Ok, so I've made it safely to Berlin though with much trouble and quite a bit of stress and some crying, but I've made it. I'm settled in and everything's good now. So guess what that means? Pictures! I'm going to put up some pictures of Madrid, though, because I don't have any of Berlin yet. Sorry.
But Madrid was super crazy. It was their 200th year celebration as a city, so they were crazy from that. Then there was a funeral for someone really important and even the Prime Minister was there. I have no idea if the king was...yes, Madrid still has a king. And he still has a fair amount of power...like to get rid of people in parliament whom he deems unfit. Crazy. Then my last night there Madrid won their soccer match, so needless to say, there was some extreme craziness going on in Madrid. There are so many people and they all have their dogs and the dogs go with them everywhere. It was actually neat. Until you soon realized that it almost always smelled like pee, but Stuart said he was pretty sure that was from the bums. There were a fair amount of them too. But I swear that city never stops. It's always crawling with people...wait, except at siesta. Most of the shops close down and half the people in the streets go home. But it's usually almost unbearable crowds. Stuart actually caught a pick-pocket on the metro trying to steal from another passenger. yikes! My purse was awfully close after that.
Then Monday morning went severely awry. I didn't realize how long it would take us by metro to get to the airport and I missed my check-in by a couple minutes. Well, it had been closed for a fair amount of time by the time we realized how to check-in. I was ready to freak. Thank God Stuart was there to ask questions and talk to people for me. The next flight to Berlin was at 3pm, but it was full, so I had to pay 100euro for the flight at 9:40pm. Stuart's bus back to El Puerto was scheduled to leave at 4pm. So we spent a bit of time in a part of Madrid Stuart hadn't seen yet and which was close to the airport. Then at 2:30, Stuart dropped me off at the airport, we said goodbye, and I sat in the airport for seven hours. Actually, it was eight because then my flight was delayed an hour. I hate Iberia Airlines. Never fly Iberia airlines. I had to BUY my water and food on the plane after having to wait an hour. I was so mad.
So I arrived in Berlin around 11/11:30pm, everything was closed and I couldn't get my luggage out of storage. I was so upset by this point that I just couldn't think and got on a bus for the main train station, but I ran out of small change for another ticket, so I got a taxi to my hosts' house. Thank God they're so nice; Soeren waited up for me and let me in and gave me a little tour and I went to bed almost immediately. I got up early to make up my placement test for the Goethe (pronounced GER-tah) Institut and Soeren showed me how to walk to the UBahn (metro) and helped me get a month pass for all mass transit in the city. 72euro. *dies* But I easily got to Goethe, took my test with about 10 other fellow students (two of whom are in my class), got lost walking back from the metro (I am SO glad I tried to figure it out before my class started, or I'd have been doing that in the dark), finally figured it out with help from 3 different people for directions, and had enough time to drop off some things, pick up my notebook, and quickly head back to the school.
My class is...really slow. My grammatical understanding of German is far above the level I was put in, but my speaking skills are terrible. I was almost always the first person to finish in-class assignments. I talked to my teacher after class and she said to give it a couple more days. I may just stay, though, because she's a really good teacher and I don't want to get someone who's really tough or something. She's really sweet and funny. And the first person I met from my class is a guy from Israel! I was so excited! We had to do interviews with a partner and when he said he was from Israel, I told him how I've already been there and that I'm going back. He was excited to talk to me about some places. Though he lives in Tel Aviv and I was only at the airport. Tel Aviv is pretty much the equivalent to like Chicago or something. It's very very modern and quite a hip scene. Then I met this Algerian guy and he started hitting on me so bad, so I walked away from him. But there are also three Japanese students (I've talked with two of them quite a bit), two from Spain, one from Brazil, and Italian, two Frenchmen, a Russian, and one other American named BILL. He said it in a really deep voice. Then my teacher made fun of his American accent in his German. But she also made fun of the Frenchies' accents and the Russian girl's. I think it's really interesting that no one could guess where I was from. The Algerian swore up and down that I was the Russian girl. My teacher didn't even know where I was from! Yay! I'm not a typical American to the Europeans!
