Autobahn

This weekend I had my first experience on the Autobahn. I wish the US had freeways like that, it was so much fun, you can literally go as fast as you want. We drove to Poland to hang out and go shopping because things are much cheaper there, and we made the trip in about 40 minutes.

I haven't been writing too much because there is not tons going on, classes still everyday for 4 hours, then usually I go to the park with friends. I've made some really cool German friends and hang out with them quite often, it's great because of course it helps with my German. They know I'm here to learn it, so they help me with new words and stuff. Of course all the dirty words that everyone must have in their vocabulary. They are all Berliners, so they take me around and show me all the good restaurants, bars, parks, etc. My German is coming along quite nicely, I have 1 more week of class, then I'm taking 2 weeks off to deal with all my paperwork stuff, and my friend Ali is coming to visit for a few days, then I will re-enroll in the school for another 5 weeks or so and see how I feel after that. May will be a busy month, dealing with the paperwork, Ali coming to visit, then I have to search for a new apartment (assuming all goes well with at the Foreigner's Office) because the room I have now I'm subletting just until June 1.

Warsaw

Since I had a 4 day weekend from school, I thought it a good chance to travel somewhere I'd never been to. I basically chose a place that was cheap to get to and would be cheap to do. So I chose Warsaw, Poland. My friend Adam's dad works for Marriott, so he was able to set me up with a nice room there for only about $15 a night more than it would cost to stay elsewhere. Thank god I was able to do that, otherwise the whole weekend would've sucked even more. It's not that I didn't like Warsaw, I just chose the worst time to go: Easter weekend in a very devout religious country. Basically everything was closed. Everything. Shops, restaurants, bars. I was forced to order the $25 hamburger from room service one night because after wandering around for 2 hours, I did not find even a kiosk open. This also meant that I couldn't buy beer or anything anywhere. Everything I had planned to do I was unable to. I did have a great view from the hotel though, I was on the 30th floor.

The city itself was OK, most of it pretty bland from the communist era, but the old part of town was very nice. In the middle of the day on Easter the touristy restaurants in the old town center were open. There I had a yummy meal and a hot beer with cloves and raspberries. That was the highlight of the trip. Also swimming in the hotel pool for 3 days.