THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 5, 1996 TAG: 9604050037
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CARRIE ANSELL, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
I REALIZED that I was in Berlin at 3 in the morning.
I had just said ``good night'' to my friend Wray (OK, I admit that my goal in going to Berlin wasn't exactly to get eight hours of sleep each night) and settled myself into one of those comfortable youth hostel beds for a good five hours of sleep when someone outside my window start honking. At 3 in the morning.
I'm not complaining. It would take a lot more than a car honking to keep me from sleeping, but it definitely drove the point home that I was in Berlin, where there is traffic at 3 a.m.
I was there for six days as part of my exchange organization's ``Halfway Evaluation.'' More important than the evaluation for me was the fact that I got to see all of my foreign exchange student friends again.
It's funny how six months in Europe can change a person. Half of the people had cut off all their hair. Some now had nose rings, lip rings and/or tattoos (don't worry Mom, I'm not one of them). Some people had gained weight, and a surprising number had actually lost weight. In Berlin, we stayed in the youth hostel ``Vier Jahreszeiten'' (Four Seasons), which sounds most luxurious. It wasn't. It wasn't bad either, it was just a typical youth hostel. But my room was on the sixth floor, and there was, of course, no elevator. Once in my room, I thought twice before going out again.
But there was plenty to see. Berlin is the capital of reunified Germany, although none (or very little) of the government is actually in Berlin at the moment. The majority, including the German Bundestag (parliament) and all of the embassies are in Bonn, which was the provisional capital of West Germany. The government is in the process of moving and should be done within a few years, but first appropriate facilities have to be found and renovated, or built.
The construction sites are especially interesting. Groundwater is a problem, and while digging basements, the construction crews tend to end up with swimming pools. As a result, there are huge pipes running through Berlin pumping the water. They've been painted lovely shades of pink and purple, and they are everywhere.
What you can't see, for the most part, is The Wall. We were taken to a part of The Wall that was left standing. It is known as the East Side Gallery (that's not a translation, it's really known as that) because it has been painted with messages of peace. Other than that, I found it impossible to tell where The Wall had been and even which side was East and which was West. It used to be easy to tell: the East was shabby and gray and the West was, well, Western. Now the East has been rebuilt enough so that I could not tell the sides apart unless someone told me.
I found that to be inspiring and at the same time tragic. Inspiring because it shows how far Germany has come in growing together as one country; tragic because it is harder for people to understand what it was like in the former East and West of Berlin.
Berlin has more than a long and sometimes tragic history. It has tons of museums, which I unfortunately didn't see (the problem with a six-day trip). It has lots of great stores for shopping, which I unfortunately couldn't afford. And there's a Hard Rock Cafe, where I unfortunately missed John Travolta by 24 hours, according to the waitress.
Instead I ruthlessly used the rest-rooms at McDonald's without buying anything (my theory was: it's an American company, therefore it's my right). I saw a lot of memorials - for the survivors of World War II and for the victims of the Nazi regime. I actually figured out the subway system and didn't get lost once (anyone who knows me, knows what an accomplishment that is).
I went to the largest department store in the world (or maybe it's just Europe, I can't remember), and DID get lost trying to find the CD department. I didn't get mugged (an accomplishment in itself). I got to talk to all of my friends. And I realized, as fun as it was, I never want to live in a city where people honk at 3 in the morning. MEMO: Carrie Ansell graduated a year early from First Colonial High School so
that she could spend a year going to school in Germany. She files
occasional dispatches about life abroad.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Carrie Ansell
by CNB