My class is from 1:15 - 5:45, but we get two breaks, one half hour and one fifteen minute. They have food and drinks at the first one...and coffee, which made me very happy. I was so tired. There was a boat tour they had scheduled for this morning, but I didn't bother because I really needed to catch up on some sleep. I meant to get up at 10am today and get a fast shower so I could get down to the Kaiser's Supermarkt, but I slept till 11 instead and I was afraid of having to run to class. So instead I had a very large glass of apple juice that Suzanne and Soeren had bought for me and I'm going to get lunch on the way to class. I'll go to the Supermarkt tonight after class. And I can go on the boat tour at another time.
I have been complaining about my early miseries with Kat (my friend at Lycoming who's from Germany) and I guess she told Dr. Cagle (my German professor) and he sent me a message asking how I was doing. The Berlin May Term people are coming on Friday (YAY!) and he said we can get together that night. Thank God. People I know!!!! Then Stuart arrives on Saturday night until Tuesday morning, and Suzanne has kindly allowed him to stay here for free! I asked if she wanted some money for it and she gave me a funny look and was like, no, of course not. So, yay! Less money needed to be spent! Suzanne and Soeren are really nice and very helpful. I didn't meet Suzanne until late yesterday, right before I ran back to the airport to pick up my luggage. She actually kind of reminds me of Maddy. Tiny and sweet-spoken. haha. They both know English pretty well, too, so when I'm having trouble understanding them or if it's something really important, they'll let me know in English. I really want to have it so that by the end of my time here, they don't need to tell me anything in English. Oops, I spent too much time updating and now I have to head to class. Ok, pictures later, I promise!
7.5.08
4.5.08
Ok, some pictures...finally! I know, right? haha.
A few things before the pictures, I think some of you can't see the pictures? If you are getting my posts by email, it's probably because everything shows up in the email. If you can't see the pictures there, try clicking on the link to take you directly to my blog site (www.davalli.blogspot.com). If it's not showing up on my actual blog...then I have no idea. You'll have to email Eric for info on that one. Haha, sorry (to both people who can't see my pics and to Eric for offering him up as the go-to man....but we all know he's the go-to man for technology troubles anyways). Ok, and now, picture time!
Momma and I at the airport before my flight. I didn't realize the gate closing time had changed from my original itinerary and I made it there just a few minutes before boarding.
Me and my daddy.
Yay! I finally made it to my Stuart! We were sitting on the metro from the plane. I barely made my connecting flight at Heathrow in London to Berlin. They really need to do something about their transportation from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5. I was soooo afraid I'd miss my flight. But I made it halfway through boarding. *sigh* Then I had a 6 hour layover at Tegel airport in Berlin. That was painful. I wanted to go out and see a bit of Berlin, but that would have meant spending fare on a bus and I was also afraid of not making it back in time for my flight. So I spent the first hour and a half looking for the Main Hall (tucked back behind the Golden Shops...not very "Main" hall like, haha) because I had to store my suite cases. I didn't want to have to take them to Madrid with me if I only needed a few days of clothes. Then I walked around for a while trying to figure out where my flight left from so I could make it to the flight on time. Then I realized that I smelled super bad from the long flight and changed clothes in the teeny WC (literally water closet, but that's what it's called in Germany). I felt much much better, but my carry on stuff was super heavy, so my shoulders were killing me. Then I tried to get internet so I could at least post for all of you, but I had to pay like 16euro, so I decided against it.
Then I sat down and just watched people for a bit when I remembered the great bit of advice my friend Kristina Manente told me from when she traveled all over Europe by herself last semester: bring a notebook and pen and write everything. So I wrote about 3 full pages of just stuff, eves dropped on conversations to see how much German I could understand (I could understand 4 and 5 year old kids no problem! I have a very elementary grasp on German! haha). But a lot of people had East German accents like our German Tutor Alexandra. Nearly impossible to understand. Kat and Hannes said that they couldn't even understand it sometimes. I guess I could compare East German accents to Georgia or Louisiana accents from the south...haha.
