The East Side of the West (email #12)

I will answer all of your questions by writing a new episode! Noreally. I will reply to your emails, just let me get all of this offmy chest first…

So I've been in Berlin for 10 days now, with a briefinterlude to visit Nicolas in Denmark. So that's 2 more weeks or so ofcatch up. Fast. Maybe… I'll just say it now:

I'm in love.
...

WITH BERLIN!I adore this city. It's the first place that I've been to outsideMelbourne and New York that I can see myself living in. And I plan tonow at some point! German lessons when I get back home methinks…Speaking of which, sorry about the bad spelling and grammar. Thisversion of word is on some crazy German auto-correct thing! So.

6th: BERLIN, GERMANY – I fell in love with this city as soon as we gotinto the station. Not realising how big it is, we began to walk to ourhostel. It took nearly an hour, but it was a great introduction! Lotsof girls with big scarves and bigger hair writing in journals on theside of the road, lots of boys in jeans so tight that they don't needbike cuffs riding around the sidestreets, lots of public art, lots ofcafes… Mmmm… We were still pretty ill from the past few days inMunich, so weh ad an early night. I had an apple and a little can oftuna, and ally had a vegemite and cheese sandwich. And we drank water.And were in bed by 9pm… Hardcore!! Unfortunately, I didn't actuallySLEEP til about 4am. Thank you Trevor – the IT guy from The Can whokept me from getting some much needed sleep. It was okay though, Ijust took my diary and my pillow into the hallway and wrote in myknickers for 3 hours! (I mean I was writing in my journal. Not on myunderwear… You know what I mean.)

7th: BERLIN – Woke up early with far less sleep than what I shouldhave. We met Ally's friend from Poland, Grace, in the morning andbasically spent the next 72 hours together! Did one of those FreeTours that I raved about in Munich… Then spent the afternoon wanderingaround the West Side (so not as cool), ending up with a picnic alongthe spree! Pretzels and sausages were eaten, and lots of Becks wasdrunk… Ended up laying in a laughing circle til midnight beforecrawling off to our separate sides of the wall.

8th: BERLIN – This day ended up being a bit hellish! I think I havesubconsciously forgotten the first part of the morning (suppressionanyone?)… Short story: We split up to do our separate things. Ally andGrace wen tone direction, and I went the other. We were supposed tomeet up at 5pm. They never turned up. I went from thinking I had thewrong time and place, to being really pissed off, to being reallyfrustrated, to being really worried, then REALLY really worried… By10pm I was out of my mind with sickened worry. But they turned upeventually so it was OKAY. But only because they brought me some beer!We got dolled up, and set out to cover as many bars and clubs as wecould in the one night! Sam (the New Yorker that I met in Prague thenran into in Salzburg, and am now set for best friends with in Soho)was living here for 4 months, so he gave me an EXTENSIVE list. But wegot as far as the best falafels in Europe before we met some localsexpats from the UK and NZ and followed them instead! We drank wine ina loft sitting on toadstool chairs before going to a club that wasvery literally someone's house from the 1960s made into a club! Cuefunky wallpaper, old couches, record players, even an oldschoolmicrowave! The DJs were spinning Postal Service and Architecture inHelsinki all night, so we didn't leave until it was WAY past light…

9th: BERLIN – Slept for a few hours before going on another tour. Thisone was called Red Berlin and was all about the Cold War. Veryinteresting but won't give you a history lecture. You're gettingenough of a lecture as it is. BUT ended up going out with our tourguide! Another local expat to take us out… But before that, we went tothe East Side Gallery, which is the portion of the wall that was oncecovered in art, but is now covered in graffiti! See facebook photos…Thai for dinner, served by an Indian man! Whipped out my Hindi, butalas, no free beer… Then Wem et up simultaneously with both Brian, thetour guide, and Miles, one of Ally and Bree and Clare's friends fromMelbourne. They have both been living here, so the 4 of us went up barhopping through about 6 or 7 places until we ended up at local club –On the waterbanks!! Ended up making friends with all of the tourguides that do the Free tours. And they're all crazy crazy people! Whoelse moves here I guess (aside from me soon! Maybe.) Headed home whenit was light. Again. No wonder I've got a chest rattling cough…

