On Tuesday the International Office organised a visit of the former Stasi Prison here in Berlin (actually in the very far far east). So we went there with a group of cca 15 people, to have a look and get to know how it was like there.
And it must have definetely been tough. I was a bit shocked by some of the facts we were told by the guide. The cells in the basement were really bad, especially the multi-cells where you could not sit or lie down during the day. Or the standing cell, crazy. And the various ways of torture, oh my God.
The system of functioning of the prison was nearly perfect. From transports of the prisoners (in "Obst und Gemüse" vans) to "traffic lights" in the corridors or the electric security system. Incredible.
After finding out all the details we were and are really glad that we can live in democracy and don't have to be affraid of being put into prison just for drawing a smile to Breznev's picture with a lipstick..
24. 5. 2008
"Routine"
Life goes on quite well here in Berlin. Actually I have to say that I don't feel like in Berlin any more. It's more a feeling of beeing somewhere with a group of crazy but great people, enjoying the life.
We have our little rituals, our traditions that we keep, and I really like it!
So a "routine", an ordinary week is something like the last one - classes, fun in them (mostly in Regional Studies with our "drug addicted" José), interesting discussions (like in Mrs. Gail's and Mr. Kassman's classes). Museum visit on Thursday (last week we went to see the Islamic part of the Pergamon Museum, this week the Alte Nationalgalerie) including the cocktails afterwards (in our favourite bar near Museums Insel). And some party and action during the weekend of course. Like last week, when we had a nice evening on Friday at Heidi's place (checking her new bigger room :)) and Sunday table tennis at Marieke's place.. this is the way how I would love to have a life..
Concerning that Friday I have to add something. As I went to the YV meeting (more than 3 hours!! that was a crazy one...), I was joining the others at Heidi's place a bit later. When I came to the room, a strange thing was going on. All the others were sitting around a round table, concentrating a lot, in total silence, just doing some strange movements with their hands. Ups, I thought, have I missed something important? Have they joined a cult or what? Fortunately I was explained immediately what's that all about - it was another, this time a Dutch, drinking game. Very nice one. I think especially Hector must have had liked it a lot, as he had to drank a lot!
Later on some of the people went to Matrix but I went to bed as I had to prepare my PPT for José's class. But on Sunday we have seen shown some pics and videos from that night and it was very wild! :)
We have our little rituals, our traditions that we keep, and I really like it!
So a "routine", an ordinary week is something like the last one - classes, fun in them (mostly in Regional Studies with our "drug addicted" José), interesting discussions (like in Mrs. Gail's and Mr. Kassman's classes). Museum visit on Thursday (last week we went to see the Islamic part of the Pergamon Museum, this week the Alte Nationalgalerie) including the cocktails afterwards (in our favourite bar near Museums Insel). And some party and action during the weekend of course. Like last week, when we had a nice evening on Friday at Heidi's place (checking her new bigger room :)) and Sunday table tennis at Marieke's place.. this is the way how I would love to have a life..
Concerning that Friday I have to add something. As I went to the YV meeting (more than 3 hours!! that was a crazy one...), I was joining the others at Heidi's place a bit later. When I came to the room, a strange thing was going on. All the others were sitting around a round table, concentrating a lot, in total silence, just doing some strange movements with their hands. Ups, I thought, have I missed something important? Have they joined a cult or what? Fortunately I was explained immediately what's that all about - it was another, this time a Dutch, drinking game. Very nice one. I think especially Hector must have had liked it a lot, as he had to drank a lot!
Later on some of the people went to Matrix but I went to bed as I had to prepare my PPT for José's class. But on Sunday we have seen shown some pics and videos from that night and it was very wild! :)
15. 5. 2008
Beach party by Müggelsee
On Tuesday we still had the Pfingstenferien so a few German girls, friends of Yuki, decided to organise a beach party at the beach by the Kleiner Müggelsee. So our more or less usual group went there of course!
