#ccnyabroad

[girlgonebrit]

Week 3

Last week was a bit early, this week is a bit late. So it goes!

I stuck to having a lazy day last Sunday and just stayed in and worked on readings for my classes since there were quite a few of them and finished the book I had been reading on the train to and from Bath.

On Monday I had my first class, Writing Multicultural Britain. It was a really interesting class, but I’m going to be dropping it. I can’t take as many classes as I would at home here without getting charged extra, so today I’m starting the process of letting it go since it was the one I had to add on late after getting here. After the class and some emails, Serena and I went to Asda - or we attempted to. It was a cold, dreary day and we waited about an hour for our bus with a handful of other people. Towards the end of the wait, we started bonding with one of the other ladies who lived at the end of that particular bus’s line.

Tuesday I had my Literature in London class, which was pitched as a study abroad specific class, but there were non-study abroad students in the class and the lecturers all seemed to think we were just freshmen. I’m hoping that issue gets corrected this week.

My Literature, History, Protest class was on Wednesday and even though it’s my earliest class at 9 am, I quite enjoyed it. The lecturer is funny and a bit flighty, but she covers really interesting topics. That night was another big party night on campus and predrinks were happening on our floor. I live right next to the kitchen, so that meant it was going to be loud. So I convinced Serena to go into central London with me. Our first stop was the Lush on Oxford Street - because how can I not visit the biggest Lush in the world? And man it was huge and amazing! What I could get was pretty limited since I don’t have a bath and nothing I bought could last longer than three months, but I found a couple of things. From there, we spent hours wandering Oxford Street and the surrounding area. We stopped in four different bookstores - three Waterstones and a Hatchards - attempting to find this one book. It was quite frustrating, but the last Waterstones had it! We also stopped in a food court for dinner and while the names were recognizable, the food options were a bit of a let down. We’d originally thought to go to KFC, but none of the sides we loved were there, so we went to a Pizza Hut Express location, which lived up to its reputation of being just okay. By time we got back, predrinks had wound down, but it was still loud all night with drunk students coming and going.

My Thursday class is in the afternoons, so I woke up late and spent an hour chatting with my flat rep. Then I did my readings for my class since they were all short before heading to the library. I had plans for the evening and needed to use a printer. I now know how to print - and that you have to pay for it - but my ID card wasn’t registering with the printer. Fortunately, I was able to just use my friend’s account, but I’ll have to sort that out next time I go. The class itself was Origins of Children’s Literature and I love it, but man I wish it was a morning class too. Having one class from 2-5 just kind of kills your whole day. But afterward, I had a mission. I hopped on a bus, then a tube, to get to Piccadilly Circus - my first solo trip into the central part of the city. Jojo Moyes, the author of Me Before You, was launching the sequel, After You. I was still in the middle of Me Before You, but I had two friends who were huge fans. So, I bought a ticket and printed out a letter from one of them to pass on to her, then bought two copies to send them. The talk was great and Jojo Moyes is just an amazing person. She signed all three books, took the letter, and was so sweet about all of it.

On Friday, it was hard to get out of bed. I was exhausted! I finally got myself up enough to go on another Asda run and pick up a box at the post office for these books to get mailed out. That was all I was really up to doing.

Saturday, homesickness him me like a wave for the first time. I could barely get myself to get out of bed and I kind of avoided seeing anyone. I’d had all these fun plans for the weekend, but none of them happened. Sunday got even worse as my anxiety started to spike over the whole dilemma of classes, so I only left to run to the Co-op (a beefed up version of a convenience store) to get junk food. The whole weekend was pretty lost in homesickness and anxiety and exhaustion. Sunday night, I also started feeling ill, but it seems to have mostly cleared this morning.

So, now I’m off to run a few errands - get the ball rolling on dropping this class, do some laundry, go to the post office, and pick up two packages - though I’m a bit worried one of them may have gotten sent to the wrong place. I’d hoped to go into central London today, but I couldn’t get myself out of bed and we have a flat meeting at 5, so I don’t want to risk missing it. But it means more down time to get back to my studies!

[girlgonebrit]

Week 2

Has it really been a week? (Well, it hasn’t quite been, but it’s very, very loud outside my dorm and I’m caught up on TV shows, so might as well get to it!)

