day 1 and 2

Olga and I sat outside while Martina went in to see if Angel Aoife and Shannalia were inside. Two guys walked by and said "Hallo!" and then something else in german which prompted some blank, but apologetic, stares from the two of us. They stopped and one said, "You speak English? Russian?" and Olga said excitedly, "How did you know?!" and started to speak to him in Russian. It turned out that he, Sasha, spoke broken English, Russian and German. His friend only spoke German. Olga spoke Russian and English and I (basically) only spoke English, so it was this weird 4-way conversation chain going on with multiple translators. It was cool though because Sasha mistook me for a Londoner. ("Are you from London?" - "No, but my coat is!")



Everyone came out and we moved across the street to this flamboyant bar we had spotted earlier. There was a giant red heart in the window and gold foil on the walls. Sasha went in and came back out and said, "Yes, that's a gay bar." The guys didn't really want to go in but they eventually were talked into it. Angel and Shannalia left, and then so did Sasha's friend. Martina and Aoife wanted to smoke so we moved into the back room they had with lots of chairs and couches. Well, by lots, I mean they had two. There was a group of people in there at first so we sat at 2 arm chairs and some uncomfortably high stools. Olga finished talking to Sasha out at the bar and came back and joined us. Martina made me laugh so hard making fun of certain people that I won't name to protect her interests haha, but it was so great. We also invented some new words - verbs and adjectives- that describe the person, but we can never use it in front of them unfortunately. She and Aoife had some great stories about them. The group of people next to us left so we took over the couches, from where I have some photos. The bartender started to come back to get us drinks so we didn't have to get up, which was convenient. His name was Otto. I forget where he was from, I'll have to ask Olga. At one point Olga climbed up on the couch and tried to nick a baby angel off of the wall. It was great craic. There was an amazing formica table between the couches that we were all obsessed with, and considered walking off with, but it would have been impossible, obviously. I had a very intense discussion with Martina about Animus/Anima and her past lovers and Finland and her dog Menla (and the story of how she got him, which I will write about separately). Olga and I told her how we think she is secretly a Nordic Goddess. We also talked about how she wants to go to Burning Man. Eventually we decided to leave and Otto told us where a good "heterosexual" bar was down the street and Aoife lamented over his being gay because he was so nice and handsome and it "really wasn't fair."



We went to the next place, Bar Nue, which was lit orange and you walked down the stairs and once through the door you had to walk through a black velvet curtain. It was a really chic place. The bartenders were both named Michael. One was larger with his hair slicked back into a ponytail and the other was a rather attractive black man from English with a great accent. Martina got his number/email by the end of the night. I had a mojito and then finished Olga's bloody mary because she left to go home early. Martina asked for an exotic drink that she could have in a martini glass, but she didn't want any gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey, so he created this concoction with some exotic liquor, and it was really good, but he made me the same drink with vodka and it tasted exactly the same haha. Oh, and mine came with 3 cherries, 2 of which Martina stole. (She also had 3 glowsticks she got from the bar we'd met Sasha outside of). We paid up after a bit and walked back to the hotel. I called Chris to see how Ballyv was making out (the only person I knew would be up at that hour) and then went to sleep around 3.

In the a.m. I woke up and talked with Kristen for a bit before we went up to eat breakfast. The complimentary breakfast was amazing! I had waffles mit cream cheese & nutella (sounds gross, but is DELICIOUS), a cheese/salami/tomato/cucumber sandwich on brown bread, & cereal with yoghurt. Coffee and cream & several small glasses of water. Tim handed out our 48hour U-bahn passes and we left to go to the first museum (the one in the train station, I have to look up the name). Once we got there I was sitting out in the main foyer with Olga, Aoife, Angel, Shannalia, & Steve and we realized no one else had come out of the coat check for the last 5-10 minutes. Angel peeked around the corner and apparently Tim was giving a talk on German Romanticism or Expressionism, but not exactly art wise. We just wanted to get our tickets because we didn't have much time in the gallery, and almost considered just buying our own. Aoife actually went into the coat room and stood in the center of the room with her hands out and an exasperated look on her face, but he just ignored her, so she came back and we took photos of each other on the benches. We eventually got our tickets and the gallery was amazing. I have many photos from there. I bought a couple books from their shop. After that we walked up the straße to this huge art building where there are tons of artist squats - i'll get some photos from Kristen. Olga and I ate a nice relaxed hour long sushi lunch and then met back up with the group. We had to split up in three smaller groups and our group immediately formed itself and moved off - Olga, Aoife, Angel, Shannalia, Pam & I went with Martina. We went into a lot of smaller galleries on Auguststraße. We also stopped in a bead store and then coffee shop. We eventually decided to go try to find boots/clothing but we walked by a hair salon that had haircuts for €12 so Angel, Martina Olga and Shannalia each got their hair cut. While they did, Aoife and I walked up the straße and ate a light dinner at a cute cafe and had tea. I got a baguette with mozzarella, tomato & basil and earl grey tea. So good. After we were done we walked across the street to a small toy store and I got a small chalk board and some small knick knacks. We went back and everyone was done with their new hairdo's. We stopped in one store on the way back and I got a sweaterdress. Then we found our way back to the hotel. We all got changed and met downstairs to go search out dinner. We found a Thai/Nepalese restaurant called Mount Everest. I just got a chicken starter with the delicious peanut sauce (I ate ALL of it, trust me). I realized that my phone ran out of credit, mid conversation, which was rather frustrating. I started to get really tired. After the food, some long waiting, mixed up platters and all - (but the food itself was phenomenal!) Aoife told us many stories, not the least of which was about how she once punched one of her sisters over "fancy paper" and how sometimes her sisters are DEMONIC! No, you don't understand, demonic! haha. Olga & I walked across the street to Kaiser to look for saline solution for her and a way to top up for me. No luck, but she got a glue stick and then we found an internet/call shop and I bought a 30 eur top up card. We went back to the hotel and as we stood outside in the one alleyway, I heard someone walking down the street saying " JA! Jaaaa! JaaA!" and Chris Attenborough walked around the corner with a very drunk Drew Dan and Noah. Drew was pretty ridiculous. I think he had a bit too much tequila. They had apparently gone into some strip club which they now all regretted haha. Drew kept trying to talk me into going back out to drink with them & some of the girls from my room, but I really wanted to shower. And he kept saying "Neigh! Nay! (one of those spellings)" and eventually I was like, "Drew, are you trying to say, Nein!"? And he was like ohhhhhh that's how you say No. hahaha. I got really frustrated because my German O2 cards wouldn't work at all, so I used Hillary's phone before they all left to text Chris and tell him my phone was out of credit and I wasn't just ignoring him. I took a shower after talking to Hannah for a bit about cell phone troubles. The shower was interesting because the water (luckily always hot) only stays on for maybe 10 or 20 seconds and then you have to press the button again, like a public sink faucet or something. But I bet it saves a lot of water! After I dried off I consolidated all my belongings in the room and went through all the flyers/postcards/books I had acquired throughout the day while listening to my ipod and letting my hair dry so I could straighten it. Chris somehow put 15 eur of credit on my phone for me, I think you can enter someone's number online and add credit. That was really nice of him. Thank you!



more soon!