I shouldn't go, but I can't really help it when I feel this pressure

SO. Back in Milan!
Berlin was great. It's not a pretty city, kind of like Milan, only I found it closer to home. It's very big but spread out, so often times you don't see a lot of people walking around. I stayed with my friend Camille, whom I lived with my first year at Mount Holyoke. She has the most darling apartment, is really witty and sweet, and cooks great food (and when I ask her for recipes she rolls them right off like I'll remember them even a minute later and as if they're as easy as pie...which is not easy. I want those recipes, cam!).

I flew in on Friday night, got to her apartment after Fritz (her boyfriend) drove us home. I ate some really good lentil soup and crashed. On Saturday she took me to get my haircut, and THANK GOD because it really needed one. Funnily, the hairdresser spoken English, so cam didn't have to translate (she's fluent in German), which was sort of why I was going to get my haircut in Berlin. Then we went to a Vietnamese restaurant called Monsieur Wong-SO. GOOD. I can't even tell you what I had, but it was some chicken and salad type dish in coconut/peanut/curry/soup-sauce. WAHHHH. I wish Milan had cute ethnic restaurants!
After walking around and seeing the wall/one of the numerous holocaust memorials/parks and fountains and official buildings, cam and I went for a nap, and when we woke up we had Indian food. Oh, India! How I missed your gastronomical presence so! Or the westernized version of that, anyway...
Thereafter, we got ready to go out and went to her friend Greta's apartment, situated in a neighborhood kind of similar to the lower east side--Kreutzberg. We hung out there for a bit and went out to a club. While I wont' divulge many details because this thing is public and I may end up in public service, I will tell you that I did get the full Berlin experience, and that the motto of the club is "do what you want but stay in communication."
...Just kind of imagine one of those episodes of Alias where Sidney is undercover in Berlin and she goes to a club on some mission where they play hardcore techno for hours and everyone's wearing stuff that looks like its from the store Hot Topic. It wasn't quite the same, but there was a lot of techno and well, yeah. I don't know how we did it, but we stayed the club until 5 am and then went home, but ended up getting sidetracked by the search for food. We ended up at a Turkish takeout place at around 5:30, how yum. I was in bed by 6:45, slept until 2 pm the same day (those of you who know me know that I really never do this).

Sunday was a relaxing day, we went to a Biergarten to meet some new kids in Camille's program (she's been in Berlin for a year, some kids only came for spring semester). Although I hadn't had much to drink the night before (honest!), beer wasn't really tickling my fancy at 3 pm, so I had coffee (ANOTHER great thing about Berlin-DRIP COFFEE TO GO. Brilliant, Germany, just BRILLIANT. Dear Italy--can you get on that? Thanks). It was kind of awkward, to say the least. Much of what I said consisted of "hi. I don't live here. I don't speak German. Uh, my name's teddy and I'm friends with Camille..I live in Milan...but we go to school together at MHC...yeah..."
But there were waffles at the end of the tunnel, so it was worth it--we went to the cutest little cafe and sat around for a bit. I had caramel sauce on mine but it was so big I couldn't finish it, and to say the least...I kind of like Belgian waffles better. You all must go to Brussels and try them. They're worth that $700 round trip flight, I swear.

We ate at home that night, and to say the least Cam's LEFTOVER pasta sauce was one of the best sauces I've ever had in my life and I am jealous that I suck at cooking. I will never make a good wife in that aspect (you don't want to order in again, honey? well, I suppose I could TRY boiling some water...), aside from the fact that I maybe don't mind vacuuming.

Monday was a great day, too. I saw the Berlinischer Galerie where they had an exhibit on Emilio Vedova, an action painter that I've studied in my art history class here. We went back to Monsieur Wong for lunch and I had another kind of dish (their menu is really just based around daily specials because everything is so fresh) with beef in it. Spicy, again, but you know how I feel about that getting punched-in-the-nose -kind-of feeling (LOVESIT).
Camille had class after lunch, so I took myself to the Jewish History Museum of Berlin. Gripping, really. I felt a really big need to celebrate passover (when was it//is it? I am such a bad Jew!); I felt really disconnected with my Jewish culture (WON'T SOMEBODY GET ME A PICKLE AND A MATZOH BALL, PLEASE?!). If you ever end up in Berlin, you should really hit up this museum. I was physically affected by it in some ways, as well--there are moments where you have this crazy bodily experience throughout certain parts of the collection, architecture, and moments in time.

I went home after that, registered for classes and relaxed. My last night in Berlin I had dinner with Camille and Fritz, and Greta and Max (who are also dating, Max is Fritz's brother). I cooked, and it was decent. I had a 4 am flight the next day, followed by a full day of classes. Despite having been home in Milan for two days, I am still exhausted, which is why this entry will shortly be followed by naptime.

As soon as I post up photos from Berlin, I'll have a link in the blog. I'm just too tired (read: lazy) to do anything about it now.
ACK, I have a quiz tomorrow in Italian, does that mean I actually have to study tonight?
I hope not... (I may or may not be kidding in regards to my surprise at having to do work).