Last Sunday did remain as calm as expected...mostly. We went to Asda - which is basically Walmart - on move in day. I don’t recommend it. Much as we needed things, some things we needed were sold out and the lines were bonkers. Never again! Then, we had out floor meeting, followed by a building meeting, and I got to meet all my other flatmates. They’re all so lovely and fun and I can already tell it’s going to suck to leave them. After the meetings, we headed to a bar for our college meeting. It’s really bizarre to me still that there’s a bar on campus and it’s regularly part of school activities.

On Monday, Freshers Week began. A friend from my home campus, Serena, and I went to go pick up our bands which was a rather excruciatingly long process for reasons I still can’t determine. But by time the event for Monday came along, I wasn’t feeling so great. The time change has done some strange things to my exhaustion level - I get tired early and wake up early, which is the opposite of what’s supposed to happen - and I figured I’d just be kinda miserable, so I stayed in. Instead of a big party environment, I had a really long chat with one of the other international students on my floor while we both made dinner.

Tuesday still had me exhausted, but I eventually got myself up and out to Putney, a nearby town with a bit more to do. I browsed for an hour before finally caving and using some precious data to figure out where Waterstones was. I was looking for a specific book that I didn’t find when we went to the one at Covent Garden last week and it wasn’t there either. After a thorough browse, I went to leave and instead found a Paperchase, a stationary store. Notebooks, planners, pens, office supplies - a lot of my weaknesses. I did pick up a few things I did need, like an umbrella and glue and washi tapi, but also a few things...I didn’t really need. But they make me happy, so that counts for something.

Later that night, I got ready for Clapham Grande. For night two of Freshers Week, the school rented out a club for us to go to, including discounted drinks. We spent a few hours milling around our building and the nearby courtyard, hanging out and getting to know people before actually heading out. The club was more fun than I thought it would be. I don’t see myself going regularly, but I may have to make a couple more trips before the semester’s out.

Understandably, Wednesday was a bit of a slow day for everyone in the flat. Even after getting back, a bunch of us stayed up chatting, then I stayed up even later to watch episodes of The Late Show. But Wednesday was Thorpe Park day. Thorpe Park is an amusement park about an hour outside of London.

Unfortunately, Wednesday was also the first truly rainy day I’ve experienced since arriving. And it was cold.

But, we were determined to go! So, we waited an hour for a bus. Then that bus got lost. By time we got there, the rain had picked up and there wasn’t much light left. I hopped on a water slide with a few friends, thinking maybe getting myself as wet as possible from the start would get me ready to just move on with it and have fun. That...didn’t work. After that, Serena and I went to Burger King for warmth and food while our friends went on to other rides. When we finally ventured out, we went on a tea cup ride, then headed to look for our friends. We found them in KFC, all having finally caved to the need for food and warmth. While some of our friends finished eating, a group of us headed to the warming station they had around the park. There was one close to the KFC in the park, so four of us hopped in. Then three other people hopped in. When we said it’s not free, they offered to pay for the next round, during which two more people came in. Others were waiting, so the four of us went back into KFC and decided we were done for the day. Initially, buses weren’t supposed to head back until 9:30, but the miserable conditions led to the buses actually leaving at 8. As soon as we were all collected, had all our belongings, and had taken bathroom runs, we piled on to the first empty bus we found, which ended up being the second to leave. As soon as we got home, I ran for a shower and immediately changed into my pajamas and fuzzy socks, then started brewing tea. The rest of my flatmates arrived not long after and started the same process.

Then came Thursday. I slept poorly that night and the Burger King hadn’t sat quite right with me; combined with being cold and wet for hours the day before, I felt pretty awful. Eventually, I got myself feeling alright enough for another Asda run - mostly to pick up some cold supplies and things they had been out of on Sunday, as well as a few restocking odds and ends. But that was all I was really up for.

