The land of Awky T...

Ok. Only approximately 2 months later... That's not too bad, right?! What's new... After a day of shopping to buy Mette something to wear in her concert that evening we piled in to the Friedrichstadt Palast for an evening of entertainment (Mette = amazing). Finishing up with a few beers and some extra rum Natali, Mette and I headed off to the Oscar Wilde for a couple of followers. Being the socialites that we are we (and obviously not doing anything embarrassing in the process...) we met a few travellers in Berlin and stayed a while for drinks and chats. You know how it is. Which obviously ended in the bar keeper presenting Mette and I with complimentary St Patrick's Day hats. Somehow we seem to get our fair share of free stuff in Berlin...!

Tuesday brought the return of Anna (a well-missed being in our lives) and the retelling of stories... Not that much to tell there! But we followed that on Wednesday by a trip to Matrix (ladies' night = free entry and 2 for 1 drinks...), bringing Anna, Teruko (a friend of Anna's who was also visiting) and inviting Becca (a girl from Birmingham who I've somehow first met in Berlin) for a bit of dancing fun. Much more to say for that night? I think that's probably all you need to know!

Having Dada Falafel withdrawal symptoms, we took a trip out on Thursday for dinner, where there was also a pianist giving a small informal concert, cosy! And the hot chocolates there are lush...

Friday... Friday Friday Friday... I had a horn lesson in the day (teacher = still a legend), and in the evening I stopped by Katrin's flat (one of the people we met in the bar – see, everything fits in eventually!) for her birthday party, only intending to stay an hour or so (planning on heading off to Salsa with Mette and Sandra later on), but being “unfortunately” drawn in by the company, the Bowle, the cheese and the children's games. I maintain that I am still rather good at limbo... That's all I'm saying! And I <3 German children's games. There was Topfschlagen (almost spelt there as Kopfschlagen :/), der Weg nach Jerusalem and probably a lot more... Yes.... And Bowle and cocktails and cheese. And people... You know how it is!

Continuing with the theme of people we met in the bar, Mette and I had a music session with Johannes on Saturday, just a bit of chilling, followed by the Imbiss + wine + Hafenbar = Karaoke. Need I say much more? I hit the stage twice that night – Wonderwall with Johannes (my début in Hafenbar!) followed by You're So Vain with Mette, at which we were amazing. Literally. I don't think Hafenbar has seen anything like it before, we were all over it like a rash! Plus afterwards the DJ said it was a 100% performance. What more can they want?! Then we stayed late for a bit of dancing fun, getting confused by the trams and changing of clocks on the way home, but who can blame us?!

I met Becca for a café visit the next day to help her with some arrival stuff in Berlin (because believe me, I know how ridiculous and confusing it can be!), and we just had chats and jokes and started on our list of things to do whilst in Berlin (even though Mette and I still haven't exactly finished ours yet...). And we finished off the day with a trip to our Stammkneipe (Mette having supposed to have been home working through the day, but, due to the amazing weather, having spent it in Mauerpark...), Al Hamra, for a bit of relaxed chilling (is there another type of chilling?), joined by Sandra, Simon, Henrik and Julian (another of our bar discoveries...), which I can promise you, led to some quite interesting topics of conversation... Which Mette and I probably never want to be discussed again...

After a motivational skype with the wife, I headed of to Ballhouse for a bit of Salsa learning and fun. Knowing Natali was first coming later (because she's already amazing, and thus doesn't need the lessons), but that one of her friends was going to be there from the start I was somewhat nervous, truth be told, but determined. Anyway, somehow I found Christoph, and we joined the learners' dancing class. I'm pretty sure by this point that I have two left feet (a term which I think in German you can only translate as having two left hands, which I don't think helps in this situation...), but I'm still giving it my best! Adding to my embarrassment by this point, the instructor also chose me for a while to be his demonstration assistant. Made even more embarrassing for me when Natali walked in part way through. I think she felt a bit bad for me that she wasn't there at the start! However, I did it, and I'm proud! We stayed for the evening, salsa salsa salsa. I think it also helps more when you practise with guys who can actually dance already than when you try and learn with guys who are also trying to learn. No offence, Christoph and the others! Anyway, getting chucked out at closing time (not that late, no worries, mum!) Natali and I headed off with a couple of others to Kaffee Burger for a bit more dancing, which was particularly nice as we haven't managed to spend much time with one another recently.

