Weekend update

It has been quite a busy one!
On Friday, we had a day trip (as a program) to Hamburg. We had to meet at 7:15am in front of our building-far too early for my taste. We then took a local train the the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and an ICE train to Hamburg. We walked from the station to the Hamburg Institue for Social Research where we had a lecture/discussion with one of the researchers there, Dr. Claudia Weber. She works in the Theory and History of Violence department of the institute, and is researching the Katyn Forest Massacre. It was fascinating, although I was a bit distracted by hunger-as I'm sure we all were. Eating breakfast at 6:45 and not going to lunch till 2...not my favorite. I had also kind of assumed we'd be doing tours of the city, actually seeing it, and not sitting in a conference room.
However, after lunch (which NYU paid for! yay!) we had a few hours to explore. I, along with Holly, Andrew, and Greg, decided we would walk around enough to make sure we knew how to get to the train station, then we walked along the river and sat on the bank. Hamburg was a port city, and so the feel of it is very different from Berlin. I loved it-much more relaxed and being on the water again was great. We did only see a bit of it, but I did like that much anyway. As we were walking along the river, we went past so many sailboats. All I wanted to do was hop on one and just sail around for a few hours. That was definitely an I-miss-Michigania moment.
We (having added Shevani to our group) decided to go get a glass of wine at one of the many cafes right alongside the river. I had a delicious Riesling (god I love German Riesling!) and we just chilled out for a bit. It was so nice to relax and chat for a while.
When we got back, I just came up, made dinner, relaxed...and then was convinced I should go hang out for a bit. Ok. So I went down to Holly and Shevani's room and we just chilled with a few people. Then it was decided we should go out. I somehow was convinced to go (I'm such a doormat! I was sooo tired) and we made our way to a hookah bar near our apartments. At the entrance, they asked if we were 21. We were a bit confused by this, but pretty much just ignored it. As I don't smoke (anything), I just had a beer there and hung out with the massive group we ended up having. I have to say, I do not like traveling in groups of more than 5. It just gets ridiculous (as it did that night). Most of the group then decided to continue on at another bar, but my bed was calling to me. I think I made a good choice :)
Saturday was much calmer. I ran some errands (getting more minutes for my phone, grocery shopping, etc) and then met that same group at the Biergarten in the Tiergarten. I've been wanting to go to a Biergarten since I got here, before it gets too cold. That was pretty cool, as it was a gorgeous day and I got a large, delicious beer for 3,50. Gotta love German beer culture :) After that, I came home, made dinner, accidentally fell asleep for a bit, then tried to go out. I went and met the group at (yet another) hookah bar, waited for them to finish up there, then went on a quest for a karaoke bar. Long, boring, story short, we didn't find one. They then went to another club or something, but it was already after midnight, so I came back and went to bed.
Yesterday all I did was homework (sooo much reading and annoying German worksheets) before going to an evening church service. Holly and I went to the English Episcopal service at St. Georges. Again, it just didn't speak to me. It was another tiny group (I think I've been spoiled with the huge congregation at All Souls) and just not thought-provoking. I love having a sermon that really makes me think, that I can mull over and debate for days following, but last night's (and last week's) was just so...basic. I may have to just start listening to/reading All Souls stuff online. However, H and I will continue our spiritual journey next week, possibly at the American Church in Berlin.
Hope you enjoyed this extra-long post :)
xoxoxo