Friday started off the same. I still felt miserable and ultimately decided it was time to spend an entire day in. I drank a lot of tea and ate lightly until dinner time, not sure what my body could handle. But it wasn’t an unproductive day! I booked a trip to Bath for today and booked a trip to Paris for my birthday. I also scouted some West End show prices and seats I’ll be coming back to once I know what classes have field trips when. And I did do some actual school work - looking up the the readings and seeing what needs to be done for the first two weeks of classes. I also got to catch up on Young & Hungry and Skype with my family for the first time since arriving, which was really nice. It’s been strange not talking to them on a regular basis. I didn’t talk to them regularly when I was in NYC for school either, but I also saw them about once a month. Those visits aren’t really an option here though.

Today, Serena and I got ourselves up early, into London, and on a train to Bath. And I fell completely in love. I’ve never seen such a gorgeous place before. So much history and respect for it! We walked cobbled streets for hours, looking at shops. We ate the first decent pizza I’ve had since arriving and ice cream. I dragged Serena into three different discount bookstores (and I walked out with nothing!). We visited the Jane Austen centre and I was totally geeking out about it (and maybe spent way too much money in the gift shop), then we saw some of the Roman Baths (the lines were huge and it was a bit pricey, but we found a little balcony we could look over for free) and stopped into the Bath Abbey. There was more we wanted to do, but we only had about 6 hours. I’m already dying to go back there. And it certainly helped that it was one of the warmest, most beautiful days we’ve seen. It hasn’t rained much, but mornings have typically been cloudy and temperatures hovering around 60 - today was nothing but sun and closer to 70. Seriously, just phenomenal. I’ve never fallen in love with a place so hard.

Tonight, I’m taking it easy again. I can tell I’m still not 100% and classes do start on Monday. I’ll be spending tomorrow working on my first readings and going to find the buildings I have to go to - I have a vague idea, but I’d rather be sure now instead of being forced to head out much earlier than necessary Monday morning. It’s also probably going to be another late night - it’s the last night of Fresher’s Week and the partly only really started around 11, so it’s gonna go for a while. Having a window that overlooks a courtyard and the bedroom next to the bathrooms and kitchen make it kinda hard for me to ignore. But, it’s the last night that’ll be like this for the most part and hopefully, me staying in most of this week/weekend will make sure this little cold-thing doesn’t get worse.

[girlgonebrit]

Week 1

Hello from a semi-sunny London! 

As a quick intro: I’m Julie, a student at the Macaulay Honors College at City College, except this semester, I’m a student at the University of Roehampton. I’m a senior, so I’ll be graduating in May 2016 with a bachelor’s in English Literature. Internet’s a bit spotty and slow at times, so the bulk of my pictures will be on Instagram, linked at the top of the page.

I left New York from JFK at 6:30 pm on September 8 and landed at Heathrow at 6:30 am, September 9. The flight was actually pretty awesome - the timing meant I got to see the sun starting to set over Manhattan, then we flew over bits of New England, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Ireland, so we could see the lights in the middle of the night, and landed just in time to catch the sunrise, which was gorgeous. They also provided us with a pretty good dinner and breakfast, a blanket, pillow, toothbrush, toothpaste, and earplugs. I’m already kind of sad my flight back to New York is a day flight so it probably won’t include as many cool packages.

Everything involved in flying went smoothly - it took me half an hour to check in my bag and get through security before boarding and maybe 20 minutes to go through immigration and collect my bag. The university sent shuttles to get us throughout the day, so for two hours a growing number of us sat in the airport getting to know each other while we waited for the first one. The drive to campus took about 45 minutes, then we were brought to our dorms. My dorm is right by our all locally sourced cafe and overlooks one of the chicken coops on campus. It also gets some pretty stellar sunsets. The first day, I picked up my kitchen and bedding packs, unpacked my room...and promptly fell asleep for about four hours. I woke up, went to our pizza night, then came back to my room to settle in.

The next day we had orientation. I’d been chatting with one other girl who came over from the same school and we’d planned to meet up the first day to keep each other up...which didn’t work. So instead, we met up Thursday morning to search out some breakfast and go through orientation together. We wandered quite a ways before finding a little market to grab breakfast from, then rushed back for the opening speeches. Orientation was long, but pretty informative and they gave us plenty of down time. After all the sessions wrapped up, we headed to Asda to start picking up necessities. A bunch of other students had the same idea, so there were a lot of us wandering around, probably picking up more than we could carry. By time we got back, we were so exhausted, we stayed in and made food in the dorm and chatted with our flat reps for most of the night.

