Fall Break Part 1: Hannover and Bumming around Berlin

These past two weeks were Herbstferien (Fall Break) in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), which meant that I had two weeks to do whatever I wanted.  Of course, my options would have been significantly less limited had I been paid before we went on break, but regardless I decided to spend some time in Hannover and then make a trip to Berlin to visit some other American Fulbrighters.


The first Saturday of Fall Break I wandered down to the Hannover Oktoberfest as we had planned, and I ended up having a really great time.  It was definitely a little more relaxed than my Munich Oktoberfest visit, and it included a much more balanced mixture of great fair food and great German beer as well as a ride on the Flipper with Sara!  The rest of my week in Hannover was also fairly relaxed and included a visit from Jennifer, a Fulbrighter who lives in Celle (pretty close to Hannover) and another language assistant and her friend.  Bill, Sara and I tried to be good Hannover tour guides, but I was in a pretty random mood (typical hyper Patrick) so I'm not sure what kind of impression I left!

Me and Bill at the Hannover Oktoberfest eatting half-meter bratwursts (that's like 18 inches)

 Thursday afternoon I left for Berlin, and as part of my new adventuresome side I decided to try this German website called mitfahrgelegenheit.de.  Mitfahr basically tries to connect drivers who are making trips across Europe with people who need to get somewhere but don't have a car themselves (a modern version of hitchhiking).  Don't worry, it's completely legit and Germans use it all the time.  It's cheaper than taking the train, and it's good for the environment since it is basically carpooling.  My mitfahr went just fine, and I arrived at Andrea's apartment in Berlin just fine.  The other reason I say that I was "bumming" around Berlin is because I basically couch/bed/floor surfed the entire time.  To this I owe many thanks to the Fulbrighters who put me up for the week (Andrea, Pat and Jackie!).


On Friday night a few other Fulbrighters came over to Andrea's for drinks which ended up with a late night Döner kebab run and going through quite a few bottles of Berliner Kindl beer.  Saturday night I had dinner with Pat and Jackie at this amazing Mexican restaurant near Alexanderplatz called Dolores which I will forever dream about.  We then ventured all the way out to Potsdam to go to a Erasmus party with Jordan (Fulbrighter) and her roommates and friends.  It got pretty crowded, but we just all staked out a small plot on the dance floor and let loose.  When we finally decided to leave, we were misinformed by Jordan's roommates on how to get back to the train station and Berlin and it ended up taking me, Pat and Jackie almost four hours to get back to Berlin (yes, that's right--thanks Berlin S-Bahn construction).  I then crashed at Pat's since his roommate was gone for the weekend and had said I could sleep in her bed.  Pat lives in a really cool old building in what used to be East Berlin--he lives in Friederichshain which has become a really kind of artsy district with tons of art galleries selling the work of local artists and bars and cafes.

Jordan and me on Friday night at Andrea's

Jackie, me and Jordan at the Erasmus party in Potsdam on Saturday

Even though I started off Sunday without my cell phone (left it at Jordan's by accident) and severely sleep deprived it turned into a great day.  I met Jackie and Marion (a friend of Jordan's) at the Flohmarkt (flea market) in Mauerpark.  Unlike most flea markets in America, German flea markets are usually only held once a week and this one in particular had the normal piles of junk as well as tons of local artists hawking anything from paintings, photographs or screen printed goods.  It was amazing, and I'm definitely going back sometime to buy the things I couldn't then since I hadn't been paid (note to self: great place to buy Christmas gifts).  The three of us then had a great time walking around Hackescher Markt where I had amazing lasagna for lunch/dinner.  Sunday night ended with Andrea, her roommate Lauren, Pat and me visiting the infamous Weinerei near Andrea's apartment.  At the Weinerei you pay one euro to get a wine glass which you just fill as you need with the various bottles of wine they have at this one table.  When you leave, you just leave as much money as you think you should based on how much wine you had.  It's basically an old house turned into a pretty hipster wine bar that runs on the honor system--how cool is that?  Also, there was free birthday cake.

I'm on a boat! And in Berlin!

I spent Monday and Tuesday nights with Jackie in her amazing apartment across the freakin' street from Alexanderplatz.  Her apartment is actually on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (the street that turns into Unter den Linden when it crosses the Spree) and faces the Fernsehturm and the Marienkirche...it's pretty much amazing.  We had a great time doing some of the more fun touristy stuff including a boat tour on the Spree River during which we got hailed on.  We also met up with Pat on Tuesday and had amazing burgers and fries at the Bürgeramt in Friederichshain.  I still crack up at the name of the restaurant--it's a pun on the greasy American food and the German word Bürger (citizen).  We then ventured down to Simon-Dach-Straße and had a drink at Dachkammer.


(to be continued)