Wilkommen aus Berlin

So, I've now officially been in Berlin for three days which has been both exciting and stressful.
I arrived on December 31st in the afternoon and was thankfully able to move into my new home right away. It's a great old apartment and my  host is really nice. She's been helping me with my German and even cooked for me during the holiday weekend when most of the stores were closed. Here's my bedroom:

And here's the outside of my apartment building:

Being that I arrived in Berlin on December 31st, I was able to celebrate Silvester (New Year's) here. And the Germans do celebrate. I ended up on the West End of the Tiergarten at midnight with a few students from my study abroad program and some friends of one of the student's hosts. The fireworks display was almost as big as my hometown's 4th of July fireworks, and it was only  fireworks being shot off by individuals, not the official city fireworks.

After celebrating the start of 2012, the other students and I walked through the Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate. The entire Tiergarten was a huge party with music, food, and drinks, ending at the Gate. I enjoyed eating my first Curry Wurst and the lighting at the Brandenburg Gate.

The end of the night was much less fun, as I couldn't figure out how to unlock the very old lock on my host's door. Eventually, I was able to borrow someone's cell phone and get a hold of my host, but the whole situation was certainly stressful. Last time I make that mistake.

Since then, I've mostly been sleeping and relaxing at my home stay, as I've already come down with a cold and jet lag sickness :( However, I did get out to explore the neighborhood and run some errands today. Here's a building down the street from my apartment:

This afternoon, I met up with the other members of my study abroad group in Mitte near the school we're attending. It was nice to see some familiar faces and I enjoyed eating out at a Japanese restaurant with some of the group afterwards.

Tomorrow I'll take my language placement test at the Goethe Institute to decide which level course I'll be in. Hopefully, I'll be feeling better soon and can start exploring my new home. Gute Nacht!