Friday was registration day. I got up early and headed out on my own, getting in line. Getting the ID and officially registering was easy, then I had to wait another hour to go into module registration. I was only signed up for three, but my home campus requires four to be a full time student, so it was recommended I add another. I did, but only after did I realize that credits wise, I might be best to stick to three. I’m waiting on word from one of my other advisers on that to figure out what’s best. Once my friend had finished her registration, we headed into central London, coming out in Picadilly Circus. We wandered for a while, stopped for a very late lunch, then continued wandering until we found a bookstore. After making a couple of purchases, we figured we’d head home. It was starting to get dark and it seemed like a lot of shops were closing down. We headed back and headed to our rooms for another calm night.

On Saturday, the school had organized a photo frenzy scavenger hunt in central London. We showed up a bit late and joined another group that was about to head out. We hit a lot of the major landmarks and took photos before heading back, all of us exhausted from being on our feet all day and having to be up early each morning since we’d arrived. It was not helping the jet lag! I ended up falling asleep around 8, waking up at 2, then feeling rather awake. I stayed up for a bit to shower, listen to the end of the Mets game, and watch a movie. I finally started dozing off as the sun was coming up and slept for a bit longer, though not very well. It’s like my body’s developed jet lag in reverse - earlier to bed, earlier to wake.

Today is our first day with pretty much no scheduled activities. We have a flat meeting tonight since everyone else is moving in today, but otherwise we’re free. I’ve been bumming around online and updating social media for a few hours, but I’ll be heading back out to Asda for some more groceries and things I’ve realized I need. If the weather holds up, I might walk around campus a bit too. And tomorrow...Freshers Week begins.

[lucidititravelblog]

Rembrandt House and Sketching Bad Portraits

On Friday my friend sent me a message on facebook chat.

“Have you been to Rembrandt House yet?”

“Nope!”

“You want to meet me there?”

“Sure!”

I had passed Rembrandt House (Or Het Rembrandt Huis) a few times before, but I didn’t have any idea what it looked like on the inside. Was it just a Museum of his paintings? Turns out, Rembrandt House is a reconstruction of the house that Rembrandt (painter of the Nightwatch) lived and worked in during the 17th century. As one of the less popular museums, there is virtually no line and you can easily walk into the museum and start exploring.

Rembrandt house has a pretty cool exterior

Unlike Van Gogh, Rembrandt was a bit of a celebrity in his time. As you walk through the house you can definitely feel it.

My friend and I decided to do an audio tour. It was my first time doing one and I enjoyed getting to hear the background of each room we entered.

Audio tours tend to have numbers next to the different materials within the exhibit. You press a number and then hear about history and meaning of the piece. 

My favorite part of the museum is just seeing what it looked like living in 1600s Amsterdam! Going through each room you get a sense of what daily life was like for not just Rembrandt, but some of the other wealthier citizens of Amsterdam.

Rembrandt used his living room as an area to sell many of his artworks.

This is Rembrandt’s private room where he used to paint his famous works.

Rembrandt would mix his own paint, making just enough to be used for that day.

Rembrandt’s bed. Box beds like this, like the captain’s bed on the ship, looks short because people used to sleep sitting up.  

Rembrandt was also a collector and had a room just for his collections of objects from around the room, as well as private sketch books.

After exploring the house, my friend and I decided to do a drawing lesson, just like Rembrandt's students would have during his time. A model sat in the center of the room, while guests were able to try and draw him from various perspectives. A woman helped guide us and gave tips on how to do things such as properly shape his face. 

The room in which Rembrandt trained his students

Some of the drawings done by previous guests at the museum.

My friend’s picture came out super awesome and mine looked like it was drawn by a 12 year old, but that's okay because I had fun pretending to know what I was doing.

Started out alright

But ended with a black eye. So sorry!

Overall, if you have some extra time and aren’t sure where to visit, the Rembrandt house is a really good idea!~ I’m glad I went. Spontaneous museum visits are always fun.

