A Long Night

I think I might have come across a little tired, maybe stressed, in my last entry, but that's only because that was the case. However since then my situation with classes has greatly improved. Maria and I found a Thursday lecture class which we will be taking instead of the Tuesday seminar. Not only does it work better with my schedule but the topic is more interesting to me! It's called Introduction to the Political Economy (Einfuhrung in die Internationale Politische Ökonomie) and just the introduction last week was getting me excited for the class, which was very encouraging. Plus not only did I understand what the professor was lecturing about, but I recognized terms and concepts from other econ classes. That "Hey, I know what she's talking about!" feeling is always a welcome one.

So it looks like I will be taking a class on Tuesday taught by my program director about German history and US perceptions of German history. My language class is also on Tuesday, for four hours. Wednesday I have a "seminar" with 60 people called "Berliner Phantastik" about fantasy literature. Think Nosferatu and stories where it's hard to tell what's reality and what isn't. Thursday is the IPO lecture. I'll also be making two short presentations this semester, writing one short paper, one long paper, and taking two final exams. It's very important to make sure that I'm actually going to receive credit for these classes, not all the lectures offer exams so I was relieved that my IPO class has an exam option! Now we'll see what this second week brings, or at least what part of it brings, since I leave Wednesday night for Paris.

Now that you're all up to date on my class schedule, I want to share some stories from last Saturday night with you! Before you start wondering what kinds of crazy shenanigans I took part it, I'll just tell you, it does involve a party. With a disco ball--the biggest disco ball I've ever seen. But it also involves a ballet school, "Berlinisch," and Mahler's 5th symphony!

Saturday I joined Maria, Hilary and our friend Annie (who goes to Hamilton College in upstate New York) for an evening called Lange Nacht der Opern und Theater, or (surprise!) A Long Night of Opera and Theater. A student ticket cost 10 € and gave me access to 60 performance venues across Berlin. There were 7 bus routes, with buses running every 10 minutes starting a little before the offical opening time of 7pm, allowing you to get to any theater or opera hall you wished to visit. Every participating venue had a schedule for the evening, usually full of 20-30 minute performances. Some events had limited number of seats, as we found out at our first stop, but everything was included in the price of the ticket. We went to four things, almost five, which is actually pretty good. Then almost every venue was open for a party or just to chill out after the last performance at 11 or 12. The buses ran till 5am, which should give you an idea of how intense this evening was!

Maria, Annie, Hilary and me at the beginning of the evening

We met a little before 7 and decided to start our evening with a visit to the Staatliche Ballettschule, only state ballet school in Berlin, where kids as young as 10 can go to school and study dance.  This was the event where seats for the next show were already gone, but we could watch the current performance on a TV set up in another room. We also stayed to watch part of a practice that was open to the public. It was pretty interesting, and it reminded me how strong and flexible ballet dancers must be--and how unbelievably skinny they are. One young girl had the smallest ankles I've ever see. Which if you knew my sister when she was that ag (and today too)e is saying something.

Then we headed to the Brotfabrik, where Kunst ist Lebensmittel, or art is the stuff of life (Lebensmittel is food, but specifically the groceries or food you need to eat every day). The building was very cool, but the skit was interesting. In my opinion it was just flat out strange, but at least it set a standard: After that everything was normal!

Then we went to the Theater im Palais and enjoyed a great comedic monologue. True, I only understood about half the jokes--there was a quarter where I couldn't understand the German and then another quarter where I understood the German but still didn't get the joke--but I considered getting half the jokes a success! It was really cool for me, because as I was sitting there I realized that if I had attended this my first weekend in Berlin there's no way I would have understood so much. Not only has my listering comprehension
drastically improved, but I really have learned so much about the culture here. I even picked up right away on the fact that the actress was using a Berlinisch dialect (example saying ick instead of ich [I] and jut instead of gut [good]) and I realized what commentary was being made with this use of thedialect! I'd talked about the Berlinisch dialogue in my first language course, and also with my host family. Another "Hey, I know what's going on!" moment.

Theater im Palais is on the left. Through the gap you can see the Fernsehturm and the Berliner Dom.

The last performance we attended was spectacular. We saw the Konzerthausorchester Berlin perform the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th symphony in Berlin's Konzerthaus. The concert hall was built in 1818, so while it is not an acoustic perfection it is aesthetically grandiose and breathtaking. The music was beautiful as well. I can't describe how calm and awed I felt to be sitting in this hall listening to some amazingly talented musicians after night of rushing around to every theater in Berlin.

From our seats in the Konzerthaus

Finally, we tried to end the night with an acrobatic performance at the Chamäleon, because it was one of the few places with an event starting at 12 (yes it was midnight by this point!) but we arrived in line about five people too late and it filled up before our eyes. A little heartbreaking but we walked back to the Volksbühne (where you might remember we started our walking tour the very first week) for the afterparty. This was where the disco ball made its entrance, watching over us as we partied and dnaced for a little bit on the STAGE of the Volksbühne with the other concert and opera goers after a great night.

Hilary outside our last stop. There's even a special sign hanging on the theater that says "Laaaaaaaaaange Nacht"

We all called the night an excellent success. My eyes were really opened to just how many performance venues you can find in Berlin! This was the third year of the Lange Nacht, and about an hour in I realized it was something that I would love to do again, and probably it's something that gets better every year you go as you get more used to navigating the transportation and realizing how to best coordinate when to visit which venues.

I also saw a parallel, as I was sitting in the Konzerthaus letting the strings' song wash over me, between this night and my time in Berlin. That night was kinda of the embodiment of how I see my time abroad. There is so much to do, there's no way to fit everything into one semester (or no way to fit 60 venues into 5 hours.) And there are different paths to take--do I want to spend my time traveling so I can see more of Europe superficially (trying something from each of the 7 routes) or do I want to dedicate my time to Berlin and Germany (stick to one route)? What we decided on Saturday night is what I've also chosen for this semester, and it's the attitude that I really think is best: a Mischung, or mixture. It's all about balance. Yes, I want to see and experience Berlin, and explore Germany--but I also want to take this chance to visit other parts of Europe! Saturday we tried out venues on two routes, and I think it worked out great. It's all about using your time wisely. Sometimes it's stressful, because I realize that I am never going to see and do everything I want to this semester. I'll have to come back (oh darn!). But as long as I use my time in the way that will best benefit me and teach me about German and European culture, then I've used it wisely. Yes, the Lange Nacht would be better if I could attend a few years in a row--but I still had a great time with this first experience. No, I didn't see everything, but I had an open mind and it paid off. After this night, I'm even more excited about what the rest of the semester will bring.

Finally, as I mentioned, I leave for Paris on Wednesday. I'd like to post once in Paris, because our apartment supposedly has internet, but if you don't here from me till next Monday or Tuesday don't worry, I'll be back. Thanks for following my musings so far. Till then, frohe Ostern (happy Easter)!