Wilkommen!

Dear reader(s),

I have finally managed to get my hotel internet to work. At least for now. So, as promised, a real post.

Yesterday's travel was...well, typical travel. I think I can just sum it up by saying that I hate Newark airport. And also the overseas flight was long and made my butt hurt. But they did have little touch screens in the back of all the chairs that you could watch movies on - that was pretty cool. Also it would show you a map of your flight path and where the plane was, which I thought was exciting.

Anyway I eventually got to Berlin, through passport check and customs, and to my hotel. Myself and two of my classmates arrived earlier than almost everyone else so we decided to explore the neighborhood a bit. Some of the best things we found:

1) A German playground. Some of the many awesome things in this playground include ping pong tables and a little soccer court that looked kind of like a tennis court, only smaller and with little metal goals. I also discovered how brilliant Germans are. When I was a kid, I remember always sort of wishing the tire swings on the playground didn't have that big hole in the middle for me to fall through. Well...you guessed it, the Germans just board them up so you can sit in the middle and just enjoy the ride. Of course I had to test the swing out, which got me some weird looks from the German family nearby, but it was so worth it.

2) Among the cute stores and restaurants we found a Shell station. Curious as to what a German gas station would look like, we decided to go in. First of all, they had five different types of fuel, not three, and one of them for some reason is racing fuel. Apparently Berliners like to drive super fast. When we went inside and looked around, we discovered that not only did they sell beer and wine and liquor in the gas station, they had the Best Thing in a Can Ever. They actually sell cans of pre-mixed drinks; mostly rum and Coke but also a couple cans of Jack Daniels and Coke as well. It's just like a regular soda can, but with alcohol in it. Needless to say, I intend to purchase (and consume) at least one of these in the future, so I will post pictures of it. Apparently it's pretty popular because we found it in another store as well.

3) German grocery store down the block had many of flavors Ritter Sport, my favorite German chocolate bar for less than a euro. WIN.

I would post some pictures for y'all but it is now close to dinnertime so I don't want to bother figuring out how to attach images (and I don't have many pictures yet anyway), but I promise there will be some.

For now, Auf Wiedersehen,

Anna