Wow, it's already Wednesday! This week has both flown by and dragged on. Sunday was a
basically an all day train ride, and I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it. It was really nice to have nothing to do for nine and a half hours but sit back and relax. Sunday evening we met our host students. My host student is Liz, and she's quite possibly the nicest, most obliging hostess I have ever seen. Well, maybe my aunt who made fresh coffee cake the day after major surgery for us wins out, but Liz is a close second. She and Kursten live in a tiny apartment, but they opened it up to me. Liz insisted on giving me her bed, and hasn't complained once about having to share. It would be nice to have a shower with a curtain, but I'm looking at everything as a cultural experience.
Monday we had a welcome speech by the Berlin vet school, then went on a bike tour of Berlin. It was quite an experience, as I haven't ridden a bike much in years, and never while dodging pedestrians and cars and trying to keep with a group. The tour was nice, though I have to admit I was too busy trying to not die on the bike I didn't have much chance to get oriented around the city. After the tour we had a late dinner, then I got to enjoy the memorable experience of traversing the public transit system alone late at night. This was particularly interesting since the S-bahn line I planned to use was under construction, with all the signs, of course, in German. Fortunately I found a nice elderly couple who were going the same direction I was and helped me navigate. On the way I got to visit with them, and heard about the Berlin museums and their daughter the veterinarian. Such encounters make it all worthwhile.
Tuesday we had lectures all day at the vet school. They were interesting, but the main difference between them and ours at A&M was the lack of air conditioning! I got to share a microscope with a 6th semester student as we bonded over urine samples. That afternoon I went to get a ticket to the Blue Man Group, then wandered around PotsdamPlatz for a few hours. A lady with a big microphone and a TV camera jumped out in front of me and tried to interview me - in German! I guess I blend in ok! The area was a really nice, very modern shopping district, with shops and restaurants and movie theatres and casinos. In a while I sat down to rest, and had a chance to visit with a Turkish student with, um, interesting political views. Later, I happened to stumble on the Hall of Terror, an open air exhibit about the Holocaust and the Wall. It's amazing what you can find if you just wander around! The Blue Man Group was seriously awesome, a unique combination of music, dance, drama, and comedy. I wished I understood the announcer at times, but in all I could follow it really well. The performance was followed by another late night attempt to navigate the trains and busses, this time using a diferent line.
Today, Wednesday, I got up ridiculously early so we could meet and see the duck hatchery. It was really impressive, carts and carts full of trays of eggs and of baby ducks. I was impressed by how precisely controlled the entire process was, from turning the eggs to candling to regulating temperature and humidity. Afterwards, we were supposed to go to the zoo to get a backstage tour, but the zoo cancelled on us, so we went to Potsdam (not to be confused with Potsdam Platz) to see the palaces. They were magnificent, and the grounds were extensive and beautiful. I very much enjoyed peacefully wandering around on the maze of paths for a while. After lunch, shopping, and a long walk to the train station, I headed back home to visit with my host student's roommate. We all eventually went out to swim at the lake, and took the dog on a walk through the woods. I hadn't hardly ever swum in a lake like that before, and I found it a bit disconcerting that there wasn't a pool side a few feet away to grab on to in case of emergency. Otherwise, it was a very pleasant excursion. Now, I'm really looking forward to a good, long, night's sleep.
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