Day 24 - Last Day of Goethe Institut & Farewell Evening

29.02.12 - Mittwoch, Wednesday [posted 04.03]

So, the last day of classes we finished the book that we've been learning from, and played "Tabu junior" Which is Taboo for kids in Germany but with speaking, drawing or Charades. I ended up going first on my team and got 3 points! Woo, all my American game nights paid off! In the end my team won by I think 5 points, I don't remember exactly. It was fun though, it tested our vocabulary. Everyone said goodbye to each other and went our ways. The rest of the day was boring because I had no homework and didn't really know what to do with myself.

Around 18.00 (6 pm), I left to go to the Abschiedsabend "Farewell evening", Rachel stayed behind potentially to sleep. I got to the meeting location at about 5 or so minutes prior to the meeting time and waited there for 20 minutes and saw no one familiar. I decided to walk around to try and find Enchilada Restaurant, no one was there. I walked back to the meeting area, again I saw no one, so I went back to Enchilada. As I was walking, someone called my name, it was Hugo, a guy from my class. He hadn't seen anyone either. We went into Enchilada together, no one was there, went back to "Am Brill" and that's when I realized there were two "Am Brill" Haltestellen, however no one was at either. We wandered back and forth a few times, then I realized that I had been given the number of someone else who was coming by another classmate. I texted him, he said he was coming, and so Hugo and I went back to Enchilada and got a table and ordered some drinks.

 

None of the people from the culture program were there, like they normally are (probably because no one actually wrote their name down on the sign-up list). We talked and waited for another half an hour until the other people showed up. During then I looked through their menu and couldn't help but laugh at the names for the drinks under their "Smirnoff Wodka" drinks. Not too long after that another two people came in and said that the food was terrible there and that we should go to Luv, which was just down the street. About 30 minutes later Lucas' food finally came. I had completely forgotten he had even ordered something. He ate, we left and we went to Luv to find a lot of other people from the Goethe Insitut there. Still, no one from the culture program. Hugo and I ended up splitting some of the most delicious pasta with pesto and garlic I had ever tasted. During that time (approx. 9:30pm), I was persuaded to go to Hamburg the next day (Thursday, the day before I left for Mannheim) at 9:30am to go shopping and just hang out. On my tram ride back I realized that I had already agreed to have a late lunch/ get together with Rachel, Tatiana, Kerly, and potentially Rowan.

I arrived home, told Rachel my story and she said I shouldn't worry about it. Going to Hamburg would be cool, and she was sure Tatiana would understand. I went to sleep, tired, and couldn't wait for the next day.

Day 23 - Playground and Ticket

28.02.12 - Dienstag

Normal day of class.

Rachel and I decided to go to the Hauptbahnhof to get her ticket all squared away. After waiting in line for  a bit, the woman looked over everything and told us we had to go to Domsheide. We get there, get inline, talk to a lady and it turns out Rachel had to pay 7 euros for forgetting her ticket! I was a little flabbergasted at that, I mean a) a single ticket cots 2,35 b) she's already purchased, technically, a ticket for everyday with her Monatskarte, and c) said Monatskarte only cost 37 euros, so the fee was basically 19% of that. Boo. Anyhow, it was done, and we decided to go home.

I then realized that Rachel had boot issues and that I had passed a shoe place on one of the tramlines home, the one we weren't on of course. We transferred easily, and got off at the appropriate stop. On our way to the shoe shop, we were... distracted to say the least:

When our fun was done, we went to the shoe shop. There were a lot of nice boots for relatively cheap, but they were all winter boots and Rachel wanted multi-seasonal boots that weren't fur lined. In the store, I stumbled across something rather interesting, normally these bad boys in blue are $130 and $80 respectively in America:

"Every pair only 25,-" In a shop a few stores down, I think I found some boots that might be more to her liking. . . The store was pretty interesting and had some leather jackets that I really liked, but they were too short. I guess I'm too tall for fashion here? Or I just don't really know how it works. Maybe a bit of both.

On our way home, we passed by a very familiar logo. Ford! I was surprised to see it because I hardly saw any American cars because they are so big. Of course, this one was a little modified. If you can't tell, here's another picture for perspective. Not something you see every day or ever... in America.

