Ciao From Rome...

Week 7 and Berlin

School was school this week nothing to extraordinary happened.  We did have Stefania Barzini as a guest speaker again but this week she gave a lecture on all the food of the different regions.  Tons of info there but she is making us a note sheet which should be helpful.  She talked to us about restaurants in Rome again at the end of class.  I have been dying for some Thai food so I asked her if there were any good places in Rome.  She did not give a specific name but she said there was a good one in Monte Verde so I will have to go check that out.  For the weekend I left Thursday night for Berlin with Claire, Claire, Sarah, Beth, Christine, and April.  Beth, Christine, and I grabbed a slice of pizza after class before heading to Termini.  By the time we arrived there was already a huge line of people waiting to get on the bus to Campino and the one we needed was sold out.  Beth started freaking out a little but in the end everything was fine.  We found an American guy heading to the same airport and the four of us took a taxi there together and it ended up costing the same as the bus plus we arrived there before the bus.  I already had printed my boarding pass so I headed to the gate but April and Christine had to wait in line.  I was freaking out because I really thought the plane was going to take off without them because everyone was seated and they were closing the over head bins but they were the last ones to get on the plane.  Thank God!  On Thursday night we just found our way to the hostel, hung out there, and went to bed. 

We got up early on Friday and went to do the free walking tour.  The tour was really awesome.  I learned so much about Berlin that I did not know.  On the tour we were able to see Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, one of the three pieces of the Berlin Wall, the memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe, Mother with Dead Son statue,  and Fuhrerbunker (where Hitler married his wife and then shot himself).  Later that day we ventured to the Missing House and the East Side Gallery the longest of the 3 parts of the wall.  It has been painted by artists from all over the world.  At night the seven of us went out for dinner and then went to a German nightclub.

On Saturday we headed to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp outside of Berlin.  The camp had more of it still intact then I had expected and there was tons of information available.  Just walking around and seeing things like the barracks people had lived in, the entrance to the gas chamber, a ditch where executions were carried out, and where autopsies and experiments had been performed on people was very eerie and it gave me the chills.  It made me feel sick to hear some of the stories and to seeing the Nazi propaganda and how they justified their actions and lied about them deeply disturbed me.  While walking around I couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to be in living under those circumstances and I kept having flashes of clips from movies I had seen on concentration camps. It is very hard to fathom humans committing such atrocities against one another especially when considering it was not that long ago.  Overall, the experience was educational and extremely moving for me.  After we returned to the center of Berlin I headed with some of the girls to the Reichstag building, Berlin’s Parliament building.  We waited in line to go up to the top where there is a huge dome with a spiraling ramp to the top that overlooks Berlin.  It was pretty sweet.

On Sunday, we started the day by heading to the last of the 3 pieces of the Berlin Wall.  This piece is the only part remaining with both sides of the wall intact so you can see the “death strip.”  It was eerie to think about all the people who lost their lives trying to escape to the other side.  Next, we went to the Jewish Museum which had a lot of information on Jewish traditions and the Holocaust.  Then some of us walked through the Tiergarten and then took a train to the Olympic Stadium.  Throughout the day we saw churches throughout the city and we saw one church that was bombed during WW II.  On the way home we went to a café and had apple strudel and then we went to a bratwurst stand called Kudamm.  There I order a currywurst, despite not being too fond of curry, because it is unique to Berlin.  It was actually pretty delicious and I loved it!!!

We all spent Sunday night at the airport which was just ever so cozy.  Then when we woke up we learned that our flight had been delayed due to a missing pilot.  Honestly though what kind of a reason is that?  We are missing a pilot how does that even happen? After a 5 hour delay, we finally got back to Rome and made it to school in time for Food and Media.  That class was pretty cool.  We visited a trattoria, wine/cheese bar and a beer restaurant.  The places all seemed very interesting and unique and I can’t wait to go back there outside of class to give them a try.  When I finally got home on Monday I just went in my room and crashed because I just felt exhausted.  Overall, I liked Berlin a lot it was definitely my favorite trip I have taken so far and I would love to go back there someday!