About the rest of spring break…it continued to be wonderful. I mentioned the concert and first day, but I think I forgot to say that I went to an open mic night with Sam. The only real reason to mention this is that there was a cello/violin duo outdone only by the old man singing sailor shanties. Of course.
On day 2, I met up with Michelle early and we went to the “Gardens of the World,” which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I was delighted that so many of the flowers were finally blooming, and Michelle danced around the one trop. house commenting one each orchid and tree that she recognizes from Singapore. We admired the decorations that were up in preparation for their cherry blossom festival. After our tour of the gardens, we played in the park across the street until it was time to head back into town. We had to prepare for an internship event, which we helped run the next day. The event was a “Speed Portfolio-Viewing,” thought up and planned by the brilliant Despina Stokou. It was actually a really fun event to be a part of; everyone felt very open to meeting each other, and the energies were just really positive.
The next day I wandered around Sudgelände nature park—and old railway switchyard that’s been designated an art park AND a nature preserve. There’s a sculpture studio in the middle and an area for graffiti, but there is also a raised walkway through the reserve half for visitors to observe the wildlife from without disturbing so much as a blade of grass. Or a leaf of mistletoe…which is everywhere!
Then I met up with my friend Eliza to explore a few other nature-y places in the city, ending up in Victoria Park (which will probably always be one of my favorite places in Berlin).
Day 5 I went to Potsdam, the city just outside Berlin were the Prussian rulers preferred to live and where the Potsdam Conference/Agreement happened. (Happened? Were? Came to be? I’m not sure which verb is the best here…) I walked around the town center for a while, and then I meandered to Sans Souci park. To be honest, I did it on a whim, but am sooo glad I did. The park was lovely! It was a kind of playground for Frederick the Great, and it is a mix of natural areas and architectural features. I opted out of the castle tours, but I did climb the old wooden windmill. At the top was a man working the mill, and I listened to him explain auf Deutsch to some children which grains became which flours for which breads. It was lovely! I got a little tired as I was walking back from the park to the train station, but I’m glad to have done the day by foot. I always discover so much more that way.
That actually took up most of the day. The following day I ran a morning errand for my internship before joining a friend to sit in on a class at Humbolt taught by one of my NYU professors. I wish our semesters had matched up better so that I could have gone to that class all semester. It was offered in English through their American Studies department, and the focus was on globalization impacting education systems. Really cool!
After class I went to a park with the other NYU student who had attended. We walked around Gorlitzer park and went to a Turkish restaurant for an awesome dinner. This was one of the few times I ate at a restaurant all semester, and it was such a good restaurant! We separated after dinner, and I went on to have a quiet night and a quiet next-day. I spent most of the next day walking around at Wannsee, a large lake off the S1. It was a lovely relaxing day, and it gave me some time to reflect and pull my head together.
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