The Adjustment

I intended to blog every single moment of my international experience, but decided to live my life instead. Here's a recap of Berlin (email me for unpublishable details).
When I boarded the plane to Berlin at JFK on September 2, admittingly, I was frightened by the upcoming change in eight hours. Don't let my seemingly adventurous personality fool you - I have a heart, soul and I get goose bumps. It was most painful to detach myself from my Blackberry. In fact, this German couple who I shared (not enough) elbow room with insisted that I turn my phone off while we were on the runway. A nerve was struck, but my phone went off. While in flight, I took the BB out of my purse a few times to nudge the buttons and de-dust it.

I arrived at Tegal Airport in Berlin with blistering anxiety. All I had was $200 measly American dollars and two 50 pound bags. I found a rip-off machine and converted my dollars to euros ($1.65 conversion rate plus a fee). It took me 15 minutes to buck up and figure out how to catch a cab in Germany. The taxi drivers actually play by the rules and that confused me. There's no ethnic person hassling you when you walk outside of the airport. I miss La Guardia's hectic disposition. The first man of color spotted me from afar and eagerly offered to carry my bags in the pouring, cold rain. The cab driver didn't speak English. After a series of using universal body language and 25 euros later, I arrived in Kruezberg.

When I first walked into my apartment, I checked the cleanliness of the bathroom, kitchen and traces of unidentifiable (to the otherwise grimy human eye) spots on my all-white sheets. Mr. Clean, two sponges and a German-brand of Ajax were among my first purchases that DAY! The first week before classes was jam-packed with tours, information and people in search of friends. I was fighting jet-lag, irritable about living in the only apt. without a vaccum cleaner, googling local gyms and threading salons. By the end of the week, the NYU program segregated into social groups and I felt completely misplaced. People were gossiping and posting Tabloids before I even knew everyone's name. I'm only 22, but I can't remember when's the the last time I spread a rumor. I guess I'm self-indulgent.

The transition...
When classes started, things began to fall into place. I was training myself to adjust to a less-lavish lifestyle without air conditioning and a temperpedic mattress pad. My hotcomb/curling iron functioned adequately after a desperate search for an outlet. During my hunt, one girl boasted, "what's the big deal anyway?" I felt misunderstood. I bought a rad bike for 50 euros at a counter-culture flea-market where you can buy all the things that you absolutely don't need. One week later it was stolen by a Turkish bandit who obviously doesn't know how mean I get. hmmph! Oh yeah, my residence is right smack dab in the middle of a Turkish ghetto. NYU, that was a low blow. I watched three cars burn from my windows. Apparently, burning expensive cars as a political statement doesn't keep Capitalism out. On the way to the Ostbahnhoff (train station) or right around the corner, there are real-live squatters where people dwell in dilapidated conditions as a resistence to modernity. I'm intrigued by the artful facades of these squatters and hope to wonder in one day without being Nazi-ed out. My room-mate and I have learned each other's idiosyncracies and are coping. She's paranoid and I'm anal. It's a perplexing combination of seemingly negative extremeties, but we get along great! I wash the dishes and she locks the doors.

Thus far, I've traveled to Hamburg, Eitting, Munich and Wannsee (an outskirt of Berlin). Hamburg was my favorite city. It has an idealistic European feel with canals, parks, UN-Free public restrooms, relatively no graffiti, and a street of prostitutes that I didn't get to see. I think I've experienced sensory overload on graffiti in Berlin. It's everywhere. I appreciate art, but not this damn much.

I think I'm going through some sort of growth spurt now days. I feel it in my bones. My ankles pop and I crave vegetables.