[lucidititravelblog]

Return to the Rijksmuseum

Unlike my previous course, in which we spent almost every day in a new location, we only had one excursion and it was to the Rijksmuseum… which I had already been to with my group-mates the week before. I didn’t really mind, because I always enjoy getting out of the classroom and the focus of our tour was different from the last time I visited.

But first let me explain a little about the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands. Its exhibits are focused on the art and history of the Netherlands and as such the exhibits are arranged chronologically and divided by centuries or periods.

It actually very recently reopened in 2013 after a 10 year renovation and is one of the most visited Museums in the Netherlands. (Basically in Amsterdam the three museums you need to visit are the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum)

The old entrance to the Rijksmuseum (and Peace sign Miffy!)

You can also view all of the artworks online, which is really cool especially when you want your PowerPoint for class to look really nice.

From the outside, the Rijksmuseum is very impressive. The Rijksmuseum is the centerpiece of Museumplein (Museum Square) which is also home to the Van Gogh Museum. You don’t even have to be inside the building to understand why it's a must see.

The neighborhood petitioned to keep the bike path through the museum, which has led to this really cool entrance.

The inside of the building is also really nice

Just look at the roof! Quite a few museums in Amsterdam have glass ones like this

So I can pretty much describe the Rijksmuseum and perhaps Dutch History as a whole in three terms: Ships, Maps, and Guild Portraits. The ships and maps, of course, relate to the Golden Age of the 17th century, when the Dutch were world leaders in maritime trade.

Can’t be leaders of Maritime Trade without knowing your way around the world. Globes like this are really cool because you can see how people used to view the world.

The ships were actually made during the times stated on the plaques. Some of these are around 400 years old.

The Guild Portraits relate to the Golden Age, but for a different reason. This time period sits between a time when they were ruled by Spain, and then ruled by France and the modern day monarchy was established in the later period. During the Golden Age, the Netherlands was a republic ruled by a group of the wealthiest citizens. These citizens apparently really loved to have portraits painted of them, and thus there are enough of them to fill up more than one museum. Its pretty cool, however, because there aren’t many paintings from this period of the everyday person.

And then there are portraits like this. Apparently the one on the left is the father and the right the son and if I am correct the one on the right is actually in his 20s even though he looks like he’s 10. They have his picture on postcards in the gift store...

The Pride and joy of the Rijksmuseum is the Nightwatch, by Rembrandt. Rembrandt, unlike Van Gogh was a celebrity in his time. The Nightwatch has been loved since its creation because it is the only painting that depicts the guild members at work. It’s a huge painting and pretty impressive to look at. I even bought a magnet.

What do you think of the Nightwatch? Its pretty cool in person.

But the Museum has a darkside. In my Decolonizing Europe class, we were really critical on how museums such as the Rijksmuseum ignore or gloss over the history of slavery and colonization in the Netherlands. As impressive as the Rijks is, I would say this criticism is justified.

My project discussed the lack of representation of African slaves. Often these slaves are portrayed as objects that highlight the wealth and status of their masters. Little other information is given, even when as my group discovered, more information may exist within scholarship.

Example A. The Slave is holding a parasol; a symbol of wealth.

Example B. In this one the slave is there to hold up a medal.

This painting is actually in the same room as the Nightwatch. Notice the boy in red? He must be the salve of the man to his right. He looks scared. Wish we could know more about him.

The other issue is the section on colonization, which isn’t even titled “Colonization”, instead its titled “The Netherlands Overseas”, which is much more problematic. While the Rijksmuseum is huge, this section fits neatly into all of one room. In this small space, Japan, Indonesia and Suriname have to share representation. Personally, I think this area should be expanded and more context given.

One of the Suriname models. Not much context is given for any of the pieces in this exhibit and what is given is eerily positive.

Despite its shortcomings, the Rijksmuseum is one of the places you have to visit while in Amsterdam. A bonus is that unlike Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, the line is pretty much non-existent and you can on most days walk right in. There is pretty much no reason not to visit!

[lucidititravelblog]

The Maritime Museum and How Sailors used the Bathroom in the Gold Age

The first excursion of block two was to the Maritime Museum (Or Het Scheepvaart Museum in Dutch). If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know that I’ve passed by the recreation of the VOC (Dutch East Indies) ship a few times and I had been dying to actually go inside it. Finally I had my chance!

