Hallo

Yo.

I'm in Berlin.

After a deliciously long and smelly plane ride sitting between a really nice little old woman and some guy who didn't say a word the whole trip, I have landed in the Land of Deutsch. I had layovers in Chicago and then Munich, and by some miraculous twist of fate, neither of my flights were late. The Munich airport is squeaky clean; it looks like the Münchners just bought it from Ikea and put it together; i.e., it's super-European and well-designed while still a little weirdly laid out. 

It still seems a little bit hilarious that I'm here. I really did not remotely believe that I was actually leaving for Germany until I did, and even now it's surreal to be speaking German and catching glimpses of the Fernsehturm off in the distance. I got a ride from the airport with a Sri Lankan cabby who was pretty nice. Man. Berlin is something to look at. It's this awesome mix of a sort of Brooklyn asthetic, what with graffiti and a sort of unpretentious grittiness about it, and a European tile-roof thing that still hasn't scrubbed away all the evidence of World War II. I love it. I haven't had much time to explore, but my Vermittler are gone tomorrow so I'll probably dip out and go see some shit and take unholy amounts of pictures once I sleep off my (minor) jetlag.

Speaking of Vermittler, the people whose apartment I have a room in seem SO COOL. They both work in film/theater. The husband is pretty much a punk, as is his wife more or less, they both seem really nice and super-chill and their spacious apartment is covered in art. An apartment like this in Manhattan would cost an unthinkable amount.

That's it for now. I'll make a real post once something actually happens.