Oktober

Wow. I definitely still need to get better at this! What have I done with the past month? It’s just flown by! So Uni’s all started now, yep, definitely started – the lack of knowledge and basic vocabulary is already hitting me...

So, I met up with Anna and her friends from Heidelberg, which was rather nice, went to a few bars near Rosenthaler Platz, chatted, drank beer. Standard German night out! Then the next day we met up again to visit Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which was very interesting. We hired audio guides, which were very informative (definitely a lot more information than we could listen to in a single day! After saying bye to the three I headed home to start preparing dinner – having invited all the Danish girls (that I know, not alllll the Danish girls there are...), Evagoras and Kim round to prepare for what would hopefully be a fabulous Erasmus evening. Whilst the preparations provided a lot of fun – Evagoras needs to practise his jenga skills – the Erasmus Party was unfortunately somewhat lacking in the amazing departments. Arriving at 23.25 and being told it was after half 11, so we’d have to pay extra, we entered the effectively empty club. Not so great, but we know how to start the dancing! So we got a bit groovy on the dance floor, only to be flooded within half an hour with more Erasmus students than you could possibly imagine. Not cool. Yes, we’d like to meet new people, but there was absolutely no space free for that to happen! So we left far earlier than originally planned. Waste.

The next day I met up with Mette and some friends – a Danish girl she met here and also another from back home. We arranged to meet up with Arne (my flatmate) and some of his colleagues in a club called Magnet. Wow. Definitely actually worth the entrance money that night – we danced and danced and danced, the music was good, the drinks were there, and so we were – until 6.30!! So not getting back until 7.30 in the morning – feels like quite an achievement to me! Five hours later I went round Mette’s again, to discover the amazingness that is the fruit and veg market near her house. Wow. Pretty snazzy! Followed by my first German Nickerchen and a (mainly wine) picnic with Natali and Chris on the grass by Hackescher Markt (next to the Spree). And possibly some of the last sun of the year. We were lured to the Melodica Festival in Görlitzer Park by Anne’s promise of cake (which was definitely worth the trip!) and some laid back free music – definitely our style J Having won VIP entry to Hafenbar (there’s definitely some bias there from the judge, Mette! ;) ) we continued to Joe’s Karaoke session, with a promise of free entry, shots, and a lot of enjoyment! The Karaoke led to dancing and a night of groovy moves on all sides, and we kept the Karaoke spirit flowing with our standard dose of Mauerpark Karaoke, which was fabby doo daa (as always).

Monday (finally) brought my appointment at the Bürgeramt = Certificate of Residency = Successful Immatrikulation = good times! So my first Einführungsveranstaltung for Erasmus students – most boring thing I’ve ever sat through in my life! I was also lucky enough that Kim told me the night before about our Einführungsveranstaltung für Germanistik – rather lucky, because that one was actually helpful, made sure we knew that if we didn’t get our HU Learning Agreement signed before a certain deadline we wouldn’t get our Transcript of Results = massive problems when we get back to Birmingham at the end of the year!

My second horn lesson followed on Wednesday – I’m loving the Horn room in the Konzerthaus more every time I see it! They have a Fußball table, and the “Horn Chronicles”, which all the visiting horn players get to sign, and it’s pretty epic! I <3 it.

Mette, Anna and I spent Thursday afternoon looking at shoes near Potsdamer Platz, interesting to see how life could be, were my shoes waterproof! Should really do something about that... Then we met Anne at Friedrichstraße and stopped off at a Chinese takeaway on the way – spring rolls and noodles = yummy! Dussmann beckoned us with its free concert offering – Tim Bendzko!! Unfortunately the room was quite small, meaning the view was limited (I feel so sorry for the 400 or so people who didn’t manage to get in...), but it’s all about the atmosphere! Having not yet visited Oktoberfest, we decided to try and meet up with some of the people in Mette and Anna’s tutor group from the FU, however they were nowhere to be seen. We did, however, find some friendly older German people, which lead to beer and dancing (I think Anne really enjoyed her dance with the elderly drunk lady), and also a LOT of singing, yodelling included! After receiving a text from Lukas (one of the guys in this tutor group) we went to meet them at his flat for a few drinks, followed by a trip back to Alex once more for a club in a sky scraper – Weekend. Definitely NOT worth the money. We didn’t stay very long (but definitely long enough to use the wrong toilets). Probably never going back there again!

