This week was packed with many new experiences and adventures for me. On Wednesday night, two University of Pittsburgh students that are part of the international internship program and I decided we would be taking a one-day trip to Munich. Munich is over five hours by train, so we decided to leave at three in the morning from Berlin on Saturday and then depart from Munich at eleven that same night. While this decision was very spur of the moment, it ended up being one of my favorite weekends so far.
The train ride went by fast after we slept basically the entire time, and before we knew it, we were in Munich. We arrived around ten in the morning after a delay that we all slept through. The very first thing that we did was find a local breakfast place to chow down on some delicious cinnamon rolls and, of course, chug some much-needed coffee. After we were fed and caffeinated, we set off to the Munich Cathedral of Our Lady to see the city view from high in the sky. Even from that height, it was clear how different Munich is from Berlin, as it is a much more traditional German city. As we were walking through the city, we noticed quite a large crowd of people in the city center and realized something big had to be going on. After a quick Google search, we learned that everyone was there to celebrate Munich’s birthday. Loud booms filled the city center and woke us up instantly. Happy birthday Munich.
We then took the bus, which led us to Olympiapark. This park is the location of an old Olympic stadium where the 1972 summer games were held. The structures were so different than anything I had ever seen before and were quite fascinating to witness in person. We walked around for a bit, and as we were leaving, we grabbed slushies from a nearby stand. These were much needed as it was nearly eighty degrees Fahrenheit outside. From there, we took the train to the iconic Hofbräuhaus we all had heard so much about. We ate a great meal accompanied by the biggest pretzels I had ever laid eyes on while live German music was being played in the background. If you ever find yourself in Munich, the Hofbräuhaus is a must-see place. After leaving there, we went to a little park not far away and sat to enjoy the outdoors some more.
Finally, it was just about time to leave, and we headed to the station to return to Berlin. By the time we boarded the train, we were all exhausted from the day and once again slept the entire ride home. We arrived in Berlin at seven in the morning and couldn’t help but celebrate when we finally reached our hotel. It was easily the most exhausting day I have ever had, but worth every second. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
On Sunday afternoon, we forced ourselves out of bed and checked out the local fleamarkets that go on every weekend. This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the week, and we have been trying to go to them as much as possible.
As for my internship, everything has been going amazingly. I have finally fallen into a daily routine that works for me and really gotten a grasp on my commute to work. At first, it was hard to meet new people at work, but once I started opening up, that faded quickly. There has not been much about Berlin and the German culture that I have found hard to adapt to. It definitely helps that Berlin is such an international country, and there are people from all different countries. I have easily met more people that grew up in other cities than people who grew up in Berlin. Before coming to Germany, I was told that the Germans could be quite harsh and to not expect much praise for anything you do at work. For me, this has not been the case whatsoever. I find that everyone is very excited to talk about the projects they are working on, and my boss almost always tells me when she really likes what I’ve done for a specific project. This was a huge relief for me because sometimes it can be hard not to get hurt by someone being very direct. Overall, this was definitely one of my favorite weeks so far, and I cannot wait to see what next week has in store.