So I can finally write this post because spring has finally arrived. It came last Thursday and has stayed for a while.
I love Berlin in the spring. It is like the city comes alive in so many ways. I feel like the inhabitants of Berlin are like bears. They hibernate all of winter and when the weather starts to get nice they come out in full force. Today it actually got up to 82 degrees.
I spent the early afternoon having brunch in a cafe with my friend. Then we went and laid in the park for the rest of the afternoon. Basically we sat there and people watched. It was so much fun. On my bike ride home there were so many people out in the cafes and on the streets. It is so great to see this city in the spring. It makes me a little sad that I am leaving here in July, but then I think of the dreadful winters and that makes it a better.
If you decide to vacation in Berlin definitely do it in June!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
I just felt like runnin!
So yesterday I ran in my first 10k race. It was a blast. My friend Amy (I work with her in Berling) ran it with me.
The race did not start until 6pm and so I had lots of time to think about it. Amy and I were going to meet at 4:30 to walk there. I needed to leave for the train at around 4pm and so the half hour before this I was a nervous wreck. I was like a kid waiting for Santa to come. The time couldn't have gone by slower. I wanted to leave and get to the race.
When we showed up there were a lot of people there. Mostly women because it was called the Frauenlauf, which means Women's Run in German. We checked in, got our free t-shirts and our gift bags. They had some cool Avon things in them. Lots of body wash, which is not exactly what I need, but oh well.
15 minutes before the race began all the ladies did a warm up. It was interesting and kind of cool seeing all these women working out. Then it was time for the race to begin. We had actually gotten pretty close to the front.
As the race went on my friend started to slow down at some points and even walked for 10 seconds at a time a few times. I didn't want to leave her so when this happened I just slowed down and waited for her to catch up.
At around the 8km marker I saw one of my students and her family. I was going to go by and give her a high 5, but she ran to me with open arms so naturally I stopped and hugged her. I have no idea if she came to see me, or if she was there for someone else and just happen to see me. It was really sweet.
My friend and I finished the race in one hour and I am very happy with that. Overall the day was a success. I am even thinking that I would like to run a half marathon in the next year. We will see.
The race did not start until 6pm and so I had lots of time to think about it. Amy and I were going to meet at 4:30 to walk there. I needed to leave for the train at around 4pm and so the half hour before this I was a nervous wreck. I was like a kid waiting for Santa to come. The time couldn't have gone by slower. I wanted to leave and get to the race.
When we showed up there were a lot of people there. Mostly women because it was called the Frauenlauf, which means Women's Run in German. We checked in, got our free t-shirts and our gift bags. They had some cool Avon things in them. Lots of body wash, which is not exactly what I need, but oh well.
15 minutes before the race began all the ladies did a warm up. It was interesting and kind of cool seeing all these women working out. Then it was time for the race to begin. We had actually gotten pretty close to the front.
As the race went on my friend started to slow down at some points and even walked for 10 seconds at a time a few times. I didn't want to leave her so when this happened I just slowed down and waited for her to catch up.
At around the 8km marker I saw one of my students and her family. I was going to go by and give her a high 5, but she ran to me with open arms so naturally I stopped and hugged her. I have no idea if she came to see me, or if she was there for someone else and just happen to see me. It was really sweet.
My friend and I finished the race in one hour and I am very happy with that. Overall the day was a success. I am even thinking that I would like to run a half marathon in the next year. We will see.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Oh Italy... my new favorite spot
I spend the last week of my vacation in Italy. Let's just say that it was amazing. I went from Venice to Florence then to Rome. It seemed like a lot of people where doing this same thing at the same time. It was as if we made a hostel family and all traveled together. This is probably why I had such a good time. Let me just give you some of the highlights from each city.
Venice
So unique, but a little smelly. Obviously, I had never seen a city like Venice before. It was all surrounded by water and very interesting. There were tons of little walkways to go through. I took a gondola ride with some people from my hostel. This gave us an amazing view from the water. Our guide was good too and quite cute.
I did almost fall into the canal once. I know what you're thinking...Where you drinking? And the answer is no. I was actually walking around the town with this Aussie named Zak. We were just walking all over the town and finding all the little alleys. One of the alleys led straight into the canal. It even had little stairs. I started to walk down them, and didn't think that they might have moss on them. Well they did, and I slipped. Luckily Zak was there to grab me or I would have been a goner. I was a little embarrassed. Oh well
Florence
My full day in Florence was one of my favorite from the entire trip. I woke up at a decent hour and wanted to take part in the bike tour the hostel had. Unfortunately, they were not doing it that day, so I just rented a bike and followed a route one of the hostel workers gave me. I got to see so much of the city that way. I went to the Dome (one of my favorite buildings in Florence) and even found a little market. Here I ended up buying a leather jacket... so cute!
Later in the day I met up with this guy named Andrew that was basically taking the same trip as I was just 4 hours earlier. He was staying at my hostel in Venice and went to Florence and Rome on the same days I was. We went to a contemporary art museum. It was definitely interesting. After this we decided to go back to his hostel, grab some wine and other friends and go Piazza Michelangelo (a hill in Florence) to watch the sun set and listen to the live music.
