When In Berlin Week 3: Let's Get This Bread

June 17

I started my day with breakfast at Kamps, a bakery just around the corner from my hotel. (Apparently, it's a chain--there's literally another one down the tracks!) On the wall there's this cute map of breads across Germany.

That afternoon, we went on a tour of Kreuzberg, an immigrant-rich neighborhood, as part of our cultural workshop. During the tour, we found this pyramid made from Amazon boxes. Not even the tour guide knew it was there.

June 18

This was a pretty chill weekend. You know, except for this:

I came back to my room to find one of the kitchen cabinet doors off its hinges. Don't worry; it got fixed a few days later.

That evening, I decided to have dinner at a new restaurant: Ali Baba Bistro. I got the chicken nuggets with pommes frites (which is what the Germans call fries). I also discovered that fries dipped white barbecue sauce tastes pretty awesome. (Yes, that's white barbecue sauce.)

June 19

Sunday was another do-nothing day. Except, of course, when I was woken up by the fire alarm.

Never thought I'd be standing outside a hotel in my pajamas. Again.

June 20

This afternoon's activity was visiting the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. They didn't allow pictures in the museum, so I took this picture of the American soldier at the actual checkpoint:

I like to call him Checkpoint Charlie.

This evening, I went out with Hugh (right) and Sam (left) for dinner at BBQ Kitchen. I got the roasted half chicken and fries. It was delicious! The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and the fries were just salty enough.

Not pictured: a group of demonstrators across the street being very loud.

June 21

This afternoon's activity was visiting the Bertolt-Weigel-Haus. This is where writer Bertolt Brecht and actress Helene Weigel lived in the last years of their lives. Once again, pictures weren't allowed inside, so I got this picture of the courtyard.

This evening was our second German Language Night at Weihenstephaner. This time, I got two weisswurtzes with a pretzel. Yes, it was my first pretzel in Germany.

June 22

On the wall in my classroom is a map of Germany. After looking at this map for eight days, I was finally able to find the home of a certain Benjamin Vau.

This afternoon's activity was a trip to the House of World Cultures, where we saw the exhibit "Processing the Anthropocene," which shows research into the possibility of a new epoch in Earth's geological history, the Anthropocene epoch. Here's just some of the research on display:

June 23

I went to Kamps again for breakfast this morning. My favorite thing to get there is the Franzbrotchen. It's flaky like a croissant but has cinnamon and sugar inside it. It tastes like heaven.

This afternoon, we went to the DDR museum, where we learned about life in East Germany. It was a super cool museum with lots of interactive exhibits, including a replica of an East German apartment. Here's a picture of the living room:

Tomorrow, we're going to Potsdam and visiting the Schloss Sans Souci. I can't wait!

Bonus stuff

The past two Mondays, Andre has given us these newsletters with our meal stipends with pictures taken by the staff:

Lastly, a reader of mine has been wondering what I do for food here. Here's a rundown of what I do for each meal.

For breakfast, I like to:

-Eat in the room. My go-to breakfast is scrambled eggs with bread or yogurt. It took me a while to get the hang of scrambling eggs on the electric burner, especially because it's so weak that I have to turn the stove up to setting 7 out of 9 to do anything, but I like to think I'm improving my technique with each scramble. Bread has become an essential in my kitchen, too. I like to eat some the day I buy it because that's when it's freshest.

-Go to Kamps. It's a quick walk, and you saw the Franzbrotchen.

My lunch options:

-The Mensa cafeteria on weekdays. The pasta and fish dishes are pretty solid, and they've got gigantic chocolate chip cookies.

-On weekends, I stir something up in the room. I'll either boil myself some pasta and mix in some pesto or marinara sauce or microwave a bratwurst (or two mini bratwursts because they didn't have the big bratwursts on my last trip to the grocery store) and butter some bread. The pasta always ends up a little tougher than I like. Maybe I'm not waiting long enough to put the pasta in. Or I can just blame the burner.

Dinner options:

-On most weekdays, after a long day of classes and activities, I prefer to stay inside and cook something for myself. The lunch options mentioned above are also dinner options.

-On weekends is when I like to go out for dinner. I've gotten comfortable going to quick-service restaurants by myself, but sit-down restaurants are better experienced with friends (see BBQ Kitchen above). My favorites so far are Esra Gemuse (falafel and shawarma), Angry Chicken (Korean fried chicken), and Ali Baba Bistro (doners and other nummies--there are multiple things on the menu I'd like to try), but I'm always on the lookout for new restaurants. The next restaurant on my list: Pizza Peppino. It's near the IES center, and I'm always up for pizza.

Dessert:

I like to have something sweet in the room to eat before bed. I've gotten mini sugar donuts, and when they didn't have the mini donuts at the Rewe bakery, I bought a box of Ciao Cio's, which are these little cakes with chocolate frosting. There was one in my snack bag when I first arrived, and I loved it. It looks like it comes from the Italian version of Hostess or Little Debbie. When all else fails, I can just grab a cup of yogurt. Rewe has good yogurt.