Day 22 - Tandem Partner and Possibly the Most International Cuisine

27.02.12 - Montag, Monday

The morning started out fairly normal, however while we were on the bus, some of the transportation center workers came on the bus to check that everyone had purchased a ticket. If have said this is already, I apologize, but most transportation they open up all the doors to let passengers on instead of one by one through the front so the buses can stay on time and move quicker. I rarely see people purchasing tickets (but people who have monthly passes don't have to), and they normally don't have anyone checking. However, lately I've seen them 3 times (within one week, it seems). The first time I forgot my Monatskarte and Rachel was next to me. She showed hers and the person ignored me. The next time, neither of us had an issue, this time, well, they were a lot more strict. Rachel didn't have any sort of ID with her because she left her purse at the house. They hounded her for an ID, her name, where she lived, etc. They called the station to find out that she wasn't on file for the address. Of course, being under pressure, Rachel was having a hard time getting her point across. It was scary because, at first there was one, then there were three. I felt really bad for her. I finally chimed in telling them we were living with a Gastfamile (host family) and that we were studying here for just a month. Finally things were ironed out, and they gave her a ticket that she had to take to the Kontocenter (main account center), literally just in time for us to get off the bus on our stop. As I looked around, I realized the bus had emptied out quite a bit, no doubt others hadn't paid for a ticket and didn't want to for 2,35.

Class was normal, nothing too special, aside from Serge giving his Referat, which was over Guitarre playing. He played "Ohne Dich" by Rammstein, and then later played something in Russian. Russian sounds really pleasant when it's being sung. And also aside from the Leherin (teacher) reconfirming her invitation for everyone to come over at 3:15 or so. I decided I wanted to do that, and then afterward I would be able to meet with my tandem-partner, Julia, at 5. I get home, look up my teacher's address and how to get there with public transportation and it would take me one hour for transit, with 2-3 transfers, excluding walking. I was timid at going at that point. Then I decided that I really ought to go, it was our last week. I had forgotten that the time's it showed me were 20 minutes prior. At that point I would have gotten there at 3:45, been there for 15 minutes, and then would have to turn around to meet Julia at the Hauptbahnhof. So, Rachel and I went food shopping instead. On the account of not having slept to much, Rachel decided not to tag along.

I arrived, met up with Julia and she showed me around a few areas I had already been, but she knew the area so she was able to tell me about some of the things I wouldn't have know on my own such as a woman named Gesche Gottfried was a well-known and well-love person who took care of sick people when they needed it. However, it turns out she was a serial killer and killed about 15 or so people, most of whom were her family. It makes sense they wouldn't assume it was her because she was kind person, but the fact that she killed her father, her mother, her first husband, her second husband, her fiancee all of her children made it a little obvious. She was the last person to be beheaded in Bremen. Where her head ended up rolling and stopping, they have placed stones there in remembrance and so people can spit on it.

She later showed me around Böttcherstrasse, which is where Rachel and I saw the Glockenspiel and the old-fashioned bon-bon shop. Giving me a little more information about the area. It was also then that I found out the Pannekoekschip place was not open on that day. I was a little sad about that. However, I also saw a few fish tanks that were outside, I thought it was chilly, but that was when Julia pointed out the glass was like 3 inches thick. On our way back to the station, there was another demonstration going on, not nearly as crazy or as well organized as the ACTA one though. This one had something to do with Monays and how they needed to be something or else it would be bad for the children. I don't recall and the picture is blurry. I apologize.

A few stops away from the Domsheide station, Sielwall (familiar?) which turns out to be in the area of the famous Vertiel. I knew this, but I didn't know what was the Vertiel. It's basically a very shop-heavy district that's also very artsy and a lot of students enjoy the area, so you notice a lot of "bio" shops and graffiti and little restaurants. It was here that she pointed out a very odd looking tree to me. I don't recall what it was called, but apparently it has survived since the time of the dinosaurs. It's the one that looks like a lackluster Christmas Tree.

  

After Julia showed me some of her favorite spots and restaurants (one of which is called the "Wohnzimmer" or "Living Room", a cafe with only comfy chairs in it, and a -Suppe a place that serves 3 types of soup a day and is pretty cheap.), it was time to decide where to eat. There were soo many good places, so I just went with a close one. It was a Creperie, I like crepes, it was food, done. We go in and then there were sooo many choices that I had no idea where to even start. I didn't know what the food would actually look like or taste like either. I understood the ingredients but not the names. I ended up going with a Gyro. Now let me say, this had to be the most international cuisine on one plate I have ever had. I was in Germany, in a Creperie, which I believe was run by a Turkish man, at which I ordered a Gyro, and I had curry sauce with it. It was pretty good, but seemed to be mostly crepe, which was slightly sweet. The overall flavor was good, but very odd.

