Berkeley's Own Berliner

#1
Listening to this

Hallo! Wie Gehts? What's really good!
I've been in Germany for about 24 hours now, so I thought it was time to begin documenting my feelings and surroundings. Enjoy.

My mother and I landed in Frankfurt yesterday at 10 am after a luxurious flight in a double Decker, crazy modern airbus of a plane only to find that Lufthansa (bless their souls) had lost one of our most important bags. All my brand new winter gear, my moms purse and much much more is, as of now, lost in the world. :(
We immediately boarded a (modern and insanely fast) train with the city of Offenburg as our destination. Upon arriving, we met my dad and went straight to a birthday party of a (previously unknown) 2nd cousin of mine. There I met 3 other 2nd cousins I had no idea existed and a bunch of new friends. I had to face the fact that my German is Scheiße, so I embarrassed myself countless times in order to begin the process of becoming a German speaker. We sat around, chatted, ate some of the best cake and meat in the world (in that order) and simply kicked back in their beautifully modern yet rural home. I was instantly reminded of how different the pace of life is here. Less planning, moving and anxiety...much more drinking, laughing and conversing. Germans definitely know how to relax. I was made fun of plenty, shown the ways of drinking beer, and stuffed with food, but it was an awesome afternoon. Of course while it was approaching dinner time here, it was approaching 6 in the morning for my mom and I, so the rest of the afternoon and evening were an exhausted blur until we laid our heads on our pillows an hour train ride away, in Freiburg.
I am currently sitting in our apartment in Freiburg; an old city in South Western Germany lined with cobble stones and bursting with German culture. You can't go far without smelling wurst (pronounced vorst, meaning German sausage) or seeing German men smoking and drinking, even at 11 am. This is not the first time I've been to Freiburg, actually, this city is very familiar to me. My dad has been teaching a UC class abroad here every summer for the last decade and most years I came with. I love it here! It can be summed up like this: Family oriented by day, fun oriented by night. You see kids frolicking and having the time of their lives, and you see young adults hanging out all hours of the night, right outside of our apartment. This city is filled with some of the most gorgeous beer gardens I have seen! People sit under the trees and stars putting away pints and eating their hearts delight of wurst and bretzen (those big, soft, salty pretzels...except 10x better than the American equivalent).
I have a week in Freiburg with nothing to do but stroll on cobble stone alleyways, eat lavishly, hang with my dad's students, walk by the enchanting river, meet new homies and enjoy the hell out of the fact that I am now 18.....by drinking some of the best beer this world has to offer! I am no alcoholic, but part of me has waited for this day since I was 8!
As sweet as Freiburg is, this is not my final destination. In a week I'll be getting on a train to the opposite side of the country, the North Eastern city of Berlin. Yup, Ber-Fucking-Lin. There I will be working for an organization called LandKunstLeben (literally: LandArtLife). My parents will be long gone and it'll be me, 3 other kids in my position and supposedly one of the best cities in the world. Until then!

The view from the train going into Freiburg. German Skies.