Getting Reacquainted with Prague

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I made it to Prague! I took the train from Berlin to Prague yesterday afternoon. It was about a 5 hour ride through some very scenic country. I got a little teary eyed saying goodbye to Dave at the train station.  Even though he’s going to come visit me in 2 weeks this will be the longest we’ve ever been apart during our 5-year relationship:(  Luckily (and I guess unluckily) I’m going to be in class from 10:00am-6:00pm everyday and then working on homework and curriculum preparation in the evenings- so I probably won’t have much time to miss him!

Today the group met in the early afternoon to take an “orientation tour” of Prague and learn the basics. A lot of it was a refresher for me, but was really helpful because though I’m usually pretty good with directions Prague is such an easy city to “get lost” in! There are 22 people in the TEFL certification program and most everyone is here already (classes start tomorrow at 9:45am). I initially thought we’d all be housed together, but we’re spread about a bit. There are 7 of us here at Hotel Pivovar (which is right next to where we’ll be having class).  There is another place about a 10 minute walk away that houses about 10 others and then a couple random apartments also about 10-15 minute walks away.  Apparently all the places are pretty similar, but comfortable.  I have my own room in a two room suite (my suitemate is a super nice girl from San Diego named Tamara). We also share a bathroom and a kitchen.  There are 3 other apartments with the same layout on our floor.

It has been amazing to be able to see Prague again. We went out to Old Town Square on Saturday night and things looked pretty much the way I remember them- some additional flowers and benches around the main statue, but that was about it.  We went to an Irish pub that was playing the rugby world cup and had a live band (playing mostly American songs- I heard Shipping up to Boston!).  The place was filled with smoke though (well every place was filled with smoke) so all of my clothes and my hair reek.  Seriously everything in my wardrobe is going to smell of smoke by the end of these 4 weeks!  The other big change is that beer (and everything) is way more expensive now that it was in 2005.  And with the Koruna stronger it makes it even more expensive.  I guess we were in a touristy-area, so that might play a role in the price of things. But the cheapest beer we found last was Staropramen and it was 75 Korunas!!!  This evening at dinner we found beer for 40 Korunas, but still a big jump from what I remember. When I was last in Prague Pilsner Urquell was the expensive beer and it was b/ 25-30 Korunas; Staropramen was only 20-23 Korunas. I’m going to have to adjust my expectations when it comes to the price of things here…

Starting tomorrow I don’t think I’ll be doing too much touristing during the week due to course work, but am hoping to get a lot in every weekend.  I already had my first big plate of goulash (so delicious!) and need to make sure to sample all my other Czech favorites on the weekends!  For any of my old Praha friends reading this- make sure to send me reminders of the best restaurants and places to go in the city:)

It’s off to bed now- I need to be well rested for class in the morning- but good night and na shledanou! 

On my own

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Well, Adrian has left for Prague for a month and I am officially alone here at the apartment. Adrian is only going to be gone for 1 month, but I will obviously miss her a lot.  From speaking to her on the phone and knowing how much she loves Prague, I know she’ll have a great time there. Plus I get to go visit her in just a couple of weeks so I have that to look forward to!

Meanwhile my plan is to use my time here in Berlin to:1. Improve my German as much as possible and 2. Develop good study habits for the HWR program. Now anyone who knows me knows that the phrase “good study habits” and me do not belong in the same sentence. I am a notorious procrastinator. But am determined to change that this time around by drilling myself into doing at least an hour of work for school regardless of whether I have class the next day of not. I only have class two days a week (Tuesday’s and Thursdays), so I am trying to avoid having to do all my preparation on Wednesday and Monday nights. Well see how it ends up.

Also with Adrian not around, I have been able to do a little more unplanned exploration of the city. Adrian and I obviously get along very well, but I would say our one major difference is that she likes to plan ahead very carefully and with a lot of detail. I like a little bit of spontaneity once in a while, so after I dropped Adrian off at the train station yesterday, I spent the rest of the afternoon more or less wandering around the city.

My tuition at HWR includes unlimited travel on the S (elevated) and U (underground) trains which together are the subway system for the greater Berlin area. As I said in a previous post, I love the public transportation system here, so after dropping off Adrian, I spent awhile cruising around on the S bahn taking in some sights and listening to diffent street performers wander on to the train playing accordions, guitars and other instruments- panhandling for Euros.