I also noticed that they had a drink called Bionade, I decided I wanted to try it. Backstory: back in America in my German 304 - Business German, we learned about Bionade potentionally opening up a factory in Ames and it sounded like my teacher might have been helping with negotiations because he knew so much about it. In the end it didn't happen, but after learning about it in America, I wanted to try it. It was exciting to put something you learn in theory to the test. It was... weird to say the least. It's an all natural drink that's fermented slightly so it's carbonated. The flavor was Litschi, or Lychee, which I haven't had before either, so it was a whole new experience in itself. It reminded me slightly of beer with the flavor and carbonation, but didn't have the gross after taste or the alcohol. Also, being "all natural" also meant no sugar. After I was done, I took the bottle home as a souvenir.

On the tram Julia and I said our goodbyes, however we planned on speaking in the future. I made it home, and worked on homework for the rest of the night.

Day 20 - & 21 Lazy & Focke Museum (Some history!)

02.25.12 - Samstag, Saturday

Uh, well. I can't say much. We slept in kind of late because of the late night before. I watched Futurama in German, and had to suffer through a poor German voice actor for Bender, I caught up on How I Met Your Mother, etc. We also figured we would go shopping because we had very little food left. We get to Edeka, and there are no bananas, hardly any fruit or vegetables, and that's basically our favorite things there. So we bought some milk, pizzas, frozen vegetables, and a small head of lettuce and decided to buy the rest to following day. (This adventure is continued in the last paragraph :( ) I also tried taking a picture of the orange cat, but she's so elusive! I've been trying for almost week.

02.26.12 - Sontag, Sunday

We had planned to go to the Focke Museum in the past, and when we saw the Goethe Insitut was offereing a trip for a slightly lower price, we took them up on the offer. It was a bit of an adventure to get there because we had to transfer trams, which we basically just caught in time. We arrived, went in and wandered around for a little while. It was a bit difficult to thoroughly enjoy it all because it was only written in German and we couldn't understand everything, however I do trust my eyes to tell me what's interesting.

I suppose I will just be explaining the pictures at this point. The left one is a painting of the old Rathaus (Town Hall) from years ago, I thought the detail was very impressive. The middle picture is of an old engine from an silt machine that dredged the bottom of the Weser (local river) a while ago. The right picture is of an old swimming club, their suits greatly amused Rachel and I.

I thought the intricate wood carvings were amazing because I know they were all hand-made. I don't know exactly what they are for though. The paiting with gold in the middle was also very beautiful, and my camera took a very nice picture of it. Now the right, is very interesting. My picture does it no justice. It is wallpaper made out of leather with gold and silver leaf, it was incredibly impressive that they had that much leather and time. I guess without technology, there's a lot less to do and more time for everything.

While wandering, I found the entrance to Narnia! Unfortunately I was not able to open it and could not get a glimpse of all the secrets that laid with in. Shortly after I saw some very interesting glass items. I like the color (red from gold impurities in the glass) and the etchings are very intricate and beautiful. Next, we found ourselves in a political history room. There were a few posters from the political parties saying "Vote for us!". Again, I could not understand everything, but the shear idea was fascinating.

Lastly, in this political history room, there was a filing cabinet full of names. "Juden" means Jews, "Zwangarbeiter" means forced labor, "Zeugen Jehova" probably means Jehova witnesses, and lastly (not pictured here) was a drawer for forced sterilization and the mentally sick. There are a few more pictures of this in my full picture album. We were able to look through the doors and see if we could find names. I did not see any Maier's but Rachel did see Schmidt's and Eiler's. There was another glass section that spoke about Hilter's Youth and people who served under Hitler and badges that people received. Again, many more pictures in my album. This particular photo talks about the completion of service in Hitler's youth on the Frueher's Birthday.

On our way back, we passed a Mexican restaurant that was in a very old, Germanic looking building. I couldn't help but laugh a little because it looked so strange. 

More Pictures Here

Later in the day, we decided we would go shopping, hoping the food was restocked. Unfortunately, after having walked all the way to Walle Center entrance, we found out the whole center was closed. I suppose it was a Sunday in Europe. Places aren't as conveniently open as they are in America, unfortunately. So we came home and I did homework, then we had Pizza for dinner.

