Guten Rutsch!

We were up and out of the house just before 5:30 on Wednesday morning (December 30). Our bus was at 6:30 and we wanted plenty of time to get to the bus stop. We also wanted to make a stop to get some food before we boarded. We arrived at the bus station a solid 20 minutes before departure and the bus was already there. The ride to Berlin was uneventful. It took just under five and a half hours. We made one stop along the way and didn’t hit any traffic. I tried to sleep, but I think I only managed to get just under two hours of interrupted sleep. We made it to Berlin just before noon. We hadn’t really planned too well once we made it there. Eli, our friend in Berlin who we stayed with, had sent some basic directions to his office so we could pick up the spare key from him. It took us about twice as long to get there as it should have. We had to figure out which trains to take, but then we ended up going a longer way than necessary. To add insult to injury, we also go on the right train going the wrong direction. Once we finally go to the right station, we had to walk 15 minutes to Eli’s work. He came down and met us and the four of us grabbed some lunch. Eddie, Adam and I then went back to his apartment. We again had to take the trains to get to Eli’s place. As we were walking up the stairs to get out of the subway, we walked behind a mother with her two small children. One was young enough to be in a stroller and the other was walking. The mother had to carry the stroller up the stairs, leaving the older (though probably still about 4 years old) to walk alone. She was not having it. I happened to walk up behind them as this was happening. The little girl looked up at me and offered me her hand. I held her hand and helped her walk up the stairs. Once a the top, her mom smiled at me and thanked me. It was nearly 3pm when we finally made it to the apartment. We decided to take a nap and wait for Eli to get off work before we did anything. Eli was home around 6:30pm and we all went to the grocery store for some weekend supplies. We are obviously in no rush, as we didn’t end up getting to a restaurant to eat dinner until 10m. We had spent a little time walking around to the river after we went grocery shopping. We went to a bar after dinner and had a drink. We tried to go to another bar afterwards, but it was closed. We went home and hung out for a few more hours, including spending some time on the roof of the apartment building. It was neat to see the city like that. It was 5am by the time I laid down to sleep.

We weren’t awake and moving around until noon on New Years Eve. We took our time figuring out the plans for bringing in the New Years. Eli was playing at a house party (he's a DJ) on the outskirts of Berlin. Eddie wanted to go to the house party and Adam wanted to stay and celebrate in the city center. Basti and Patricia ended up booking a bus and came into town that night. They also wanted to go to the house party. I was undecided for awhile and couldn’t figure out if I wanted to stay in the city and get the typical Berlin experience or go out to the house party and be around most of my friends. In end end, I opted to go to the house party with friends. Eli left around 5pm and drove to the house with another DJ. Eddie, Adam, and I also left the house at that time. We went to the grocery stores to pick up some supplies. Adam then separated from us to do his own thing and Eddie and I headed to the central bus station. We stopped at a Chinese restaurant along the way and ate dinner and then went to greet Basti and Patricia. The four of us headed out to the house party together. We ended up waiting at the central train station for an hour for the next train. As we were waiting, two Australian girls approached us asking for help with trains. I ended up spending 10 minutes making sure they got to where they needed to go. We took a train to the edge of the city and then were supposed to hop on a bus for 20 minutes, and finally walk 15 minutes to the house. The buses weren’t running anymore by the time we got there, so we had to split a taxi. We finally made it to the house just before 10pm with the intention of staying the night. The house was interesting. It was previously used as a horse barn and there were a number of stalls on the property. There was one large house with a number of smaller, less refined houses on the property. It was surrounded by fields/forest. Overall, it was a cool, yet different place to be. I hadn’t imagined I would spent my New Years at such a place, but it was cool. We spent the evening, talking, dancing, eating, drinking, and setting off fireworks. One of the people running the party had an idea to get everyone to write a wish on a piece of paper. He then collected the wishes, attached them to fireworks, and shot them off at midnight. I didn’t end up giving him my wish. Instead, Basti collected the five of ours (me, Basti, Eli, Eddie, and Patricia), and set ours off together. At midnight, we all collected outside, counted down the time, and then celebrated the New Year. We shot off fireworks and hugged each other. It was a beautiful moment spent with beautiful people. I was happy to be there with them. I ended up not sleeping at all the whole night. I spent a lot of time in deep conversation with both the four friends I came with but also with a number of new people I met at the party. I had brought a sleeping bad and intended on sleeping at some point, but that time never came. 

Basti, me, Patricia, Eddie, and Eli

As said, I didn’t sleep at all on the morning of January 1. I stayed up with Eddie until around 10am. He finally went to sleep then, but Basti happened to wake up then and so him and I spent a couple of hours chatting. Patricia joined us at some point and eventually Eli woke up too. We took our time getting out of there, but eventually left at 12:30pm. I can’t remember exactly what time we made it back to Eli’s apartment, but I think it was around 2pm. We all cooked some lunch together and took turns showering. Basti, Eddie, and I took naps while Adam and Patricia went out into the city and Eli went to work. We all re-conveniened at 10:30pm at the apartment. We hung out for awhile until 1am when we headed out to a bar. The one we wanted to go to was closed, but we found another one and hung out there for a few hours. We got back home again at 4am and I went to sleep almost immediately. By that point, I’d only had about 2.5 hours of sleep in about 40 hours. I could barely keep my eyes open and was running purely on fumes. Since Basti and Patricia were staying with us, it was an even tighter squeeze than before, but we made it work. That’s what being young is all about, eh?

I managed another measly few hours of sleep on Saturday morning, from about 5-8am. My bus back to Nürnberg was at 10:15am from the central bus station in Berlin. I needed about an hour to get from Eli’s to the train station so that I would have 2ish minutes at the station before my bus left. Somehow I ended up being the last person on the bus, therefore getting the last available seat. I sat in the very back row, which is five people across. I was in one of the middle seats and sat between an older woman and a guy about my age. It sucked, but I was so tired that nothing was going to prevent me from sleeping. I slept for a solid three hours as soon as the bus left the station. I was asleep until we stopped for our 30 minute break (the driver has to have a break). I had planned on staying on the bus and sleeping more, but the driver made me get off the bus and told me to “stop being lazy.” I didn’t end up sleeping again for the rest of the drive. I made it back to Nürnberg just around 3:30pm. I grabbed some food in the train station and then made my way straight home. I spent the evening unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking. It was eerie to have the house all to myself. I’ve been home alone plenty before. Obviously I am home alone most days. But during the days, I enjoy the quiet because I know everyone will be home soon enough and the peace will be gone. This time, the quiet was here to stay and I would be sleeping alone in the house for the first time since I arrived. It’s weird just thinking about it.