Friday was a cultural day – Nini had her best friend from Denmark visiting, so we all met up and went to visit Tacheles, which is rather snazzy, if I might say so myself! Many a cool picture occurred. And Falafels. Perfection in a meal! Then we went to a pub called “das Klo”, a crazy place, I must say! Pretty much everything is toilet orientated, and there’s a video playing with weird adverts, and you can get beer in these weird plastic urinal mugs. Very strange indeed. Mette and I found our ideal men on the way home (yes, in a playground), because... Well, because that’s just the age we’re at. I think I make her feel young...

My first baking session in Berlin came on the Saturday – Chris’ birthday party being the perfect occasion for such a session! Mette and I went all out with our chocolate brownie cake (I definitely ate more of the mixture than I ought), and it was genuinely AMAZING. No one could deny. Silver Wings was then blessed with our presence (despite the minor drawback of Mette’s MASSIVE splinter), free champagne on arrival = definitely a good thing! Though probably less good for the next day. Definitely less good for the next day. After a bit of chatting on facebook with Emma, an Irish girl doing her Erasmus at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik, we decided to attend the last night of Oktoberfest in Berlin. Having promised myself little drink and an early night, we naturally ordered a litre each upon arrival (putting the guy opposite us to shame!), and were soon joined by three Swedish guys and two Berliners, heading off with some of them afterwards and ending up somewhere near Warschauerstraße. Definitely not an early night, and rather unhelpful in my getting to uni for 8.00 the next day! I managed it, however, only to find out that it was a Freier Tag – I could definitely have done with those extra two hours in bed! Oh well. I went for a walk with one of the German girls who was also waiting for this seminar and we went for a hot drink and a chat. It was lovely, and she was very nice and helpful! At 10.00 my Einführungsveranstaltung für Musikwissenschaft (which was actually occurring) started, and I chatted with some of the lovely new “ersties”, and turns out there are rather a lot of Musikwissenschaft Erasmus students! And a Danish girl, who is actually doing here whole Bachelor here – interesting! That evening I attended my first orchestra rehearsal – approving muchly of Mahler 1, though I’ve never played in quite such a large orchestra before – 10 horns, wow! But lovely anyway. Afterwards we all went for a drink in “der Keller”. Expecting it to be some sort of bar, I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to genuinely be a cellar underneath the University’s main building! It was pretty much perfect – a fridge full of beer, you put 1,-€ in the pot and take a beer, and you chat. Wow. We need that in England!

Since the next day Uni suddenly hasn’t seemed to let me get a word in edgeways! I’ve visited SO many Seminars, Übungs and Vorlesungs, it’s crazy! On Wednesday I met up with Lula, who I bumped into during Immatrikulation, and we went for a drink and chat, which was good – nice to speak German with a fluent speaker! Thursday brought all the Musikwissenschaft Erasmus students together for a chat and some wine, which was definitely good to get to know each other, and a few of us went for pizza afterwards as well, which was nice. And definitely encouraged me to go on the Music Kneipentour the next day, where I got to know quite a few of the students better, definitely a bonus.

The weekend was the first of much homework needing doing! But I semi-got on top of it, which was a relief, and on Sunday we had our standard Mauerpark session, this time being followed by sushi (very nice) and a session in Al Hamra, where there’s an open-mike evening every Sunday, which was great fun!

Last week brought pretty much more of the same – Orchestra, I met Emma on Tuesday and we bought a crate of beer, ate dinner, watched some tv and drank. Which was relaxing. On Wednesday I had my next horn lesson (this time at a music school), I’m loving my horn lessons more and more every time I have one! And then in the evening I met up with Liselotte (another girl I met during registration) and Maxi to go to a bar and have a chat, all in German and rather complex, but it’s got to be good for me, right? Plus it definitely helped me the next day – I got a text from Liselotte asking me if I could help the people she works part-time with – they need a native English speaker to check over the translation on a new English website, so I spent my Thursday afternoon/Friday there = monies for Ren J