Day 19 - Good Food, Good Friends, Good Time

24.02.12 - Freitag, Friday

We had our final class Pruefung (test), I think it went well! We'll see though, I never really know when it comes to this class. Also, a girl in my class is from Italy and did a presentation over Margarita Pizza and made some (which she brought in Thrusday), I think that made hers better by default. :) Earlier that day on our way into class, we passed by (what I believe is an art project) a sculpture that's been there for a week. It's very interesting what's been written on it. Here's a few pictures for reference, and there will be more in my album later:

 

Anyways, after class I was invited over to Tatijana's home (a girl/woman in Rachel's class) to enjoy an Arabic cuisine (prepared by Rowan, who's also in Rachel's class). It ended up being us four, Kerly (from Rachel's class), Lucas (from my class), and Tatijana's husband. On our way over, we passed what I am assuming is a Kneipe/ bar, judging by the name. I thought it was punny because furchtbar means dreadful/ awful and then "bar" is English for bar. I was later told it's a place where "emo's" hang out. The bat makes more sense now.

We entered into Tatijana's home, and it was very nice and spacious. The kitchen felt very homey, and I thought the the refrigerator and freezer were very cool. Take a guess on where they are! (Spoiler: right picture) Rowan said that it would take a while to cook so we were just hanging out for a little while. Tatijana brought some snacks out, which were awesome so I couldn't help but take pictures of them. A smiley puffy sun, and "stapel" chips that are basically Pringels. There after she poured everyone a glass of Sekt, which is kind of like champagne but not as bad tasting. 

First of all, sorry for not having pictures of everyone. I didn't really just want to take pictures of us while we're sitting around, plus I didn't know everyone very well either. The food smelled amazing, and later tasted amazing too! Still in the mean time (it took about 3 hours after everything was said and done), we played with cards. Kings are K's, Queens are D(ame)'s and Jacks are B(ube)'s, that one was the strangest. I also thought that the Queens were more pleasant to look at than our American cards so I took a picture. More snacks were put out and these were spicy, but I've come to enjoy hot foods. I picked up a broken one and it looked like brass knuckles. I suppose it's fitting because it punches your taste buds.

Then Lucas came over and ruined my winning streak in Blackjack.

Finally the food was done and we all gathered together to enjoy the meal. It was absolutely delicious! I don't exactly know what her secret ingredient was, but I'd like to use it! At this point, Tatijana pulled out some hot peppers from Brazil (her home country) and passed them around. I was told they were sort of hot, and well, they were only sort of hot. Not too much later, she brought out even hotter peppers, I couldn't resist. They seemed perfect for the dish, and gave it quite a bit of extra flavor. I wish I knew what they were called now. Thereafter, vanilla and chocolate mousse were brought out. I'm a sucker for sweets.

The rest of the night was everyone chatting, having a bit to drink, looking at shows, movies (turns out Tatijana's husband's a nerd/ Aero Engineer, I believe), chatting more, and of course, Haribo bonbon's were brought out. My mouth was quite happy and couldn't ask for anything more - because my stomach wouldn't let it from all the sugar I had ingested. Rowan and Kerly said goodbye at about 10, and we were planning to around 12, unfortunately by the time we looked, we had already missed the train that wouldn't come for an hour and a half. So we walked to the Hauptbahnhof, passing Furchtbar (Tatijana wasn't kidding about the people, I'd call them Gothic over Emo though) and over a river (where I saw a Gothic Lolita girl).

After much waiting and eye spy, Rachel and I arrived home a bit before 2 and slept.

Day 18 - Treffen mit Tandem-Partner (Meeting with Tandem Partner)

23.02.12 - Donnerstag, Thursday

Fairly regular day in class, learning about new things and had the discussion/debate over Atomenergie/ Kernenergie (Atomic and Nuclear Energy). It was sort of interesting, but none of us are completely educated about the topic so we only had so much to say. On top of that, those of us who knew things, didn't know how to get our point out in German. For lunch, they had two options, but because I had eaten a lot of food, I went with the cheaper, less food option even though Essen I looked really good. Although, I thought the 3 Eierpfannkuchen mit Heidelbeerquark (3 egg pancakes with blueberry quark) was absolutely delicious. :) Fruit quark, apparently is a very popular dessert among German countries, it's a soft cheese that is quite similar to joghurt (yogurt) but is a cheese so it has a different flavor. In retrospect, I should have taken a picture before I indulged.

