Here’s a story about a crazy Tuesday night in Berlin…
It was Tuesday the 10th of July and I had school the next morning. Granted it was the last day of school and I’m an exchange student who goes to school with sort of a tortured artist approach, but school is school. Nonetheless, I decided I could sacrifice my sleep for one night and go and see the Harry Potter midnight premier in the Sony Centre with 3 other such exchange students and, surprisingly enough, 2 very game German unrelated twins from my class (explanation to follow).
So I met Connor from America smack dab in the middle of Berlin at about 4:30. Lacking time and an idea of what to do, we immediately agreed that the best thing to do was to get out of the rain and go to Starbucks. We barely spoke to each other as I had 2 extra tickets to the premier so we were both desperately calling everyone we knew to see if they wanted to be spontaneous. Connor even went so far as to call a friend of his in Munich, telling her that if she jumped on a train there and then she would make it with 10 min to spare before the film started. Surprisingly enough she wasn’t to keen, despite our suggestion of not having to buy a train ticket and instead keeping an eye out for the ticket guy and hiding in the toilet every time he came. We were standing in line at Starbucks and Connor was still talking on the phone. I had exhausted my friends list (Hey! He had been here 6 months more them me! Give me a break!) when I saw two sofas’s being released from their current owners. For those of you who have any idea how Starbucks works, you will know what a novelty getting a sofa to sit on is and therefore, if the opportunity presents itself, should be taken without a moment’s hesitation. The problem was, at the exact same time I saw the empty sofas, I was asked for my order. I had to make a decision and I had to make it fast. Take the sofa and lose my place in the line? Or make my order and hope the sofas go unnoticed. In the end I found a third option. I poked Connor and pointed urgently at the empty sofas. His eyes widened in disbelief and excitement and he performed a dive that brought tears to my eyes. Confident that he would protect the much lusted after seats, I happily gave my order to the lady. When I had my drink we swapped places, with me bearing my teeth at anyone who so much as glanced at the empty chair next to me.
After drinking our coffee we headed off to meet Viole (Argentina), Stasa (Bosnia) and Atur (Brazil). As we waited, Connor performed one of his favorite pastimes of calling a friend in America from a payphone and saying “Hey, whatsup, I’m in Berlin. Just thought I’d call. Gotta go, bye!” I am pretty keen to do that sometime...don’t know who I would call though... how about the first person to leave a comment on this blog? :P
So yea, Viole and Stasa showed up without Atur. Apparently he hadn’t showed up at the train station, even though we had discussed it with him a week ago and made sure he was coming. Stasa had called him and the conversation had gone something like this:
“Hello?”
“Hey Atur, this is Stasa, where are you?? Are you coming to the movie?”
“Oh yeah, hang on a minute”
*heard in the background*
“Hey mum and dad, can I go to the midnight premier of Harry Potter tonight?”
*Atur returns*
“Ah Stasa? I can’t come sorry.”
“What? I thought you asked them last week?”
“Ah, no. Sorry I can’t come.”
“Ok...bye.”
“Bye”
We couldn’t believe it! We were down to 4 but we couldn’t let it faze us as we had places to be and people to see. So we headed to the subway and proceeded to get on the wrong side of the tracks and nearly take the wrong train, all with me leading. Like a true leader should, I handed the mantle to a more experienced and knowledgeable leader who would lead us safely through the intricate mazes of the underground; The Great Viole. She guided us with such ease and style that we wondered if she really did live in Potsdam and if she wasn’t partying to hard and to much in Berlin every other weekend. But we were grateful for her help and in no time at all we were at the right station and it was again up to me to lead the others to the restaurant that we were meeting my host parents at. And of course I had no idea which direction to go. What made it worse was that we were at a crossroads so I had 4 options in direction! After crossing the road about 6 times we finally chose a direction and made it to the restaurant.
After eating our full of chicken, we took the train back into middle Berlin and proceeded to aimlessly walk the streets. The awesome thing about Berlin is no matter where you go or at what time, you will always find something to do. And Berlin didn’t fail us that night! In the middle of the street was a booth boasting “free stress tests”. We looked at each other and decided that we had VERY stressful lives and should probably take it, you know, for our health. So Connor got the first free test while we watched with interest. The longer the test went on the more stressed he looked and we were a little bit worried about him. Stasa went next and I watched all
the colour drain from her face.
I was next.
A very serious man asked me to take a seat and remove my ring and then grasp onto two metal cylinders connected by wires to a very complicated looking machine. He explained to me that he was going to ask some questions and that I didn’t have to answer them if I didn’t want to. He was kinda a young and creepy sales rep; black suit, schick glasses, hair slicked back and he had this very unnerving stare. Nervously I agreed and we began. The conversation went something like this:
“Ok, I want you to think about your parents”
“Alright”
*thinks about parents*
^Needle goes spastic on machine^
“Mmmm, do you have stress with your parents? Because the machine is showing stress signals.”