Friday = my first real German houseparty – Halloween!! Having been told by Julia that no one would be dressed up, I met up with Almut (who had carved her own pumpkin!) and arrived at a fully decorated house, with many a vampire, and any possible Halloween character you could imagine!! But it wasn’t too bad, because a girl called Agnetha painted my face for me, she’s pretty good at that sort of thing! She’d also done her own, and had this crazy thing with her eyes. Yeah, freaky! I didn’t stay too late, though, because I had my audition for the HU Orchester the next day, which went well, except I had a bit of an argument with the conductor over what I should play in the orchestra – he wants me to play first horn Schubert, but I really want to play in the Mahler (of course!). So at the moment I’m still playing in both, and hopefully he’ll decide it’s useful to have so many horns in the Mahler...

Ooooh, nearly up to date! Monday: orchestra, as per, followed by a beer in der Keller. Emma and I met up on Tuesday evening, we ate dinner together again, and made a bit more headway on our crate of beer, along with Arne, aided by the drinking jenga game, and some crazy Korn shot things... Hmmm – I’m not convinced! On Wednesday I had another horn lesson (yay), and in the evening I met up with Kim, Evagoras, Alex and Ruth, who’s flown over from England and is making a fleeting trip round all the universities in Germany to check everything’s ok. So that was nice, we all went for a drink and had a rather interesting chat. Very nice. Then last night I went to Stammtisch with other Erasmus students at the HU, which was good, nice atmosphere and to meet people. There was also a free jazz concert in the cellar, which we made good use of! And today? I met up with Mette and Anna for lunch, and am going off for orchestra in a bit – busy busy busy! And maybe I’ll meet up with Mette and Anna again this evening – who knows?!

So yes. Wow. That was long, sorry guys! But you didn’t HAVE to read it :P
Bis bald (oder vielleicht nicht so bald...)!

I really need to start doing this more often...

Where did I leave off?
So yes, we did go out, and there was definitely more than a whisper of Karaoke! Wow. Mette and I demonstrated our skills with some classic Spice Girls, and then Mette showed off her actual talent with some rather snazzy Jason Mraz. Amazing. So Rosis was a definite hit with us (we've been back once since, but I'll get back to that!), it's crazy but lovely at the same time :)
The next day I went to Nini's for dinner (scrummy, she knows how to make GOOD food!), and Kim joined us as we prepared for the first Erasmus party of the year. It got to the drinking, and the realisation that they don't have Ring of Fire in Denmark was too much to resist... The cheap vodka was slightly interesting tasting, but nothing we couldn't handle, and so we set off for the party with good intentions... Reaching the Kulturbrauerei, however, we joined what turned out to be the wrong queue... In all our laziness, though, we stayed with this club, finding not only free entry for girls, but also three free 2,50€ drinks vouchers on entry! Total result! We danced the night away, definitely scored finding a stage in the middle of the dance floor = Ren being nearly the same height as Nini :D
An excited phone call the next night prevented me from going to bed quite as early as planned! In fact, there were two phone calls that night! First Kim, letting me know she'd found somewhere to live (always a good thing!) and we arranged for her to come round for some Baileys celebrations (of course). Then Julia, my beloved Erasmus guider, who helped me start looking for trains (southbound for Christmas) as well as explaining many a thing on the Humboldt website. Lifesaver.
Sunday I met up with Mette and Nini for what seems to be fast becoming a traditional Sunday Karaoke im Mauerpark feast. The weather was AMAZING, we even got to the stage of applying sun cream (crazy or what?!), there was beer all round, more people than you can possibly even imagine singing Karaoke in front of (literally!), and we even managed to persuade Mette to sing.

