Berlin

Last week after the Baltic sea, I headed down to Berlin with my friends for our final seminar. Our program, Parlimentarisches Patenshafts Program (PPP) is almost over. It's a bit early for a final seminar with still over a month remaining, but the schedule was determined by the Bundestag. We were going to get to get inside their congress and meet some congressmen, and since they are paying for our time over here, when they say come on this day, we come.

We got in, met up with Steffi, my foreign exchange sister from Germany. I had last seen her right before Christmas with my parents. Great to see her again, having fresh watermelon and all of us talking German. Quite entertaining. Then off to our hostel, where all 73 of us in the program were staying. So sweet to see everyone again, as I know all of them and I have a lot of good friends in the program. Felt like a family reunion, with the oldest 25 and the youngest 19.

We had several planned excursions throughout the week in Berlin, with some of the highlights being the boat tour where we saw more than expected and learned a lot in a 3 hour tour; exploring the real Berlin, where the toursits are not to be found; going to a theater where they wore masks, didn't speak and was just plain old brilliant physical comedy; and just hanging out with everyone.

The seminar itself was pretty boring, but I offset that by meeting with my congressman at his personal office. Awesome guy who I've met before and always tries to give me something. This time it was a huge book on Migration, in German, that weighed a ton. I turned that down, but ended up getting a smaller novel in German to read. We talked about Erfurt (where he's from), where to party in Berlin, politics, what I've been up to and where the best currywurst in town is. I got the Bundestag goody-bag on the way out, with a DVD, CD, papers and book on the Bundestag. Not too shabby for a half hour of time.

Me and the Rostock boys Austin and Sean on the boat tour

Cruising on the boat tour with Katie and Reggie, Museum Island behind us

On the Spree River

PPPlers from the Cologne group

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, bombed twice during WWII
Group of PPPlers in front of the Brandenburger Tor

A walking, talking Bratwurst stand. Amazing!
Chilling at an abandoned building, that now has a beer garden in back

Check out the bar in the bus