And Now, a Series of Short Stories

Who am I kidding? Reflection on my life-enriching experience these past two months is clichéd and dull. Let's write about extremely trivial things instead. And let's do it in an extremely ugly, numbered format.

1.Whaddup Dresden

I spent a couple of days in Dresden. It's very pretty, and nice to walk around in, but the biggest problem  is the plethora of beautiful artistic fountains with ZERO drinking fountains. None. It's like, a cool German thing to always be a little dehydrated. It's been really warm these past few days, and nothing makes a dehydrated Katie (who has been walking around Dresden for hours) more inclined to break rules than reading “Kein Trinkwasser!” Is it? Is it really kein Trinkwasser? I could probably drink it, really. No one's around.

Yeah, alright, so I didn't drink fountain water... but seriously, I’m going to guess that Germans are  a pretty dehydrated people. And they like it that way.

  

Tried a pretty fantastic pilsner for free. Shout out to Brautzner Tor, where a liter costs only €4.60! (I didn’t order a liter, but I should have. Go ahead and judge me, Dresden. I dare you.)

2. I Found Love

I used to be a pessimist in regards to love, but my time here in Germany has changed my mindset. I am in love, friends. I am in love with this pair of Birkenstocks, and I feel no shame.

...well, alright, I feel a little shame. I mean, not only are they an inanimate object, but they’re Birkenstocks for goodness' sake. What am I, some kind of middle-aged “practical” shoe-buyer who power walks on weekends and buys low-fat granola in bulk?  (Yes.) But these sandals are love. I have walked the crap out of them since I bought them a week or so ago. They’ve accumulated miles over the course of Dresden and Berlin, and they are holding it together like champs! 

I’m already planning to obnoxiously wear them around Michigan and look like some horrifying European-wannabe-(who-doesn’t-actually-know-what-Europeans-wear.) 

(What do they wear? Not Birkenstocks.)

Seriously, my relationship with these sandals is a deep, unyielding bond. I've never felt this way about shoes before. They’re like my children, if you strapped children to your feet and walked around for hours. When I step in mud, I cry.

3. Train Problemz

New Feature Film: "Stoppable!" The long-awaited sequel to “Unstoppable,” that will thrill you with a strange balance of being bored out of your mind and simultaneously very stressed because you're never sure what is going on.

Starring me, a regional train, and some cows.

Filming Location: Wish I could tell you.

Welp, I finally got lost on the trains. It was two glorious months of pretending I knew exactly how to navigate the rail system, two months of sheer, unadulterated logistical bliss, and it came to a screeching halt yesterday. I had to catch a transfer in the Leipzig station, so I went to Platform 10 (like I was supposed to), and there was some gurgled announcement about 12 and something… but my train number didn’t have a 12 in it, so… I mean, it was fine, right?

I should’ve suspected the worst when someone on the platform asked me, in English, “Is this train going to Berlin?”
“Why, yes, I think so.” Then, some garbled form of Denglisch fell from my mouth and a few sentences later, they were gone.

So, of course, I had to follow my own advice. I got on the train. It didn’t LOOK like the right train, it didn’t FEEL like the right train, but hey… there were open seats and it was Platform 10. It’s probably right, right?

It was definitely not right. Definitely, definitely not right. I wish I could tell you what godforsaken city I ended up in, but I can’t even remember the name. Something beginning with “H.” There were fields, and cows, and trees… by about the 5^th or 6^th cow herd sighting, I began to doubt that this train would take me to Berlin.

So after riding through the foothills of Nowheresberg for two hours, I finally ventured off the regional train onto a platform. The only recognizable destination for the other trains was “Leipzig,” so on I went. Back, two hours from whence I came. I got there, rechecked a departure time to Berlin, and finally made it there 5 hours later than expected (my friend was not happy about waiting.) But as far as mistakes go, this one was at least scenic.

4. My thoughts on Berlin: Meh.

Berlin is overwhelming. And not in the good way, more in the “I seriously have no idea what I’m doing, where I am, or where I should be going.” I have a pretty poor sense of direction, and Berlin’s area is about 10x too big for my tiny, directionally-challenged brain to handle, let alone trying to use the U-Bahn/S-Bahn system. There’s just so much here, it’s impossible. IMPOSSIBLE, I TELL YOU. 

And also, the hostel we’re staying in is really “hip” and all these young, attractive people speaking languages I can’t understand are always dressed for clubbing and hanging out by the reception. It's intimidating. Overall, this has solidified the hunch that I'm not a big city person.