After a little difficuties of finding the right bus we got to the final stop and went looking for the beach. It was not so easy but as we are all very clever, we finally managed. The beach was very nice, with yellow sand. The lake seemed nice as well, only a few dead fish were "floating" around. The water was a bit too cold for me but some of the crazy people even went swimming. I was ok up to my knees :)
Later on some more exchange students came and the girls also brought 2 grills so we could grill our meet, sausages etc. So we had a really nice, relaxing time. The only disadvantage of that was the location as it took us around 2 hours to get there (far far east). So next time we'll go for Wannsee :)
After a little difficuties of finding the right bus we got to the final stop and went looking for the beach. It was not so easy but as we are all very clever, we finally managed. The beach was very nice, with yellow sand. The lake seemed nice as well, only a few dead fish were "floating" around. The water was a bit too cold for me but some of the crazy people even went swimming. I was ok up to my knees :)
Later on some more exchange students came and the girls also brought 2 grills so we could grill our meet, sausages etc. So we had a really nice, relaxing time. The only disadvantage of that was the location as it took us around 2 hours to get there (far far east). So next time we'll go for Wannsee :)
Karneval der Kulturen
The last weekend in Berlin was not only the "Pfingstenwochenende" but also a very special time because the "Karneval der Kulturen" took place in Kreuzberg, one of the famous carnevals in Berlin, with a parade and street stages and Strassenfest..
So of course we could not miss it! We went to see the Strassenfest (that took place around Hallensches Tor) on Saturday evening with Danka and Imans. We actually planned to go to a concert of some latino-rock but we came too late. Pity. But at least we walked around the place, looking at the different cultures presenting themselves in different ways, we ate a Hungarian langos, I bought a magical stone for 1 euro (but it lookes very nice :)).. It has its atmosphere.
On Sunday we went to Hermannplatz short after the noon as the parade was supposed to start there around 12.30. And it actually did. We were standing there (at the sun so I got a biiiiit sunburnt) along the street and all the groups passed by, in various costumes, masks, playing strange instruments, on decorated trucks, dancing, doing capoeira or whatever. It was very loud, very crowded, very colourful and very hot.. and a very nice experience, though tough at the same time. It was 101 groups all together!!
I was with Imans and his Polish friend Mariuz first, then they went home so I managed to find Maxim and his girlfriend and later Marie and her family, with whom I stayed till the last group passed by and then went back to my dorm, quite exhausted. But it was very very nice.
So of course we could not miss it! We went to see the Strassenfest (that took place around Hallensches Tor) on Saturday evening with Danka and Imans. We actually planned to go to a concert of some latino-rock but we came too late. Pity. But at least we walked around the place, looking at the different cultures presenting themselves in different ways, we ate a Hungarian langos, I bought a magical stone for 1 euro (but it lookes very nice :)).. It has its atmosphere.
On Sunday we went to Hermannplatz short after the noon as the parade was supposed to start there around 12.30. And it actually did. We were standing there (at the sun so I got a biiiiit sunburnt) along the street and all the groups passed by, in various costumes, masks, playing strange instruments, on decorated trucks, dancing, doing capoeira or whatever. It was very loud, very crowded, very colourful and very hot.. and a very nice experience, though tough at the same time. It was 101 groups all together!!
I was with Imans and his Polish friend Mariuz first, then they went home so I managed to find Maxim and his girlfriend and later Marie and her family, with whom I stayed till the last group passed by and then went back to my dorm, quite exhausted. But it was very very nice.
International Day
On Thursday 8th May there was an event called "International Day" at the FHW, organised by the Intrenational Office, whose aim was to promote exchange programs for students and to present the partner universities. All the exchange students were asked to prepare something about their home countries and universities including national food and drinks etc. (a little bit like the Project Europe of UG). It took place in the entrance hall of the FHW, where there were some stalls (stands), each of them dedicated to some country (or sometimes to 2).
