Life on Bingerstrasse

Hello liebe Leute,

I hope you all had wonderful weekends. I certainly did. Not only was it extremely relaxing, but also I visited Wannsee. There I managed to get a good whiff of the German outdoors, and I visited the house where the Wannsee Conference was held. The Wannsee Conference was a meeting in 1942 at which a group of Nazi officers finalized the Final Solution. It was fascinating to read about it in the exhibit, but additionally to see how the house fit into the "lake scene." It looked like a perfectly normal lake-front house, well integrated in between the sailing clubs and private homes. I might be dedicating a blog post to this trip in the future.

Additionally, I learned quite a bit about construction this weekend. If any of you are in need of any sort of demolition job, just call up ARSENAL FC!! Completely OBLITERATED Everton on Saturday 6-1 at Everton! Whoa! What a way to start the season! Bring it on, Celtic!

To the truly important topic today: Bingerstrasse.

Bingerstrasse is a wonderful place to live. It is fairly residential compared to the rest of Berlin that I have visited. Thanks to my portal to the world--Breitenbach Platz--Bingerstrasse doesn't stay so suburban. Except to visit Kaiser's, I use the Breitenbach Platz UBahn station for nearly everything. I use it every day to go to class, I use it on weekend adventures, I use it in the afternoon. Whenever I need to go somewhere, I use the trusty Breitenbach Platz UBahn station on U3. It is conveniently located close to Heidelberger Platz when one can switch to the SBahn when necessary.

After emerging from Breitenbach Platz, first thing's first: cross the street. After, there is a small courtyard-esque area next to which stands an Italian restaurant. I hadn't tried it until yesterday, and I must say it is very tasty. I had the lasagna, and mmmmm. Mamma mia!

The stroll down Bingerstrasse is lined with trees and seemingly large houses. I don't know if these are single houses or divided into town house-like arrangements. I would venture a guess that many of the houses on the street are like the one where I live. Nikolas owns the house, but students or neighbors live in different rooms throughout the year. Currently, there are three students living in my house. Last week, Nikolas kept one of his neighbors while her family members visited. While none of these houses are identical, I guess that many of the residents have similar situations that Nikolas offers. I have no real reason for guessing this, but after being here for a month and a half, I just have a particular feeling.

The house in which I live is attached to another. The building is nice, with ivy crawling up and down the walls. There is not much room for a front yard, but what there is, Nikolas keeps in good shape. He ran a sprinkler yesterday, and I always notice some kind of improvement.

The house itself is very colorful. The foyer is pink. Maybe magenta (I'm not very good with color names). Needless to say, it is bright. It isn't something that I would choose personally, but it certainly works. I didn't walk in the first time and think, "Holy crap! This wall is pink! What was this person thinking?" The stairwell down to my room is a turquoise color. It, again, is a bit bright, but isn't shocking. It all works pretty well, actually.

Finally, my room. It has all of the modern luxuries that one might need as a student staying for two months in Berlin. I have a bed, a TV, a desk, a microwave, a refrigerator, a good reading chair, a sink with a goose faucet, and a nice collection of dishes and silverware. What else could one need? I only have one problem. There is no air condition in Nikolas's house which means that I keep my window open all day. As a result, I get the occasional bug in my room. Sometimes, the wildlife is a little more diverse than that, e.g., the neighbor's cat and a frog. But really, it's always an adventure opening my door, so I can't complain too much.

Bingerstrasse has been good to me. It isn't too busy like some other areas of town, but it isn't boring, either. I've found a couple of good cafes, Kaiser's, a restaurant or two, and everything is easily accessible with the UBahn. I really think I've got a pretty ideal living situation, here. I can easily make it into the city, but I can also have a break as well. I don't have to go out of my way to find some peace and quiet when I need. I can just walk up and down Bingerstrasse, and that works for me.

For more images from Bingerstrasse, check out my pictures here. There are only 3 beer bottles in my room.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to wish Danielle good luck today! Today, she begins her first day of TA training at UK, so everyone wish her good luck if you see or talk to her today. I know you'll do great today! Don't even worry at all.

Deutsches Wort des Tages:

die Nachbarschaft -- neighborhood