So yes, a FANTASTIC day, topped by Mette and I "stealing" helmets from the man sitting next to us for a photos. They definitely suited us...
Monday. Scary times! I rang Dmitry Babanov (loving the name sooooo much) to arrange a lesson so we could see whether or not I'd get lessons from him. Wow, that sounds a lot less scary than it felt! I think that's pretty much all that happened on Monday. Or all that you'll want to hear about. Maybe not even that... And I skyped with Rozzy. Which was lovely, because I hadn't heard her voice in forever. And damn I miss that ginger!
Tuesday Kim and I acknowledged the arrival of our third Brummie in Berlin - Evagoras! We met up for a beer (standard German style) near the Fernsehturm, which was nice, good to see at least a few people from our previous lives! And then a nice therapeutic skype session with Julia. In which we cooked together, just like old times!
Wednesday. The dreaded/eagerly anticipated horn lesson is here! I met Dmitry in the Konzerthaus (wow!), and he took me to the horn room, where the walls have many an old bell, with records, alarms, speakers... Pretty much everything you could get in a bell! We geduzt (eeeee), and the lesson was quite different, music in German. It's strange. I like it, but it's definitely strange. But we have it all set up, and he's going to teach me this year, which is a nice thing to have sorted finally! I kept up this good day by meeting up with some couchsurfers for a bit of volleyball, beer and BBQ (of course!), and then Mette and I went with Natali and Henrik to the Havannah Club to try our hand at a bit of salsa. It turns out there was a salsa festival going on at the moment (biggest one in Europe or something? I'm not sure...), so we got there and everyone was really good, and wearing all their fancy clothes... Well, we found many a dance partner (I'm not sure I've danced with so many people in one night ever before!), even if none of them stayed with us for very long... Natali, however, turned out to know a fair bit of salsa, so when she wasn't off dancing (she managed to hold her men far longer than we did!), she was nice enough to show us a bit of how it's really done... But we're maybe gradually getting there... If we go again, though, it may be an idea to go to the lesson beforehand!
Friday brought our second stint at Rosis. We dined at Nini's first (superb once again, homemade hummus = good times!), playing drinking UNO and Ring of Fire once again. With Ouzo. Lethal. Then we roamed the town for a while, before ending up, as mentioned before, at Rosis. Much dancing, much fun! Met some guys who turned out to be there on a stag do, and were from London. Obviously I did the standard "oooh, London!! I'm a Londoner" bonding thing. However, on discovering I was from North East London, they spent the rest of the night calling me Essex girl. Great. You can't even escape it in Berlin!
So I arrived home at 5.30, realising that I had to get up so I could meet Kim the next day. Get up at 8.30. Oh my. That was somewhat less fun! However, seeing Kim was lovely, and we talked, had lunch (mmmm, Camembert :) ) and watched Shark Tale. What a film! Then to get back home for a bit of casual drinking with Arne... I say casual. There's definitely an empty bottle from that night, and I'm not talking beer... But it was fun, we watched a few films and talked and all was good.
And next, of course, came the "traditional" Sunday in Mauerpark with Karaoke. The weather was again lovely (how? It's October! Probably not many more of those...), and Mette managed to be convinced to sing again, which was a double bonus for all around! Then, with the next day being Feiertag, we went to a free concert at the Brandenburger Tor. Snazzy, plenty of people, beer, food, music. Everything. A very nice day indeed :)
Then, on the actual Feiertag, I met up with Sara and two of her friends from Belgium. We wandered by the Brandenburger Tor for a bit, and then caught an S-Bahn to Jannowitzbruecke to try and find a beach on the Spree. Unfortunately this didn't quite work out, though we did find a club that seems to be open all day(!) and an actual Biergarten. With a bonfire and a double decker bus. So that was good!
Then yesterday I went and immatrikulated (finally!), though only partially, as I still don't actually have my Meldebescheinigung... But that's happening on Monday (all going well), and then I'll be well in there. Like swimwear... I do, however, now how my travel pass, which means getting round town is going to be a lot cheaper/easier! Double woop :)
And then today I met up with Kim (who immatrikulated today) and Evagoras (who finished his Immatrikulation today) and we went for a drink and a chat, which was very nice. Tonight I'm off to meet Anna, who's doing her Erasmus year in Heidelberg, but visiting Berlin with friends for a few days, so that's exciting. And then tomorrow we're off to hopefully actually attend the second Erasmus party of the year... But I don't want to assume quite yet!!
Also ja, bis naechstes Mal!

Beer?

Soooooo.... I really should try and keep this up to date!