In fact thanks to this event I found out that actually I am not the only Czech studying here at the FHW, I met Martina, who has been here already since last semester, on her own (not Erasmus). Together we prepared our presentation. Well, we did not have to do much as I was at home the weekend before, so I could bring a lot of typical Czech biscuits, sweets, Kofola, syrečky (the smelly but delicious cheese from our region) and bonbons and similar things. We also baked the "perník" (gingerbread cake), I prepared the garlic spread. We had some brochures that VŠE sent us and also a PC presentation about our country (thanks to aazaa films :))... and my big 1 euro flag from Heidelberg.. so we did a good job!
The afternoon itself was nice, just a bit boring. Honestly I was expecting more people to come and ask. But mostly people just came to eat something and later on it was just us, the international students, who were there. Seems like the Germans are not so interested in getting information from us. Whatever. We did our best to present ourselves and to enjoy it and that's the most important thing..
In fact thanks to this event I found out that actually I am not the only Czech studying here at the FHW, I met Martina, who has been here already since last semester, on her own (not Erasmus). Together we prepared our presentation. Well, we did not have to do much as I was at home the weekend before, so I could bring a lot of typical Czech biscuits, sweets, Kofola, syrečky (the smelly but delicious cheese from our region) and bonbons and similar things. We also baked the "perník" (gingerbread cake), I prepared the garlic spread. We had some brochures that VŠE sent us and also a PC presentation about our country (thanks to aazaa films :))... and my big 1 euro flag from Heidelberg.. so we did a good job!
The afternoon itself was nice, just a bit boring. Honestly I was expecting more people to come and ask. But mostly people just came to eat something and later on it was just us, the international students, who were there. Seems like the Germans are not so interested in getting information from us. Whatever. We did our best to present ourselves and to enjoy it and that's the most important thing..
12. 5. 2008
Pavlínka's wedding
The first days of May I spend in the Czech Republic. At first I planned not to go back to CZ at all but then Pavlinka told me that great news that she's gonna get married so of course I changed my plans (moreover it was a good possibility for chaning winter clothes for summer ones :))
So on Wednesday right after my classes I packed my things and went to ZOB to take the night bus, starting the journey at midnight. Everything went quite ok (except for the fact that I could not sleep that much) so we arrived to Prague around 5 am. Then I went to the train station to take the train to Olomouc (and in that one I slept quite well). From Olomouc I took the bus home, arriving around 10.15. I spent some time at home (fullfilling my basic needs like shower, lunch and getting dressed for the wedding) and then my parents took me to Prostejov from where I took a train to Blansko, arriving there around 3.15pm.. veeery fresh :) I met the "German" delegation on my way to the restaurant - Angela, Jürgen, Hagen and Adri with Gerardo.. nice..
After some time also the "Litomyšl" car arrived with Pavel and Peťa Kmošková, so our camp group was complete :) We went to the caves by and eco-train, a ticket to get on board was a shot of slivovice.. (and of course the conductors came during the way and wanted to "czech" the tickets... again.. and again..). But it was a good preparation cause there were som 6 degrees inside the caves. In front of the caves we met Karina, Terka and Iris and also Ola. And finally we saw Pavlinka. Wow, she was amazingly beautiful! No words can describe her, really pretty.
We went to the abbys on the boats, through the caves. It was really romantic, the whole ceremony and everything. The ceremony itself took not so much time, in opposite. But it was very nice. Due to the technical problems we even had to "sing" the wedding song :) But it was a great atmosphere, not only during the ceremony but also (mainly) during the celebration.
After the ceremony we went back to the restaurant (with the same "tickets" procedure) where we had dinner and then the party. There was a band playing (a bit odd) music and we also had a karaoke. Mr. Ducháček managed to knockout a lot of the people with his powerful slovovice shots and Pavlinka's grandma was the best dancer of the night (they even needed to force her to go home :)), the Spanish were the loudest (as usual), some unforgettable frases appeared ("I know your face", viva los mosquitos" etc..). The party went on till nearly 5 am and if we wouldn't give up, it would have gone on in a nonstop or wherewer..
Morning was also funny as we found out after arriving to the hostel (around 5 am) that there is nobody at the reception and we don't have keys.. We tried to contact some of those inside but there was no response. So finally we called Iris, who fortunatelly had her cell phone on and responded, and moreover provided us with some warm space to sleep. Thanks!! We will never forget that ;)
To see some pics just click here.
