17 is my favorite number, so I knew that this week was going to be amazing before it even started. My intuitions were right and I had another lovely week in my new city. I drank lots of overpriced coffee, picked up heavy things at the gym, got a new scarf to support my favorite futbol team, officially finished my visa application process, went shopping at Ikea and found new plant babies, bought a sick projector, ate lots of street food from the Saturday neighborhood market, saw the iconic Metropolis at Babylon Kino and spent Sunday bouldering. It was an amazing week from start to finish and I’m so happy that I live in Berlin!
STARTING OFF THE WEEK RIGHT, WITH OVERPRICED COFFEE
My jet lag is mostly gone, but this Monday morning was rainy and extra difficult to get started. To help myself out, I used a little boost from a local coffee shop called Five Elephant. The drinks are overpriced, but I think they’re stronger than my coffee at home and the placebo effect is real.
GYM TIME VS. ENDLESS APARTMENT PIZZA
It’s going to be hot haus sommer in our apartment this year, which means more time in the gym this winter. This week my roommates and I signed up for a gym pass that gives us access to all High 5, John Reed and McFit gyms in Europe. Surprisingly, the membership only costs 19.99, which seems a deal of the decade. For our first gym sesh we went to High 5 in Mitte and it was… interesting. The whole gym was decorated like a Sports Illustrated magazine and it was very macho. I didn’t really mind, but it was a little weird being at a gym where the women’s restroom sign was a tiny cheerleader in a short skirt, while the boys room was a giant football player. After our day at High 5 we went to John Reed and it’s definitely more my speed. The gym is set up to resemble a lounge club and the velvet couches, statues and artwork are a hilarious backdrop for working out. Week one of weightlifting was amazing. I’m super sore and super ready for week two. I even ordered vegan protein power and a new protein shake bottle. Hopefully all our hard work will keep off the pizza that keeps appearing in our apartment.
New Scarf and Sylin with Ingo
I was never a huge soccer fan, but I live in Germany now and that means I need to care about futbol. I started playing basketball when I could walk and I grew up a huge basketball fan, so soccer meant nothing to me. It still doesn’t really mean that much, but at least I’m trying to learn. Getting me to love futbol is going to be a long journey, but the first step is finding a team to follow. After consulting a few friends, I decided to go with St. Pauli in Hamburg. Yes, I know I don’t live in Hamburg. Yes, I know there is a Berlin team that I could be supporting instead. Yes, I know they’re 2nd Bundesliga. None of that really matters to me. I didn’t choose St. Pauli because of their rank, I chose St. Pauli because they’re socially conscious and they try to make a positive impact in their community. They help fight poverty, they’re anti-nationalist and against racism. I don’t understand the sport enough to know if they’re good players, but from what I can see they’re good people and I can always support that.
You’re Not Getting Rid of Me now… Residence Permit Acquired
This week I had my final visa appointment to lock in my long term residence permit in Germany! My final appointment at the Ludwig-Erhard-Haus was booked for January 14th, exactly one year from the meeting where I told my boss I wanted to move to Europe on January 14th in 2021. It’s crazy to me how much can change in one short year, but now I’m writing this blog post from my cute apartment in Berlin, Germany!
For my visa appointment I needed a recent biometric photo, which I went to a local FotoFix to take. These photo booths are all over Berlin and I’ve never seen them outside a party or bar setting in the States. After taking a thousand straight faced photos, I took a few smiling selfies just for fun. On the day of my appointment I was one of the first people through the door and the whole process went smoothly. I did the entire meeting in German even talked to the officiant completely in German. I was so thrilled once I got my official letter that I bought flowers at the train station and skipped the whole way home.
Running Through IKEA
Now that I am officially living in Germany for the next few years, I decided it’s time to get some plants and a couch to accompany the lovely flowers from my visa appointment celebration. My roommate and I drove to Ikea and ran through the store at night, spending way too little time and way too much money on apartment decorations.
