Berlin!

So! Two more weeks of school down, and I have seen a lot more of Germany! Last weekend I went to Heide Park, which is a lot like German Six Flags. It was really good! Lots of rollercoasters and rides that we don't have in America. I think maybe the Safety Regulations are different? I don't know but it was great!

I went to Berlin for the first time yesterday, it was a small culture shock within a culture shock. It is not like any other part of Germany that I have seen. It was overwhelmingly international, half the people speaking German, the other half speaking another language, English, French, Italian, Turkisch... the list goes on! I visited two museums, one to remember all of the jewish people killed in the Holocaust, the other a history of WWII in the old Gestapo Headquarters. It was really interesting to hear from the German Prospective. It's not all that different from the American prospective, but there is a little less emphasis on villainizing (sp?) the Nazi's, all of the young people here already know that. There is more emphasis here on standing up for what you believe in, and questioning what you are told.

Oh! There are Starbucks in Berlin, and I enjoyed my first Coffee from there in 2 months. It was delicious.

My German is at the point where I understand almost all that is said to me, but cannot always respond immediately because I don't have the correct verb to do so. Almost more frustrating than when I didn't understand anything at all. In the end I can usually make myself understood. Like on Friday when I had to explain Sarah Palin to my history teacher. That was fun. Now all I have to worry about this week is applying to college. Please accept me American University!