Berlin has hit a monster heat wave these past few days, which wouldn’t be so bad but Europe doesn’t believe in AC like they do in America. The ‘cats powered through and visited the beautiful city of Potsdam in the blazing heat. Once the summer residence of many a Prussian royalty, the city looks like somewhere to retire to: it’s green, on the Havel (a lake of sorts), and filled with historic buildings. Sanssouci was a summer home for Frederick the Great, who I have huge respect for because his only wish was to be buried with his dogs. Also, Sanssouci means “no worries”, so Hakuna Matata basically.
After that we took some solid advice from our hip & cool instructor Sabrina and decided to go to Strandbad Wannsee (a beach). Unfortunately, every other Berliner had the same idea…
After some minor problems trying to buy student priced tickets and translating the rules posted in German, we got in and quickly laid our towels down before running into the mercifully cool water. After a quick trip down the water slide, some of us stayed in the water and tried to find a group who would let us share their ball. Eventually, we met some Bosnians who kept laughing at how bad we were at throwing the ball. One spoke English and we learned that he had moved to Berlin “to lift”. Global city, am I right?
The beach was a wonderful way to get out of the heat, to meet others in Germany, and to get to know the other students on the trip.
Listen to: Scenic World by Beirut
Music fanatic that I am, it was one of my main goals to listen to Beirut in Europe because the collection of instruments and dreamy voice just remind of relaxed European travel.