I got off at the Tiergarten stop and immediately noticed a huge outdoor market that was going on so I walked through that for a while. It was without a doubt the largest and strangest outdoor market I have ever been to. Conservatively I would guess there were 200 different booths selling everything from antiques to radishes. I loved checking out the old German memorabilia, but I couldn’t find any Nazi related objects. I wonder if they’re illegal or something? Maybe they’re just considered bad taste.  All in all a very interesting and entertaining afternoon.

Prepping for Prague

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It’s a cold, rainy Fall day here in Berlin.  I’m super comfy lounging in my sweats, wrapped up in my favorite UPS blanket.  It’s about 3:00pm and I have to admit that I haven’t left the apartment all day!  As I sit on the couch reading and writing email, posting new Facebook photos and surfing the net I decided that it’s probably a good time to start brushing up on my English grammar. For those of you who don’t know, I leave for a 4 week TEFL certification program in Prague this upcoming weekend.  I’m excited to get started, learn more about teaching and begin to search for jobs in Berlin! I’m also looking forward to meeting some fun new people!  One thing I’m not excited for however, is the glaring fact that my English grammar capabilities are gravely lacking.  Seriously, I have not even attempted to improve my grammatical abilities since Mr. Bernstein’s 9th grade honors English class (and let me say that after that class, I moved out of the honors track and back down to “regular people” English).  I’ve been doing a bit of reading online, but if anyone has advice on a useful (and possibly fun) way to improve my grammar in mere days I’m all ears.

Other than grammar preparation, I’ve been going over what I need to pack and what I’ll want to make sure to do while in Prague.  I’m sure the city has changed since I studied abroad back in 2005, but there are definitely some spots I don’t want to miss! Additionally, Maddie will be visiting me while I’m there.  I’m so excited to show her “my city”!!!  We’ll definitely be hitting up the big tourist spots- Prague Castle, Old Town Square, Pivovarský dům, the Charles Bridge etc…but again for those of you who’ve been to Prague more recently than myself, I welcome any and all suggestions!

Other than minimal Prague preparations, we’ve been taking it pretty easy. Yesterday Dave and I decided to check out a Berlin museum and headed over to the Altes Museum. We had a great time looking at the vast collection of ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan art.  My favorite piece was a sarcophagus featuring the story of Jason and Medea from Euripide’s play Medea. Essentially, Jason and Medea are married, but he leaves her for the daughter of the king. She doesn’t take the news well and while pretending to give her blessing plots her revenge.  Basically, Medea poisons the new wife, the king and then kills her and Jason’s children before offing herself.  (Don’t mess with that woman!)  A little morbid, but the carvings on the sarcophagus were gorgeous.  See the pic below!

After our museum outing we grabbed some delicious German food (lots of meat and potatoes) at a restaurant close by.  A couple of half litre beers were also on the menu:) And that brings us to today…

We hope you’re enjoying our blog so far and would love to hear from you! Especially about when you’re planning your trip to visit us!!!

Back to School

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I had my first classes this week since graduating from UPS more than 4 years ago. It was certainly weird to be back in the classroom, taking notes and looking over a syllabus again, but I am really excited about the opportunity this time around. There’s nothing like having to go to work to make you excited for school!

I am enrolled at the Berlin School of Economics and Law in the Master of Science in Finance program. The program lasts three semesters with an optional internship for a fourth semester. The final semester contains one course: writing a thesis. The first semester, which I just started this week consists of four courses: Econometrics, Financial Economics, Corporate Finance, and Corporate Financial Theory. Each class has one four hour lecture session each week until late January of next year when we will have exams, which constitute 100% of the grade.

As you might expect from a Masters program, the Professors take a very “hands off” approach to teaching. They leave it up to us students to do most of the work, providing us with only their lectures, reading lists and information on exams. Very little hands-on teaching is involved, although all the professors made sure to provide their contact information and office hours and made a point of saying do not hesitate to approach them if you are unsure of the material. Two of the professors also scheduled social events for us to meet up and have a beer after class next week… now that’s an assignment I can handle!

I can already tell my favorite class will be Financial Economics. Much of our reading list for that class consists of articles that are very relevant to the current Euro crisis, which is ubiquitous over here on the news. The hardest class will be Econometrics; our professor has a PHD in theoretic physics so it’s safe to say that course will be fairly math intensive.

