In Germany, October 31st is Reformationstag, in honor of Martin Luther (the original, not the King, Jr.). In MeckPomm, we have the day off, and, at least in my school, we had the following Thursday and Friday off. These are called “Brueckentage”, which means “bridging days”. I think this is adorable. So, with a five-day weekend, what’s a girl to do? Hop on a train to Berlin, naturally!
But first: Tuesday was party night. Wednesday was party-in-costume night:
No one had any idea who I was, but that’s fine. Apparently, in Germany, Halloween costumes are almost ALWAYS just scary costumes. My roommates suggest that is because they have Karnival, which is for non-scary costumes. But Halloween is also not largely-celebrated, here. For people my age, college-age, there are always costume parties to go to, but for younger people, there isn’t so much celebrating. Younger children might go trick-or-treating, but it usually has to be coordinated so everyone knows which houses will have candy. Most of them won’t. Oh, fun fact: instead of saying “trick-or-treat”, they say “süßes sonst gibt’s saures”!
Right, so, lots of drinking and partying and fun times. Then, Berlin! At the Fulbright orientation, I met many lovely people, and now I am eagerly traveling around the country to meet up with them. It is a wonderful way to explore more of Germany, because by now they know their own towns pretty well, so they can show it off, and it is always nicer to do touristy things with someone else. Although, this time, we didn’t play tourist, since both of us have been to Berlin before. Instead, we just enjoyed each other’s company. We also went to a live jazz performance in a bar, drank wine, and felt very classy!
Madeline gets flustered when people take pictures of her.
