Buses, Trains, Concrete, Commuting

Four days a week, I stand at the corner of Adalbertstrasse and Köpenickerstrasse waiting for the 147 bus, which never seems to show up as scheduled when I'm around. The commute to class is almost exactly 20 minutes. There’s no direct way to get to class via public transportation. The bus takes us from our neighborhood into Mitte, the central district of Berlin, close to the Brandenburg Gate. It doesn’t always come at the scheduled times, but when it does, the ride is magically the same amount of time. From the bus stop, we get on the U-bahn, our subway system. It’s more reliable than the buses, and there are always electronic signs displaying when the next train for both directions is coming. During the week, the wait is rarely more than 5 minutes for a train.

(I think it would be amazing if the MTA would use the fare hikes to follow Europe’s method of displaying the upcoming trains and extend these signs beyond the L-train line.)

All of the students in the NYU Berlin program are studying through Humboldt Universität. Before our arrival, we were prepped with a brief history: it’s free, Einstein taught here, Marx, Engel, and the brothers Grimm studied there, and how wonderfully prestigious of a university it was – I would name-drop to my scholarly relatives and family friends and immediately their eyebrows shot up and they nodded in approval (“Ah Humboldt, I lectured there once, it’s a fine school…”).

On our third day in Berlin, we were given a tour of the area surrounding Humboldt’s main building. Then we discovered that our classes were not actually in that building at all. The administrative offices, international student services, dining hall, and lecture halls were in the beautiful main building adorned with a statue of Wilhelm von Humboldt… but the German semester doesn’t start until mid-October. Once embarking on the 20-minute trip, one would find themselves at the actual class building, which houses mostly science labs.. and the NYU in Berlin office. The architecture of the building is, well, utilitarian at best. This is a fairly standard aesthetic for East Berlin buildings (see a few posts back with the white and yellow apartment photo). After the commute to class, the building is rarely a sight for sore eyes, but out of habit and routine come comfort.

Outside of class, I try to explore the more attractive areas in East Berlin. The subways don't run late on weekends, but luckily there are tons of great bars within walking distance. Shisha (hookah) is cheap here; it rarely costs more than 3 euro a person, which is about a quarter the price it'd cost in Manhattan even with the conversation rate. A standard half-liter of beer is about 3,50, and a decent bottle of wine is about 3 euro. Of course, the fact that it's only 3 euro automatically makes it decent.

Regular classtime routine becomes so second-nature that these wonderful qualities in Berlin seem even that more extraordinary. The yellow buses, the subways, wonderfully cheap beer, and yes, the ugly buildings have all grown on me for better or for worse.

Humboldt main buildingOur class building