News+From+Berlin

Jack and Becca - share your experiences here!

Date: June 10, 2012 (from Jack) > Hey Mom! (and everybody if you forward this), Just checking in to say hello. I am getting ready for bed now cause I got class at 9am tomorrow. First two days of class went okay, my teacher speaks only in German and sometimes its hard to follow. Its challenging, but I think it will be rewarding. Tomorrow I start my film studies course. I bought a little notebook to write in like you said (they are really expensive here). But I wanna do more than just log my day into it. I think I will print off pictures we take and put them in, Probably leave a page or two after each entry for pictures. Any other ideas on how to make it more lively? I also have a homework buddy in my German class named Kyle, so I do homework with him. Today Becca, Kyle, and our other friend Kristen, and I went to this old decommissioned airport which is now a park. It was quite cool sitting near a runway doing homework. Then we got some food and went to a flea market. There were some really cool things, I just bought a metal pin (I'll send a picture later when I am not so tired). The pin is from the Social Democratic Party and it looks pretty cool. The one thing that really has been weird is hearing little children pass by speaking German so well. Spent quite a few dollars here the first week, I think everyone in the program did. Just getting adjusted and finding ways to do things cheaper, like going to a grocery store, bringing my own water places, or buying doners. Doners by the way are amazing and only cost like 2,5 Euro which is super cheap. I am learning the metro line here more and more, at least the stops that I need since I live in the south. They have a tram, a bus route, and three different trains that all zig zag and cross and meet up. But its nice cause my stop Julius-Leber-Brucke is right outside my window and from there its 5 stops to the IES building. Their way of Metro differs from ours. You don't put money on a card and swipe $3 a ride for example like at home. Instead people just hop on and off and dont pay anything. And then they have plain-clothed officers come onto individual trains and then ask for tickets when the train is in motion. If you dont have one then you are fined big time. So if you wanna be safe you can buy a day pass or whatever, but you can also risk it. We were given a month pass though so I am good. Another smart thing they do here is recycle really well. They have a recycling bin for EVERYTHING. And when you buy a bottle of whatever they charge you like 17 cents more than it should cost. And when you return the finished bottle to these stations you get your 17 cents back. It encourages people to reuse bottles and also to recycle. Friday I stayed in and slept because I was feeling tired constantly and just stopped to have a really good nights sleep. And then Saturday everyone from IES went on a bus tour around the city. Although nobody really listened. I think a bus tour is more for people who stay only a few days in Berlin. I plan on going to all the places they pointed out but on separate days in which I can enjoy them. Then after that a large group of us went to Brandenburger Tor to watch the Euro 2012. They set up huge TVs and played the Group B games of the tournament (Germany is in Group B and they won their game 1-0). The excitement and dedication is so different from American sports. And they had two contestants play FIFA 2012 on the PS3 for tickets to the next German game, but they were god awful. I wish they called me up, I posted a video of it on Ferentinos' wall. I will have to send you pictures when I can upload them from Becca's camera/my iPhone of the apartment I am living in. As well as photos of just stuff we have seen, that is something I will have to do tomorrow after class. Well I am tired and dont wanna make this message tooo long, so I will stop here. I miss you all and hope things are going well in Maryland! Anything exciting going on while I am away?

Leiber, Jack Date : June 5 (email from Jack) Hi mom!

Sorry to be getting to you so late, but I did not have time at the hostel and it actually cost money to use the internet. So I thought I would wait until now when I am at my new homestay. I will make sure to send you an email full of pictures from this house, it is wonderful and old with high ceilings. Its on the first floor of an apartment building that goes up about five stories. Hermut is really nice and he drives his own cab around the city. He has been doing it for 33 years and has had students through IES before. He knows English pretty well, but I told him to use some German around the house as well. He has been teaching me words already for things like plates, oven, among other things. Although he will need to repeat them a few times for me to really get them down. There is a train station across the street that will take me straight to IES in about 5 stops so that is really convenient. Each room has kind of a studio vibe and there is artwork and art supplies everywhere. Also he pointed out some good bars and restaurants in the area, and the supermarket is right down the street. I will have to go there later to buy a journal and some groceries. So far the weather has been windy, cloudy, and pretty cold. I have been wearing my jacket and jeans everyday and its still a bit chilly, but when the sun comes out it feels really nice. I might have to buy a heavier coat, I packed pretty much no cold gear. I am eating dinner with Hermut in a few minutes then he goes to work. He works usually from 7pm-2am except longer on weekend days. He has a dog named Tinta. She is reallllly old, 17 years old actually. Shes a black terrier with some gray hairs here and there, she is blind as well as deaf but can hear really well. There is also another student here named Christopher from Switzerland, however he only speaks Italian, French, and a little German. The city is relatively flat and Hertmut knows it really well. I may rent bikes now and again to go on bike rides. I think that will be a good source of exercise. It is definitely a shock being in the city. Yesterday I was bummed because I felt bad leaving you guys. I never get to see you, dad, and Stevie but I went abroad. Also it seemed that the trip would be so expensive since we pretty much used all the money I brought. Actually thats not true, but dinner was 17 and the taxi was 24 and the room was 88. It just added up and looked scary. And on top of all that I remembered that I still havent figured out my life plan and whether I want to go to graduate school, and which school, and which program. So yesterday was a bit negative and confusing. The plane rides were nice, but really messed with us and Becca and i are constantly tired. But everyone at IES was really nice today and the building is nice. They have a library, and a computer lab, as well as classrooms. My classes look like they are going to have me on campus everyday from 9-12. Becca's literature class is at the same time as her architecture class, so hopefully she can find another German class in time. She did not look that worried though. All the people we met seemed nice, and are from around the United States. We got there at around 12 and got a tour of the place. That finished at around 1:30 and we sat in this common room with the rest of our tour group which was 9 people. Then more and more people came in. We all just say and talked until 4 when people started leaving with their homestay "moms and dads". Becca lives about ten minutes from my house by walking. We start classes on Thursday (or whatever is day after tomorrow). And I am going to email Renee my counselor back at Mizzou to try and see if the class I am taking will count (the film one that is). But apparently it is also a history course so maybe it will count as that if need be! I will make it a habit to email you everyday if I can to check up and talk, we can also skype of course.

With love,

Jack/John/JJ