One thing that I like about this program is all my fellow students (there are 36 of us) take all the same classes together. That has made it fairly easy to get to know people. I am the only American in the program but it has been fun to get to know some of the other students from around the world.  So far, I have made friends from Italy, France, Lithuania, Russia, Bulgaria, China, Canada, Uzbekistan and of course Germany. Everyone is really nice and they seem to have similar thoughts and opinions as me about the professors and the program in general so that is very comforting. It is nice to feel like part of a group, especially when given a daunting task, which on its outset, this Master Program certainly seems to be.

What I will and won’t miss about Boston, Massachusetts

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Adrian and I lived in Boston for a about two and a half years and now that we’ve moved on to Berlin, I thought I’d write down a couple things I will and won’t miss about our old city.

Will Miss:

  1. The local sports teams – For some reason it’s always comforting to be able to count on the Red Sox being on at every bar you walk into, that Patriots will always be on on Sundays and that the Bruins and Celtics are playing their home games just a mile or so down the road. Here in Germany I’m either stuck going to over crowed American bars or watching spotty online streams so this is definitely something I’ll miss.
  2. The Boston Common/Public Gardens – Sure it’s not central park, and sure its covered in trash and infested with rats, but the Common is such a great place to go for a walk and it’s so quintessentially Boston… it’s probably my favorite spot in the city.
  3. The Charles River – Memorial Drive is the best road in Boston to cruise down and the perfect way to scope out the Charles on a nice day. Just don’t go swimming in it.
  4. Singing Beach – Adrian and I had season passes to this beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea. It was about 45 minutes from the city but well worth the drive. Some of my favorite days were spent here. Adrian will surely miss Captain Dusty’s- the ice cream place down the road from the shore. She made sure we stopped there every time we went to the beach.
  5. The food – So many great restaurants in Boston, but my favorites for lunch were Dorado in Brookline and Mikes Deli in Brighton. For dinner Redbones in Somerville, Giacomos in the North End and Harry’s in Allston for their wings (not a big breakfast guy, sorry). Also Dunkin Donuts… in Germany they only have one size for coffee and it’s about 1/3 the size of a Dunks small.
  6. The weather – People in New England constantly complain about the weather but the changing season are one of my favorite things about the region. Whether it’s heading to the beach in the summer, opening the windows to let in the cool fall air or skiing in the winter, I love all the seasons in New England and for me it has the perfect climate
  7. The people – This is sort of a given, but being so close to my family in Maine and have some of my best friends living in Boston made it a great place to live… New England will always be my home for this reason.
Won’t Miss
  1. Public Transportation – Going from the Green Line to the U and S Bahn in Berlin is basically going from world’s worst to world’s best. I can’t say enough good things about German public transportation. Really the only bad thing is it’s a little expensive, but since unlimited travel is included in my tuition, that’s not a problem for me!
  2. Having a Car – Having a car obviously comes in handy (it’s probably the only reason I was able to find a job in Boston right away) but by the time I left, I was convinced owning a car in the city is more trouble than it’s worth. If you don’t believe me, trying digging your car out after a 2 foot snow storm at 5 in the morning so you can get to work on time.
  3. The rent – Rent is so overpriced in Boston that I have difficulty discussing it without getting angry. We are paying half as much right now in Berlin.
  4. Traffic – Mosquitos and traffic are the two things that are universally hated by human beings.
  5. Overcrowding – I heard once that there are 12 million people living inside the 495 loop. If you want to run in to half of them, take the Bourne bridge to the cape on a summer weekend. People are everywhere in Boston and they were always in my way.
  6. Pot Holes – I had six flat tires during the two plus years I lived in Boston. That’s right, six.

Der Wohnung

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Yesterday we moved into our new apartment. The hotel was great, but it feels SO good to be in our own place. The apartment is located in Steglitz (an area in Berlin, but a bit south of the main attractions) and is only about a 5-10 walk to the U-Bahn and S-Bahn station at Rathaus Steglitz.  In it’s description the apartment was described as a 1.5 room place and looked a little small from pictures so we were expecting teeny-tiny, but it’s actually a lot more spacious than anticipated.  There is a long hallway that leads to a kitchen (with adjoining patio), a small bathroom and then a relatively large sleeping/living room.  The place is furnished, almost entirely with Ikea goods, and has a homey feel. We’re loving it thus far!

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After taking the day yesterday to settle in, we decided today would be a good day to explore our new city.  We took the sites at the Branderburg Tor, Reichstag, Unter den Linden, Alexanderplatz and Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg.  We’re taking a much need rest at home now, but are going to try and see if we can hit up a bar for “American Football” later this evening.  We’ll keep you posted on whether we’re successful in our search!

