Berlin Livin'

Joey Schwind

         

 Berlin gave the trip an awesome first impression.  The big city life was awesome, and of course, much different from our small town of Morganton.  I think Berlin was a culture shock to some. My family spoke great English and my host brother, Felix, admired the American culture. Speaking of my family, they were amazing. The differences in family life are quite different as well. During our three days in Berlin, we toured many sites, watched a European Championship soccer game, got lost for awhile (3 hours), and visited the school.

            So, the second night there, the fun began. We went to watch the Germany-Denmark soccer game. Germany won 2-1. We went to an “American” style bar to watch the match, and the meal combinations were defferent. I ordered chicken tenders, and they came with a side of tortilla chips. Afterwards, we all wanted to go out for a little while. The game ended at 9:45 and nobody wanted to go home. So, we left the restaurant and headed towards the train. As soon as we got to where we needed to go, everyone decided it was too late to go home. That night turned into a night of work, trying to find everyone’s house and such. Lesson learned: have a way home before making plans. Regardless, everyone had a great night. Finally, we get home at 3 a.m.

            The following day, we visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp, went to the school for an end of the year festival, and went out for the night. Since we all had to wake up early the next day, it wasn’t a late night.  The school was a private school and very different. None of the classrooms had any kind of technology in them except for a tv. The class sizes were so small and the school looked like it hadn’t been updated in a pretty long time. Nevertheless, the school was one of the most elite schools in all of Germany! The school festival was pretty cool. In celebration of their last day of school, all of the students put on ‘Schulfest’ (school festival) where all of the student organizations gathered together and made food to be sold and this festival was open to the pubic. After Schulfest, we all went shopping and then to Cancún in Potsdamer Platz. We watched the Spain and Croatia soccer match. After people began to leave, we wanted to go to the Sony Center (in the photo on the right) and just hung around there for awhile.

            Berlin was fun and a city full of life. I think that it’s safe to say that the bar was set pretty high for the trip after Berlin. We all wanted to stay longer, and I will definitley go back.