BURGER NIGHT AND MY NEW PROJECTOR!
To carry on celebrating my 17th week in Germany I decided to buy a Nebula Capsule projector, which turns my room into a giant theater. On the night that the speaker arrived I spent 30 minutes setting everything up and then had burger night with my roommate and binge watched Emily in Paris.
Saturdays are for Dog Parks and Pasteries and street Markets
This Saturday my roommates and I started off early with a few hours at the gym and then a corona schnelltest to prep for our Saturday nights. One of my favorite things about the way Germany handles Covid is their focus on testing. They’re not shutting down life in Berlin, but they are making it mandatory to show your vaccine status and a recent official test result. It’s so smart! Life can’t stop, but we can be smart.
After receiving our negative tests we wandered through the Saturday street market eating Pastel de Nata, chocolate mouse, coffee, cheese and Arancini. I wasn’t hungry walking into the street market, but I was definitely full as I rolled myself out. To walk off the snacks we went to the dog park with Lola and wandered through random shops we passed on the street.
mein haus am see Mit Mein Girls
On Saturday evening I met up with a few friends at Mein Haus Am See to pregame the night. I love the vibe of this bar and during normal times it also has a dancing club in the basement. Unfortunately, dancing is currently banned in Berlin because of Corona. I never thought I would be 26 years old moving to Berlin and experiencing the hardships of Footloose. Just let me dance!
People think she’s a hellraiser
Willard, Footloose, 1984
METROPOLIS MIT LIVE ORCHESTRA at babylon berlin
While we were leaving the theater last week after seeing Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Kid,’ I saw an ad for the showing of Metropolis on the following weekend. I loved the experience of seeing a silent film with a live orchestra, so I immediately booked tickets for the next weekend. When I booked the tickets, I had no idea that Metropolis was such an iconic film. It premiered in Berlin in 1927 and at the time was the most expensive movie ever made. It is a sci fi film about a totalitarian society divided into the shiny Metropolis and the Depths, which is the workers city that houses the people who keep the city alive. The movie was 2.5 hours long and I was mostly captivated the entire time. There were several scenes in the movie that I thought were brilliant, but one of my favorites was within the first 10 minutes when the film sweeps through the cityscape of Metropolis. It was so interesting to see what people in 1927 thought the future would look like. At the time of the movie’s release Automobiles had only been around for 40 years and you could tell by the movie’s focus on cars filling the city streets that it was believed they would be a thing of the future. Even more hilarious was the inclusion of airplanes flying in between buildings in the city. The idea of flying vehicles is in line with most other sci fi, but what made the scenes from Metropolis so funny is that the airplanes looked like the iconic paper airplanes released only 24 years earlier in Hawk. All in all I thought the film was really amazing, especially considering it’s age. The plot line was simple, but the sci fi elements and theatrical magic was enough to keep me entertained. I can only imagine how it would have been perceived in the 1920s.
After leaving the theater I did a little research on the film and it turns out, what we saw wasn’t even the entire version of the film. In fact, it’s thought that no one alive today has seen the movie in full because the original 153 minute version was lost after the first year of it’s release. For many years the movie remained lost in time and the only reason we have the movie in it’s current shape today is because a tattered copy of the original movie was found in Buenos Aires in 2008… 81 years later.
SUNDAY BACKEReI AND bACK ON THE WALL
Chill Sundays are my favorite part about Germany. Some people find the closed grocery stores and empty shopping halls to be annoying, but I love that there is one day a week where I am forced to relax and take things slow. This Sunday we started off with a long dog walk and pastries from Backerei and Konditorei. Afterwards we drove to Berta Block in Pankow and spent a few hours climbing and getting our bouldering callouses back. It’s always a little scary the first time I go climbing after a long break, but after 2 hours I was starting to feel comfortable again. Comfortable and very sore.
Another Grrrreat week in berlin!
