First Week in Berlin

I cannot recall what first drew me to travel to Berlin for my study abroad trip. When searching for cities to go to, I had many factors that caused me to limit my search. The program had to be in the summer. I knew I wanted to travel to Germany, but knowing German couldn’t be a requirement of the program, since I knew none. All of these parameters led me to the Indiana University Program in Berlin, and I could not be happier that they did. Although I have only been here five days, I am in love with the city. 

My first impression of the city was from the back seat of a Mercedes-Benz taxi that I took from the airport to my hotel in Mitte. The first thing I noticed was that the traffic was basically nonexistent, something that is not normal in a major city in the States. I later learned this was because Berlin is very spread out compared to Manhattan, which has 2 million people jammed into an island.

                My hotel is situated in the Mitte district, which literally means “middle”. The area we are in, however, is quiet and provides me with the perfect surroundings to go for a run and explore.

               We took a day to find some points of interest throughout the city. This gave us an opportunity to figure out the public transport, a feat that is easier said than done. After getting lost only about a dozen times in total, we were all able to somewhat grasp the complexities of the U-bahn.  Although I have not even begun to learn about all the history that is visually present within the city of Berlin, I am currently most fascinated with the trains. The same rails have been there since the early 1900s. Most have survived both world wars and the building and destruction of the Berlin Wall, yet citizens and tourists use the system every day without giving it a second thought.