Press Pause

Wednesday afternoon I wandered around the neighborhood where my hostel, The Circus Hostel, was located.  My first impressions of Berlin are pretty cool:  lots of graffiti, racy posters everywhere and garish clothing.

I'm in Berlin for a two-week study abroad program with UF.  It's a photojournalism program, and the objective is to choose a subject and create a multimedia project (pictures, captions and audio) by the end of the trip telling a story about the person.  

Thursday, I decided to take it easy.  In the past two weeks I've been to five different cities, and I was by myself in three of those cities.  It's been a little overwhelming, to say the least.  I've never traveled by myself internationally before, much less so frequently.  So I chose to stay in bed and "hibernate."  I limited my physical and emotional activity as an attempt to cleanse my mind and body, almost like pushing the 're-start' button.  Lots of water and hardly any food, like a mini water fast.

I'll be working really hard for the next two weeks compiling photos and audio for this project, so I think I needed this day off to sit, reflect and let my body relax.

Something surprising happened, though.  I got really homesick.  I've never gotten homesick before.  I've been to New York City, Chicago, California, France, London and Mexico without getting homesick.  My mind starting drifting to thoughts about home and family and friends and the Boyfriend.  Thoughts of being alone in a big city kept replaying in my head.  I chatted with my mom on Skype for a little while, which really helped.  And then I jumped in the shower to freshen up, which also helped.

Today I'm with the 11 other students who are on the trip with me.  We're staying in a hotel near downtown Berlin and we're off to catch some dinner and walk around.

I just went to a really great grocery store down the street that has fresh fruit, vegetables  and other vegan-friendly food!

Here's a pic of my food stash so far (the rice milk chocolate was really good):

See ya later!