This was my last week living in Neukölln before I move to my new apartment. I was lucky to week full of beautiful blue skies and sun shine, completely opposite to the grey backdrop from last week. To celebrate my last week in my first Berlin apartment I decided to get croissants every morning…and yes, that is what I always do, but this time it felt special. This week was full of Berlin bucket lists, starting with a Cowshed facial at Soho House Berlin, Glühwein at Gendarmenmarkt christmas market, butter bretzel and hosting an amazing American Thanksgiving feast for all of our European friends. I had so much fun running around Berlin this week and I felt so grateful to have a room full of friends to celebrate my first Thanksgiving abroad.
SUN SHINING DAYS
Waking up on Monday morning to blue skies was the best surprise to kick off my week. After the majority grey skies last week, I could feel the difference in my mood after walking around in the sun for a few hours. It’s wild to feel the difference between sunny days and cloudy days, but nothing I’m not used to after living in NYC winters.
ICH LIEBE COFFEE am Morgen
I really love how inexpensive it is to get coffee and croissants every morning. My latte with oat milk is only 3 euros and they always fill up my jumbo mug for no extra cost. Truly the best part of my mornings is handing over those 3 euros and getting back a lovely latte. Normally I go to the croissanterie, but this week I added a new coffee shop into my rotation. The new spot is called Two and Two. It’s a cafe created by two girls, one from Japan and one from France, and they sell French pastries and Japanese stationary. It’s a really cute and open cafe, definitely one of my favorites.
COWSHED FACIAL AT SOHO HOUSE BERLIN
After my fast paced few months in Berlin I decided it was time for me to slow down and have a relaxing spa day. I chose the Cowshed spa at Soho House Berlin, mostly because the name sounded familiar to me. The entire Soho house building was really cool and after leaving my facial I was half convinced to sign up for a membership. The facial was really relaxing and I loved the aesthetic of the entire spa. I am still trying to decide if I loved it enough to become a member, but maybe I’ll have a better update for that next week.
Ich Liebe butter bretzel
Ich liebe butter bretzel! That was one of the first sentences I ever learned how to say in German and also very true. I love butter pretzels and this week I had my first one since moving to Germany. I can’t believe it took me so long to eat one, but after taking my first bite I immediately remembered my love of the simple snack.
WeihnachtsZauber at Gendarmenmarkt
Another week another Christmas market! This week I went to Weihnachtszauber, which translates to Christmas Magic. The markt was in Gendarmenmarkt and it really was magical. I met up with a few friends at the market and we spent the entire time exploring the market shops and staying warm with glühwein. So far, the only other market I have been to is Postdamer Platz and Weihnachtszauber blew that market out of the water.
bon appetit BONJOUR VIETNAM
This week I tried a new restaurant in Mitte called Bonjour Vietnam. The food was really good and the aesthetic of the restaurant was lovely, but I’m not entirely sure if Sushi is Vietnamese..? The menu felt more like a hodge-podge of every classic Asian dish, but nothing felt uniquely Vietnamese. Regardless, it was still good!
DIE NEUE SCHULE und Network Neu A1.1
I signed up for my first German class at Die Neue Schule / the New School and I am super excited! I’ve been practicing Babbel and because I know the basics I was able to skip ahead to the middle of the A1.1 class semester! That’s exciting because it saves time and money on the beginner course, but it also meant catching up on a month worth of homework in a week.
THRIFT SHOPS, WHAT WHAT
This week I went to a few thrift shops in Neukölln and my favorites were Sing Blackbird and the Chrome store. I didn’t end up buying anything, but I have my eye on a pair of velvet red Dolce and Gabbana jeans that may need to be a Christmas staple.
GYM GYM GYM
Another week of gym time. I really love my routine of going to the gym every day. I’ve definitely seen an improvement in my running and I can lift slightly heavier weights. Look at me go, a regular old gym shark.
IKEA Tripz
Nothing like a day of showroom shopping at Ikea…why is it so addicting to imagine yourself in all of the various rooms? I am moving next week into a new apartment and this week I decided to do a little prep work by spending way too long at Ikea to peruse the showrooms and decide what “vibe” I want my new room to be. Total shocker, I decided to make my room minimalist with just white and wooden furniture. Who could have guessed that? After waiting in queue to enter Ikea and walking through the maze of rooms, I decided to treat myself with a delicious vegan hot dog. I still can’t believe that they’re only 50 cents.
LOTS OF COOKING!
This week was Thanksgiving and Alice and I decided to go all out! We planned out a spread of Thanksgiving classics, like green bean casserole and corn soufflé, but also the additions of Risa chicken, miso potatoes and goat cheese salad. I love spending an entire day cooking and prepping for a feast and my Saturday was just that. We made a giant mess in the kitchen, but I think it’s a proven fact that if the cook is messy the food will be good. Overall I made vegan green bean casserole, vegan corn soufflé, vegan gravy, vegan stuffing and lots of charcuterie boards. The best charcuterie board of all was my turkey board. I organized the cheese, meat, veggies and olives to look like a little turkey. It was a hit.
Thankful for my expat THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and this year was the first time I spent Thanksgiving outside of America. It was funny to open social media on Thursday and see everyone from home stuffing their face and throwing back drinks, meanwhile in Germany, it was just Thursday. I got asked by a few people if I was sad about missing Thanksgiving, but luckily I was able to say that I wasn’t missing Thanksgiving at all. Instead, we made our own Thanksgiving in Berlin and it was perfect! We threw together a little Thanksgiving feast starting with charcuterie boards and ending with karaoke. The feast everyone created was truly amazing. Alice made purple miso potatoes, Margo made brussel sprouts and pumpkin pie, Karen made a French vegetable dish called Tian, Montana and Luca made roasted carrots, Nonye made Jollof rice, spicy turkey and Nigerian Puff-Puff for dessert, Michael made mashed potatoes, Phil made homemade sourdough bread, Cassie and Sonj brought charcuterie snacks and we all drank way too much wine. I had truly such an amazing Thanksgiving this year and I am immensely grateful to all my European friends who leaned into the American tradition and over indulged on home cooked meals and wine.