After dinner we all decided we didn't want to go back to our hostels, so we tried to find a place to get a drink. It became obvious that we were not going to find a place that we really liked and I had a great idea. There were all kinds of American students in Florence and I decided that I would go up to the next group of young women speaking English and ask them for a good place to go. They told us some things and we actually ended up tagging along with them. We went to this secret bar, where you had to have a special card to get in. It was secret because you are only allowed to serve alcohol in a bar until 2am, but this bar stayed open till 6am. You had to ring a door bell to get in too. The drinks were stupid cheap and it was really fun. Towards the end of the night we all went to a club and danced a bit.
I would say around 5 in the morning we started walking home and ran into some other people I met in Venice. They were looking for this secret bakery. I heard about this place earlier, but figured I couldn't find it. Well we were successful. So we had fresh baked croissants with cream filling. Then headed to bed. It was definitely a really fun day!
Rome
There is just entirely too much to say about this city.
The two big things I saw and loved were Vatican City and the Colosseum. I was blown away by the Vatican. I just couldn't believe some of the things they had and how beautiful everything was. I could have gone back another day there. I went into the Sistine Chapel and was presently surprised at the Roman statue display they had collected there. The Basilica was also so beautiful. They had a tomb for Peter the Apostles body. I just couldn't believe they had something like that.
The Colosseum was really impressive. I took a tour of it with some of my hostel family. The information that we learned was really great. It is just amazing that something that old still exists. I suggest you go there if you ever have the opportunity.
I was definitely sad to leave Italy and I know that I will go back there sometime in my life.
Venice
So unique, but a little smelly. Obviously, I had never seen a city like Venice before. It was all surrounded by water and very interesting. There were tons of little walkways to go through. I took a gondola ride with some people from my hostel. This gave us an amazing view from the water. Our guide was good too and quite cute.
I did almost fall into the canal once. I know what you're thinking...Where you drinking? And the answer is no. I was actually walking around the town with this Aussie named Zak. We were just walking all over the town and finding all the little alleys. One of the alleys led straight into the canal. It even had little stairs. I started to walk down them, and didn't think that they might have moss on them. Well they did, and I slipped. Luckily Zak was there to grab me or I would have been a goner. I was a little embarrassed. Oh well
Florence
My full day in Florence was one of my favorite from the entire trip. I woke up at a decent hour and wanted to take part in the bike tour the hostel had. Unfortunately, they were not doing it that day, so I just rented a bike and followed a route one of the hostel workers gave me. I got to see so much of the city that way. I went to the Dome (one of my favorite buildings in Florence) and even found a little market. Here I ended up buying a leather jacket... so cute!
Later in the day I met up with this guy named Andrew that was basically taking the same trip as I was just 4 hours earlier. He was staying at my hostel in Venice and went to Florence and Rome on the same days I was. We went to a contemporary art museum. It was definitely interesting. After this we decided to go back to his hostel, grab some wine and other friends and go Piazza Michelangelo (a hill in Florence) to watch the sun set and listen to the live music.
After dinner we all decided we didn't want to go back to our hostels, so we tried to find a place to get a drink. It became obvious that we were not going to find a place that we really liked and I had a great idea. There were all kinds of American students in Florence and I decided that I would go up to the next group of young women speaking English and ask them for a good place to go. They told us some things and we actually ended up tagging along with them. We went to this secret bar, where you had to have a special card to get in. It was secret because you are only allowed to serve alcohol in a bar until 2am, but this bar stayed open till 6am. You had to ring a door bell to get in too. The drinks were stupid cheap and it was really fun. Towards the end of the night we all went to a club and danced a bit.
I would say around 5 in the morning we started walking home and ran into some other people I met in Venice. They were looking for this secret bakery. I heard about this place earlier, but figured I couldn't find it. Well we were successful. So we had fresh baked croissants with cream filling. Then headed to bed. It was definitely a really fun day!
Rome
There is just entirely too much to say about this city.
The two big things I saw and loved were Vatican City and the Colosseum. I was blown away by the Vatican. I just couldn't believe some of the things they had and how beautiful everything was. I could have gone back another day there. I went into the Sistine Chapel and was presently surprised at the Roman statue display they had collected there. The Basilica was also so beautiful. They had a tomb for Peter the Apostles body. I just couldn't believe they had something like that.
The Colosseum was really impressive. I took a tour of it with some of my hostel family. The information that we learned was really great. It is just amazing that something that old still exists. I suggest you go there if you ever have the opportunity.
I was definitely sad to leave Italy and I know that I will go back there sometime in my life.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Italy
So I have been in Italy now for 5 days. I love it here. The people are so friendly and there are loads of fun things to do. The weather has been pretty good as well.
I dont have much time to blog, but I just want to say that Italy is definitely worth the trip. It is amazing here and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it in there life.
I will post more in the future. Hope everyone is doing good!
I dont have much time to blog, but I just want to say that Italy is definitely worth the trip. It is amazing here and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it in there life.
I will post more in the future. Hope everyone is doing good!
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