I went out more and explored Berlin more this past week. I went to the Tiergarden on Tuesday for a meet-up with all the people from the program, including the people from other schools like FU. We have a groupchat together on Whatsapp, but we have never met each other except for a few people that we met and have been hanging out with. It was really cool to see and talk to everyone about their internship experience so far, especially at Tiergarden where the vibes there were chill and relaxing. Would definitely go back to Tiergarden for the view of nature and atmosphere next time after work to forget about the labor I have to do during the day. On Friday, I got to leave work early at 2:30 pm, so I went and explored the surrounding area near the hotel. I’ve heard people talk about the TK Maxx here and how it is their version of TJ Maxx, and I fnally saw a TK Maxx during my roam. It is literally TJ Maxx but with a K in the name, which I found it cool that they have different names in different countries for the same brand.

My roommate and I were talking about visiting tourist spots since we have not taken a good trip to see places like the Berlin Wall and East Side Gallery. I mean we actually went visit there on our first day or so during the orientation week, but I was so tired and jet lagged that I didn’t take a good look and appreciate the place. I think nothing registered in my head during the first few days we got to Berlin because of how tired I was and that I can’t really recall my memories of the places we visited, again, could be a me problem, but this weekend I really wanted to visit famous spots. So my roommate and I went to the East Side Gallery and took a good look at all the paintings on the wall. It was a beautiful day with the perfect weather, and there was street artists preforming by the river, so we sat down with all the other people and just enjoying the moment. On Sunday, I woke up with Sunday scaries. The thought of it being last day of the weekend was terrifying. However, me and my roommate got the day planned out—visiting Potsdam. Potsdam is known for having palaces. We visited the Neues Palais that was owned by Fredrick, the King of Prussia back in the 1700s. The Neues Palais is a small palace with only 8 rooms, but it was perfect for us to tour around considering we went in at 3:30 pm and the place closes at 5 pm. We got to know about Frederick and look at his beautiful collections. My favorite thing about the palace tho, was the giant garden behind the building. There was a fountain and scalptures and trees around it. I can’t imagine living there with such a view. Real W to Frederick. We then ended the day with Vietnamese food in Potsdam. Because of a large number of Vietnamese immigrants back in the day, there are so many Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin, which I really like because I love Vietnamese food so much. After dinner, it took us about an hour to get back to the hotel from Potsdam. Another week ahead!

Back to the prompt of adaptability and flexibility, I don’t think I’ve had too much of culture shocks here in Germany nor do I find it hard to adapt to the German culture. However, I don’t think I have interacted with Germans too much to get a sense of how different the culture here is besides some major differences. Though, I would say that adapting to having a full-time internship has been hard, mainly because of the commute time and that I get anxious when there’s administrative tasks assigned. I am still learning and I guess adapting, but it is crazy that we are almost half way through when I feel like I just got to Berlin two days ago, but sometimes it feels like forever as well. Anyways, really excited to plan out things to do during the remaining time.