Well, the time finally came for check-in and I went through quickly because I just wanted to get to Spain! I was feeling exhausted from my long flights and slightly sick from airline food and jet lag. Oh, and if at all possible, don't try flying Iberia Airlines. It was tiny, a little dirty, and very very lax. Actually, much like Spain. Very very lax. People have a very "whatever" kind of attitude and just do things as they come. Very different from the Germany that I was getting acquainted with. Everything very organized and set in a rigid and specific way and it MUST BE DONE like that. haha. And the flight was hot and bumpy. I felt pretty sick. But the couple next to me was amusing. They were older and when the person in front of us started coughing like crazy, the old man kept making disgusted gestures that were rather amusing. They were a little apologetic when the wife kept going in and out of the seat. That was fine with me, but they were really nice. They eventually said something to me in Spanish and I had to say, "Sorry, no hablo espanol." Then they thought I was actually from Germany! Yay! And I had to say no, USA. Then when the plane was landing, it got really bumpy and I actually cried out a bit it was such a severe drop! The woman chuckled a bit and said something to the effect of also being afraid to fly and grabbed my hand. I blessed myself with a frightened look on my face and she laughed for a good while about that.
When I arrived I ran through as fast as I could because I thought I was later than the time I told Stuart, only to realize that they didn't even make me go through customs! I followed signs for the exit (which usually also includes customs....) and didn't even go through a security check point! I saw two large double doors people were going through, one that said "Items to claim" and the other said "No Claims". Well, I thought, I don't have anything to claim, I'm just going to go the short way. Then all of sudden I saw Stuart's face! No check point! I had a super confused look and Stuart was also confused as to why I didn't go through customs. I hope I didn't miss it! ...and I hope it doesn't give me a problem when I leave tomorrow. Probably not?
Madrid is very beautiful though. Here are some pics of the hostel we're staying at:
Name of our hostel...
Our room with a balcony!
We also have a private shower. The lady here is really nice to us, but she said she doesn't like working here in Madrid. She's originally from Morocco. She said there are too few people who are good and nice but that we were some of the nice ones. It's sad she has such a dark view, but I guess working at a hostel probably doesn't always meet you with the nicest people. We've met two of the other people staying here: Jack from Montana/Canada/Pottstown (he went to the Hill School for a while!) and William, an older fat and balding man from Ireland. Oh, which reminds me, if I can figure out how to get pictures off my camera, I have an aerial photo of when we flew over Ireland for Matt! The picture is either from above Killarney or Cork...we flew over the very south of Ireland.
But now it's getting late and I think I might take a little siesta before going out. We found this awesome outdoor market that's only every Sunday until about 2:30 or 3. It's much like going to the Irish Festival only much much much much larger, like 2 whole city blocks filled with merchants. It was really cool...I think it was called Rastero? I'd ask Stuart but he's sleeping. haha. But I think you all would have liked it. But now I'm going to rest for a bit and put more pictures up tomorrow, hopefully. This is already a very long blog post....
Momma and I at the airport before my flight. I didn't realize the gate closing time had changed from my original itinerary and I made it there just a few minutes before boarding.
Me and my daddy.
Yay! I finally made it to my Stuart! We were sitting on the metro from the plane. I barely made my connecting flight at Heathrow in London to Berlin. They really need to do something about their transportation from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5. I was soooo afraid I'd miss my flight. But I made it halfway through boarding. *sigh* Then I had a 6 hour layover at Tegel airport in Berlin. That was painful. I wanted to go out and see a bit of Berlin, but that would have meant spending fare on a bus and I was also afraid of not making it back in time for my flight. So I spent the first hour and a half looking for the Main Hall (tucked back behind the Golden Shops...not very "Main" hall like, haha) because I had to store my suite cases. I didn't want to have to take them to Madrid with me if I only needed a few days of clothes. Then I walked around for a while trying to figure out where my flight left from so I could make it to the flight on time. Then I realized that I smelled super bad from the long flight and changed clothes in the teeny WC (literally water closet, but that's what it's called in Germany). I felt much much better, but my carry on stuff was super heavy, so my shoulders were killing me. Then I tried to get internet so I could at least post for all of you, but I had to pay like 16euro, so I decided against it.Then I sat down and just watched people for a bit when I remembered the great bit of advice my friend Kristina Manente told me from when she traveled all over Europe by herself last semester: bring a notebook and pen and write everything. So I wrote about 3 full pages of just stuff, eves dropped on conversations to see how much German I could understand (I could understand 4 and 5 year old kids no problem! I have a very elementary grasp on German! haha). But a lot of people had East German accents like our German Tutor Alexandra. Nearly impossible to understand. Kat and Hannes said that they couldn't even understand it sometimes. I guess I could compare East German accents to Georgia or Louisiana accents from the south...haha.
