Helena's Super Secret Ninja Missions

This past weekend, I went to Berlin with my cousin, S, who wanted to go because she met someone who told her how amazing it was. We were totally fine without knowledge of the German language, by the way. When I arrived, I spent about two hours on a mission to find Deutsche Bank. In my defense, I had basically just arrived, so I didn't know the area at all and I was distracted by monuments and random novelties, such as this vendor.

He was just selling some sort of sausage...S got a picture of one of them with an umbrella attached. So prepared.

When S arrived, we went on a tour with Asoka (from Boston/Columbia University!) who showed us all these sites and told us so much about them, in a way that was really quite interesting. Among other things, we saw Museum Island, the Berlin Wall (of course), the Brandenburger Tor, and Potsdamer Platz. We also saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, which was much larger than we anticipated. From the outskirts of the memorial, you wouldn't think that the walls would be so tall on the inside...

One of the best parts was the Fassbender & Rausch Chocolatiers am Gendarmenmarkt. It was rather remniscient of the Chocolate Museum in Barcelona, with the elaborate chocolate sculptures. Needless to say, I bought a bunch of chocolate.

This is a chocolate version of the Brandenburger Tor.

K sent me several recommendations for what to do/eat in Germany, since he was actually there for a while. Thus, I had currywurst, pretzels, Fanta...I really wanted to get spaghettieis--it seems so cool! It's an ice cream dish that looks like spaghetti. Completely up my alley. Anyway S and I shared a great pretzel outside of the Reichstay, which was pretty amazing in and of itself. It was well worth the wait. Here's one of many pictures I took of the Reichstag.

This is a picture of the top...it was awesome, especially because of the weather!

On Saturday we were pleasantly surprised by the great weather--the sun was shining and it was relatively warm. I don't think it was warm enough to go to the beach, like B (and presumably C) did in Barcelona, but I'll take what I can get!

Sometimes getting lost is really one of the best things that can happen to you. S and I were on the 200 bus, which is a bus that basically goes by all of the sites in Berlin. Unfortunately, we were both tired and neglected to pay much attention to where we were actually going. We didn't realize that it was going away from the city center for quite a while...When we finally did figure it out, we got off at a random stop in a residential area, and spotted this bowling alley! It was tons of fun, and apparently the cheapest game she's ever paid for. While we were there, we had delicious bread and peare wiener (?).

None of the people there seemed to speak much English, such as the waitress. We got along okay by pointing and such though.

Basically glorified hot dogs. Of course, it was a bowling alley. Not exactly Michelin quality.

On Monday morning, we woke up super early to (theoretically) shower and then catch our flights. However if you've ever set your alarm for 3:45 AM, you know how hard it is to actually get out of bed that early. So we didn't end up showering, but we made it the airport early enough and we were able to get breakfast from the bakery across the street. Yes, it's open 24 hours. I actually went every night I was there... Anyway I really love airberlin, but I hate easyjet. They wouldn't let me check in when I arrived, so I had to wait for about an hour.

I took this opportunity to organize my luggage and have a coffee and a croissant.

On top of that, the seats on the plane were the most uncomfortable airplane seats I've ever had the misfortune to sit in. Finally, unlike airberlin and KLM, they do not feed you. Not for free, at least. I mean I wasn't actually hungry at the time, but it would have been nice to have something for lunch, considering the fact that I didn't have time for lunch until 4 PM. At least now I know why it's cheaper than other airlines, I suppose.

Overall, the experience was great! Although I could never imagine myself living in Berlin, I had an excellent time with my cousin and I'm very excited to see her again in Paris! This time, I'll make more of an effort to learn some useful phrases.

Here's to seeing my cousin more often in Europe than I do at home! I actually find that rather hilarious.

On the weekend of the 6th of November, I flew to the lovely Amsterdam for Museum Night, or Museumnacht, as the Dutch call it. During this event, 45 museums throughout the city have special events from 7 PM-2 AM. Tickets included entrance to any of the 45, public transportation from 6 PM-6 AM, entrance to any of the museums on the list during the day as well as discounted entry to afterparties. Unfortunately, due to exhaustion, E and I were unable to make it to that last bit. I thoroughly enjoyed it--we ended up going to the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, and Rijksmuseum.

This is a picture of the giant Chupa Chups display they had outside the Rijksmuseum. I was really excited to get free lollipops.