Afterwards, I met up with my Tandem-Partner, Julia! She's very nice, and we seem to have a similar ideas so that's good. She comes from a smaller town near Kiel, in northern Germany. She wants to be an art teacher and goes to Hochschule fuer Kunst and it's free to go there. She was able to give me a few recommendations around town too, which is exciting because I didn't know anyone who lived in Bremen before now, aside from my host-family (with whom we don't talk with very often, unfortunately). She was also amazed by the amount of Schulden (debt) students in America accumulate. I also found out "To kill to birds with one stone" idiom has almost a perfect translation in German "Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen" (Hit two birds with one stone).

Even better, she offered to show me and Rachel around her favorite parts of town this next Monday and we're going to eat at a place called "Pannekoekschip "Admiral Nelson" " Which is a restaurant that basically only has different types of pancakes on their menu, but not just breakfast type, they have one called "Rotkäppchen" meaning Red Riding Hood and is "Pfannkuchen mit Salami, Mozzarella und Tomate" (Pancake with Salami, Mozzarella and Tomatoes) they have lots of interesting things. I'm quite excited!
http://www.admiral-nelson.de/speisen.php
English Translated Version, for the curious Scroll down after you click something to see the food.

Day 17 - John Deere Internship!

22.02.12 - Mittwoch, Wednesday

Normal day of class, aside from talking about passive and beginning a discussion on Atomenergie/ Kernenergie (Atomic and Nuclear Energy). Then for lunch there was something called Hausgemachter Texasbratling mit Salsasauce & Gemüse Reis & Dessert (House-made Texasbratling [veggie burger thing] with salsa sauce and 63/64 rice with 1/64 vegetable with an apple as dessert. I didn't eat it all, but the veggie burger-y thing was absolutely delicious! The food is so weird, but delicious. I think I will have to take pictures in the future.

Also, today I received an e-mail from a John Deere HR rep saying "We are pleased to inform you that we can offer you an internship from 16.07.2012 until 31.12.2012." I'm really excited about this! I get to work abroad for 22 weeks! It's a little scary because I still haven't been completely culturally immersed and because I've never done real engineer's work, but again exciting because I get to do engineer's work and in a different country! I'm glad that everything is falling into place. Now all I have to do is get all the classes I want at HS (Hochschule) Mannheim, but I won't get to do that for two weeks.

Before the exciting news, I went to the post office and my mind completely blanked on the world for a stamp, so that was a bit of an issue, but not bad. On my way back I stopped in a store called Netto Diskont to check out the prices. That's when I realized I was trapped. The only way to the exit was through the cashier lanes, when I tired to go out the entrance because I didn't buy anything some alarms went off and I went back in the store and bought (scrumptious) Käsebrötchen (Cheese bread), two big chunks for ,70 cents. I also found something... very interesting the "Amerikaner". Underneath it says Sandbrötchen, which means clay bun or something like that. I didn't buy it because it didn't look very appetizing, and I have no idea what it is. A thick sugar cookie with glaze?

Furthermore, I went running. People seem to be amazed that I'm running or that I'm wearing very bright clothes, I don't know. I haven't figured that out yet...

Day 16 - Country Cubes and Mein Referat

21.02.12 - Dienstag, Tuesday

So, I found a sound clip of me doing my speech from yesterday! I recorded myself to see if I could get close to 3 minutes, I did, not to worry. :) Again, I can hear that I have pronunciation issues, please forgive me.


Today we had an amazing lunch! Surprise surprise! Bunter Marktsalat, Tagessuppe, Schweinegeschnetzeltes, >Züricher Art< mit Bauernspätzle, (Colorful market salad, daily soup [curry something or another!!], pork cuts with farmer's Spaetzle. Deeelicious! :) That was at Essen I, Essen II was called "Country Cubes mit Barbeque-Dip" in German. I was curious what it was. Maybe it was beef or pork or chicken cubes with barbeque sauce, that could be good... It looked like it was a plate full of potato cubes with ketchup, definitely not meal worthy maybe a split side between several people...

Also, I've gotten into contact with a German Tandem partner, someone who wants to better their English and is willing to help be better my German! I'm excited!

Day 15 - Centrum to Vitalsana

20.02.12 - Montag, Monday

Class was fairly regular, aside from a kind girl in my class who is from France, but studies in Switzerland. She had a gefuellte croissant but it was a special kind with Toblerone chocolate inside. I commented how Toblerone was awesome and she gave me a small part. It was uh-mazing. Later I chatted with her a little more and then during one of our breaks we talked about how we were hungry and she asked if I wanted to split another croissant. She said she wasn't hungry enough for a full one but wanted to settle her stomach. When I was searching for half the amount, she said she would pay for it all! :) I wish I had remembered how to say "thank you" in French, oh well.