Well, the time finally came for check-in and I went through quickly because I just wanted to get to Spain! I was feeling exhausted from my long flights and slightly sick from airline food and jet lag. Oh, and if at all possible, don't try flying Iberia Airlines. It was tiny, a little dirty, and very very lax. Actually, much like Spain. Very very lax. People have a very "whatever" kind of attitude and just do things as they come. Very different from the Germany that I was getting acquainted with. Everything very organized and set in a rigid and specific way and it MUST BE DONE like that. haha. And the flight was hot and bumpy. I felt pretty sick. But the couple next to me was amusing. They were older and when the person in front of us started coughing like crazy, the old man kept making disgusted gestures that were rather amusing. They were a little apologetic when the wife kept going in and out of the seat. That was fine with me, but they were really nice. They eventually said something to me in Spanish and I had to say, "Sorry, no hablo espanol." Then they thought I was actually from Germany! Yay! And I had to say no, USA. Then when the plane was landing, it got really bumpy and I actually cried out a bit it was such a severe drop! The woman chuckled a bit and said something to the effect of also being afraid to fly and grabbed my hand. I blessed myself with a frightened look on my face and she laughed for a good while about that.
When I arrived I ran through as fast as I could because I thought I was later than the time I told Stuart, only to realize that they didn't even make me go through customs! I followed signs for the exit (which usually also includes customs....) and didn't even go through a security check point! I saw two large double doors people were going through, one that said "Items to claim" and the other said "No Claims". Well, I thought, I don't have anything to claim, I'm just going to go the short way. Then all of sudden I saw Stuart's face! No check point! I had a super confused look and Stuart was also confused as to why I didn't go through customs. I hope I didn't miss it! ...and I hope it doesn't give me a problem when I leave tomorrow. Probably not?
Madrid is very beautiful though. Here are some pics of the hostel we're staying at:
Name of our hostel...
Our room with a balcony!We also have a private shower. The lady here is really nice to us, but she said she doesn't like working here in Madrid. She's originally from Morocco. She said there are too few people who are good and nice but that we were some of the nice ones. It's sad she has such a dark view, but I guess working at a hostel probably doesn't always meet you with the nicest people. We've met two of the other people staying here: Jack from Montana/Canada/Pottstown (he went to the Hill School for a while!) and William, an older fat and balding man from Ireland. Oh, which reminds me, if I can figure out how to get pictures off my camera, I have an aerial photo of when we flew over Ireland for Matt! The picture is either from above Killarney or Cork...we flew over the very south of Ireland.
But now it's getting late and I think I might take a little siesta before going out. We found this awesome outdoor market that's only every Sunday until about 2:30 or 3. It's much like going to the Irish Festival only much much much much larger, like 2 whole city blocks filled with merchants. It was really cool...I think it was called Rastero? I'd ask Stuart but he's sleeping. haha. But I think you all would have liked it. But now I'm going to rest for a bit and put more pictures up tomorrow, hopefully. This is already a very long blog post....
3.5.08
Made it to beautiful beautiful Madrid!
Alright, I don't have much time, but I just wanted to let you all know that I've made it safely to Madrid! I didn't have internet for the first day and half, later to find out that the hostel offers it, tried to connect, and it wouldn't let me connect. So then Stuart and I ran all over today looking for a place with WiFi, to no avail, and had to pay 1 euro for 16 minutes of internet to check the essential email and let everyone know I'm ok. Then when we got back to the hostel we found out that the lady renting the room to us gave us the wrong password to the WiFi. *anger* But now I have internet, don't have time to put up pictures (I have currently built up over 200 pictures, but I will not put all of them up here), but I hopefully can do that tomorrow! I love you all and I'm having a good time and I am safe! Pictures to come soon!!!!!!
29.4.08
packing packing pakcing pakcign apkcign gnaipkc...
