it green!
Brianne