One small step for mich!

First full week of classes down. I have to spend tomorrow running to different print-shops and bookstores to pick up all of my coursebooks—which I’m not looking forward to in the rain—but the courses themselves are all incredible. I’m taking elementary German II with the woman who coordinates the language classes, but I’m also taking “Place-Building-Time: The Architecture of Berlin,” “Creating an Educational Landscape: Museum Island,” “Cities, Communities, and Culture: Neighborhoods of Berlin,” and finally…well…

I was supposed to be taking another EU course because the one last semester was such a good experience. After having a class taught from a Czech professor’s perspective, I was excited to try a class on similar themes from a German professor’s perspective. Then, at the dinner we had with the faculty, I realized that the EU professor will be a lovely teacher but will be focusing on economic policy. Which really isn’t what I was looking for. When I sat down at the table that night, I was joined by a gentleman who introduced himself and mentioned a course that he will be teaching at Humbolt University once their semester starts. The course is called “Globalization, Education, and Social Identity” and I told him at once that I would beg to audit if my German were any good. It turns out that one of the courses he is teaching at NYU also has a heavy education focus. It’s called “New York and Berlin: Global Knowledge Cities.” Aside from laughing at how fantastic these names are and the ease with which I just earned (most of) a sociology minor, I’m more excited than I can possibly express after meeting all of my professors.

This weekend will be running around to get books, starting on an immense amount of reading (my fault for overloading), visiting a Turkish market, sampling some Georgian food, and maybe even taking in some German Techno (Yes, Matt, I’ll be thinking of you the whole time).

Over the next weeks, I need to figure out 1) how to catch my family on skype when the limited internet means I can’t just keep the window up while I write papers, and 2) what are some colorful cheap dinner dishes I can make since I can actually use this whole kitchen.

Apologies for the misinformation in the last post. The neighborhood I live in was part of West Berlin. Where I walked and where I go to school were in the East...

I put some pictures up on my Picasa. The link is here.

Now it might be time to rest. Sleep well!