Having pressed the backspace on this post too often already, I’m sorry to start my post this way, but all I can say is that I do not think I can find the best way describe these last two weeks in Berlin. During this time, my life has been full of both magic and madness (Wait, I don’t have the copyrights to Taylor Swift either? #oops). Madness in the sense that not only did I misplace/have my monthly transportation pass pick-pocketed (spoiler: it worked out in the end), but other things in my life have gone awry (e.g. losing my U.S. SIM card for my phone) and have been falling apart altogether (i.e. my entire room in the Hotel Lützow #bugs #flooding). Regardless of these tests of my sanity, I managed to take away a new skill; being able to take a shower under four minutes (shout-out my bathroom’s forever clogged shower drain) #ecofriendly!
Despite these hiccups, I cannot help laughing off this series of unfortunate events as I remember all the great moments I’ve had during these last two weeks; I’ll give you the highlights so I don’t lose your attention like I maybe did last time #TBTtoSoloAdventure.
On every Thursday, my two friends, Alex and Jesus, could always be found at the v hip Markthalle Neun, a street food market in Kreuzberg, a v hip neighborhood in Berlin. Having only been twice before, I joined my pals on both of our last two Thursdays for our exploration of the best, authentic global food in the global city in the center of Europe (#studyabroadprogramnamereference). Underneath the string lights and festive banner pins, the steam from Japanese takoyaki filled the air, smiling foodies scooped up Rosa Canina’s vegan ice cream into their mouths, and tourists posed at the entrance of the glimmering market ready to reap the “all the likes” on social media (so I naturally did the same thing with my Fritz-Limo soda in-hand).
Having been too overwhelmed by the unusually large crowd this past Thursday (it seemed as though it was everyone’s last week in Berlin), we bought Venezuelan arepas from the charismatic and charming owner of the market’s Venezuelan food stand. Not did we fangirl with the owner over our cultural connections, but we received the best gift of all; freshly-made arepas overstuffed at the owner’s request. Even though this may seem like a simple experience, these small moments are unique to my experiences abroad and are those I will definitely remember very soon as I get back to Chicago (#sayitaintso).
Arepas slayed my life
Besides fantastic food moments, this week, my study abroad squad and I had to bid our final “tschüss”-es to the pals we made during our classes at Humboldt University. Keeping in line with classic German outings, we attended the farewell party hosted by the university at a biergarten. We “prost”-ed with some drinks and reminisced with our friends, classmates, from all over the world, and even our professor over the laughs we had in our German class over “Angela Merkel’s lovers” and “Wir Schlafen Das” (credits to auto-correct for those jokes). For me, studying at the HU had been the study abroad experience I dreamed of, but did not expect to happen. While I learn quite a lot at Northwestern, what I loved about my classmates, professors, and the courses was the overall genuine curiosity we had for the subject and willingness to learn not to receive a grade (being that our classes were “pass or fail”), but to truly master a subject.
Humboldt to have studied here this summer ??#MGtakesBerlin #2DayLeft
A photo posted by Mauricio Gonzalez (@mauricio13g) on
I go into this final weekend still not being able to accept that my time is almost over, yet ready to head home to Chicago. I loved my experiences here, but that reflection is for another time (#foreshadowing). For now, I have to pack (#somethingsdontchange), and end my journey with an ice cream crawl (curated by Jesus) featuring Jesus’s and my favorite ice cream shops in Berlin. I’ll see you next time on the other side, not only with a full stomach, but a heart full of warm memories (wow, that was cheesy)…