Wow what a week.
With the Euros beginning there were many events this week. First, my friends and I went to the opening concert on Wednesday which was a lot of fun. I didn’t know one song, but I was there for good vibes. Then Friday came around and it was the night Team Germany was playing. I luckily was able to leave work early, but on the other end, it started downpouring. I had socks and Birkenstocks on (because we don’t wear shoes in my office), and if you saw what I looked like afterward you would’ve thought I just went for a swim. With the dryers costing 3 Euros to use, I figured a hairdryer would work best considering I had a few hours until we were leaving for the fan zone. Now I am not a soccer fan, but what a blast that was. Everyone was so excited every time they scored, I think I had drinks all over myself by the end of the night. I always told everyone that I hated soccer, but I think this game has changed my mind. I have never seen a soccer team score more than 2 points, so 5 was quite a surprise.
During the weekend, we all went out, and we ended up getting back so late that I slept until 1pm! Even though I had very little sleep this weekend, I had one of the best weekends so far in Berlin. I even got to go to the Strandbar in Mitte and watch these couples swing dance on the dance floor. It was right next to the water with palm trees everywhere, it was so pretty. It has been on my bucket list of things to do here, so I was excited to finally have the chance to go!
Although I did go to the Strand bar on a Sunday, it was one of the only things open that day. This has taken some time to get adjusted to. One of those being that so many things are closed on Sundays. Every grocery store within a 10-minute radius of our hotel is closed so having to go on Saturday has been a little bit of an adjustment. I also noticed that it is only where we live that has everything closed. Once you get out of our area, every other town has grocery stores open, events happening, and restaurants open. Although it is unfortunate, it just means we have to take the S Bahn to find things open. This wouldn’t be so bad if the closest station was not a 12-minute walk away. Besides the very few restaurants open near us, finding things to do nearby on a SUnday is almost impossible without having to take some sort of transportation.
I never really understood why Germany closes everything on Sundays, but it took some adjusting too. At home, Sunday was typically a shopping day. I also have had to adjust the number of things I buy even when I go shopping because I don’t have a car to bring it all back. Their food expires quicker than in the US, so it is more common to go every few days rather than once a week.
The other struggle I have found hard to overcome is having no air conditioning. Although it has felt like autumn since we have been here, there has been a handful of warm days. I actually think the hottest it was was the first week we arrived. Other than that, it has been nearly 60 degrees and rainy. But as it has been getting warmer, I can tell our room is warmer when going to bed. We did finally get a fan from the front desk, and that has made a huge difference. We’ve also tried keeping our blinds closed to reduce sunlight coming in our room too. Almost like we are in a dungeon. For my office, it has been surprisingly cool. I do hope they have a fan stored somewhere in the future. It is finally starting to feel and look like summer, but that does have its consequences when living in Europe.
Even though we never had the air conditioning on back in the states, we had a pool to make up for it. Here, I have no choice but to sit in a muggy room or sit outside.
Although there’s no air conditioning, I am looking forward to the warmer days in Berlin and it finally feeling like summer!