As you can probably guess from the title, it's been pretty quiet here the last couple days. Caroline's been in Berlin (getting back some time today, though I don't know when - probably late) and I usually am not really motivated to get out and do things unless I have someone to go with, so I haven't done a lot of exciting things. I did get out a little though!
Friday I knew I had to go to the bank, and there's a little German one down the street but I'm trying to avoid using that one since there is a Deutsche Bank in city center and that one is affiliated with Bank of America - no fees for taking out money (theoretically)! I had to go down to my landlord's apartment to give her my little "here's something from America!" gift, so I mentioned to her that I'd be going and she offered to take me with her later, as she had to go into the city anyway. I was quite happy to accept her offer.
So later in the afternoon, I set out with her and her niece (who is in about 10th grade) to Augustusplatz (the city center). She took me on a little "Rundgang" (tour, basically) of the center, where I did indeed see the St. Thomaskirche, which is where J. S. Bach did a lot of his work and where he's buried. There was a concert going on, as there is every Friday and Saturday, but I didn't go to it - I will at some point though! We also stopped at the oldest coffee shop in Germany, the Coffe Baum I think it's called, and had some hot chocolate. (German "Sahne", which means cream, and in this case is whipped cream, is definitely not as sweet as American whipped cream! Still quite good though!)
We never did actually go to the bank, but Frau Günther said I could find it Saturday. I was disappointed at the idea of having to go alone, but hey, gotta get out of your comfort zone somehow! So that evening I diligently looked up how to get to the Deutsche Bank on Martin-Luther-Ring and even did a Google streetview to figure out where to go.
The next morning, I got ready and headed to the Bahn station. I needed to transfer from Bahn 4 to Bahn 11 at Augustusplatz - except, come to find out when I GET to Augustusplatz, Bahn 11 doesn't run at Augustusplatz. Only 4, 7, 12, and 15. Well hmph. So I wandered around a little and then just went back home.
I really needed money to get some groceries, but I figured I had enough to last me until Caroline got home (other than needing bread), and then she could hopefully shed some light on the situation. Having about 3€ on me, I then schlepped over to the store and bought a (boring) loaf of bread for 1.79€. (Cost about the same as the three little Brötchen I'd bought before, but I figured a real loaf would last me longer and probably stay fresher too, even if it's not awesome fresh bread.)
I don't really have anything going on today either, so I'm probably going to go to the city center again and take some more pictures. The Altes Rathaus was really pretty and so was the opera house, so definitely going to get pictures of them.
The only other thing I have to do is the paperwork from Personalabteilung at the Krankenhaus. As Frau Paetzolt said, I'm probably going to learn a bunch of new German words - yay! :P I also was figuring out the route I will be taking to get there, and I realized in looking at Bahn schedules that if I just walk up one station from where I'd usually get on (Johannisplatz rather than Koehlerstraße, not that that really matters), I can take the same Straßenbahn from there to my stop rather than changing from bus to the Bahn halfway there. Success! Also, less of a chance of missing a connection = less stress for me! :)
That is all I've really been up to. If I take pictures later today, I will definitely post them here!
Bis bald!
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