Exploring two famous cities.

Sorry guys for having been lazy somehow…As the autumn approached, I got a bit busy, had no time to write. But now I have a plenty of free times to write my thoughts.

Leipzig & Dresden

Leipzig is not so touristic at all, rather peaceful and a student friendly city I’d say. It’s only 2 hours away from Berlin, quite easy to get there and explore. I think it’s sufficient to explore the city within 2 days, or even one day if you move quickly.

Dresden on the other hand…a bit different, it’s way more beautiful than Leipzig and as it’s only an hour away from the czech border a big amount of tourists come by and explore the city. Someone described the city as “Germany’s venice” and I kinda agree with that.

What do I know about Leipzig?

1.Vietnamese immigrants – Germany is getting fuller of immigrants, erasmus students. Since Leipzig used to belong to East Germany and Vietnam was one of the brethren nations, so many immigrants came and still living there. I had vietnamese cuisine as soon as arriving in Leipzig station. Quite yummy and cheap.

2.The university – The german chancellor, Angela Merkel studied in the university of Leipzig, nevertheless not so many people know about this fact. And this university is fabulous, a perfect place to study I’d say.

3.World cup – I’m pretty sure all of you know that Germany was the world cup 2006 host, and surprisingly Leipzig was the only host city from east germany, not Dresden, but Leipzig.

Leipzig is worthy visiting.

My stay in Dresden wasn’t as fun as I expected it to be, I had a nightmare and got depressed all of a sudden, well, nightmares do that to me, they don’t happen frequently, but whenever happen I tend to suffer for a long time.

I think it explains everything.

Beautiful Dresden.

Friends in Berlin.

Guten tag, alles gut? Hey, I’m back. So overall I stayed in Europe’s most fantabulous capital for 3 weeks, way longer than what I expected. Traveling is more fun when there are no plans. And I met a lot of nice friends over there, I think my decision staying in Berlin for long was just because of my friends.

These are my guys. Aida on the left, a very energetic girl from Barcelona. Rasmus on the right, my beloved swedish. We had so much fun together talking, watching films, drinking out and sharing our thoughts about everything.

I think my first conversation with this friendly barcelonian girl was so funny, well, first encounters are inevitably awkward, I know it.

Aida – Hallo! Alles gut? (She thought I was able to speak german)
Me – Hola, que tal?
Aida – Wow, hablas español? genial!

And then we kept talking like for 20 minutes for nonstop, Rasmus never knew I speak spanish and it gave him another new impression of me, that’s what he told me at least.
Rasmus was doing his erasmus year in Berlin, in Europe studying abroad is a lot easier than here, they have a bunch of programs and many students want to explore many different countries. He studies international relations and languages, very smart guy with deeper knowledge, just like every swede I met before. Aida on the other hand was looking for a proper job in Berlin as it was quite formidable in Spain due to their economic crisis. So we were three of us, always drinking out, talking and sometimes making fun of each other. I miss those old times, really.

One day we went out for a drink near our flat which was their favorite. The barman was just incredible, so friendly and I totally loved his jokes.

The barman – It seems like all of you are not germans, where are you from?
(He started speaking german first of all, but it didn’t take a second to notice none of us were local berliners)
Aida – Ich komme aus Spanien, Rasmus aus Schweden, Julian aus Südkorea.
(Pity that I was always the only one not being able to speak decent german)

He checked Rasmus’s ID and then he made kind of funny nicknames for us.

The barman – You’re maria, because you are from Spain. You’re Magnusson (It really is Rasmus’s real surname, he thinks it’s sort of a family name from a fairy tale story.) And you’re Kim. (I really did giggle, well, I don’t like when these things happen to me in general, but it was soooo hilarious, remember who’s up there in North Korea and his family name. This barman thinks all koreans are Kim :D)

We made some interesting discussions about North Korea, so shameful that I had no idea about it, at least not as much as my friend expected, I think for europeans, North Korea is like a mysterious country, guys, you may always visit there, that’s a better way of exploring the world.

Berlin itself was so much awesome, but to me what counts is my friends. My stay never would have been fun without them, I don’t even want to imagine of being alone without these guys.

Watching Grey’s Anatomy with R.
“3:30 AM, still watching it, thank god we are still on vacation. I hope it never ends up.”
* According to my facebook *

Drinking out @Alexanderplatz.

Party

Partying is one part of European culture, well, actually the whole western culture, but partying in Berlin is more special, best of all drinking out is a lot cheaper than any other capitals, also great quality. Rasmus took me to kind of a party, well, not really like a crazy drinking party, more like “a chilling one.” I still feel thankful to him for taking me to this party, because the people out there were simply amazing. Very nice guys, a hugeeeeeeee pity that I didn’t speak german, so everyone else had to speak english at least for a while, well, we shared our thoughts, drunk a lot, smoked a lot… that’s what matters though.

