Wednesday, June 12, 2013

getting around

Good Morning! (I have decided that it is still fully acceptable to call it "morning" until about 6pm Berlin local time.)

Have you ever had dreams that were so vivid that you remembered them for the entire day? Maybe even weeks or months later?
Last night, I dreamt that I was best friends with Jessica Biel. Yes. Believe it. I don't think I can name one movie she was in.
It gets even better: In my dream, poor Jessica had terrible acne (?!) and nobody wanted to be friends with her (that's where I came in!). We bonded over her running playlist, because it was totally awesome and I had her burn it to a CD for me.

Absolutely ridiculous!!! Who still burns CDs??!
(Ok, I still do that.)

Source
So Jessica, just give me a shout about going on a run together tomorrow morning and now that we are BFFs, you have to share your personal trainer with me.

In all seriousness - wtf brain?! I have no idea where this is coming from.

After getting this off my chest, I have especially exciting news for you!
Tomorrow, I am going to go to the admissions office ("ImmatrikulationsbĂĽro") and get my student ID/ train pass. I know! It will be spectacular!

Trust me when I tell you that it has been a hassle to get all the paperwork done, but I am finally ready to go to the copy shop down at the corner in a few minutes, make all the copies and print outs, and then go to wait in line for 5 hrs in the morning and receive the desired object.

As many of you may have suspected, we are living in public-transportation-heaven now.
Here is a picture of the Berlin subway system:

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It's wonderful. To say the least.
Nick and I really love to explore the city via train. It takes you everywhere you want to go and we haven't missed our car for one minute (yet).
The daily pass is quite pricey, since it adds up quickly, but if you bite the bullet and pay for a yearly pass at once, it is really not bad at all (it would take about 100 days worth of riding the train to meet the price of a 365 day pass). Luckily, my university gives a discount, so we only have to pay the full price for one of us. Going to school is finally paying off!

I am not even kidding you when I say that the trains have little TV screens on the ceiling where they show news all day long and, of course, soccer scores. It is the fanciest thing you will ever see.

We took Lucy on the train once so far and it was an experience for everyone involved. She may never forgive us for putting her life on a line like that.

On days like today, when it's gorgeous outside, we don't take the train, but ride our bikes!
I know, I was surprised as well that I was still able to ride without just falling over to the side.

This is us when getting our shiny new used rides!


I know what you are thinking: that basket is perfect for that purse! My main reason to get it.

Our favorite thing to do now is to ride the bikes at night. It's so nice and cool out - and quiet!!
Since there is always something going on in Berlin, many roads are closed on the weekends for festivals, races, protests etc.
Last time we were out on our bikes, I took this awesome picture:



Obviously, taking a picture with my phone without dropping it while keeping the balance on a bike is one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Nick and I were on the big boulevard from the Brandenburg Gate to the "Siegessäule", which they had blocked off, and we could ride in the middle of the street. As police saw us coming, they moved the gates for us to let us through. We felt so special that we could barely handle it.

Baltimore, we expect nothing less when we get back! Ha!

How do you get around? Do you have a car, ride the train, take the bike?

Have you ever woken up in the morning, wondering about a particularly weird dream?

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