So far... I went on a Couch Surfing "beer crawl" last weekend, which was rather crazy! Dividing into teams of three at the start line, each team buys a crate (20l) of beer, which is to be consumed on a walk through Berlin. Joining two Danish girls (Mette and Anne) to create a team, we set off merrily down Unter den Linden, with all the tourists staring in awe. However, being a team of girls soon took its toll, and as we gradually got further and further behind we stopped for a loo break (Mette and I running in together, with the doors managing to shut before Anne could get in with us). And of course we lost EVERYONE else!
No worries, we continued along through Tiergarten until we reached the Siegersäule, taking a break from the slowly decreasing in weight but still heavy Bierkiste. After Anne and I had dashed off for another "loo" break, Mette exclaimed that she had seen the others, and we went on a chase through the Tiergarten, unfortunately finding no one... But all in all it was still a rather amusing experience :)
Then on Sunday I met up with Mette and Nini (another Danish girl who had been on the beer crawl, but in another team, and hence got much nearer the finish line than we did...), and we went to Mauerpark, at first for the weekly karaoke session (which was unfortunately cancelled due to the rather bad weather), but also for the flea market, which is also a regular occurrence there.
This week, having still not heard from Humboldt-Universität, I took the advice of our Birmingham year abroad tutor and went into uni... Unfortunately the woman I needed to speak to wasn't in, and they were unsure when she would next be in, but the man, who was rather helpful all the same, promised to send me an email and let me know what was going on.
As I walked back to Alexanderplatz, through the roads full of tourists, I somehow managed to find Kim, another girl from Birmingham, who had arrived the night before. With the weather being infinitely better than the day before we took some time out to sit in a cafe in Alexanderplatz and have a catch-up on how everything was going. After this I got a call from Sara asking to meet up, and it turns out she has also found a WG! However, as she isn't going to be moving in until October, she was getting a flight back to Belgium the next day, and only coming back once her contract starts.
Upon my return to the flat, I had an email from Humboldt! However, upon reading, it appeared that I would be unable to study German for the first Semester, because due to the problems in my application I had registered too late! I would, however, be able to study music. After some frantic emailing and skyping, I decided to go back into the university the next day, where I went to the International office and explained my case - that I had registered on time, but had been registered for the Pflichtsemester instead of the Erasmussemester, and I was only late because it had been corrected so late on. The lady was very understanding and helpful, asking me for my number so that she could call me when I returned. Apparently they were still unable to find the date I actually applied by, but thanks to her we have (or so I believe!) managed to get me registered for both Germanistik and Musikwissenschaft.
That evening, with it being Kim's birthday, I met up with Kim, and we ended up back in my flat, watching some good old English comedy - Green Wing, with Baileys and Hot Chocolate. The perfect way to end the day!
Yesterday I met up with Mette and Anne again, and also met Mette's housemate (another Danish girl!), Anna. We went to attempt a bit of Jason Mraz stalking (having not managed to get tickets in advance). As we walked around the church we could hear him perfectly, even managing to get some teenagers (one on the shoulders of another) to attempt to take some photos for us! The security men didn't seem completely amused... Or convinced of our harmlessness!
Once the cold hit in we set off to meet two of Mette's friends in a pub. The pub (Das Hotel) was very cute, with there being no electric lighting, but instead loads of candles EVERYWHERE. And I mean everywhere. There were two toilets, and each was lit by two candles, and there was also a watering can with flowers in each. Very nice!
And tonight? Tonight we are supposed to be going out, though I'm not quite sure where to, but I think there was a whisper of Karaoke... Only time will tell!

SO many room interviews later...

So it's been a while...
Erm. Let's see... Amazing, the night after THE SNORER his friends were still in the room but he wasn't, so I'm not sure if they told him he couldn't stay or if someone complained.... But definitely a bonus!
Had rather a lot more WG interviews, dotted all over town (my legs are not loving the exercise...) and on Wednesday (the day before I was due to move out the youth hostel!) I got a text from one of the WGs saying I could have the room, and move in tomorrow (the Thursday). BINGO!
I spent the day in town, went on a free tour of Berlin (actually really good) with some nice Aussies I met at the youth hostel, and our tour guide turned out to be a Londoner as well, and had studied Art and French, making her also a survivor of the Erasmus experience. After the tour a few of the tourists (and I?) went for a drink with the tour guide in the cafe of the DDR museum. There were two American women there, turns out one of their sons is doing an exchange program at the Freie Universitaet at the moment. And EVERYONE you meet is heading south in the next couple of days for Oktoberfest. Jealous!
Anyway, I exchanged numbers with our tour guide - hopefully a good contact to have - and went back to the hostel to sort my life out for the move!
Arne came and picked me up in his car, which was nice and saved me a bit of a tram ride. We went out to a bar for one of his friend's leaving dos, which was nice, and hopefully everything is going to span out well!