Most of them were erasmus students, otherwise workers. German, Italian, Swedish, French, Belgian, English, Spanish and some others, very international I’d say. Great music, Vodkas, Wines, Beers, Whiskies and everything.

Money’s blown

Heartbreaking but I think it’s worth talking about. One other day Rasmus, Aida and I were heading to Alexanderplatz for a drink, if I remember it right, it was the day before my small trip to Leipzig and Dresden, we felt kind of exhausted, technically not me, but them, Rasmus from studying and some annoying document stuff, Aida from working and her crazy italian female boss, I was the only one with full of energy. Okay this is what happened to us. As I mentioned in one of previous posts, you always need to purchase a ticket in Berlin metro, they don’t ALWAYS check your ticket, but you may get caught by chance, so we never ever know if it’s our day or not. And guess what, we just got asked our tickets and had to pay bloody 40 euros for fines 😦 It was our fault not buying a ticket, we definitely must have purchased one, then it would have ended up with paying only minimum 1.5 to maximum 2.5 euros, but 40 euros! Seriously, we always got tickets every time before this and never had been asked… Jeez, we could drink a lot of beers with that cash. Well okay, money’s already blown, let’s live our life. That’s what we did, we were of course pissed off and angry for a while, but after some minutes we just got back to our normal condition.

I don’t think they would like these pics, but 😀

I wouldn’t want to imagine not being friends with you guys.

Rasmus drinking a green berliner kindl.

Eating out. Our favourite restaurant was only 10 mins away from our flat. Very nice one, I’d like to back to this place one day when I’m back in Berlin.

A typical “I’m in Berlin” photo 😀

To become a berliner…

Guys, Berlin is amazing, it’s much more than whatever you imagine. Awesome night views, outstanding city organization, worthy historical places, actually it’s brimful of interesting museums. As a history geek, I’d probably portrait as definitely one of the best cities in the world.

Europe’s most beautiful capital

Yes, this is what I think. I went to a load of european capitals and obviously hard which cities I liked the most, but Berlin has got a load of attractive aspects for a traveler like me, the city’s prices as well, I went to Munich, Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Cologne some years go before Berlin, and all those cities were so much costly, not a big surprise though, residing in southen germany requires you a lot of money, much more than Berlin.

A couple of interesting things regarding this city.

Döner – It’s actually kind of a Kebab, probably a german styled one. Very cheap and nice and easy to eat. Kebabs are very well loved and eaten in whole europe, but is loved exceptionally well in Berlin. Some people express Berlin as ‘The place of Döner’.

Crazy metro – Probably one of the hugest metros on the planet. I felt lost whenever I used it, totally. Even some berliners don’t know the right directions 😀 But very convenient, it runs 24 hours in all weekends, that makes Berlin’s nightlife much more fun. Be aware that it’s a free ride, but obviously we all need to buy a ticket. Checkers run quite frequently in the metro and if you get caught, 40 euros must be given as fines. Unfortunately I experienced that 😀 It hurt my ass so much but I learned how to be a better citizen.

International and multiracial – Definitely berlin is the biggest city in Germany and a lot of foreign nations living there, studying there and working there. Turkish make up the largest number of foreign nations in Germany, not only in Berlin, the whole german cities. I don’t think many people know this fact though, Berlin is as big as Paris, not a common knowledge but that’s what it is. Berlin is so multicultural, so its atmosphere may become as you wish, one day you want some turkish food, go to Kreuzberg which is like a small turkey being full of turkish restaurants, salons, markets and everything. You shall see more turkish people than germans.

Art everywhere – Not a common knowledge, but I felt this way. A lot of young talented artists working and expanding their talents in Berlin, especially near to Berlin east side gallery, probably one of the most loved places by tourists in Berlin.

Two different views – It’s easy to say and understand, if you go to the east part of Berlin, you may imagine how the atmosphere it used to be before the german unification. Alexanderplatz, for example belongs to east germany.

Berliner kindl – Every province in Germany has got its own distinctive local beers, Frankfurt with Apfelwein and Cologne with Kölsch. Berlin has some too, my favorite among all of them is definitely Berliner kindl, cheap and very tasty.

Terrible weather – Not only in Berlin, but probably the whole of Germany. Germans spend their summer vacation in warmer countries for some reason. One of my oldest friends from Berlin Klara had warned me about Berlin’s awful weather, but weathers don’t really matter to me, I mean not everything can be set as I want it to be.

Great nightlife – I’m not a club addict and I never want to be, but I know this one very well. Berlin is very well known for its amazing nightlife. A big number of famous DJs worldwide come to Berlin every year and every month. Berlin metro runs 24 hours in whole weekends for some reason.

Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of german unification. Full of tourists all the time.

