In Berlin

It's been an excellent two days since I last checked in. We moved into the Meininger hostel yesterday and then the Pegasus today. At the Meininger we shared a room with another man, and it was fun talking to him. At first he thought I was Norwegian or Swedish because I knew German and English, and said he had respect that I learned German after I told him I was American. It really was great talking to someone in German after taking classes and putting in so much work, not because I got to finally practice the language with a native speaker, but becuase it offered me an opportunity I wouldn't have otherwise had.

We checked out the Brandenburger Tor and the Holocaust Memorial tonight. It was very interesting seeing the memorial at night. The darkness and quietness definitely magnified the isolation that the memorial seemed to be trying to create. I still would like to visit the memorial again, as I'm not sure I understand the full meaning behind it yet. I certainly like that it makes one think though.

It's getting late so I'm going to go to bed. Hopefully I've finally kicked the jet-lag so I can sleep through the night tonight.