Horn quartet time was happening the next day. Massively. For those of you who don't already realise, I LOVE chamber music. Horn chamber music is lush. So yeah, we had a couple of hours of playing fun followed by a beer on the river bank in the sun. There have been so many perfect days in Berlin, and I just really hope they continue to appear out of the blue. Please. That evening Mette and I went to Joe's bar, which was not quite what we expected, but we stuck it out for a beer before heading hope to have a more chillaxed evening.

Wednesday looks boring and empty in my diary. I was probably doing essay work. Maybe.

On Thursday my long awaited guest arrived in Berlin – welcome to Miss Amy Barker!! We did a bit of sight-seeing, just general stuff, as you probably know, Amy got excited by the double decker trains, we visited the chocolate shops and a few other sights of Berlin :P and in the evening we went to the delight that is Matrix... Getting rather confused when the wrong part of the club was open (it took us a while to figure out what was going on...) but loving the England tunes that were coming on and having some rather amusing chats with the people in the outdoors area. The casual stealing of hats was also on the agenda, with the owner turning out to be here from England with a few of his friends, so we had some chats and jokes with them for a bit, all gravy.

A long-awaited trip to the zoo was called for on Friday, with Berlin Zoo being the zoo with the most species in the world. Boom. And it was pretty epic as well. I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned it before, but I love monkeys and gorillas and most of that sort of tree-hanging species area, so I was in for quite a treat there. SO cute. Yes. Becca, Amy and I had a whale of a time wandering around there, trying to compose theories as to WHAT that polar bear was doing/thinking, you know how it is... Sadly Mette's departure from Berlin was nearing with every single day, and that evening we had her Abschiedsparty in our flat. Oh yes, we did... There were one hell of a lot of Brauses going on, it has to be said! You always know a party's good when you go to the bathroom, take at look at the clock and it's 8.30 in the morning. Wow. So yes, I think that pretty much says everything you need to know – there were games, music, live music, dancing, more games. Oh, and Brauses... Everything!

This did, however, did have a bit of an effect on the activities the next day. We obviously stayed in bed until rather late, then Mette came in and the three of us just lay on my bed with Green Wing playing on my laptop and fell asleep again... A very productive day! Unfortunately the first of my two weekend departures was to happen that day, and I took Amy back to the airport for her flight back to England after a fun filled visit – thank you Amy!! That evening Mette and I hit Hafenbar again, overcoming our tiredness due to the Karaoke competition happening there that night. Mette was AMAZING in the first round (she'd have gotten through easily had she been later on so that the judges were as drunk for her as for the others...), getting through to the next five because someone dropped out. However, getting the lowest score of the five to go through she had last pick of the songs to be sung in the second round. With many of them being German Schlager (which we *cough cough* obviously know really well), she was effectively forced to sing I'm Not That Innocent (whacking out the Britney...), still managing to win the judges' votes! Unfortunately with this song, however, she also had to start the next round. The next round being a German Schlager split into three parts... So basically I lied before when I said we know our German Schlager really well... But she improvised shockingly good, and still wound up in second place! For anyone who can't tell, I'm SO proud :D

The first of April. Mette's departure from Berlin :( (and mine, actually, for a week...) We struggled with three suitcases, a guitar, a horn and our “hand-luggage” bags (with most of the luggage obviously being mine ;) ) to the coach station, arriving a bit early and just sitting in front of the bus playing guitar and singing. We're definitely the coolest people in Berlin. Just putting that out there... In fact, we must be, because then we met a guy who came and added his mouth accordion to our musical miscellaneous. So yeah, cool. Anyway, we eventually got to Denmark, where Mette's mum and Søren met us and drove us to Nini's where we stayed the night.