Mengenlehreuhr (Set Theory Clock). Also quite famous.

A dark night in Berlin. The later, the more people.

A selfie @ Rasmus.
Berliner Döner. There are a looooooooooooooooot of great turkish restaurants in Berlin.
Rasmus and I went out every single night for a plate of chicken.

Holocaust-Mahnmal (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe)

Visiting Auschwitz museum couldn’t serve to gratify my curiosity regarding jewish people.
Berlin’s jewish museum was awesome, full of interesting things.

For those who are eager to visit this place :
Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/homepage-EN.php

East side gallery – my biggest favourite place in Berlin.

Evening out with Rasmus.
@ Alexanderplatz (Apparently we went to this place A LOT!)

I barely smoke, but…

Berlin, here I come!

Hi guys! Sorry for making you wait for yonks, not so sure how many of you have been reading my blog though, well, numbers don’t matter, what matters is that you guys enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing.

3rd, October, 2013

Life is a bitch sometimes, very very bitchy, especially some unexpected moments come out all of a sudden, unfortunately I had to face a very difficult situation upon leaving Dariusz’s flat. Here I spill.

I booked a train ticket departing from Gdansk central station to Berlin Hauptbahnhof even two days before and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be late or whatever as I organized everything beforehand. But thanks to the local Gdansk bus that came late, I had to miss my train. It was no one’s fault, but the blinking bus driver’s. I felt so sorry for myself, Dariusz and also my friend Rasmus who had to bother himself waiting for me. To be frank I was more like pissed off than worried as I noticed planning a trip in advance doesn’t really work often.

Me – Dzien dobry, I just missed my train heading for Berlin. What can I do?
The lady in the station – Dzien dobry, I’m sorry that you missed the train. If you want to go to Germany, you could take a bus from Szczecin.
Me – Excuse me? I don’t want to use a bus, but a train. Let me reserve the same train please.
The lady in the station – I’m afraid there’s no train like that anymore unless you stay here and wait until the day after tomorrow. But we have some alternatives.
Me – Okay, what is it?

Hell, The only train I could get on goes to Szczecin first and then I will have to transfer to another train that goes to Berlin Ostbahnhof, I was totally okay with this, I mean I’m always used to getting into hot water rather than being a luxury tourist. But well, paying another train fare really distressed me.

And I met a very old polish lady on the train. Her english was limited as expected, I mean in Poland english is kind of a new language just like Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. German is better used over there, maybe also Russian. The lady spoke to me in german all the time, I barely understood and I expressed I don’t speak nor understand german but she just kept talking, ma’am, please stop, I can’t even dream of speaking german just like you.

Being left alone on the train for 5 hours could make you dope off, seriously, I thought I could handle it, but after all those exhausting situations I got extremely stressed and worn out. No wifi, no books, no people to talk to. I was just like “Get me in Berlin, just get me, I have no more wishes.”

As soon as arriving in Szczecin station, I had to dash as if being a marathoner, well, leastwise it worked. I was so freaking frightened since my next train leaves only 10 mins later after getting in the station. Probably god wanted to help me out. Berlin, why are you so difficult? :p No other cities were this hard to get in! Probably you don’t like me at all? I don’t know.

Polish lady – Guten tag! blablablabla. (She spoke in german and of course I didn’t understand a word.)
Me – Sorry, I don’t speak german.
Polish lady – Okay, we are three of us and Ich habe ein ticket and if you want, you may join us, so that we will pay less.

Apparently she mixed up everything she could. German with easy english words, english with basic german words, englman or gerglish or whatever you call it. If my memory doesn’t fail me, her name was Karolina, a polish woman working in Dresden, Germany. She told me that she visits her hometown quite often. Germany and Poland are geographically close, for instance it takes only an hour from Szczecin to Berlin.

I started to feel awkward, I mean I already visited Germany for two times before but never managed to go to its capital Berlin, I don’t really know why, maybe due to its location.

Berlin Ostbahnhof

Finally, after a 8 hour of waiting, I got in Berlin Ostbahnhof. It’s a big station, much much bigger than Gdansk’s, not even comparable I guess. That left me in a small quandary since I was without wifi and had to find my friend, Rasmus. I think it took like 20 mins at least, this smart guy found me in the platform, no idea how, he said he just got a feeling that I might be there. I like this guy for some reason 😀

Hallo Berlin ❤ It’s only an hour away, but the atmosphere is completely different Poland’s. 

Life is full of mystery and new adventure, I’ve always been aware of this fact, even that time, but I never thought I would stay in this beautiful capital for a couple of weeks, I’m not a good planner, particularly when it comes to traveling around, but A COUPLE OF WEEKS, not A FEW DAYS! Please wait me until next time, I will tell you everything about my berlin adventure, it’s definitely worth looking forward!