On Friday, after finishing up History of Medicine with Dr. Wasser and doing a quick Phys review with Alexa, myself and a few others left Bonn for Berlin. Our train was about 20 minutes late so we got McDonald's ice cream to treat ourselves before the long trek across Germany. Once on the train, we all quickly got settled in and got some studying done. None of us realized that the train was gonna be packed and some of us had to move during the ride because other people had reserved seats. How awkward am I right? Thankfully, we made it to Berlin in about 5 hours. Once there, we had to take 2 more short trains to our specific stop near our hostel, Frankfurter Allee. Once we disembarked, we were able to quickly find our hostel which was in such a lovely location. Once in our room, we quickly realized we would have to go downstairs for the bathrooms and showers but we didn't mind too much. After taking a quick breather, we decided to head out on the town for the night. We grabbed pizza near the hostel, which I enjoyed. But unfortunately some of my friends got this weird vegan pizza that they didn't like at all which was pretty funny. After feasting, we went to a nearby kiosk to get some goods for our pregame. After sitting in a park for about 30 minutes pregaming and just having a good time, we decided to find a club. Thankfully, we found one that wasn't too far away called the Matrix. The place was huge as it was built underneath one of Berlin's train stations. The cover charge was only 8 euro which wasn't too bad. Once inside, we quickly had fun on the dance floor. After a few hours of having fun, it was getting pretty late and Kate's foot had started to hurt pretty bad so we decided to head back to the hostel for the night. We all quickly showered before heading to bed and I was relieved to find out the showers were actually very clean.
The next morning, we all got up around 9 am. Surprisingly, I wasn't too tired from the night before so I was very ready to start our only full day in Berlin. After grabbing some breakfast at BackWerk, we got a train that took us all the way to Checkpoint Charlie. The checkpoint was smaller than I imagined it but it was pretty cool to see such an important place in German history. After taking some pictures we walked through Berlin to the Brandenburg Gate! This was easily one of the coolest sites we got to see in Berlin as it was just so immense and imposing. It was also pretty cramped with tourists so after taking some pictures we all bounced. We walked inside the Tiergarten a bit before making our way to the Reichstag, the house of the German Parliament. The building was massive and was definitely a highlight for sure. Afterwards, we strolled along a nearby canal before deciding to make our way to a tattoo parlor in the Southwest portion of town. Kate, Artavia, and Katie all had wanted to get tattoos since coming to Germany and they had found this place called the Schwartz Hand that was recommend to them by the security guard at the AIB. Now, I get very queasy when even thinking about getting a tattoo, so I was not completely thrilled to be there but I knew I needed to be a supportive friend. After talking over their tattoos with the artists, they all got ready to get them done. I was surprised to see how quickly the whole process took, as I was expecting to be there for hours. But all three of their tattoos only took about 15-20 minutes max. After getting all bandaged up and paying, we decided to get some gelato to celebrate. We found a nearby place that was packed so we knew it would be good, but all the gelato was hella expensive, so we decided to get popsicles instead which were divine. After finishing them, we went to the famous East Side Gallery, where a portion of the Berlin Wall still stands. I was surprised to see how much of the wall was still up, and the art that covered the walls was so cool to see in person. While there, I got some currywurst and pommes for lunch because I was starving. Afterwards, we had a dramatic photoshoot along the wall and some of the pictures we took were straight hysterical. After completing our shoot, we decided to make our way to Potsdamer Platz to find the Germany Spy Museum. The museum was very fun and interactive. My favorite part was the laser game that made you feel like you were attempting to rob a bank. It was very difficult, and I don't know how anyone could ever beat the hard version of the game. After playing around for about an hour inside the museum, it was getting to be dinner time, so we decided to find a place that was recommend to us by friends who had already been to Berlin. It took some time to find, but we finally made it. Inside, we had to take our shoes off to eat because the chairs for the tables was the ground and some pillows. The restaurant had Tajikistan food which was kind've odd, but the Russian Soljanka soup I had was pretty good. After dinner, it had gotten late so we tried to find a nearby outside cafe to sit at to finish off the night. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a decent spot so we decided to grab some wine at the kiosk and chill at the hostel for the night. This was definitely the right decision because we had a blast having a dance party back at the hostel. After messing around for quite a bit we were all exhausted so I quickly showered and decided to call it a night.
The next morning, the 5 of us split into two groups. Kate and Artavia went to the Berlin Zoo while Katie, Nicky, and myself made our way to the Tiergarten to try and ride some paddle boats on the lake. After finding the pier, we found out we couldn't ride the boats until 11 am which was too late for us. So we decided to just take some pics on the boats and mess around inside the park before we had to meet up with Kate and Artavia. After finding them at the rendezvous point, we looked through a flea market nearby before making our way to the Berlin central bus station where we would find our Flixbus that would take us back to Bonn. We had some struggles getting there, but we got there with enough time to get some takeaway pasta before getting on the bus. Now, this bus ride was going to be 9 hours long, so we were all kind've dreading it. Once on the bus, I thankfully took a 2 hour nap so a good portion of the ride had already flown by. After waking up, I decided to read through my Phys notes since we had our test the next day. After studying, I tried to take another nap but I didn't succeed. My legs were getting really cramped so I was relieved to find out we would be taking a break in a nearby town with a McDonalds. After eating some fries we all got back on the bus to finish out the ride. Thankfully, the last few hours didn't take long since we got back to Bonn about 20 minutes earlier than projected. After saying goodbye to my friends, I went back home and quickly hit the hay.
On Monday, I got up and went to school pretty early to have one final review for our test that day. I thought it helped somewhat, but after I finished my test, I realized I had made some stupid mistakes and I was pretty frustrated with myself. I didn't beat myself up about it so I just went back home and treated myself to some cookies and Netflix. Later today, I will be taking my Physiology final and I will be officially finished with school this semester! I can't believe this moment has already arrived and it is crazy how in one week from today I will be boarding my flight back to Texas. This experience has been amazing but man has it flown by. On next week's blog post, I'll talk about the final exam and our last adventures in Bonn before we fly back.
Until then,
Tschuss!
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