Aside from museums, we also strolled through several outdoor markets, including Waterlooplein, Albert Cuypmarkt, Bloemenmarkt (the flower market), and Dappermarkt. They're all worth checking out. Speaking of shopping, I did quite a bit down Kalverstraat on my first night, in addition to some shopping in De Negen Straatjes, or the nine streets, on Sunday afternoon. I actually got a new trench coat, which should hopefully come in handy in London next semester! All in all, my first day in Amsterdam was entertaining, albeit exhausting due to the fact that I got little to no sleep in the days preceding the trip due to midterms. It mostly paid off--I did quite well on the paper that was due that Saturday!

We went on a very informative (and fun) walking tour in which we discovered why all the buildings lean and all the staircases are so tiny.

We also saw the coffeeshop in which they pulled the lost in translation thing on Matt Damon in Ocean's Twelve. Our tour guide was excellent!

I was unsurprised to see these urinals in the street--I'd read about them earlier. However, I still needed to get a picture.

If you go to Amsterdam, you have to get stroopwafels! They're everywhere but I recommend the ones at the Albert Cuyp Market. I actually stocked up on stroopwafels at one of the Albert Heijn supermarkets (they’re everywhere!). I’m really excited to have another one later on. I'm sure the packaged ones won't be as delicious as the one I had at the market (as seen below), but I'm sure I'll still be grateful that I have them.

This man made them right in front of us and it was one of the best things I've ever eaten.

This lovely city is also known for its delicious pancakes! We spent a significant amount of time searching for the famous Pancake Bakery, and I must say that it was completely worth it.

I got little poffertjes and I loved them.

Another typical Dutch dish is the Vlaamse frites, or Flemish fries, with mayonnaise. I'd heard somewhere that the best fries in Amsterdam are at Vleminckx Sausmeesters Vlaamse Friteshaus, so I had it on my itinerary for Thursday, and randomly stumbled upon it while turning into a side street during my first Dutch shopping adventure. That moment in which I realized that I'd accidentally found the place was quite exciting.

The fries were delicious, despite the fact that I normally despise the mere sight of mayonnaise.

We also had some random falafel and amazing food from this Turkish restaurant, which came highly recommended by P. It was great to see the area surrounding the Turkish restaurant; it wasn't near the center so I'm sure that most tourists miss out completely. Also, while wandering around in the rain one night, we stumbled upon this great restaurant where we had dinner...it was called Witteveen.

I took this picture at night after taking the wrong tram about ten stops in the wrong direction. In case you can't tell, it's the Iamsterdam sign.

Overall, my experience in Amsterdam was excellent while it lasted. I don't know if I'll ever return, but I must say that if I knew how to ride a bicycle or… speak Dutch, I would probably actually try to move there.

The canals were absolutely gorgeous, especially at night.

I could have sworn I got a picture of a windmill. but I can't seem to find it...we definitely saw it though--V, who was studying there last semester, recommended it to us.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to writing a post about my trips to Madrid or Montserrat or anything, but I promise to at least try!

Anyway, here's to sampling delicious food in random cities! Amsterdam wasn't on my list of places to travel to in Europe, but I'm so glad I did.

I had a lovely time the weekend of Halloween, when I wasn't busy thinking about all the work I had to do for the following week (midterm week!). A take-home midterm for the 6th, a midterm exam on the 3rd, a 300 page book to read for the 17th, and a paper for the 17th.

Despite the fact that it's nearing winter, I somehow managed to justify the purchase of a new dress and a large scarf that I plan to use as a sarong next summer. I know--I'm really good at planning ahead. I also bought a last-minute Halloween costume--an adorable purple witch's hat, which was a big hit. Apparently zombie costumes are popular among the Catalans though. I probably saw at least a dozen of them.

Here's a picture of the hat I wore. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the whole outfit, not that it was anything extraordinary. It was, however, pretty sparkly.

On Sunday night, E invited me to her apartment, and I helped them make panellets! Panellets are these traditional Catalan sweets, as pictured below. I had a really great time.

First you dip a ball of (sweet) potato in egg whites and then you roll that in almonds or pine nuts. Or you could mix the ball with shredded coconut.

After that, I rushed back over to my homestay--my host mom held a dinner party in which we had tortilla de patatas, roasted chestnuts, panellets (my favorites are the almond ones), sweet potatos, pan con tomate, ham, and pork.

She invited seven people to the dinner. Therefore, after introductions, I couldn't remember anyone's name. They were really nice though!

These are the panellets my host mom made (basically almond paste or potato and chocolate or almonds or pine nuts).

I'd never had roasted chestnuts before! They were pretty good.

I actually had a ridiculous amount of panellets that week...On Tuesday, our program director gave us some, so I got to try some other types such as coffee!

Here's to celebrating La Castanyada on Halloween!