“Ah, no…my parents don’t even live in the same country as me”
“Oh, well, umm, does that stress you?”
“Nope!”
“Ok, lets try something else then. Think about your boyfriend”
“Ok”
*Thinks about boyfriend that doesn’t exist*
^Needle goes spastic again^
“Ok, well it definitely shows that you have stress with your boyfriend”
“Well actually I don’t have a boyfriend”
“Really? Well, does that stress you? Do you want a boyfriend?”
“Not at all, I love being single!”
“That’s weird…because it shows you have stress there.”
He then sat there staring at me, straight into my eyes, waiting for me to break down and confess my hidden lust for a boyfriend. I sat there staring right back at him, and eventually he gave in. He then tried to sell me a book on…wait for it…scientology!!! I was a bit freaked and wondering how to get outta there when the other 3 came and were like “ah, Rebecca we better get going or we’ll miss our train”. Of course we had no train to catch but it worked and we quickly walked away, trying not to laugh too loudly.
It was Tuesday the 10th of July and I had school the next morning. Granted it was the last day of school and I’m an exchange student who goes to school with sort of a tortured artist approach, but school is school. Nonetheless, I decided I could sacrifice my sleep for one night and go and see the Harry Potter midnight premier in the Sony Centre with 3 other such exchange students and, surprisingly enough, 2 very game German unrelated twins from my class (explanation to follow).
So I met Connor from America smack dab in the middle of Berlin at about 4:30. Lacking time and an idea of what to do, we immediately agreed that the best thing to do was to get out of the rain and go to Starbucks. We barely spoke to each other as I had 2 extra tickets to the premier so we were both desperately calling everyone we knew to see if they wanted to be spontaneous. Connor even went so far as to call a friend of his in Munich, telling her that if she jumped on a train there and then she would make it with 10 min to spare before the film started. Surprisingly enough she wasn’t to keen, despite our suggestion of not having to buy a train ticket and instead keeping an eye out for the ticket guy and hiding in the toilet every time he came. We were standing in line at Starbucks and Connor was still talking on the phone. I had exhausted my friends list (Hey! He had been here 6 months more them me! Give me a break!) when I saw two sofas’s being released from their current owners. For those of you who have any idea how Starbucks works, you will know what a novelty getting a sofa to sit on is and therefore, if the opportunity presents itself, should be taken without a moment’s hesitation. The problem was, at the exact same time I saw the empty sofas, I was asked for my order. I had to make a decision and I had to make it fast. Take the sofa and lose my place in the line? Or make my order and hope the sofas go unnoticed. In the end I found a third option. I poked Connor and pointed urgently at the empty sofas. His eyes widened in disbelief and excitement and he performed a dive that brought tears to my eyes. Confident that he would protect the much lusted after seats, I happily gave my order to the lady. When I had my drink we swapped places, with me bearing my teeth at anyone who so much as glanced at the empty chair next to me.
After drinking our coffee we headed off to meet Viole (Argentina), Stasa (Bosnia) and Atur (Brazil). As we waited, Connor performed one of his favorite pastimes of calling a friend in America from a payphone and saying “Hey, whatsup, I’m in Berlin. Just thought I’d call. Gotta go, bye!” I am pretty keen to do that sometime...don’t know who I would call though... how about the first person to leave a comment on this blog? :P
So yea, Viole and Stasa showed up without Atur. Apparently he hadn’t showed up at the train station, even though we had discussed it with him a week ago and made sure he was coming. Stasa had called him and the conversation had gone something like this:
“Hello?”
“Hey Atur, this is Stasa, where are you?? Are you coming to the movie?”
“Oh yeah, hang on a minute”
*heard in the background*
“Hey mum and dad, can I go to the midnight premier of Harry Potter tonight?”
*Atur returns*
“Ah Stasa? I can’t come sorry.”
“What? I thought you asked them last week?”
“Ah, no. Sorry I can’t come.”
“Ok...bye.”
“Bye”
We couldn’t believe it! We were down to 4 but we couldn’t let it faze us as we had places to be and people to see. So we headed to the subway and proceeded to get on the wrong side of the tracks and nearly take the wrong train, all with me leading. Like a true leader should, I handed the mantle to a more experienced and knowledgeable leader who would lead us safely through the intricate mazes of the underground; The Great Viole. She guided us with such ease and style that we wondered if she really did live in Potsdam and if she wasn’t partying to hard and to much in Berlin every other weekend. But we were grateful for her help and in no time at all we were at the right station and it was again up to me to lead the others to the restaurant that we were meeting my host parents at. And of course I had no idea which direction to go. What made it worse was that we were at a crossroads so I had 4 options in direction! After crossing the road about 6 times we finally chose a direction and made it to the restaurant.
