Happy New Year! (i heart Berlin)
Yesterday I arrived in Berlin at 1pm. I left before 9 this morning. The appearance of my coat would suggest that I rolled in mud. My shoes and socks are soaking wet. My hair and sweater smell of fireworks. I am still covered in the remaining film from sweating for many hours. I had the best night in months.
I went with Jerod, also American. We booked no hostel and made no plans. Jerod knew one person who'd be in Berlin, but days earlier she had said she couldn't meet up. We threw some stuff in a locker and roamed the city. Museums were closed, or closing as we were arriving. It rained continuously. The German film museum was open, so we killed some time there, ate some crepes, people-watched. I visited the wall yet again, then we had dinner at a delicious Italian place, dripping rain water into our soup bowls. It was not yet 7 and we had time to kill. We got lost, found a few good bars (Berlin has the best, of this I am certain), then walked Unter den Linden towards Brandenburg Gate, along the way dodging glass bottles being thrown from windows and fireworks being thrown by EVERYONE. The German government had requested that people spend their usual firework money on the flood victims - the total usually amounting to 100 million Euro every New Year's. I don't think anyone did, and am really surprised I didn't get burned or hit all night.
There was at least half a million at the Gate, maybe three times that - I don't know. We bought beers and a good pretzel on the street and celebrated with everyone at midnight. Jerod's friend/crush ended up inviting us to a party. By the time we met up with her and got to the party, it was 2:30. Her friend knew one person there and wasn't sure any of us could come.
The party was somewhere in East Berlin, in a small apartment in a rundown communist apartment building. It was attended only by Germans, mostly in the 25 - 35 and older crowd. Yet somehow I felt like a freshman at KU again, unexpectedly walking into a great party and knowing I'd be having a grand time. A bar was set up, a huge, beautiful self-made print on the wall, a room for a foosball table, a room for people dancing crazily, a room for people to pass out on couches, and people falling everywhere. Immediately a drunk girl grabbed me, kissed my cheek and said in English "Happy New Year!" I really could have been in Lawrence. I threw off my soaked coat and boogied down. It was as though someone had made the playlist just for me - Pixies, Beatles, Franz Ferdinand, Cure, Clash, Violent Femmes. And everything I didn't know, I loved. Jerod and I danced to Postal Service and told the DJ we loved it, that we were from America. He played "Kids in America" (from Clueless?) next for us. And he was really cute. I laughed all night as the Germans sang/screamed along erroneously to the songs in English. So did I. Jerod and his crush drunkenly confessed their feelings to each other in the corner. I looked on and giggled from the dance floor or while in conversation with some random person. We left the party at 6 am, missed our train but caught a later one. A great start to the year, indeed.
I went with Jerod, also American. We booked no hostel and made no plans. Jerod knew one person who'd be in Berlin, but days earlier she had said she couldn't meet up. We threw some stuff in a locker and roamed the city. Museums were closed, or closing as we were arriving. It rained continuously. The German film museum was open, so we killed some time there, ate some crepes, people-watched. I visited the wall yet again, then we had dinner at a delicious Italian place, dripping rain water into our soup bowls. It was not yet 7 and we had time to kill. We got lost, found a few good bars (Berlin has the best, of this I am certain), then walked Unter den Linden towards Brandenburg Gate, along the way dodging glass bottles being thrown from windows and fireworks being thrown by EVERYONE. The German government had requested that people spend their usual firework money on the flood victims - the total usually amounting to 100 million Euro every New Year's. I don't think anyone did, and am really surprised I didn't get burned or hit all night.
There was at least half a million at the Gate, maybe three times that - I don't know. We bought beers and a good pretzel on the street and celebrated with everyone at midnight. Jerod's friend/crush ended up inviting us to a party. By the time we met up with her and got to the party, it was 2:30. Her friend knew one person there and wasn't sure any of us could come.
The party was somewhere in East Berlin, in a small apartment in a rundown communist apartment building. It was attended only by Germans, mostly in the 25 - 35 and older crowd. Yet somehow I felt like a freshman at KU again, unexpectedly walking into a great party and knowing I'd be having a grand time. A bar was set up, a huge, beautiful self-made print on the wall, a room for a foosball table, a room for people dancing crazily, a room for people to pass out on couches, and people falling everywhere. Immediately a drunk girl grabbed me, kissed my cheek and said in English "Happy New Year!" I really could have been in Lawrence. I threw off my soaked coat and boogied down. It was as though someone had made the playlist just for me - Pixies, Beatles, Franz Ferdinand, Cure, Clash, Violent Femmes. And everything I didn't know, I loved. Jerod and I danced to Postal Service and told the DJ we loved it, that we were from America. He played "Kids in America" (from Clueless?) next for us. And he was really cute. I laughed all night as the Germans sang/screamed along erroneously to the songs in English. So did I. Jerod and his crush drunkenly confessed their feelings to each other in the corner. I looked on and giggled from the dance floor or while in conversation with some random person. We left the party at 6 am, missed our train but caught a later one. A great start to the year, indeed.