I lied in the previous post. What was going to be a quiet night turned initially into a spirited Chess party before morphing into a completely unexpected monster that involved us wandering the streets of Friedrichshain, Berlin aimlessly looking for a party in an area where the punks have claimed squatter’s rights for the past 10 years. The result was me walking home in a drizzle at 5 o’clock in the morning. In my rush to get out the door during phase 3 of the evening (see morphing), I managed to do this to myself. Everyone had a wonderful time laughing at my plight and I am glad.

It has been one full month in Europe, and in that time I have certainly done a lot. While the amount of blog posts that I have written may not accurately correspond to the amount of days that I’ve been here, each day has been an experience and has provided at least one event that I usually have to give myself a couple of quiet moments to reflect on. Most of them involve me feeling like a stupid asshole for attempting to speak a language that I have no business knowing, but that is and will be part of the struggle moving forward. Others stem from an interesting conversation that I’ve had with a person in the hostel or in a bar, a baked treat or sandwich that I had, or minor occurrences that manage to pop up during the process of figuring out the logistics, geography, and flow of a completely foreign city.

With that, let’s recap:

-I land in Frankfurt on the 8th of September. The flights were terrible, I hate sudoku-playing Italians apparently, and I nearly missed my flight to Berlin because I mistakenly read my seat number as my gate number, even after sitting in the proper place for close to an hour.

-I managed to make some friends within a couple of minutes of moving into this hostel. We’re still hanging out. Fortuitous. Also managed to meet a few people that I don’t like. But hey, that’s life. Apologies to Andy Bowen, we ran out of time for a reference.

-Have visited my fair share of museums. Enjoyed all of them so far. Pergamon, Alte, Holocaust museum, Gemaldegalerie, Neus…I GET culture.

-Developed a rotation of bars and restaurants. They all have their little features that make them “hip,” such as Madame Claude’s, which has furniture on the ceiling. Impractical, but SPECIAL.

-Traveled around Germany and into Prague with my Dad. Visited Oktoberfest, gave memorable high fives, and imbibed.

-Saw the Get Up Kids eating falafel before seeing them live and in concert at the LIDO in BERLIN, GERMANY.

-Gotten back into a steady habit of drum playing. I wear ear plugs because I’m health conscious AND fashion conscious.

-Had many days where I literally did not sleep in a 24-hour period. I’ve been managing my fluids, taking multi-vitamins, and trying to mix in a few days after a particularly heavy night of exploring to recuperate. I have, unfortunately, gotten sick one time, but that was the result of a creepy older gentleman from New York who would do nothing but hack and couch on unsuspecting doorknobs. If you’re reading this, you’re a pal.

There have certainly been many smaller occasions worthy of mention, but I’ve got to save some stuff for whatever project I decide to turn this trip into.

As everyone who is reading this has seen, I’ve done my due diligence when it comes to documenting my trips via photograph. While many of the highlights make it into my activity-recap posts, some of the smaller things I notice are good for a few laughs or a few gasps. Let’s have a look at just a few.

I assume this Roman bust is of a child of a particular noble that died, and that’s sad and everything, but jesus christ, THIS is the expression you wanted? I don’t know if they were unwittingly creating a market for fucked up horror movies 2000 years after this was made, but if this wasn’t the inspiration for The Omen, I’m not 100% sure I know what the word inspiration means.

Mummified cat doll, I believe. I mentioned this on my Twitter (http://twitter.com/frhammersly if you’re looking to really burn yourself out on my opinions), but it really bummed me out that the Egyptians were cat people.

Apparently banana shaped things were a source of comedy way back when. If I’m able to go on a 5-minute Toys-R-Us type run through the museum, this is the first thing I’m grabbing.

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but there is no such thing as a dishonorable job here.

I am having a fun time writing this and I am glad you guys are enjoying it. Here is a list of things I miss that I wish were a wee bit more care packageable.

-movies

-Mexi food

-Hara Sushi on Wilshire just passed Bundy

-The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre

-the ocean

-dark and/or hoppy beer

Other than that, let’s keep the ball rolling. Onward and upward, as they say.

Oh dear god.