THE SNORER

I take a brief interlude in my WG search to moan for a while about THE SNORER.
Last night four new Australian guys joined our room in the youth hostel, all well and good. However, at 1AM I was woken up by the snoring coming from one (THE SNORER). As, it appears, was everyone else. At 2.45am another from the group returns, rather drunkenly, to the room. The Aussie guy in the bunk above THE SNORER asked him to do something about the noise, at which point drunk guy falls VERY LOUDLY to the floor. Nope, still snoring away. He throws a proper (and pretty full) travel rucksack at him. Nope. At 3.15 I left the room for an hour and a half to sleep on the floor in the women's toilets. I returned to the room around 5am, as this is apparently the time when all female visitors in Germany need to pee, and he's still going strong. So yay, loads of sleep for my three interviews today!
The WGs today were rather nice though, all have said I should be able to practise, none are smokers. All going well. A definitely more positive outlook (if one of them chooses me...).
We'll soon see!
Right, I'm off to bed before THE SNORER takes over the room once more...
Bis bald :)

Saturday and Sunday - days of relaxation?

I can never remember where I left off...
I scabbed dinner of Irena and co. on Friday night, then we went for cocktails (obviously in the local Indian restaurant...). Walked home and zonked.
Saturday. I met the first WG girl (having only met her mum the first time), and she's a musician, plays cello, and really nice. Unfortunately I can't actually afford that rent...
Decided to discover some of the streets of Berlin and wandered round the area for a while, ended up buying a German SIM (will hopefully make the whole WG process a lot cheaper!) and met another woman about a room in her flat in the evening. The flat was very nice, quite far away from town and with her and her son, near a park (in which I got lost on the way). One day I'll also learn to write down the surnames of the people I'm visiting (they're on all the bells in the flats here). (Also definitely just took a quick time-out to write down the ones for Monday!) So yeah, it was nice, but quite far away and not with students...
Today I went to church, a bit of a crazy attempt to meet new people. Wasn't quite the type of church I was looking for - turned out to be a cinema screening room, and a modern day worship church, so that was a bit different!
Met up with Sara for a nice picnic lunch in Alexanderplatz, whilst being "serenaded" by a man on his guitar, which was actually rather pleasant! Decided to walk down Unter den Linden (and got distracted by the book stall outside Humboldt-Universitaet!), got free hugs by the Brandenburger Tor, and then walked through Tiergarten Park (where apparently you're allowed BBQs!) towards the Siegesaeule. Followed by a walk back through town and to our respective youth hostels :)

Still looking...

Breakfast was a good experience yesterday, I met two nice Swiss girls who are here sightseeing, and they even accepted my feeble attempts at German!
However, the search for a WG seems to get ever harder...
I visited three more (still on a productive spree...), the morning one was ok, with a man and sometimes his young daughter, and he has told me I should be able to practise there through the day. The second, with a graffiti artist, was much further away and took me forever and a police officer to find (my map doesn't stretch that far...). Then, upon arrival, I couldn't remember the man's surname, and so hazarded a guess on the bell system (and scored!). However, when I got in the building there was a courtyard and four separate buildings, each a likely candidate for this WG. My guessing the second time round wasn't quite as accurate, but luckily the kids in the apartment I rang on were pretty helpful and I soon found the right door. However, this apartment again wasn't quite my cup of tea - smoking, up a zillion flights of stairs and far from the uni. I hopped back on the U-Bahn and headed off to what seems like the furthest West part of Berlin (bound to be even more expensive!).
Again upon arrival I hadn't a clue as to the guy's surname, but children seemed to be my saviours again as one of the kids in the building let me into the stairwell. From then on I appear to have no shame anymore as I just gradually climbed the stairs ringing on doorbells! But again it eventually paid off, and I found the WG in question. A lovely and recently (/still in the process of being) renovated WG, the rooms were huge and everything seemed lovely. The cheaper (but still expensive) room turned out to have been rented already, but the two guys offered to show me the other slightly larger, and even more expensive room. Being so far away (=travel costs) and still so expensive would never fit with me, though the guys did kindly offer me half rent for the rest of this month if I didn't find anything by the time I had to leave the youth hostel. But I'm still hoping. Maybe today is the day...

