I am a Jelly Donut

I apologize it's been a while since I've last posted. I've been pretty occupied lately with school, amazing Parisian weather, and my recent encounter with the stomach flu, but I am no recuperating and writing a long-overdue post.

First thing first, BERLIN! I've never been to Germany before, I knew nothing about Germany, or the sights in Berlin, and did not speak a single ounce (or gram... metric system) of German, but this just made our adventure so much more exciting.

Here are some of the sights we saw: Parisplatz, The Reichstag, Hitler's Bunker (which is now turned into a parking lot), Many sides of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Theater House/University/Area where the infamous book-burning took place, The Holocaust Memorial, and Museum Island. My friend Leah commented about how deserted and lonely the city seemed, we stayed in East Berlin, and I have to agree. Just walking around the city, you can see the way it went through so many drastic changes in government systems in just the last 100 years. I think one of the best things about the city is the fact that they don't hide it at all, they fully embrace their history which I find entirely commendable. The French, as well as America, seem to try so hard to hide their lower points in history, so Berlin was quite a different setting.

The Food. Of course. I'd just like everyone to know that really the only reason I studied abroad was to eat. But another nice change from french culture was the transition from sweets and bread to meat, cabbage, and potatoes. Brautwurst, currywurst, pig knuckle, sauerkraut, yum yum and yum... I'd be concerned about my arteries had we not walked so much.

Another hidden little fact: Berlin's Museums are incredible. We visited the Pergamon and Neues Museums. The Pergamon hosts an incredible amount of ancient Greek Architecture including several mythological friezes and the temple of Zeus! I'm starting to wonder what will be left for me to see in Athens after everything I've seen in London and Berlin. The Neues has an incredible collection of ancient Egyptian statues, including the bust of Queen Nefertiti which was absolutely amazing to see.

After Berlin I came back to the best weather I could ever hope for in Paris. Since last Wednesday it has been sunny, cloudless skies in the mid-sixties, and I've been walking absolutely everywhere. I spent so much time outside I think I even got a little tan. I walked along the bank of the Seine, I've walked from the Eiffel tower to the Arc de Triomphe, I've walked through gardens and down Canals and have eaten so many picnics that I may attribute my recent stomach flu to an excessive diet of baguettes and goat cheese. Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of an ongoing, very rainy week (which I will be narrowly missing by traveling to Marseilles this Friday). It's probably a good thing, I need to take it easy and get all my work done before I embark on my Grecian/Turkish Adventure!!!

Pictures, of course, are soon to come.