Finally, some words on Berlin.

I haven't had a chance to upload the pictures from Berlin, yet (it's been a crazy week at work), but I have a little while to sit and write about the trip.

In short, it was amazing.

The long version is a bit, well...longer.

I got to the train station, caught the train with plenty of time to spare, and got off to change at Amersfoort. As I was sitting on the platform waiting for the train, this young man sits next to me and starts talking in rapid Dutch. I displayed a look of sheer non-comprehension, and sputtered "Ik...sprekt...geen....Ne..Nederlands." Which means, "I don't speak Du..Dutch." Great start to the conversation. He nodded. I said, "Do you speak English?" He said, "No. A few words....{something muttered in German}...Alemans?" "No. Do you speak Spanish?" "No." Great, 0 for 4. What are the chances. I nod. Silence. Then, in broken English, he started talking again. It was the most awkward conversation, simply because of the language barrier (he seemed like a nice enough guy) but we managed to establish some crucial facts. Like, I was going to Berlin. He went to school in Berlin. I was from the US, but worked in Den Haag in an office (the word "office" tripped him up for quite a bit, and resulted in me trying to gesture out "office", which is difficult to do. I wasn't even going to try "climate-change consulting firm"), and that he worked for Volkswagon (this actually might not be true, but he drew the logo in the air and made like he was driving, while saying something that sounded like "volkswagon"). Also, that we were going on the same train, and when it finally pulled in, it was clear that he wanted to sit together to continue "chatting". Unfortunately, I had a reserved seat and he did not, and I would have gladly sat in an unreserved seat instead, but there were TWO high school tour groups in my car, which meant it was really packed and there were not many extra seats, let alone two unreserved seats together. So we sadly said goodbye (or at least waved) and I sat down next to who I thought would be my seatmate. Another rather attractive guy. This wasn't so bad!

He asked if the train went to Apeldoorn, and after saying I didn't know, but had a map, we started talking. Then, all of a sudden, a grandma and three grandkids walk over, she points to the "reserved" sign above our seat, and says, "This is our seat, sorry..." and my seatmate had to leave. And, in the end, I sat next to a squirmy 8 year old kid who kept glaring at me. Within a minute of establishing who wore the pants in our seat-relationship, he pulled down the armrest in between us and started kicking the seat in front of him. I witnessed the most rapid change of emotions from this child when he went to get a juicebox from the suitcase of snacks his "Oma" had packed for them, pulled out the wrong flavor, and let out an exasperated "UGHH!". He then went in again, pulled out the correct flavor, and exclaimed what I can only assume to be the Dutch equivalent of "alright!". Needless to say, an interesting ride.

I got into Berlin (finally!) at around midnight, Anne met me at the station, and we walked back to her flat. We looked at some tour books, caught up on our summers, and decided what we wanted to do the following day, before passing out.

We woke up pretty early for a Saturday, were out of the flat in an hour, and walking around before we knew it. We went down to Checkpoint Charlie, which is the spot where the American Allied forces controlled the border between East and West Berlin. We then continued on to the only piece of wall still left, which has a lot of photos and stories posted (though mostly in German) about the Cold War, the Holocaust, the fall of the wall, etc. It's crazy how much history is there, but REALLY recent. I mean, I'm sure there's a ton of older Berlin history being overshadowed by the Cold War history, but it's really incredible to be in a city where I can actually remember the most recent truly important thing happening.

From the wall, we walked to the new Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, this huge modern art installation with a museum below it (we didn't go into the museum). It's made up of over 2700 vaguely coffin-sized slabs of cement of all varying heights, set up in a grid. The ground it's on is not flat, so you start walking into the grid and all of a sudden the coffin things have risen up on both sides of you. It's really crazy.

Then we walked to the Brandenberg Gate and over to the Reichstag, which is the German state house. Then, through the Tiergarden, which was formerly the private hunting grounds of some rich German prince or something, centuries ago. We ended up in the shopping district of West Berlin (Anne's flat and all the other things I just mentioned were either in the former East Berlin or right on the wall-line). We went to look at this church which was completely destroyed by a "misplaced" allied bomb during the cold war, which is now preserved and located in the center of the busiest district in Berlin. It's so crazy - I mean, really convenient for historical tourism, now, but it must have been HORRIBLE as recently as less than two decades ago, when literally there was a wall dividing what would have otherwise been a bustling, modern, European city. And now, in the former East Berlin, there are still vestiges of Soviet control, like Cyrillic graffiti and Russian street names, etc. It was really incredible.

We shopped around for a bit, then headed back to Anne's flat. Her parents were in town, as well, so we changed and met them for dinner. We then all went to an organ concert at the Berliner Dom, out for a drink after, and then to bed, exhausted from the long day of sightseeing and walking and trying to dodge the rainstorms.

The next morning we walked over to the Marx and Engels statue, to pay our UofC respects, and walked around that neighborhood for a while. We ended up walking through this street market, marveling at the really good artwork and fun antiques (an entire gleaming set of sharp dental tools displayed next to a collection of skulls...), mini books, jewlery, and before we knew it, I was running late for my 12:30 train.

I made it with time to spare, met some friendly Brazilian girls on the track (I'm not really worried about travelling alone anymore. Everyone is really friendly), and hopped the direct train to Amsterdam. From there, caught a train back to Den Haag, and was home by 9:30. Long day of travel, but I got to see some beautiful countryside and HUGE wind farms.

I then baked cookies for my office in an apology for bringing down the network the previous week (though the next day, no one really thought twice about the previous week's mishap, everyone was just really pleased to have cookies).

This week has been busy! I've been working really hard to try to make up for last week's lost time, and people have been giving me new assignments all week. I've been working closely with this guy Marius on a report he's doing on climate change investment opportunities in Africa, and I'm pretty close to changing my BA topic. It's an incredibly interesting problem they have there, and much more hopeful and solvable than say, China, which often just makes environmentalists shake their head in frustration (okay, it makes at least ME do that). Anyway, busy, but all great, great stuff.

Then, I went out with Lisa (the other intern) after work yesterday for smoothies, which turned into OJ and Oude Amsterdam Kaas (Old Amsterdam Cheese) at a cafe because the smoothie place was closed. We ended up staying and chatting for like 3 hours, and she invited me to Rotterdam to a party tomorrow night (word got out today in the office, and now there are about 4 others coming, as well!) and then to stay over and explore the city with her on Saturday. I'm super-excited. She's really sweet, and just accepted a job at another climate consulting firm, and she's done at ES next week. But from the looks of it, we will still be in touch and probably hang out a lot before the summer is done. Yay!

Okay, more in a few days (and I swear, I will get around to posting the pictures!).