AMPELMANN

You know you're in Berlin, when...

STROLLING MITTE

For the next month, I will be spending my mornings doing an intensive German language course. This means that come 1pm, we have the whole afternoon to explore and soak up Berlin. What more could you ask for.

Humboldt University is in the centre of Berlin, right by the Spree River in the Mitte district. Making the most of the unseasonably warm weather, have a look at what is on our doorstep...

PAINTING

Next mission ~ painting my room. When I moved in there were lavender blocks of paint on my walls.
Naturally, they had to go.

Meet Jess: a friend from Melbourne University who's also studying here in Berlin this year. Being the lovely lady she is, she's helped me coat the room in white. I didn't get the memo explaining how time consuming and messy painting is... however with good company, quality tunes and lots of laughs, it turned out to be a fun afternoon. Followed by several cold beers, of course.

KEIN PARKPLATZ

Saw this leaving my street walking to the station this morning. No parking here plz. Danke.

IKEA

Got the keys to my apartment ~ yes! So the next step was IKEA. Five hours of shuffling through model bedrooms and living rooms, and I'd more or less decided what I wanted.

Problem #1 ~ I only have two hands, and there's no way I could haul a 30kg desk onto the U-Bahn, nor a mattress.

Solution #1 ~ Decided to get all the heavy stuff delivered. Sweet

Problem #2 ~ The label on the buzzer to my apartment doesn't have my name on it yet.

Solution #2 ~ In some very poor German I tried to tell them this and give them the name that IS on the buzzer (unlike the rest of Germany, IKEA delivery staff don't seem to speak English). So, fingers crossed they got the message.

Problem #3 ~ When organising the delivery, I could not leave a mobile number as requested, as Germany also found it too strange that I might want a nano SIM card for a prepaid phone. So a long process of sending SIMs back and forth to the phone provider is still taking place. Leaving no contact number of course meant that if I had not successfully explained the door buzzer situation, they would have no way of contacting me to tell me this. Oops.

Solution #3 ~ Sitting in my unfurnished apartment, waiting for my delivery that would arrive "zwischen 5-9pm". 

After this long day of IKEA-ing, all I wanted was a good feed (why didn't I get IKEA meatballs???!) and much-needed sleep. But I did not want to leave to get something to eat in case I missed them. Did not want to nap in case I missed them. By 8:30 I was beginning to worry a little that my things just weren't going to arrive. Also, that I would have no idea how to go about tracking them down.

Thankfully, at 8:50 the buzzer rang and two burly Germans with even less English than the IKEA men carried my things up three flights of stairs to my great, great relief. Some signed papers and exchanged "danke"s and "bitte"s later, and I was fast asleep on my new mattress.

After this weekend, lessons learned:

1 ~ GET A SIM CARD, ASAP

2 ~ Get better at German, ASAP

(But, at the end of the day, I did receive all my stuff, language barrier and all. Now I'm a few steps closer to settling in. I'm going to call that one a win.)

SPRACHTEST

Registration day / language placement test for the German intensive course I'll be doing for the next month at Humboldt Universität. The information all given in deutsch & a challenging test (have not done German since uni finished 4 months ago), followed by a walk back to my temporary home in Rosenthaler Platz, in the Mitte district.
The walk home featured ~ beautiful view of the city sky waking up behind the Berliner Dom / TV-Tower / Spree River.

Stumbled upon two men fixing some cobblestones. Interesting stuff.

STRANGE GERMANY ~ PART I

German Fanta is yellow? No, it is meant to be orange. Why am I drinking Fanta? Still not sure.