A fellow American-living-in-Hamburg gave me good advice: she just decides to be happy exactly where she is. I'm following that advice, and everyday I'm in awe of the fact that this is the life I'm actually living.
So rather than try to re-cap two months, I thought I'd start with the thing that is easiest to re-cap, which is my weekend in Berlin! I met up with a friend whom I originally met on my Tanzania trip, the one and only Betsy Miles from Minnesota. I include that tidbit of information, because it explains why we hadn't seen each other SINCE Tanzania. But despite that we spent the whole weekend exploring the city, discussing everything from climate change to the cultural appropriation of women's rights, and laughing until our sides ached and tears ran down our cheeks. (And getting to know basic facts, such as that Suzi is short for Suzanna and Betsy is short for Bethany. It's amazing how you can know someone so well in one context but know so few actual facts about them!) It was a great weekend, and a welcome change of pace for a short while.
Which leads to me to my second point, and I'll explain it on the way, but mainly it comes down to this: it's fascinating the ways in which traveling has changed my personality, and it's definitely for the better.
The countryside is full of fields of mustard flowers right now. Unfortunately, pictures don't do the vibrant yellow color justice.
"Driving" a Trabant (East German car) in the DDR museum!
I couldn't get the car out of reverse. Hence the uncontrollable laughing fit.
First, traveling has improved my sense of direction, which was admittedly already pretty good to begin with. I don't say that to brag, just to state a fact. All I need to do is see a good city map and to figure out my cardinal directions and I'm usually solid. In fact, I'm sometimes so confident in where I'm going that it makes other people uncomfortable. I guess "we just need to head in a general Northeast direction" doesn't suffice for everyone.
Berlin, however, is one of the few cities where I simply CAN NOT orient myself. This weekend I accidentally took the subway across the entire city TWICE before finally asking a local for help. It's so difficult, because the train lines don't really make sense, the river doesn't run straight East-West, and there's no distinct city center around which you can orient yourself. OH! AND, the old East Berlin and West Berlin make absolutely no sense. You'd think you could use the demarcation of the wall to help orient yourself, but you will be royally screwed if you try that.
Well landmarks can be helpful and one super helpful Berlin landmark is the TV Tower, because you can see it from just about anywhere and it's relatively central. Luckily our hostel was only about a ten-minute walk away from this (in)famous landmark.
These bears are all over the city. I adore them.
This is called "The Pope's Revenge". From the right angle, the church completely eclipses the TV Tower. It's said to be revenge for the number of churches the very atheist DDR destroyed.
Another way in which traveling has helped me is to be more flexible. When I'm stressed and under pressure, my natural coping mechanism is to plan everything out as much as possible. If you try that when you're traveling, you're going to have a miserable time, running from tourist location to tourist location. So instead, I choose a couple things that I really want to do and then roll with the punches in between. It lets you explore parts of the city that you might've otherwise never seen, as well as see parts of city life that are a little more removed from the tourist sectors.
Betsy and I knew we wanted to get to the Brandenburger Tor, but what we saw on the way didn't matter much. So we wandered across Museum Island and down the famous Berlin boulevard, Unter den Linden.
We met another bear on the way...
And made it to the gate!
Another thing I have to visit every time I'm in Berlin is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, otherwise known as the Holocaust Memorial. It's profound and thought-provoking, and completely different from any memorial I've ever been to.
While in it you have a feeling of claustrophobia and entrapment that is meant to mimic how Jews felt under Nazi Germany.
By this point we were pretty tired and hungry and the weather was gorgeous, so we bought some snacks from a grocery store and relaxed in the park, talking about what it's like being an American living abroad.
And of course we walked back through the Brandenburg Gate on the way back to our hostel.
Unfortunately, I didn't document the nightlife in Berlin. And I'm not talking about the clubbing night life (Berlin's nightlife is actually crazy. The party through to the next morning, and I just can't do that), but rather the street scene that comes alive when the sun goes down but the nights stay warm. Betsy and I stumbled across a grassy area next to the river that had a dance floor and was playing music. We spent at least 20 minutes people-watching as people danced the salsa, tango, and waltz with varying degrees of success.
Another thing I've learned from traveling: look up! We get so wrapped up in our immediate surroundings that sometimes we forget to look for a different point of view. In many cities, this new point of view lies behind a building or above your line of sight, under a bridge or through a wall of trees.
East Side Gallery
And finally, traveling has taught me that, more than anything, it's the PEOPLE that make a place unique. That's obviously something you can understand in principle, but until you experience it you can't really feel it.
Berlin and Hamburg, for example, have completely different vibes. Hamburg is considerably smaller and definitely cleaner/prettier, but Berlin also has a unique personality. The division that stood for 50 years still has an impact today, and you see it in everything from the street art to the way people dress. There's a distinct hippy vibe to the city, and I love it. I feel at home in Hamburg, and I would choose it over Berlin any day, but I won't deny that it would be nice to wear a flowy flower-printed skirt once in a while.
And here is Exhibit A of how the people make the city. The East Side Gallery was painted immediately after the wall fell, and it has become a cultural and historic piece of art that stretches a mile long. Street art from the people. But many people simply do not appreciate or respect this cultural/historic contribution, and the art is being slowly covered by graffiti. Betsy and I were disgusted by this until we came across this group of people who were diligently washing off as much graffiti as they could. Faith in humanity slightly restored.
And there you have it people! The lessons I've learned and the ways I've grown as a result of traveling could probably fill an entire book, but we'll keep it there. And anyway, these are lessons that you won't understand until you experience them, so rather than having me preaching to you, you should get out there and learn them yourself! Traveling is about gaining perspective and broadening your horizons. It's wonderful and exhausting and addictive, and once you're bitten by the wanderlust bug, there's no going back.