So on Wednesday right after my classes I packed my things and went to ZOB to take the night bus, starting the journey at midnight. Everything went quite ok (except for the fact that I could not sleep that much) so we arrived to Prague around 5 am. Then I went to the train station to take the train to Olomouc (and in that one I slept quite well). From Olomouc I took the bus home, arriving around 10.15. I spent some time at home (fullfilling my basic needs like shower, lunch and getting dressed for the wedding) and then my parents took me to Prostejov from where I took a train to Blansko, arriving there around 3.15pm.. veeery fresh :) I met the "German" delegation on my way to the restaurant - Angela, Jürgen, Hagen and Adri with Gerardo.. nice..
After some time also the "Litomyšl" car arrived with Pavel and Peťa Kmošková, so our camp group was complete :) We went to the caves by and eco-train, a ticket to get on board was a shot of slivovice.. (and of course the conductors came during the way and wanted to "czech" the tickets... again.. and again..). But it was a good preparation cause there were som 6 degrees inside the caves. In front of the caves we met Karina, Terka and Iris and also Ola. And finally we saw Pavlinka. Wow, she was amazingly beautiful! No words can describe her, really pretty.
We went to the abbys on the boats, through the caves. It was really romantic, the whole ceremony and everything. The ceremony itself took not so much time, in opposite. But it was very nice. Due to the technical problems we even had to "sing" the wedding song :) But it was a great atmosphere, not only during the ceremony but also (mainly) during the celebration.
After the ceremony we went back to the restaurant (with the same "tickets" procedure) where we had dinner and then the party. There was a band playing (a bit odd) music and we also had a karaoke. Mr. Ducháček managed to knockout a lot of the people with his powerful slovovice shots and Pavlinka's grandma was the best dancer of the night (they even needed to force her to go home :)), the Spanish were the loudest (as usual), some unforgettable frases appeared ("I know your face", viva los mosquitos" etc..). The party went on till nearly 5 am and if we wouldn't give up, it would have gone on in a nonstop or wherewer..
Morning was also funny as we found out after arriving to the hostel (around 5 am) that there is nobody at the reception and we don't have keys.. We tried to contact some of those inside but there was no response. So finally we called Iris, who fortunatelly had her cell phone on and responded, and moreover provided us with some warm space to sleep. Thanks!! We will never forget that ;)
To see some pics just click here.
9. 5. 2008
The Destroying Weekend
In a park near to FHW the plans for the last weekend of March were fixed and supported by a deal: me and Mary will experience the Destroying Weekend and even if nobody follows, we have to stick to our schedule.. and a deal is a deal :)
It all began on Friday when we met near Maxim's place to have a dinner together. Mary was cooking her special French-Italian dish, yummy yummy. Maxim's living room is big enough for a lot of people, so it was nice. Afterwards we all went to a club near Platz der Luftbrücke, to the FHW-party, with Marie's bike and some beers:) The club was not so crowded but it was very hot inside, no air-conditioning. The music was so-so, sometimes good, later not so. But we had fun anyway. Paradoxically the last ones to leave were the "sick" ones - Heidi and Yuki. Seemed like mixing pills and alcohol makes you veeery fresh (which was proven wrong the next day when Yuki, not responding to Maxim's message, was nearly declared to be dead:).
On Saturday afternoon we planned to go to the Baumblütenfest, which is a big Volksfest, similar to Oktoberfest in Munic but with Obstwein. It takes place near Potsdam (Werder-Havel) every spring. After some problems by meeting each other (Marie's phone at Maxim's place etc.) and calming down Marie (being angry about Maxim :)) we finally got on the train and went (with hundreds of other people) to that place, discovering the secrets of German regional trains (nice music inside :)) It was just as Sebastian and Tana (from the International Office) said during the meeting - you don't need to know the way, just follow the crowd! The big one.. so we did and we came to the fest. It is actually a small town, very calm normally I assume. Just for this 10 days a year it changes to a crowdy loud meeting place of every wine fan, and it's nice. The people there know how to take advantage of that event, so you see their gardens opened and family members selling home made wine, cakes, sausages and whatever. You can just eter their garden, lie down to the sun, drink wine and relax. Wonderful.