So...I'm delaying my packing a bit by posting. I'm getting nervous. Hoping things go smoothly. Oh, I heard a reply back from my host, Suzanne and her roommate boyfriend Sören . They seem nice and at least they have wireless internet for me! yay! I should be online now a lot, or at least as much as I am when I'm at home...which is a lot! haha. Momma took me out to get some last minute things, including a backpack for carry-on, a few new clothes, a new dig hat (because I stupidly threw my old one away last year), and a fancy new camera! Yay for student loans! :( But now I have a beautiful camera with which to post beautiful pictures on here! For instance, these are a few pics from around the house:
Aw, what a good Amber dog.
Silly Matthew...
Aaaannnddd, the packing....
And more packing...
And yes, more packing!!!!!
*sigh* Ok, enough break, back to packing...BLAARRRGGGHH!!!!
Aw, what a good Amber dog.
Silly Matthew...
Aaaannnddd, the packing....
And more packing...
And yes, more packing!!!!!*sigh* Ok, enough break, back to packing...BLAARRRGGGHH!!!!
28.4.08
Two Day Before Departure...
Hello to all my loved ones. This shall be my lifeline to you all whilst I am abroad! Um, sorry Denise, I sort of ripped off your blog title. heh. Oh yes, this is not only to keep me in touch with my family, but also my friends from all over.
So, I'm also testing out how this works, let's see...how to upload pictures. Mmm...this is how excited I am for my travels!
This is how nervous I am about my travels:
And this is how I feel about not being able to see my family or friends all summer long:
Yes, I shall be very sad to not see you all.
Ok, well, lastly...if you want to make comments back to my posts, you'll have to know my new email address (because for some reason it doesn't automatically insert itself...I noticed this for whenever I would try to reply to Denise's blogs). So here it is: dav.alli3@gmail.com
I don't think I'm going to use it normally, though I guess I'll be checking it at least once a week to see if I receive any replies. Also, for those of you who feel the need to mail something to me (I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because it is very expensive to mail to Europe!) here is my mailing address:
Goethe-Institut Berlin
Neue Schönhauser Str. 20
10178 Berlin
Germany
Fax +49 30 25906-400
Oh, the fax was tacked on as well. *shrugs* Oh wells. I will have my cell phone, but calls are limited to EMERGENCIES because it will cost $2 a minute. AHHHHH. However, if any of you severely feel the need to hear my voice or see my face through the interwebs, I suggest getting Skype along with a microphone and a webcam. It is completely FREE for Skype to Skype calls! And you don't even have to sign up for any kind of crazy stuff! It's really a dream come true. But you must be on a computer. Only catch. Doesn't work without a computer. Just go to Skype.com! Otherwise you'll just be seeing beautiful pictures that I decide to post up here. I found out who my host will be (Suzanne Wenzel) and emailed her today and will hopefully hear back from her soon. *sigh* Ok, back to packing...
So, I'm also testing out how this works, let's see...how to upload pictures. Mmm...this is how excited I am for my travels!
This is how nervous I am about my travels:
And this is how I feel about not being able to see my family or friends all summer long:
Yes, I shall be very sad to not see you all.
Ok, well, lastly...if you want to make comments back to my posts, you'll have to know my new email address (because for some reason it doesn't automatically insert itself...I noticed this for whenever I would try to reply to Denise's blogs). So here it is: dav.alli3@gmail.com
I don't think I'm going to use it normally, though I guess I'll be checking it at least once a week to see if I receive any replies. Also, for those of you who feel the need to mail something to me (I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because it is very expensive to mail to Europe!) here is my mailing address:
Goethe-Institut Berlin
Neue Schönhauser Str. 20
10178 Berlin
Germany
Fax +49 30 25906-400
Oh, the fax was tacked on as well. *shrugs* Oh wells. I will have my cell phone, but calls are limited to EMERGENCIES because it will cost $2 a minute. AHHHHH. However, if any of you severely feel the need to hear my voice or see my face through the interwebs, I suggest getting Skype along with a microphone and a webcam. It is completely FREE for Skype to Skype calls! And you don't even have to sign up for any kind of crazy stuff! It's really a dream come true. But you must be on a computer. Only catch. Doesn't work without a computer. Just go to Skype.com! Otherwise you'll just be seeing beautiful pictures that I decide to post up here. I found out who my host will be (Suzanne Wenzel) and emailed her today and will hopefully hear back from her soon. *sigh* Ok, back to packing...
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