First day there...

After what seemed like the shortest summer ever, I finally got myself packed and on the coach (yes, coach!) at Victoria. My first coach was possibly the best coach I've ever been on - amazing seats, no annoying armrests (linking back to Strasbourg and Prague) and just altogether lush! Plus I managed to get a double seat to myself, and those who have travelled by coach with me before know just how much I need that extra seat - being short is useful when you can sleep over the two seat with ease! However, the young kids soon arrived... As a trained coach user, I still managed a few hours sleep, waking up when we reached the tunnel (much to my surprise as I was under the impression we were taking the ferry!), but not quite managing to sleep again afterwards (mainly thanks to the REALLY loud French woman sitting behind me on her phone for a ridiculous amount of time late at night!). Having arrived in Brussels I got off and searched for my next coach for a while, finally realising that I had to find the Eurolines office and swap my boarding pass for another one and then wait. The wait seemed to get longer and longer, until 23.00 had definitely passed and our coach hadn't been called yet... But eventually our number came up and we all moved towards the coach.

This coach, however, different vastly from the first. The coach driver made us each pay €1.50 to put our luggage underneath (despite our tickets saying that our two pieces of luggage were included in the price), and every single seat on the coach was taken. The man behind me was ridiculously tall, making it impossible for me to recline my seat, and also therefore to sleep comfortably. I ended up in the most awkward position, sleeping bent over with my head resting on the armrest, resulting in a crazy neckache!

We eventually arrived in Berlin at 09.45, and I dragged my suitcase to the nearest metro station, waiting at the top of the escalator along with another girl for the people to stop coming up so we could go down. When it became inevitable that the stream of people coming up was not going to stop, the other girl (much more gracefully than I, I must say) carried her suitcase down the stairs, with me slowly dragging mine down behind her. I soon discovered that this girl, Sara is also on her Erasmus year, at the Freie Universitaet, and is from Belgium. We got confused by the U-Bahn together (the lines have changed...), and agreed to meet up that evening.

After dumping my suitcase in the youth hostel, I moved on to Alexanderplatz to meet Irena, Alex and Francesca, who kindly brought my laptop to Berlin for me on their short break here. After wandering round for a while, we went for lunch in an Italian restaurant, where neither Irena or I seemed able to finish our food (quite a feat for the restaurant, I can tell you that!). I left them after lunch to return to my youth hostel, booking into my mixed dorm of 8. Shortly after this I went to view a room in a 2 person WG, where the other girl is also a musician, and is about to start studying cello at the Hochschule. Sara, the other girl, was unfortunately not there, but her mum showed me round the flat (which is nice, but possibly more than I can afford) and then took me to the nearest S-Bahnhof.

Having taken the S-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, I walked to Humboldt-Universitaet, to ask a few questions in the office. The lady was very nice, but unfortunately couldn't tell me whether or not I would be able to attend the Sprachkurs (the real reason I arrived in Berlin so early). She gave me a number to call, which I did so accordingly, and the woman on the other end was unfortunately less able to help, telling me that the Sprachkurs has been fully booked for ages now, and there was no way I could possibly take part in it.

Returning to the youth hostel somewhat less chirpy than I had left, I eventually took my (much needed!) shower, before checking how my other WG-applications were going. One of the WGs I was due to visit that evening turned out to have already been rented out, so I turned up to the other, still somewhat hopeful. After the long walk in the rain (having, of course, accidentally left my umbrella in the youth hostel!) I finally found this WG at the top of a block of apartments. Whilst this WG was much cheaper than the first I visited, it was very much a smoking WG, something which I'm not overly sure I could stick with for a whole year...

I walked back to Alexanderplatz, where I met Sara and two Belgian friends she met in her youth hostel, and we went to find something to eat. Overall, whilst I have at least met a few people, it has definitely enlightened me as to the complexity which comes with life in Berlin and WGs.... So, today I continue my search...

Bis bald!