Monday, May 28, 2007

Bikes, trains, and more!

Jingwen and I spent the whole day walking around Berlin. This is one big, amazing city. After feeling lost for half a day, I am now pretty comfortable with traveling around.

The subway system is very extensive. All the stations have digital signs telling you when the next train will arrive. What amazes me the most though is that the buses are on time! I've never been to a city where the buses are on time. When they say 10:05, they mean, 10:05. The bus drivers are really nice too! I feel like I'm in public transportation heaven!

So many things here are on the honor system. You know, the thing that no one paid attention to after elementary school? Here, no person or machine checks your tickets for the subway. You're just expected to buy a ticket and then get on the train. The bus drivers check but they could care less. I mean, how can anyone possibly read the small writing that is on the tickets anyway.

And the bikes. There are so many bikes everywhere. Think college campus. That's what it feels like. There are bikes racks are usually full. I've been passed by many families riding on bikes. I'm not sure but I don't think they use training wheels here. I've seen a couple of small bikes that don't have pedals and the kids just use their feet to push.

I think I'll have lots of fun exploring this city this summer. I really wish I know German. Everyone I've talked to today knows English though. Anyway, off to Greece tomorrow! Hope I'll have internet access there. Will post pictures once I get them from Jingwen.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Germany!

After 8 hours of flying and 2 hours of searching, Jingwen and I have finally arrived at our dorm in Germany. It's a holiday weekend so nothing is opening until Tuesday. Kinda sad but yeah.

The flight was pretty good. I didn't get airsick. I even managed to get a few hours of sleep. One of the flight attendants has a really good memory. After his first time through with our dinner, he knew which language people spoke and if they had any dietary restrictions. I was really impressed.
After we got to Berlin, Jingwen's friend's friends came and helped us get to our dorm. Everything went fine except for the last bus we had to take. First we changed our minds about which direction to take. Then after we finally got on a bus, some guy who lives at this dorm told us that we were going the wrong direction. He directed us onto the right bus stop and when we got on, it was the same bus driver! But apparently this bus loops around or something like that. Confused...

My computer is almost out of battery. I didn't realize I was supposed to buy a plug converter in the States. Nor did I realize I should've gotten Euros before I flew here. And seeing that this is a holiday weekend... *Sigh* Oh wells. I'll live. I can probably just make my way back to the airport and get these things but what a pain!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Flooph, the elephant, went with me to my finals today. Everyone now thinks (if they had any doubts before) that I'm crazy.

Yalu: uh, maybe you should just bring a regular pillow.
Drew: What are you going to do, take a nap?
Allison: Ooo, hey, I have a stuffed animal too!
Prof Stocker: Please put away anything that is not your pencil, pen, and eraser.

Flooph, in fact, did not get sat on. Though I did take a nap on him between during lunch.

Zawadi: Do you have a bag for him?
Lucy: Bag?
Zawadi: Yeah, he's cold.
Lucy: Cold?
Zawadi: The poor thing, he's going to get sick.
Lucy looks doubtful.
Zawadi: He's probably wishing to go back to the store.
Lucy: Nah, see, he's also a pillow. Lucy sits on elephant.
Zawadi: Poor thing! Look how flat he is.

Spring is here! And so are my allergies...


Posted by Picasa

Celebrating!

Lucy has just finished 2 finals! Yay! Must procrastinate by doing useless stuff like starting a blog. hehehe. Almost half way through with college. Can you believe it?!