Also, unfortunately, I forgot all about uploading my video whilst at school. Oh well, Rachel and I went to lunch, had delicious Erbseneintopf mit frischem Gemüse (Pea soup with fresh vegetables). It was amazing! And vegan too. Anyhow, thinking along the lines of how I might me mal-nourished, I decided that I wanted to get some vitamins. Medicine and these types of things can only be purchased in a Drogerie or an Apotheke (Pharmacy) so we went into our favorite shopping center (Walle Center) and looked in the Apotheke. That's when I saw Centrum, I knew exactly what it was and it was what I wanted, I didn't have to look up words to make sure it was. I look at the price and my jaw dropped. For 30 tablets it was 8,95 euros, and for 100: 24,95. That was utterly outrageous in my opnion. Centrum was not a brand that I could love and trust in Germany. So we wandered back to a smaller store that reminded me of a tiny German Walgreens, and we passed a nice little neighborhood.

Rachel then pointed out how the fences looked pretty but also very sharp and fierce, and that only Germans could do that.

We enter the store, where I had recalled seeing something along the lines of A-Z vitamin something or another. Sure enough, I found what I wanted for such a better price. 100 tablets for 3,59. No complaints whatsoever. It was also interesting to discover that they have a lot of homeopathic teas that are supposed to help you sleep and relieve stress or are sick, und so weiter. (etc.). As we were wandering out, I saw something that was familiar, but not quite the same. It still made me smile though!

This being from Switerland surely meant it tasted better, but alas, I did not buy any as I had just bought something better (even if it wasn't chocolate).

I came home and /finally/ got my video to upload to YouTube. Whew!

Day 14 - Domsheide/ Altstadt (Cathedral and old town) :)

19.02.12 - Sunday, Sonntag

After fighting with the internet for the past few days to upload my video of me reading Cinderella, I finally gave up and we went downtown.

Am ersten, we made our way to a tram stop of #3 and #10, I thought both went to Domsheide so when we missed the 3, it wasn't a big deal. However, the sun turning to pouring rain to hail was a little annoying. We caught the 10, but it turns out we had to get off and back-track a little because it didn't go to Domsheide. While getting off in Sielwall, we noticed a Baeckerei that a lot of people were going into. We figured we'd try it out later after we toured the Dom (St.-Petri-Dom, Saint Peter Cathredral [Lutheran I found out later]). Which, when we arrived, was closed. The sign out front said it was supposed to be open, many other people were confused too. I decided to take this opportunity to take a picture of the outside. Which, you may remember being the backdrop for the ACTA protest. I apologize now that some pictures are a little blurry, I wasn't sure I could use flash and the lighting wasn't perfect on such a gloomy day.

Christus spricht ich bin das Licht der Welt wer mir nachfolgt der wird nicht wandeln in der Finsternis.
Christ said, I am the light of the world, who follows me will not wander in darkness.

I have a lot more pictures to show you. The first one is a McDonald's in an old building. I thought it was interesting.

After visiting the Cathedral, we decided to wander around the Alte Stadt. Here's a few pictures of the alley-way and I took a picture of a cool clock, not realizing it was actually a Glockenspiel until we made our way back towards the tram stop. It was a Sunday, so most places were closed, like the candy store, unfortunately.

 I mentioned in an earlier post about the four musicians, well, I finally found them! You can see in this picture where it is touched the most because it is polished. I noticed several other statues around had polished areas, namely an upper torso of a woman, which had similar coloring. I'll leave it at that. Lastly, I also noticed a lot of graffiti on the buildings in the open market area that was shown earlier. None of it graphic, just random words or signatures.

Mehr Alt Stadt Bilder (Pictures)

After all that fun was done, we made our way back the the Baeckerei named Weymann. It was DELICIOUS! Here's a few pictures for reference. Also, I had my first Berliner, sadly not in Berlin, but Germany is close enough! Rachel also had hot chocolate made from real chocolate and not some mix, you could definitely tell, especially by the huge grin on her face. :) Looking at these pictures is making me hungry all over again.

And why yes, I did enjoy eating one of JFK's kin. I thought you would never ask.

For the rest of the evening, I practiced mein Referat (My speech/ presentation), did homework, and crawled into bed about 9.