It was a beautiful day to visit the Maritime Museum 

The week before I actually was at the Maritime Museum, but my group didn’t realize it closed at 5:00 so we didn’t get a chance to actually explore it. We got as close as viewing the boat from the outside before we were ushered out of the Museum. But in the end things worked out well (especially because I had a bad habit of forgetting to check where our excursions would be until the night before....)

First we were able to listen to some background about the Museum and its collection, which is one of those things that you usually wouldn’t get to do if it were not for being with the group in the excursion. 

I actually met this guy two weeks before, but he forgot who I was lol

Then it was time to get a tour of the ship! I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but the ship is a recreation of another ship which sunk somewhere off of the UK. Basically, it never made it anywhere near the East Indies.

It has a new mission now!

Finally on top of the ship!

I am too afraid of heights to be a 17th century sailor

I learned some pretty interesting things about what life was like for sailors in the 16th century. As would probably be expected, the captain and high ranking officers lived a much more (comparatively) comfortable life at sea. 

For one, the captain had his own room (and his own bed), while the rest of the crew practically slept on top of each other.

Captain’s desk. 

Captains bed. Its short, but people used to sleep sitting up out of fear that their heads would explode or something like that. 

There were a lot more men then there were hammocks

or space...

Also the captain and high ranking officers ate an abundance of (again comparatively) good food, while the rest had to eat the same bland and nutritionless food each week.

Captains Table. These are actually glued down to the table believe it or not.

Again, a lot more men then there is space.

The funniest fact and also my favorite is that the captain had the privilege of owning a private toilet, while the rest of his men risked their lives trying to use this one hole that hung off the side of the ship.

The captain even had two toilets just in case the boat was leaning to one side and he didn’t want to have any back splash.

Okay so imagine this, but without the platform (which was added only in the recreation for the safety of tourists. Also you don’t want to know what they wiped themselves with (hint: its that rope that’s in the water)

After the tour ended, we had a small amount of time to look through the museum. I had to rush a bit, but I still enjoyed looking around. Most of the exhibits featured model ships or paintings, but the highlight for me was definitely getting to go inside this whale.

Whale!!! You can actually move his eye

Inside the belly of the beast

I can’t think of any heart jokes

Again, I’m really glad I forced myself to go to each excursion even when I was tired after class or on a Saturday morning. The Amsterdam Summer School excursions allow you to experience things in a different way than if you went a lone. I also met even more people!  

[lucidititravelblog]

Discover the Dutch Language and Culture (The Beginning of Block 2)

I have to admit that my first bout of culture shock occurred during the transition between Block 1 and Block 2.

In the amsterdam summer school, students have the option to take a course in block 1, block 2, or both. Out of sheer coincidence, every single friend I made was only there for block 1. A couple of friends that I made were in Amsterdam for another week, but they weren’t taking classes. Thus, after having an amazing first two weeks, I was forced to start over from what felt like scratch.

In addition the course I was taking in Block 2 was very different from the class I took in Block 1. While Decolonizing Europe was a more intense masters level course, The Discover the Dutch Language and Culture course was a bachelor’s level course filled with young students.

Not to mention my new class was on the 13th floor and I get nervous in elevators 

However, It only took 3 days to readjust. The Amsterdam Summer School hosts a large event on the first Wednesday of each block. In the first block, I really enjoyed our dinner because it gave me the chance to talk to my classmates and my professors in a more casual environment. That first Wednesday of Block 2 was the same! I got to know a few of my classmates and speak with our two language professors, who I realized were very kind and fun to talk to. From then on I stopped making comparisons to my first course and started to really enjoy learning the Dutch language. (Even though Dutch is very difficult to speak!)

Discover the Dutch Language and Culture is a class that is divided into two sections with three professors. In the morning the two language professors alternate days and in the evenings the culture professor teaches lessons about Dutch history and culture. Having the professors take turns makes the class more interesting and gives us exposure to more than one voice. Mostly I just enjoyed the different styles and personalities of my professors and enjoyed getting to have them both. They also incorporate many games and activities, which keeps us engaged and helps us learn.