The next day we headed off to Mette's apartment to move in and figure out how things were. It's vairy nice, I'll tell you that much! We settled in a bit, and later (I'm not sure whether I've maybe messed up my days at this point, or at some point) Signe came to visit with her daughter, and we all (along with Anna) went for a walk in the park. Where pigs really do fly, and they have a dummy tree (which I think we need to introduce in England). Basically when your child is too old for their dummies you take them and you hang them on the tree for the dummy fairy so she can give them to other children, and it's really cute, and some of the children have written letters with their parents for the dummy fairy. I want a dummy fairy. That evening we went to a restaurant for dinner – one word: Buffet. I was stuffed.

Tuesday we had a bit of a trip round Copenhagen, saw the sights, got free Ben and Jerry's. You know, standard! We cycled round town (I don't think I've ever seen so many bikes before in my life, not even in Berlin!), getting to grips with everything, went on a boat, took a trip to the mermaid. Yeah, pretty standard. And in the evening Nini and Anna came over for dinner, and we made Fajitas. Also very standard for us.

The next day we did a bit of shopping, got some new shoes and took a trip to the beach to get our feet wet. Of course. Because it was really warm. In the evening we had dinner with Mette's mum and Søren (wow, can he cook!), just generally staying late and chatting. Thursday brought the arrival of Viktor. Oh Viktor. How can you do so much in so little time?! We started our jollities rather early in the day to celebrate his arrival, with the gin and tonic being at quite interesting proportions... Then in the evening we headed off to Charlie Scott's for Jazz Five's warm up gig (rather good band, by the way, recommended!). I think there's only one person who I've lost that many times in one night (remaining nameless), and that definitely wasn't quite to the same scale as this! Whilst still in Charlie Scott's we got a phone call from him requesting our whereabouts, because, having thought we had for some reason gone else where, he had gotten in a taxi and was somewhere in the middle of town. Ok. Lost number 1. This happened again that night, though we managed to somehow find him again. Then, somewhere between two bars (or in one of the bars, I'm not quite sure) we lost him again. And didn't find him again, despite several phone calls between several people. So we just stayed in the Happy Pig (interesting choice of name...) with live music for a while before heading home. To be woken up around 6. With a request for directions for wherever we supposedly were at that point in time. Eventually arriving in a taxi (with no money to pay for it...), he was greeted by some VERY (ok, one, because I was too lazy to get up...) unhappy bunnies. It was a bundle of laughs... Determined not to have quite the same thing happen the next night, we kept quite a close eye on Viktor on Friday (at the real gig), which was definitely a good plan! Though when we wanted him to go home we did offload him on some other unfortunates...

With it being Mette's big return to Denmark there was a little surprise waiting for her on Saturday. By surprise, I do of course mean a surprise party. It was SO well done, the effort put into it was incredible, and I have to say Mette is very lucky to have so many people so intent on her having a good time back in Copenhagen. Plus they're all really lovely people, which makes everything so much better! Though I wasn't necessarily loving it all that much when I had to get my coach back to Berlin at 06.30 the next morning...

After a lot of complexity (very complex, don't ask), I was asked to play first horn in Britten's War Requiem for a concert in early May. Which led to my attending the first rehearsal on the Tuesday. See, everything has a point. Tuesday also being my first day back at uni. Because we don't have the same holidays as England, so yes, we will start back the day after Easter Monday. Fun, right? But yes, I'm not sure four hour rehearsals after days in uni are always the most productive thing. But they should have thought about that in advance...

Being cool as I am, I went to the Sprachzentrum nice and early the next day to book my Sprachkurse, which is always a bit of an effort and a half, especially as I didn't bring my “Schein” to prove that I'd passed my courses last semester. But whatever, as I'm a genius I managed the registration anyway :P And had a horn lesson later that day, before meeting up with Becca for some chillaxing with chocolate milkshakes. Mmmmmmmm.

Having had Ren withdrawal symptoms, Mette arrived back in Berlin the next day for a ten day visit (Berlin (and I, of course) is pretty hard to give up just like that!). So yes. This meant Friday = party at Sandra's. Fun times, meeting of new people, learning from grammatical mistakes. All the things you need for a party. Plus I had a skype chat with George on Friday, where we established that he'd be a good Frenchman. And that we should go out in London, though this will probably end badly, as previously discussed...