Much love and GO PACK GO!  (Patriots too I guess…)

Dave & Adrian

Why you should pay more to travel

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Adrian and I pride ourselves on our bargain hunting. When she comes home from a shopping trip she is more excited to brag about how much she saved then about anything she bought. So when we had to purchase our plane tickets to Germany, we waited months, scouring the internet for good deals. We finally landed two tickets from Boston to Berlin for $500 each. Based on other prices, we probably saved about $100… not bad, eh?

Well that’s how I felt about it till the trip began. The first leg was from Boston to Heathrow Airport in London on a massive Virgin Atlantic plane. We checked in about 3 hours early (4:30 EST) and I paid an expected bag fee of $50… not a hugh problem but I asked the ticket agent if we could check into our next flight as well which was with another airline (British Midland). She informed me we could not. I knew right away I was going to have to pay a second bag fee, but decided not too get stressed out about it.

9 hours later, after a delay for a VIP at Logan (who the hell was so important they had to delay every single other flight leaving Boston?!), security lines, roaming Logan airport eating shitty food court pizza,  flying over the Atlantic watching Bridesmaids (terrible) and Thor (awesome) we arrived at Heathrow. We cleared the passport check and customs without incident and then trekked about 1.5 miles (no joke) to our connection at BMI. That was where the real terror began.

We told the clerk we had 3 bags to check and she informed us we would have to pay for the extra bag. I told her that we already paid $50 in Boston, but she didn’t seem to care. She wrote down the weight of the bag (23 kilograms) and told me to go to the cashier and pay for it. I handed the cashier the slip she gave me and he informed me it would be 12£ (~$18) per kilo. I’m going to school for finance; I know the price of things and there is no way an extra bag, however large, is worth $414. Adding an extra bag to the hold for an airline is essentially free. A marginal bag costs nothing.

At this point, Adrian and I were just starting our trip. I had not slept a wink on the plane. I was sweaty and uncomfortable. I just wanted to get to Berlin, relax and prepare for school. The airline was able to charge whatever they wanted at that point. We weren’t going to leave a bag behind so we had to suck it up and pay. I asked to speak to a supervisor to try and haggle the price down and she “cut me a break” and let us check the bag for $250.

Needless to say, I was and still am pretty upset about the whole escapade but there is a lesson in all of it: when you are traveling, especially if it’s a long distance, it is worth it to pay a premium for a direct flight. It’s a known quantity and it minimizes potential for problems along the way that can potentially cost far more that any initial price premium. Also, read up on bag fees… not just on the first airline you are taking because you never know.

And British Midland sucks.

P.S. British Midland also lost said bag and I went our first two days in Berlin without any of my clothes, so I may have started a few stereotypes about Americans smelling bad in our first couple days here. Sorry about that.

We’re Finally Here!

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After a grueling trip- which included a two hour bus ride from Portland, a 1+ hour delay on the tarmac in Boston (before the 6.5 hour flight), a fight over a $500 baggage fee in London (followed by an additional 30 minute delay on the tarmac there), the 1.5 hour flight to Berlin and then a lost bag in Berlin (which has yet to be recovered)- WE HAVE ARRIVED!  Thank God for hospitable Germans and their beer!

Biergarten in Tiergarten!

We have been trying to stay awake since our arrival with the hope of quickly getting accustom to “German Time”!  Tomorrow we’re going to try and get mobile phones, test out the U-Bahn system and grab a few more drinks at one of the famous Berlin biergartens- because even though the weather is beautiful, most close down for the season come October 1st.  Hopefully we’ll have more entertaining and intriguing posts to follow in the future, but wanted to get the first actual international post under out belts.  We’ll leave you with a few already noticed differences/adjustments we’ll need to be making in the next weeks, months and years….

1. Everyone in Berlin follows traffic signs.  They don’t walk when the light isn’t green even if no cars are present. For our fellow Bostonians- a huge culture shock!
2. Standards tipping etiquette calls for 5-10% of the total bill…should help to lessen the shock of being on the euro.
3. 24-Hour clock, AKA “Military Time”
4. No ice/no tapwater
5.  No more puritan liquor laws!!!  That’s right, we bought a beer from the vending machine in our hotel and I’ll bet we can do so before noon on Sundays if we please:)

Well, look for another update soon and hope everyone is well and life is fabulous! We miss you and love you!

Auf Wiedersehen, 

Daverian