Sachsenhausen

Today I went to a Flohmarkt with some people! It's exactly like a Flee Market. haha. But I was able to find some nice (kinda cheep?) souvenirs. We ate lunch at Prater Bier Garten (I love that place...it's so nice...) and then half of us headed off to see Sachsenhausen, one of the concentration camps from WWII and later used by the Soviets for political prisoners. It started as a political prison right before and at the start of WWII, but then when the focus was shifted more towards the Jews, it became the stop right before Auschwitz, though Sachsenhausen had it's own fair share of torture and murder (medical experiments on the ill, terrorizing psychological and physical punishments for just washing one's feet, firing sqads, gas chambers, crematoriums); it just wasn't as enormous as Auschwitz. The Soviets even reused the crematoriums when they took over. There was a mass grave, too. It was the perfect day for it, too: dark, chilly, cloudy, on the brink of rain all day. Very sad, very depressing. But very interesting. It was very strange, it felt so so personal even though I know no one connected with any of it. I discussed this with my friends and we came to the conclusion that it's just because it's just such a raw, strong, deep, dark human emotion: hatred and murder, and the fact that we as humans can be manipulated into doing just horrible and tragic things, or are even able to manipulate other people into doing them. It was a lot to take in and I found myself just skipping over huge chunks of the mini museums because it was so much.

But afterwards we decided to lighten things up and Carles (Spanish...Barcelona), Tanya (Ukraine), and I decided to eat out Asian cuisine and afterwards had some delicious coffee at a lovely cafe. Tanya and I shared a piece of "New York Cheese Cake". It wasn't New York Cheese Cake. haha. It was a thick layer of thick lemon cream on top of a thin layer of "cheese cake" on a chocolate crust. haha. It was very delicious! But not New York Cheese Cake. And now I'm here at the internet cafe. *sigh*

Tomorrow I give my computer to the Goethe Institut guy and if for some reason he can't, I now have a back up plan! Dear sweet Toni (Lyco's good ol' German TA from last year) has given me advice to check out a good place nearby in Berlin! Yay! haha, thank you, Toni!

Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm going to see the Reichstag! That's the German Parliament building! I think that's the one that has the huge glass dome...I might be thinking of the Rathaus though. haha, which is also super funny. It's Rat-house. Politicians are rats...lol.

Ok, well, my hour is drawing near, and I must pay my €1! Tschüss!!!!