On Friday I met up with Nadi for Sushi (I told you the people from bars keep coming back to life!) before getting Becca round for some games and a trip between the three of us to Frannz... The games continued, let's just put it that way... We teamed up with Evamaria and her visitor for dancing and... hilarity? Can I call it that? Probably. However, I do have to admit that late night clubbing is probably not the best thing when you're planning on visiting the opera the next day... Which I was (in case anyone didn't get the hint...). So I met up with Almut (who had also been up rather late the night before) and we went to the komische Oper to watch Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, which, despite the consequences from the night before, was rather good, even if I didn't quite approve of parts of it... And hit the pub afterwards for some discussion. With our class. See, it was an educational pub visit. Bet most people can't say that.

Mum arrived from Poland pretty early the next day, and after booking her into the youth hostel and seeing a few of the sights we met up with Mette for lunch in the Mensa, then meeting up with Vanessa for some group Rosenkavalier work before a rather overfilled seminar. And because it was Yulia's birthday we then had a sort of meal picnic thing in her room that evening, with brownie cakeeeeeeeeee :)

Between my language course and orchestra Becca and I met up for a hot chocolate to discuss the developments of the week. That makes it sound rather intellectual. I assure you it wasn't. This was followed, obviously, by the first orchestra rehearsal of term. Shostakovich 10 and Dvorak Cello Concerto – quite a program! And then, because every country needs a Klimach invasion at at least some point in its existence, Boy, Hepsie and Baby arrived, which led to a pizza and Rum fuelled evening. I think that sums that up nicely.

Having Wednesday off Uni I again delved into the tourist attractions in Berlin with guests. Anything else to tell there? I think that tells it all. No, that's a lie. We didn't hit quite all the usual tourist attractions. We started off with an old children's hospital. Then we headed off to Tempelhoff (which is one of the usuals, just not one I've been to before) and then to the fruit and veg market at Yorckstraße before then starting with the normal tourist attractions. There you go.

After a full day at uni on Thursday (yes, 10-18. Try that.), we dolled ourselves up for a bit of dancing at Alte Kantine, old style. Having had her bag searched at the entrance, Mette was found guilty of possessing whipped cream, though we were granted entry providing she promised not to spray it in the club. Maybe they remember us from last time... Becca also met us there along with a few of her friends who were visiting Berlin at the time, so that was all interesting. But they didn't play our spice girl requests, which upset us a bit. I mean, that coupled with the ban on Sprühsahne was a bit much, if I'm honest with you!

Being a bad girl and going against all possible German traditions, I naughtily celebrated my birthday on the Friday, almost a week early! Shock horror... Oh well. I left my year behind in style. Fancy dress style – definitely not Germans' favourite thing, I promise you! Though I did get quite a few responses – Mette and I were clowns, my siblings were Wally (Where's Wally, not the robot), Minnie Mouse and Luigi, and then I also had a variety of things including Pippi Langstrumpf, Alvin, Schnee Weiß and Rote Rose, Heidi, and many more! This is, however, where the Sprühsahne was introduced – and I apologise to anyone who got bruised in the fight.... As Joe was to tell us later that week, food is not to be played with. I shall learn my lesson. One day.

I think the Reichstag got quite a great impression of the Klimachs in Berlin when we arrived the next day... We were loving it. Plus it was very sunny. We had a rave. And then took forever to get back home because of demonstrations in the town centre – thanks firemen/bagpipers! Still never figured out what all that was about. But we still made it to the airport in plenty of time, sitting eating Teddy's Hits for a while. Yeah...

