No, I haven't gone crazy. It's just that lately, Italian is the language I've been hearing most besides German. Especially on our trip to Berlin, where I somehow ended up in a group of a few crazy Italians, one guy from Taiwan and well, me.

This was a trip organized by TUMi, the international office of the TUM. Perfect deal; cheap, by bus, four days. Giulia and I decided to sign up, so the weekend before last, we left Munich for a bit to see how true the saying 'You have Bayern, and then you have the rest of Germany' really is. (Yes - it IS true)

We had to be at the mensa at 6.30h on saturday, so the U-bahn was quite empty. The only people on the U-bahn Hauptbahnhof - Königsplatz were students, who all spoke different languages, carrying suitcases.. I saw the huge group of nerdy foreigners and thought 'Oh hell, well this is gonna be fun...' The fun continued with our tutor. And now, I don't mean to be so mean, but seriously? I'm not gonna give a full description because it wouldn't be fair, but let's just say that he got on my nerves and it was a good thing that I was in the back of the bus so he couldn't hear my annoyed mumbling when he was telling 'funny' jokes through the microphone.

Other than that, the bus trip was quite nice, got to know some people, and somehow I got stuck with the nickname 'Mommy' and from then was the mom of the aforementioned group of italians. Finally in Berlin, we found our rooms - chill, small, bunkbed rooms for 4 people, right next to the Hauptbahnhof, with a beautiful view of the Reichstag. After that it was time for a several-hour-walking-tour through the city, which was interesting and helpful, because that way the orientation got slightly easier (orientation - not my strong suit). Thank goodness we were in the group with the tutors who actually knew where they were going. The other group, with my favourite, ahem, tutor and another one of that type, got back two hours later than we did, grumpy and annoyed, because they had gotten completely lost. In the evening it was time for party, we ended up at some random beach club at the Spree, but we could dance and have a good time, so we enjoyed ourselves. After that, Giulia and I decided to have a look at the amazing Hauptbahnhof building in the middle of the night, and let's say - you're not as safe from creepy people in Berlin as you are in Munich.

Programme for the next day was my absolute favourite: cycling! I felt more Dutch than I had in a long time. We spent the entire day biking (and carrying bikes up the stairs because once again, our tutors failed to find the correct way to go). But the weather was great, the city is beautiful, we went to a foreign culture festival, so that was lovely. In the evening I took on my role as mom and decided we were not gonna go with the tutors. Funnily, everyone actually followed me and Giulia into the S-bahn and to the restaurant.. Was a chill evening, ended up at a bar somewhere, nice but nothing special.

On Monday we were all supposed to go to the castle of Sans Soucci, but as I had already seen Potsdamm and the castle with my parents, and a few others weren't to keen on it either, a group decided to stay in the city. But by this time I was so fed up with not being alone and the enormous amount of time it always takes for a group to make a decision, in the Pergamon museum I said 'Bye guys, I'll see you back at the hostel.' I had a day pass for public transport and nearly all of Berlin's museums, so I sketched some in the Pergamon, went to the Kuh damm, Zoologischer Garten, Museum for Photography, took the S-bahn again, got out at a random station, walked around for an hour, sat somewhere, read, sketched some buildings and then decided to have a look on the map where I actually was. Found out, went to see a beautiful park and then walked back to the hostel. In the evening, we the entire group went to a restaurant and then a club, but the music was so terrible that Giulia and I were in bed by 2.

On our last day, fed up with being in groups all the time, Giulia and I went off by ourselves. We visited the Tacheles Kunsthaus, which now is my favourite spot in Berlin by far. (Wikipedia: bad source, but for you to get an idea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthaus_Tacheles ) It's an artist colony, in an entirely dilapidated building full of graffiti. It's a symbol for the free art in the new Germany since the wiedervereinigung. The artists want convey a message with their work and are an important part of Berlin/ German modern culture. They are (young), modern artists and musicians, who found a place there to work, sell and exhibit. My favourite is a Dutch artist who has evidently fallen in love with Berlin and focuses his work on the city. His work displays irony in a very creative way. His name is Tim Roelofs:http://www.roeloffs1.com/index.php . We walked around, talked to people who worked there, and bought posters and catalogues. I've now cut up the Tim Roelofs catalogue and together with pictures of my friends made a huge collage on the wall in my room now. So a little part of Berlin and many, many of you are watching over me as I sleep :)

The trip back was long and exhaustig, but we had a good time. Little sleep, new friends, many impressions. But we all said: 'Berlin is amazing, but we're glad to go home to Munich.'

Grazie a tutti i miei nuovi amici italiani; I had an amazing weekend!

Now back to normal and real life in Munich, with some bumps in the road right now. But it'll all turn out fine.

But uni is all OK, had a nice weekend including BBQ and some random Wii playing here in the living room, swimming with my flatmate - whom I'm teaching how to crawl - and more of this everyday stuff. I'm looking forward to next weekend, when two of my best friends, a beautiful couple, are coming to visit Munich. I haven't properly spent time with them since the ski trip in January, so I can't wait for some time with the three of us and some 'girly talk' as Rash calls it, with Tamieck.

Now, I'm off to write a paper for mobility, to get that out of the way. Alles liebe aus Bayern,

Larissa