Sunday, September 4, 2005; 10:21 PM
I spoke too soon about sleeping well every night, because Thursday night I was visited by some very nasty mosquitos, who decided to take turns making a late night snack of me. Didn't bode well for the next morning, when I barely made it in time for the German Placement Test and was feeling pretty out of it. I think I did okay, however - the test wasn't easy but it wasn't particularly hard either. Probably did great on the grammar section but not so well on the listening comprehension. It's only placement for our intensive German course though, so I still have a chance at the end of the month to get into the second- or third- level German course for the regular semester.

Friday was pretty cool, after our test we were treated to pizza and pasta at a nice little Italian place called "12 Apostel" near the IES center. Would've been a better place had it not been located directly under the S-Bahn. Good food, though - I'm not a huge fan of the Europeans' thin crust, but I'm not picky either. After that we had a really cool bus tour around a large part of the city, guided by none other than one of our IES directors, Rolf (all auf Deutsch, however Rolf is quite the linguist and seems to enjoy trying his English out on us, much to our amusement). It was nice to finally see some of the famous Berlin landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and what remains of the Wall. What really impressed me was Potsdamer Platz, a section of Berlin that was nearly empty because the Wall ran straight through it, and afterwards became a playground for modern architects. So everything there looks really new, really urban - all sprung up within the last 16 years. Amazing stuff. After the bus tour, everyone dispersed until the bar tour that evening, where we met in groups with our respective mentors around Freidrichshain, a groovy little area in the East. It was pretty fun, we only went to a couple of bars but I tried a German beer and got to know Nikolas and the group a lot better.

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, because it was a big week and I have another big week ahead of me. Beatrice and the two cats (Poldi and Ferri) have been my only company but it's good company. I think the cats only speak German as well. Tomorrow I start the intensive German course, and then Tuesday we visit the Reichstagsgebäude.

The weather is: mild and dry