With hopes for the return of Karaoke, Mette, Natali, Simon and I had a picnic in Mauerpark the next day. And we weren't disappointed, no no. In fact, I don't think anyone there was disappointed that day... So, with the best seats in the house, Mette signed up for the Karaoke (being amazing as usual), and, having allowed Mette and a bit of wine to take influence, after a while I signed myself up too......... Yes. It's at this point where the picnicking really has an impact. You see, there was quite a lot of food from my party on the Friday, and with Andy having presented Mette and I with a box of Schaumküsse each, there was no way it was going to end well. So. The next thing you need to know is that when you eat a Schaumkuss, you have to smash it with the Schamkuss your neighbour is eating. Which went fine when Natali and I were eating them. Mette, on the other hand. Well, as most of you know, she is quite the child. Which meant there was a bit of a mess. On both of our faces. And then more of a mess. And then a bit of a fight. And then, right after one got smashed on my glasses, my name got called to sing. Yeah... I think we showed Mauerpark a thing or two that day... So yes. I'm quite proud of what I like to call my bravery here. I stepped up and sang. Covered in Schaumkuss. I really do have to thank the people who presented me with water and tissues to wash it off my hands, though, otherwise it just wouldn't have happened. Yeah. It's going to take quite something to match up to that. When I finished Mette also came and chased me around the stage with the last Schaumkuss. Yeah... We then sat in the sun for another few hours before getting the tram home and attempting to persuade Aysel and her friends that that's the new thing at Mauerpark now – if you sing then they cover you in Schaumküsse. I'm not sure they believed us. And you know what the worst part is? There are still three Schaumküsse in my room and Mette's visiting again in a few weeks....

Right. Less than a month to go. Phew. Mette left the next day, because obviously she can't actually just stay forever with me. Apparently then you can't actually finish a degree. Or work. Whatever. More orchestra the next day. There's a lot of orchestra coming up. It'll probably make my writing this faster...

Wednesday. I had a lovely skype with one of my favourite gingers. By which I mean Rozzy. She's such a babe. And then Becca came round and we headed out for some dancing fun as well as a few challenges thrown in there, you know, just for fun! For some reason we also bought olives stuffed with garlic, cheese, pombears and pringles for the way home. But who's judging, right? I mean, if anyone's going to judge they should probably judge the late night playing of play mobil rather than the food... It did, however, mean that the next day was a bit of a write-off – after 8 hours straight in uni you don't really feel up to much if you've only had a few hours sleep!

Friday: Orchestra. Although this takes more than just that, so maybe I lied with what I said about orchestra before. It was our Berlin Probewochenende, so yeah. Then afterwards Wiebke invited me to an archaeology party, which I obviously rocked. There was beer, rum, people. Pretty cool. Oh. And it was in a library. Because that's completely normal, right? I don't know, I'm not sure any uni in England would let you have a party in the library. But who's judging?

Saturday: Orchestra. AND the Keller is back!!! This has made me very happy. Kicker and beer after rehearsal is what everyone needs. And in the middle of orchestra we had a brunch outside in the Sun (it was SO sunny), and it was all very lovely and lovely and lovely.

And on Sunday I rested. With Freddy (my exchange partner) being in Berlin for a few days I met up with her for lunch on Monday, which was all groovy, followed by a bit of relaxation in Lustgarten. And yes, I got sunburnt in April. Only on my left side. I like to think of it as skill. And in the evening there was orchestra.

Tanz in den Mai. That's another thing we need in England. It was SO sunny, like you wouldn't believe. I met up with Becca and we headed down to Volkspark Friedrichshain for a bit of Salsa in the Park with Natali, Johannes, Christoph, Vanessa, and whoever else was invited... We danced, we barbecued, we chatted. It was lurvely. Then it chucked it down with rain. But somehow it was still soooooo nice, and we just danced in the rain for a while (about an hour maybe?) before catching the tram home, absolutely soaked! Yeah :) There should be more days like that.

On Wednesday I met up with Freddy and her brother for lunch in a cute little restaurant in Moabit before heading into Uni for a one-off Rosenkavalier Seminar – we managed to get the conductor from the production we went to see to come and speak to our class, so it was pretty cool :)

Thursday: Orchestra. Then afterwards I met up with Sara, who I haven't seen in absolutely forever! We went to a little pub near Warschauer Straße, which was really cute, and just chatted and caught up on a lot of news! So yes, that was pretty nice.

