Hamburg

Hello everyone!

After waiting for almost 4 months for it, my trip to Hamburg is already in the past. I was really looking forward to this trip, as I've never been anywhere new for my birthday or celebrated it in such an adventurous way. But it's over and done! My first impressions of Hamburg was it looks a bit grey and like a bit of a dead place. But I was so wrong. My first impressions were simply based on the fact that I was in the car, absolutely starving and tired after a long 3 hour journey. And on top of that we actually went to Hamburg, on Monday morning. And Mondays are just never good!

After checking in and resting for a bit, we decided to explore the city and OMG it was so beautiful. The one thing that I must say surprised me about Hamburg, was definitely the fact that it has a square, unlike Berlin. A lot of people would say that Alexanderplatz is suppose to be the city square. But I strongly disagree. The square is suppose to be the main area/point of the city centre, where everything or most of the things that tourists would like to see are a short walking distance. Like for  example, if you want to go to a nice restaurant, or see castles/churches/bars/ shops anything you could possibly think of, it would be close.  But in Berlin everything is so spread out. I mean you could walk to some of the tourist attractions from Alexanderplatz like for example the DDR Museum. However, if you want to visit Reichstag, or Checkpoint Charlie or even the Berlin Wall you have to get so many trains/undergrounds. It's not a really good walking distance, unless you like walking for hours. So that was definitely one thing that surprised me about Hamburg. We was there for 3 days, and there was not a single day when we had to get a bus or train or anything. We just kept walking everywhere, as it was so close. Like I get that Berlin is so huge, I can't even compare that to Hamburg, but it was just such a nice break to be away from all the noise, all the hassle of getting public transport and getting lost every time you enter the wrong street, thinking it's a shortcut.

Another thing, I would say I enjoyed about Hamburg, was the buildings and how it just made me feel like I was in the German city version of 'Amsterdam'. Berlin is beautiful and full of emotional and incredible History, but it does feel like most of the parts are still being reconstructed /rebuilt post the Soviet era/their involvement in the Eastern Block. You can still see it in the East of Berlin or even in some places in Potsdam, hence why some streets, houses and buildings look completely different to the ones in West Germany. I could see a huge difference between Berlin and Hamburg, in terms of the buildings and architecture. Hamburg just seemed more modern. Like everything was in its place. But some parts of Berlin seem to look like they are still in the process of modernisation. I've never been to any other city in Germany, so it was nice to see the changes between them.
Another thing we have had the chance to see in Hamburg was 'Reeperbahn'. I'm not going to go into too much detail about that street, but the nicest way I can put it is basically it's a street which is identical to the 'Red Light District' in Amsterdam. Hence why I believe Hamburg has a lot of similarities with Amsterdam. Not just because of Reeperbahn, but just in general the city itself. There is quite a lot of canals pretty much everywhere you go, which is why it has reminded me so much of Amsterdam :) On Reeperbahn there was also a lot of bars/restaurants where you can smoke inside and every bar/club was on that street, which I do think is very convenient for when you want to have a night out. That's probably another thing that annoys me about Berlin. I've heard that it has some of the best techno clubs in the whole world, but they are spread out all the way from Kreuzberg to Warschauer Straße to the West. It takes too long to get from one to the other, on top of the fact that I live in Potsdam which is another half an hour/ 40 minutes away. Therefore I just gave up on the idea of ever going out properly in Berlin. Hamburg was so much more convenient with that.
On my birthday we went for some nice Mexican food there, for a few cocktails and to the shisha bar. It was definitely a good birthday, probably the best one I've had so far. :)

Uni's been going great this week, so good that every-time I hear the word 'Prüfung or Klausur' (exam) I feel like crying. Which by the way my first one starts on Friday the 2nd. I think I just gave up on the idea of doing well in everything, and passing all of it. I've just accepted my fate and the fact that I'm not going to do so well. But that hasn't stopped me from revising, and making a lot of revision notes. I think I'm just doing it for myself and to get my mind off all the things that are happening around me. My history teacher suggested last week that maybe I should do a speaking exam instead of the writing one, which in his words is the easier option but I don't think he realises that I would much rather embarrass myself by writing an exam, struggling with words which is most likely what will happen. Then face him and not having a clue how to say certain historical/formal words in German. In the end we came to the agreement that I can write the exam, but he gave me extra time and made me promise him that I won't write this exam in English or Polish instead of German. Haha

Today, I was just so fed up of staying in, revising, uni and everyone in general, that I've decided to go out and do some exploring. My plan was to see Vollkspark, as I've heard that it's wicked and it's one of the parks that I have not seen yet, so I got out of bed this morning, was actually really looking forward to it. Only to find out that it's a tropical hall, and you have to pay to get in there. I probably would have paid but didn't have any cash on me, and I went there on my own, so it seemed a bit pointless to pay for something only to see it for a couple of minutes. On top of that there was just lots of kids everywhere with their parents, so I decided to go somewhere else. It does look nice though. I'm probably going to go back at some point, but didn't really fancy going there on my own. I just assumed Vollkspark would be a public park that you can enter whenever you like. I'm glad I actually went there though, as I've actually had the chance to help someone out today. Before I got on the tram, a couple was stood near the stop looking absolutely confused and lost, and I've heard them speaking in English. It just reminded me of my first days in Potsdam, where I had no idea where the hell I was going and had to rely on Google Maps all the time. So I've decided to help them out and make it easier for them. They were looking for 'Hollandischer Square' which was a few stops away, if they got on the same tram as me. So we started talking as I offered to show them exactly where they need to get off, and they were telling me a bit about their lives how they originally come from America and now reside in London. I was telling them a bit about me and my crazy year abroad experience. And before they got off, she shook my hand, thanked me for the help and said it's incredible what I'm doing, how I'm trying to be trilingual. And that she hopes I will have a great future and lots of success at uni. And honest to God, that has actually made my day. I've been feeling so down lately, so it was nice to hear that. I started thinking about my life and what I'm doing now, and it actually is so great, having the opportunity to live in another country and I'm going to make the most out of this experience :) After giving up on Vollkspark, I got the train to Babelsberg and walked from Babelsberg Park along the path near the Tiefer See. I had no clue where that path was going to take me but I just went for it, as it was a really nice view, and ended up near the Potsdam main station. It was so nice to get some fresh air and do some exploring. I feel so much better now, like I'm prepared for the worst, which will be the next 2 weeks...

Thank you for reading my post, MR x