The aftermath

The move is over! Here are some pics of the new place.














Despite the fact that I packed very lightly for this trip, I had more stuff than I really wanted to wrestle onto and off of the subway, so I asked Dagmar and Brigitte if either of them could drive me.






Naturally, because Germans suffer from extreme business (often stemming from German hypochondria, with lots of doctors appointments and such), they were both absolutely too busy that afternoon and evening. Luckily, Dagmar had about 45 minutes free between classes that morning, so we decided to do it then. But after second period as we walked out to her car she explained that since her husband had broken his foot and her son had to drive to Dortmund (I’m still not sure what the connection was there), she had been left with the family’s Smart Car instead of the station wagon she usually has.
Smart Cars are the miniature cousins of the cars that Shriners drive around in parades. I was surprised that we could both fit ourselves and our purses in it, let alone a single piece of my luggage, so of course I had to leave half my stuff there and come back for it later. This would have normally really irritated me, but I would do just about anything to avoid being stuck in that particular mix of Berlin drivers, tiny cars, and Dagmar under time constraints ever again.
But I survived that trip, and now, after two weeks of living out of a suitcase, I’m finally unpacked and settling in. I don’t know my area that well yet, but I have discovered enough restaurants, cafes, and bakeries to keep me poor and fat. There is an Ethiopian restaurant right next door, and a bakery half a block from here that has the best marzipan croissants I’ve ever tasted. There are some pretty cool shops nearby too, including a second hand store where you buy clothes by the kilo, a couple of Indian import stores, and a cool flea market on the weekends. I think I’ll be happy here.

If the area weren’t enough, I seem to have really lucked out as far as roommates go. I’ll be living with Inga, a law student, and her cat, Lucy (you can all breathe a sigh of relief: I won’t need to go and buy any pets while I’m here), and another student named Julian. He doesn’t move in until Monday, but I think I’ll get along with him too, especially since he’s bringing a washing machine with him. Hopefully this will make up for certain conveniences the apartment lacks, like a microwave, a TV, and a living room. At the moment we also don’t have internet or a telephone, but I’m told this is coming on October 1^st. After that you can expect more regular (and hopefully much more interesting) posts!
Incidentally, now I also have a Flickr page (did I mention that already? Sorry...) where you can see all my pictures - not all of them are on the blog. http://www.flickr.com/photos/82596885@N00/