After a horn lesson the next day I sorted my life out a little bit (it would take a lot longer to sort it out a lot) before going to Johannes' for his housewarming party. He possibly regrets that... There were games etc. (people here are bumming all over English games) and some tests of strengths, which I'd just like to let everyone know I won. And that's no lie! Yeah...

So. Almost there, about two weeks to go, I reckon... With her brother visiting, Becca and I decided to make another trip to Matrix. Something tells me we go there too often... So yes, after a few games and Brauses at mine, James ended up not coming out with us (he was tired from the night before!), so Becca, Louis and I headed off just the three of us. Armed with rum and vodka. It was... an interesting night! Let's just say we didn't all manage to stick together... To this day we're still not quite sure what exactly happened to Becca... But there was still dancing, which always makes things good. Until ridiculous o'clock in the morning...

This was followed by a relatively early (compared to the hour of the return home) trip to Amelie's the next day. But definitely well worth it for the Käsespätzle. Wow. I don't think I need to say anything more to that point. And the day was obviously made perfect by the essay that was waiting to be finished at home when I got back...

Monday: Orchestra. Tuesday: Orchestra + Keller (Luis and I: five games of Kicker, 100% win. Improvement from last Semester? I think so.). Wednesday: Orchestra. Hey, what do you know, I was right!

Anyway. On Thursday Amelie, Laura, Mareike, Christopher and I went for frozen yoghurt and then sat and chatted in Lustgarten. Which was definitely better than the lecture we were supposed to be in... Then I met up with Süley for the first time in about forever! We went for a few beers in a Biergarten near where I live and just chatted and drew on my hand. Because we're normal like that. And that evening Arne came back for the night, so we also had chats until rather late, quite proper DMCs, actually, now I come to think about it. Definite bit of bonding right there.

Friday: Orchestra, Saturday: Orchestra + Concert (in the Berliner Dom!). Then Theresa, Moritz and I went out for a few drinks, which was cool, especially as we haven't done anything together in far too long. So yeah, which just sat in a bar and chatted for a while. Surrounded by football fans...

Despite it not being the best weather in the world, Becca and I met up for a picnic the next day, though swapping part way from park to the garden behind her flat, due to the grey skies... And on the way we found Louis, who was meant to be there earlier, but hadn't quite made it out of bed in time... But yes, we picnicked, talked, played games (oh we wrote some publish worthy stories) and then spent a bit of time sitting in front of her bathroom watching youtube videos. Don't ask...

After my seminar on Monday I met up with Charlotte and Amelie to go and see The First Rasta in Germany's oldest cinema. Yeah, how many of you have been there? It was quite quaint, small and cosy, really nice. And the film was pretty good, actually. I say film, it was a documentary. But you can google that for yourselves.

Tuesday: Orchestra. And Keller. And Kicker. And dancing. With new people. Well, new people for me, they've pretty definitely been there before me. But I like new people. Luis and I still did pretty well on that Kicker table, though I do have to say we've unfortunately lost a bit of our Zing from the week before. But don't worry, we're determined to get it back! But yes, quite a while in the Keller there, getting home about 5.30 in the morning. Ah, Berlin, I <3 you!

Almost there! Right. So on Wednesday we had our Hoffest for the Musik- und Medienwissenschaften. Pretty cool. Basically everyone bring food and buy beer there. A bit like the Keller, but at the top of a building instead of underneath it. Plus you get to realise that the man who rules over all the music in the library is a bit of a legend, and will happily open a Seminar room for dancing with toons. Yeah. And after that we had a bit of a crawl, effectively seeing how many pubs we can stay in before they shut, starting in Aufsturz, heading off to Fire and then another one whose name I don't know. Learning the bunny game on the way. Of course. And eventually leaving the last pub at 6 in the morning. That's something they don't have in England...

However two rather late nights after one another generally lead to a doss day. That was yesterday. (And today, sort of...) Although I did give my horn a bath, so let's give that some credit! And today... Well, I've practised at least. And written this. Which doesn't exactly take no time and effort! Later I'm meeting up with Katrin again and going out anyway. So hah. And I think that's all for now! Thanks to anyone who actually makes it to the end of this.... I'm impressed!