The first weeks in Berlin

Now I’ve been soon four weeks in Berlin but it already feels like ages. Not because it would have been boringJ No, but because there has been happening so much during this time. I know that four weeks are to be a bit too long pause between postings. At the moment the problem have been that I haven’t had internet at home. But hopefully I’ll become it very soon!!! Then I promise that I will update my blog more frequently…

Ok, but let's tell something that has happened here... (already ages ago:) )

Arriving:

Well I came to Berlin on 1^st of September. That is four weeks ago. There’s not too much to tell about that. I had a basic Blue1 flight from Helsinki to Berlin which cost around 90 euros. Quite good as I got easily straight to my apartment… Funny thing was that I met a Finnish girl Katariina in the airport in Helsinki who is also going to study in TU. I already knew someone before I came to Berlin:)

My apartment:

I live in a student dormitory called Eichkamp. It has a webpage:

http://www.studentenwerk-berlin.de/wohnen/studentische_wohnanlagen/wohnheime/eichkamp1.html

Someone said that there would be living around 500 students during the semesters. Dunno, maybe. At the moment it’s quite quiet as all the students have holidays/are working. The semesters begin in mid-October… The dormitory is near the Messe Süd S-Bahnstation (= four stations away from TU). It takes around 30 minutes with publics to university which is not too bad in a city size of Berlin.

My room:

The apartment itself is ok. Compared to the new student organization house I lived in Tampere this one is of course older and so on but I don’t care:) It’s cheap, I pay around 160e/month. So the apartment is dormitory which means that I have an own room and I share kitchen and the bathroom with 6 other persons. At the moment I have though only three flat mates: a German, a Chinese and a French guys. They all speak quite good German so I can have some practice:) I suppose I’ll have more flat mates when the semester begins… One bad thing about the apartment is that there is no internet there!!! I was quite surprised about that fact. Najaa, I’ll get a private connection...

My first weekend in Germany 2-3.9.006

On Friday after arriving I went to AIESEC Berlin Stammtisch to grab a drink. They have that Stammtisch every week. Stammtisch means that they meet once a week (on Friday) in a different bar and just have a drink and chat. Sometimes they continue to a nightclub. A bit like we had in AIESEC in Tampere (though more often and in different bars). Well that Friday I was ready to sleep after one drink:) Guess the traveling was quite exhausting or maybe the load of expectations and excitement made me exhausted.

On Saturday I went to the AIESEC Berlin Spreefahrt. That was a cruise organized by/for AIESEC alumni in Berlin. Next to alumni there was also a lot of current active members and trainees from Berlin. Altogether I think 80-100 people in a boat traveling on Spree (the river that flows through Berlin). On Saturday evening after the cruise I had my first Bratwurst and german beer. Najaa it took more than 24 hours for me in Germany:) So what about those prejudices of Germans;) In the evening we went also to see a firework competition that took place on the Berlin Olympic stadium. We we’re watching the competition from a nearby hill where it was free:) But COOL, it was like the whole city of Berlin would have welcomed me in it:)