you are the apple of my eye

Today is the day.  The sadness of saying goodbye to this amazing and unique city is replaced by my anxiety and excitement of going back home. But I know I will miss Berlin, as well as the days I spent with my loverly gators, my respectful professor.

I will remember the night in Berlin TV tower. I looked out through the window, Berlin is all there. Quiet. Peaceful. Like no tourist like us would change the way this city lives. Though when I asked professor Freeman, if Berlin has changed a lot during the past nine years. He answered, in most recent years, more constructions have been coming up. The advent of new things will always take away some parts of the traditional culture. Same in China.

May the best part of Berlin stays the same until the next time I visit here. May the starry starry night I saw upon in the air and the memory here stay in my heart.

PS, I won't regret I didnot drink much here.
I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight.

Bye, Berlin.

Pack my mood first before I leave

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.

-- Rorbert Frost

I counted the photos I took in Berlin, more than a thousand! Some of them are people, some are buildings, streets, the tower, beer bottles, and graffiti. Though the number of them are huge, I don’t think I see enough of this city. I wish I know German, then I could talk more with the local, the old and the young generation. Or maybe I am too obsessed with the war, thinking about how great the influence it left on this city and its people. Maybe it just has the same development and evolution pattern as other European nations or every other country in the world.

Today is my last second day in Berlin. I remembered the day I just got here clearly. So curious, so excited. Everything was new and waiting to be discovered.

Now I can go out without a map in hand. I can hop on and hop off a train as a local. Wow, the half a month time here is definitely going to be so unforgettable in my life. You see, how a graduate student likes to live in the past and vision the future.  

PS: Tian and I got back from Paris last night. Berlin welcomed us with low temperature and empty street, because it was already 1:30 a.m.. Though cold, the smell of this city feels familiar. Ten days here make it like home already. 

An old couple, one stamp shop, another raining day, my day.

I have been worried about my project since the day at Urban Spree one girl in our group found her target. This trip in Berlin is never only about enjoying and exploring this city, we come here as a college student as well, I keep reminding myself. 

But... the first day wondering in the street did not turn out well. 

I finally decided to do my project from the perspective of a foreigner who strives to live his life in this international European country, and I found my guy. He is from Venezuela and now selling tickets for city-sight seeing bus. Interview questions kept poping up in my mind, and I wrote him an email to set up our interview time, I was really excited about this. However, I waited and waited, he never reply my email. 

What should I do? Go to the street again! 

Lucky enough, a perfect shop came up. I actually passed by it before, but it was closed then.
It is a stamp shop, you could sell, buy or have your stamps evaluated here. They also do coins. This small shop is owned by an old couple. It has witnessed the form and falling of Berlin Wall and the war, it was first owned by the old lady's father in 1932. See? Exactly the place I was looking for! I mean, not the one I mentioned above, it is my first picture of this project: old people who went through the war now is running some small business in this city. I want to bring some history into my project. After all, that is what makes Berlin so special from other European countries.

But, again, as I expected, they are not good English speakers, like me. Lol. We tried sign language, Google translator, any kind of means to communicate. I am glad that they are both nice and patient people. The lady talked to me when her husband was taking care of his guests. Finally, I was not able to discuss more profound topics with them considering the language barrier. But I know the book shelves, stamps, empty envelops and coins are all of great importance, to their old owners, to their new owners, and to this city. They are like the survivors from the war, and they are still gonna witness more changes happening in this city and keep the story going.

I cannot believe these small stamps just made my day. Anyway, it is Berlin. I am so grateful.

When in doubt, shake it out

   

Cathedral and carnival, I saw two of my favorite “thing” today in West Berlin. What a day!

只是，当我在热闹人群前，或者是走在静谧的林荫道上时，我多希望你也在身边。

The first day at Berlin: get my feet wet

My most basic knowledge of Germany can be concluded as World War II, car, football, and beer. After our four-hour bike tour of the city today, which was exciting and cold because it’s raining and windy, my impression of the capital became complex. Though we really looked like tourists so much, exploring the city by bicycle made me feel I am part of it.

Before I came, I reviewed the movie the Pianist, and I was looking forward to seeing a cold, quiet and unimaginative post-war city. It turned out that I could barely relate the intense emotions I got after the movie to what I feel right now. This city is full of creativity. You can find graffiti everywhere and the architectural style is quite unique, like a combination of modern and historic. You can find flowers on every balcony, like every Berliner is a gardener. You can find people drinking beer outside a convenience store or at an open-door restaurant around the corner, in the morning.

Maybe not every big international city has to be like New York City or Shanghai where I am more familiar with. It could be peaceful and passionate the same time. Though streets at Berlin are filled with cigarette litters, pieces of beer bottles and all kinds of extremely colorful posters on the wall, I don’t hate it at all, it only makes this city more real and free. Maybe it is because of the rain, I am getting emotional.