There is also a funfair with some funny roundabouts, so of yourse we tried some of those as well, it was great :) In different parts of the town you can also find stages where bands play various kinds of music and you can dance. Later we met Chris and some other exchange students, so we went dancing together and enjoyed it a lot :)
The only thing we disliked was the journey back as the train was totally crowded and some of the people were really drunk athough it was not so late. But fortunately we survived.
Afterwards we decided to go to Marie's place to have a dinner and then we wanted to go to the "ekectro-party" Basti proposed the other day. But (un)fortunately we could not find the club on the net and as we didn't know where it was, we decided not to go. We stayed and watched the German TV :) It's kind'a strange to see an American movie with German dubbing..
On Sunday we went together to the Treptower Park, to have a little picnic. Hector offered to bring some Mexican food, so we agreed.. another intercultural (eating) experience :) It was nice. We had some beers and wine, were just relaxing, lying in the sun.. Later we went to an island that is in the park, there was a concert for free (well, I wouldn't pay for that one). Actually we just continued in relaxing.. We agreed that having a picnic on Sunday could become a tradition as well, cause it was very nice and pleasant..
It all began on Friday when we met near Maxim's place to have a dinner together. Mary was cooking her special French-Italian dish, yummy yummy. Maxim's living room is big enough for a lot of people, so it was nice. Afterwards we all went to a club near Platz der Luftbrücke, to the FHW-party, with Marie's bike and some beers:) The club was not so crowded but it was very hot inside, no air-conditioning. The music was so-so, sometimes good, later not so. But we had fun anyway. Paradoxically the last ones to leave were the "sick" ones - Heidi and Yuki. Seemed like mixing pills and alcohol makes you veeery fresh (which was proven wrong the next day when Yuki, not responding to Maxim's message, was nearly declared to be dead:).
On Saturday afternoon we planned to go to the Baumblütenfest, which is a big Volksfest, similar to Oktoberfest in Munic but with Obstwein. It takes place near Potsdam (Werder-Havel) every spring. After some problems by meeting each other (Marie's phone at Maxim's place etc.) and calming down Marie (being angry about Maxim :)) we finally got on the train and went (with hundreds of other people) to that place, discovering the secrets of German regional trains (nice music inside :)) It was just as Sebastian and Tana (from the International Office) said during the meeting - you don't need to know the way, just follow the crowd! The big one.. so we did and we came to the fest. It is actually a small town, very calm normally I assume. Just for this 10 days a year it changes to a crowdy loud meeting place of every wine fan, and it's nice. The people there know how to take advantage of that event, so you see their gardens opened and family members selling home made wine, cakes, sausages and whatever. You can just eter their garden, lie down to the sun, drink wine and relax. Wonderful.
There is also a funfair with some funny roundabouts, so of yourse we tried some of those as well, it was great :) In different parts of the town you can also find stages where bands play various kinds of music and you can dance. Later we met Chris and some other exchange students, so we went dancing together and enjoyed it a lot :)
The only thing we disliked was the journey back as the train was totally crowded and some of the people were really drunk athough it was not so late. But fortunately we survived.
Afterwards we decided to go to Marie's place to have a dinner and then we wanted to go to the "ekectro-party" Basti proposed the other day. But (un)fortunately we could not find the club on the net and as we didn't know where it was, we decided not to go. We stayed and watched the German TV :) It's kind'a strange to see an American movie with German dubbing..
On Sunday we went together to the Treptower Park, to have a little picnic. Hector offered to bring some Mexican food, so we agreed.. another intercultural (eating) experience :) It was nice. We had some beers and wine, were just relaxing, lying in the sun.. Later we went to an island that is in the park, there was a concert for free (well, I wouldn't pay for that one). Actually we just continued in relaxing.. We agreed that having a picnic on Sunday could become a tradition as well, cause it was very nice and pleasant..
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