Berlin is…
The man cycling on Kolonnenstrasse while practicing a song on his tin whistle.
The friendly bus driver in Dahlem who is chatting everybody up.
The champagne bottle that explodes all over a man atop the Kreuzberg.
The group of festively dressed young people throwing rose petals in the air in front of Rathaus Schöneberg.
The sharp needle-like peak of the TV tower.
The happy, shrieking kids getting soaked as they run through the series of fountains in front of the Kanzleramt.
The line of police cars surrounding protesters at the Brandenburger Tor.
The over-excited tourists posing for pictures at Checkpoint Charlie.
The bold man in bright purple spandex and a long black cape crossing the street.
The girl in a rainbow-colored dress who is jamming out to her ipod in the middle of a busy intersection.
The synchronized movements of four rowers in Grünau.
The red Audi pulling up next to a group of cyclists, blasting “Blurred Lines.”
The rollerblading teacher explaining how to make a smooth turn to a silver-haired woman.
The vast and overwhelmingly open space of the Tempelhofer Feld.
The professor spilling three Radlers all over herself at Schleussenkrug.
The cheerful man at a Kebab shop at Alexanderplatz who is spinning to the pulsating Turkish beats as he fills your order.
The flannel-wearing hipster with a bottle of Club Mate in hand on the U6.
The tall man ringing the bells on the bridge at Friedrichstrasse.
The jogger getting caught in the rain at the Tiergarten.
Berlin is me, an IES Abroad student who has fallen in love with the city!
I have finally arrived back to the United States after a life-changing semester and summer in Berlin. I am lucky enough to go to college in the beautiful state of Maine, but even as I walk among the gorgeous pines on my way to the dining hall, I find my mind wandering to the streets of Berlin. A million different images and emotions rush to mind. Berlin truly is an incredible, one-of-a-kind space where difference and sameness are intertwined in delicately chaotic ways. It is exactly these networks of complexity that have allowed me to learn and grow this semester. Thank you to everybody who has been part of this process, especially the IES Abroad team, roommates, and friends.
Berlin, I will never forget you – BIS BALD!
Marta Misiulaityte
<p><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237);">Marta is a Sociology and German double major at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, but has a hard time staying within the boundaries of these two disciplines just the way she cannot stay in any one place for a long time. The thirst for knowledge and adventures is her biggest drive; over the course of her college career she has taken classes ranging from film studies to psychology, and she just spent a semester studying Arabic in Jordan. Originally from Lithuania, Marta has been fortunate enough to call many places her home. When she is not devouring books, she coordinates and leads campus tours, serves as a proctor in a first-year student dorm, works at the Admissions office as well as helping out at the Registrar’s office at Bowdoin. In her free time, she can be found either taking photographs or swing dancing. She can’t wait to check out the Berlin lindy hop scene!</span></p>