After eating our full of chicken, we took the train back into middle Berlin and proceeded to aimlessly walk the streets. The awesome thing about Berlin is no matter where you go or at what time, you will always find something to do. And Berlin didn’t fail us that night! In the middle of the street was a booth boasting “free stress tests”. We looked at each other and decided that we had VERY stressful lives and should probably take it, you know, for our health. So Connor got the first free test while we watched with interest. The longer the test went on the more stressed he looked and we were a little bit worried about him. Stasa went next and I watched all
the colour drain from her face.
I was next.
A very serious man asked me to take a seat and remove my ring and then grasp onto two metal cylinders connected by wires to a very complicated looking machine. He explained to me that he was going to ask some questions and that I didn’t have to answer them if I didn’t want to. He was kinda a young and creepy sales rep; black suit, schick glasses, hair slicked back and he had this very unnerving stare. Nervously I agreed and we began. The conversation went something like this:
“Ok, I want you to think about your parents”
“Alright”
*thinks about parents*
^Needle goes spastic on machine^
“Mmmm, do you have stress with your parents? Because the machine is showing stress signals.”
“Ah, no…my parents don’t even live in the same country as me”
“Oh, well, umm, does that stress you?”
“Nope!”
“Ok, lets try something else then. Think about your boyfriend”
“Ok”
*Thinks about boyfriend that doesn’t exist*
^Needle goes spastic again^
“Ok, well it definitely shows that you have stress with your boyfriend”
“Well actually I don’t have a boyfriend”
“Really? Well, does that stress you? Do you want a boyfriend?”
“Not at all, I love being single!”
“That’s weird…because it shows you have stress there.”
He then sat there staring at me, straight into my eyes, waiting for me to break down and confess my hidden lust for a boyfriend. I sat there staring right back at him, and eventually he gave in. He then tried to sell me a book on…wait for it…scientology!!! I was a bit freaked and wondering how to get outta there when the other 3 came and were like “ah, Rebecca we better get going or we’ll miss our train”. Of course we had no train to catch but it worked and we quickly walked away, trying not to laugh too loudly.
After that we went to a shisha bar and had a cocktail and a shisa which was relaxing. We then found a playground and Connor tried to prove that he could hang upside down from one of the little hole things. He succeeded and we didn’t need to call an ambulance.
It was nearing the time for the movies and so I called my two german friends and got them to meet us outside the cinema.
Enter unrelated German twins Lena and Elena. Two blonde girls who at the very least look like sisters though more like twins and who are completely unrelated. During the first 3 months of school I didn’t realise there were two of them, which was a little crazy because Lena is in my English class and I am going to Scotland with Elena as my partner. But as far as I was concerned there was only one of them!! What are the chances of looking so alike and having such close names!!
So after the introductions were made we went to see the very disappointing movie, though the audience was great with a lot of clapping and booing at different characters such as Sirius and Snape. There were some people who were really into the whole premiere thing and had hired costumes for the event!
After the movie we saw TV stations doing interviews with people coming out of the movie. I myself had had enough of humiliating myself with my German in front of a TV camera and the others just chickened out so we didn’t get on TV that night.
Lena and Elena headed off straight away to catch a train while we hang out for a little in the Sony Centre. It was Connor and Stasa’s last night in Berlin as they were going back to their respective countries 3 days later and so they decided they wanted to say goodbye to Berlin. I can’t explain what happened, you will have to watch the video:
http://bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?FlashViewType=Personal&FlashBoxId=4396707484&MemberId=4387788122
Here’s where it got interesting. We headed off to the train station to get the next train to the main station. Then from there we would catch a train to Potsdam and I would stay the night at Viole’s. But as we were about to take the down escalator, Lena and Elena came up the “up” escalator. We were a bit confused as they had left us about 20 min earlier. They were not happy. Apparently all the trains had shut down till 4 because it was a week day! And that was bad news for L and E because they had to go to school the next day as real students which meant they would get exactly 0 hours sleep. They were a bit panicked and were talking about taking a taxi all the way home which would have cost them a good 80 euro. But, as luck would have it, the buses were still running so they were able to take one to their station and then a taxi from there.
We, on the other hand, had no such luck. Our train was going to go at 4:20 from the main station so we ended up taking a lovely stroll through Berlin at 3 in the morning. Wasn’t bad, though we were all thinking about how we had to get up and go to school in 4 hours. We caught the train to Potsdam and arrived about 5:00 a.m. Viole and I then had to catch a tram to her station and then ride ONE bike home together. That was scary. We were wobbling all over the place and kept cracking up laughing which made the bike wobble even more. We finally made it back in one piece thankfully and were home about 6. Viole went to sleep but I stayed up as my host dad was coming to pick me up at 7. So I went to school without a minute of sleep. I was ok though, drank a lot of coffee and it was only a half day. I looked pretty terrible though. But hey, that’s what memories are made of huh?
There, I completed a blog!!!! I don’t know when I’ll be able to do the next one as I am heading off to France and London on Friday and won’t be back for a month. Till then!
Becks.
Here is the booth
Connor looking stressed
Stasa taking her test
Connor after the test :P