10th: BERLIN – Vintage market shopping! Imagine the Camberwell marketin a place that's the size of Fawkner Park. With Germans. You have howI spent 4 hours! Came out of it with a pair of spotted high waistedshorts from the 50s, a 70s electric blue crocheted vest and a pair of60s sunnies – all for under 15 euro! Ally was supposed to leave today,but she decided to stay on so weh ad another ‚last day' together… Niceand relaxing. We met up again with Miles that night and hung outaround the city centre before saying our goodbyes and heading home forwhat I THOUGHT would be my last night in Berlin… But we now know thatit's not!

11th til the 15th: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – So I realised that I was only7 hours away from Denmark… And I never thought that I would see all ofmy Danish friends from India again, but off I went! (Geez. Rememberwhen you guys were getting updates from Udaipur?? I can't evenremember writing them!) And lo and behold, 7 hours later (and sometears saying goodbye to Ally for another 5 months) I was waiting atthe train station for Nicolas to come and pick me up. Very, VERYsurreal to see someone again that I thought I had said my goodbyes toforever on a different continent… And what ensued was… Nice  Spent 4days essentially watching terrible Arnie movies and eating Danishsandwiches at his house! It was like being at home again… One night westayed in and I met his Mum, another night we went out and saw TheNational play, another night wem et up for dinner with all of the restof the people from India who were living in Copenhagen (Carina, Ashaand Kelly), and then I met all of his friends on the last night! Andno. I didn't see the Little Mermaid.

15th: COPENHAGEN (back to) BERLIN – Don't want to have to write aboutthis morning! It turned out that tonight was Miles' last night inBerlin, and I had promised to go back to Berlin to go out with himbefore I realised that I never wanted to leave Copenhagen… So to avoida sap story, I'm going to skip to being straight back in Berlin! Itwas like coming back home! I got off the train, and caught all thepublic transport to the hostel feeling like I was a local. Except forthe 20kg backpack that clearly labeled me otherwise…I got to thehostel with about 2 hours to kill before I was going to Miles' housefor some predrinks. I was feeling pretty depressed too, so I was at abit of a loss with what to do. Then I opened my dorm door and was metbe 3 tall, blonde, tanned Swedish boys who went by the names of Jens,Bjorn and Cristofer (no really!). I ended up SKIPPING predrinksbecause these boys were making me feel so much better! We ate pretzelsand drank gin and played Yatzee until about midnight, when I took themout to the club that I ended up meeting Miles at. And what a club itwas… It was called Bang Bang (reminds me of home) and the night theywere holding was called Death By Pop. And I was dancing so hard that Ican see why it would nearly kill you! The Wombats, the Strokes, Kingsof Leon, the Libertines, MGMT, Arcade Fire, Le Tigre… Ooooh it wasgood! Said goodbye to Miles and headed off home at about 4ish.

16th: BERLIN – I've discovered that I'm an emotional shopper. I spent6 hours combing through some of the most amazing vintage stores I haveever laid eyes on, and came away with far too much stuff that abackpacker can normally afford or can fit into their pack… But allgood stuff! No regrets. I'm sick of my clothes anyway. I put on a newoutfit to get ready to go out that night, but my heart wasn't in itand I was waaaay too tired… So I ended up falling asleep in my bootsbefore getting changed properly and having one of the best night'ssleep I've had in Europe.

17th: BERLIN – Up early for once! Went for a walk around one of thesuburbs I didn't know before chatting with mum for ages in a park. Onthe phone unfortuantely… Then spent the first part of the afternoon inthe Hamburger Bahnhof, which is one of the largest modern artgalleries in Europe. It took me close to 4 hours! Had some soup at myfavourite cafe, and now here I am, writing this email and lookingforward to another early night…

Next, it is Berlin for another 2 days, and then staying with thebeautiful Maria Teresa in Milan. Oh, and a quick 2 day Stop over inZurich. Just to say that I've been to Switzerland!

Such is the life, eh?

Xx