Our Dutch language textbooks features this really happy girl on her cellphone

In the end I was really happy I took this course. Our classmates became pretty close through our mutual fear of the final exam and the professors were just the sweetest people you could ever meet and I’m really glad I met them. 

[lucidititravelblog]

Misadventures in Berlin

To celebrate the end of the first block at the Amsterdam Summer School I decided to travel to one of the countries bordering the Netherlands. I decided on Berlin, Germany because it was the only country to the east that I planned on visiting. My plan was to travel the week after my program ends, but I wouldn't have been able to go to Berlin then, because all the other countries I wanted to travel to were to the west.

The cheapest route for me to travel was by bus. I went with Flixbus. The bus station in Amsterdam is only two stations away from the Student hotel, which was very convenient.

Flixbus!

On line for the bus I met a young man traveling from Miami. When I asked whether he enjoyed Amsterdam, he replied that it wasn't for him. But when I asked him what he did, he only talked about his time in the red light district. 30% of tourism in Amsterdam is to the red light district, which is high but is thankfully not the majority of tourism. It's a shame, because Amsterdam is a beautiful city and is so much more than legal marijuana or prostitution. The bus ride was 10 hours long. As it was an overnight bus, I was able to sleep more than half that time so it wasn't so bad.

The windmills in the Netherlands

Arriving in Berlin was a huge culture shock for me. After two weeks in beautiful Amsterdam the bus station was filled with graffiti and tired faces, and the streets and subway station with homeless men and women. It's nothing I haven't seen before, but it was a sharp contrast to my experience in Amsterdam. It took me some time to get use to and accept as part of the city's atmosphere.

Berlin is full of graffiti like this

I had trouble figuring out how to get a ticket. Even after finding the button to translate in English (everyone in Amsterdam speaks English and it's really easy and Germany was mostly German) I still didn't know whether to buy an A ticket a B ticket Or an ABC ticket. What did those letters mean? As I struggled at the machine a German guy started yelling at me in German. I quit immediately and gave him the machine. Not a good introduction to Berlin. Also in Berlin, you purchase a ticket, validate it and then never use it again... I am pretty sure you could sneak on the subway for days before getting caught. Myself, being as paranoid as I am, would never do that , but I can't help but question the system.

The subway in Berlin

Inside the train

I got a little lost finding my hostel and since it was 7 am it was eerily quiet and no one was around to ask for help. As if being helped by the gods, a young Russian girl was lost and also looking for the same hostel. We found it together, but she didn't have a reservation and had to go to another hostel. It's unfortunate because she was really nice! The woman at the hostel who checked me in was very friendly and gave me a pamphlet that explained where you could go to get free tours. My goal that day was to go to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. As a history graduate student, my favorite places to visit are the ones with a lot of history. I think it's part of why I love Amsterdam so much.  The holocaust has also had a deep affect on me since I was in high school and first studied it. Its something I’ve wanted to see for many years and I was excited that there was a tour I could participate in.

The free tours meet at the Starbucks near the Brandenburg gate. It was a bit of a walk, but on the way I was able to see the Reichstag and part of the Berlin Wall.

The Reichstag!

Part of the Berlin wall. Those dots are all pieces of chewed gum.

The Brandenburg gate. Home of the starbucks.

I had to wait a bit before the tour started as I was half an hour early. I bought an ABC daily ticket, charged my phone and paid 70 cents in a starbucks to use the bathroom, which as an American is mind boggling to me. When the guides arrived I was the first one to get a ticket for the tour and wait online.

I have to pay to use the public restroom? Really? Shouldn’t toilets be a human right?!

But of course it wasn't that easy. 5 minutes before the tour was to begin I was told that I had spent 30 minutes on line for THE WRONG TOUR!!! I had to run over to the people hosting the correct tour (the Sachsenhausen tour) and was told that there was a wait list and five people were ahead of me. Of course! I was an hour early and I am now 5 people behind on the wait list... Even if I told them about my plight, there was nothing they could do. What's worse is that I found out the Sachsenhousen tour wasn't free like the rest of the tours. Instead it was 13 euros, which I almost thought I didn't have. In the end it turned out in my favor because the British girls ahead of me on the wait list only had their money in pounds! I was the last one accepted to go on the tour.

Yes, this is how my life usually goes

To be continued...