Hi From Berlin!

hey everyone!

just a heads up, the keyboards in Germany are all rearranged so if i make some spelling errors, forgive me!

I am absolutely loving it here in Berlin! it is now day 2 and i have been taking it easy after the pub crawl last night. i was seriously a lot of fun. i got in to Berlin at about midnight on tuesday. my flight was delazed for 3 hours! which gave me a lot of time at the Gatwick airport but also meant i arrived in Berlin at 12am. i got there fine and the flight was onlz about 2 hours, if that. and that's probablz the reason whz it onlz cos 20 pounds!

when i walked out of the airport i thought to mzself 'hez, this is easz!' and it wasn't until i had to make mz waz from the airport to mz hostel that it proved difficult. I was unfortunate enough to run into people who didn't speak a word of english. i was luckz i had bought a german phrase book while i was waiting for mz flight. it was a real test for me! i had to construct phrases and try and communicated with people! it wasn't easz but i laughed alot! i got on the train from the airport and it just stopped half way! it was midnight so it was the last service. i had another 20 mins to go. i walked out and hailed a cab. she didn't speak any english so out came my phrase book! i did well! i kinda naturally mixed english with german... 'mitte take me mein alexanderplatz bahnhof dankeschön'...so funny! but it was all ok. cos i got to the hostel in one piece. met up with paul and emily and then went to bed! it was such a nice feeling seeing them!

the next day we got up at 10am and headed off to the free walking tour of berlin. i fell in love! with the city of course! it was just sooo amazing and if anyone comes to berlin i highly reccommend the new europe walking tours! i saw the big gates (not sure what its called) the berlin wall, the hotel where MJ stayed and dangled his baby out the window, where hitler committed suicide, saw real bullet holes in buildings, the holocaust memorial, checkpoint charlie, the senate....everywhere and it was just so fabulous. however the tour was very historical and the stories were oftentimes very distressing. but i now have a solid understanding of the 3 wars germany faced. and a full understanding of the berlin wall, east and west germany etc. highly rewarding. we're off to a concerntration camp tomorrow. i must admit i am a little nervous about it. i was distressed by the walking tour so i'm not sure how i'll go at the camp.

after we went on a pub crawl and went to 4 different bars, each very unique. the last one we went to was a bar within a warzone squatters building! its about 7 levels or so and covered in grafiti. if there was a bar like that in Melbourne they would make a packet! it was the coolest, funkiest, freakiest and most haunting bar i have ever seen! it was so amazing!

I am already having such a great time! i am loving travel so much i just dont ever want to leave! i am staying in berlin till sunday morning, then i'm off with busabout to PRAGUE! I am following Paul and Em around europe until my uni exams. then i'll hit the road again and i'm thinking i might live in a european country. The tour guide we had for the walking tour was from London, and others were from america, australia, etc and offered a range of languages. and i said to him i'd love his job, and he replied 'we're looking for people' and they have tours in many european countries such as italy, france, austria, etc. etc. so I'll see where i find myself. by the way i have run out of credit and i'm not sure how to get some so i can't reply to messages at this point.

'es ist ein schöner tag, was für ein herrliches wetter, Deutschland ist sehr schön! Dankeschön!'

ashingermany!!! x