The End

this is officially my final blog for this summers study abroad trip...how depressing. that was the fastest three months of my life! it feels like just yesterday i was sitting at lax drinkin bloody mary's while waiting for our flight to china. as fast as it went i still cant wait to go home. its weird being away for so long. for my last couple days here without school work hanging over my head i decided to play tourist and see all the things i missed or wanted to go back to. heres some photos...

berlin dome

gallery by schinkle

1968 olympic stadium

libeskin's jewish museum

gehry's dz bank

foster's reichstag dome

to be continued...

The BIGGEST BEER CAN i've ever seen

the beer tasted like shit, but the experience was worth it. whats up with the germans and their need to make everything so big?..and even more important...why aren't they all fat?

the ultimate driving machine meets the ultimate manufacturing

not to say that my time in berlin hasn't been eventful and educational, but my experience at the bmw factory in leipzig this last tuesday made my trip. designed by zaha hadid, the entrance of this factory, as can be expected from zaha, is beautiful. but, where the magic happens is inside. unfortunately, we were not permitted to take any pictures during our 2 hour tour. past the administrative functions of zaha's building lies a massive factory (obviously not designed by zaha) which encases the most advanced and intuitive manufacturing i have ever seen. while walking through the factory i felt like i was in a starwars episode, totally surrounded by machines building machines, droids transferring parts from one station to another, and a surprising lack of human inhabitance. i never realized how advanced production of these beautiful cars was. hers a couple pictures of the exterior

oops, i did it again

for some reason oblivious to me, i decided to ride the the line of the berlin wall on the hottest day since we've been here with a cut off t-shirt and no sunblock. real smart! you would think that i would have learned after my last sunburn incident which left my hand prints scarred into my chest. apparently i'm a slow learner.

yes, it hurts as bad as it looks

uhhh...ya, thats my watch tan. sexy isn't it

i'm gunna die of chines food poisoning

todays been a stressfully day. first a fucked up haircut and now this...


my buddy just sent me a link about a popular snack in china. it made my stomach turn. lets just say...i ate these a few times and now i know why they tasted like cardboard. check it out.

no-hawk

so i tried to get a fohawk/mullet/weird euro haircut today (they're really popular in germany) at this hair studio next to my apartment but things didn't quite work out...actually, i got the exact fuckin opposite of what i wanted. after about 5 minutes of hand signals and the most broken english i have experienced yet, i was under the impression that the hair stylist knew what i wanted. 2 min later i realized that she was doing the exact opposite of what i asked for...a bozo haircut if u will. she cut the back really short, trimmed the top, and left the sides totally long. to make a long and extremely nerve racking story short, she totally fucked up my hair! don't worry, it all fixed now. this is officially the second time i have tried and failed to get a fohawk/mullet/weird euro haircut. i think someone is trying to tell me something.

The Bauhaus

the corner of gropius allee and bauhaus strasse

this week we went to the bauhaus. for those of you who don't know, the bauhaus is the culmination of all that is modernist architecture. since my first year in arch school i've been subjected to architectural history, all of which somehow ties back into walter gropius and the famous picture of this building below. it was almost surreal to, not only see it in person, but to spend a night there.

the bauhaus (a very close impersonation of the famous bauhaus photo)

sorry i haven't been posting very often or in very much quantity. there's alot going on here in berlin. between all the class, school work, bike tours of the city, and the most outrageous party scene in the world, i'm not sleeping too much. i cant believe i'll be home in 2 weeks...this trip is going way too fast. how depressing.

i cant think of a title for this post that isn't insensitive

on friday we visited our first concentration camp just outside of berlin. although it is apparently not one of the most preserved of the camps in germany it still evoked feelings of entrapment and darkness (of course it didn't help that it was gloomy and raining).

the entrance to the camp which all prisoners walked through. literally translated "work will set you free"

central gathering area for all prisoners

one of the few abandoned guard houses remaining on the site

possibly the most disturbing area in the camp...this is were prisoners were taken in groups and shot. it is conveniently located next to the morgue

one of the remaining guard towers

on a lighter note...this is my place of work. as you can see, we have a studio on the 10th floor of this 15 story building. on floors 12-15 is one of the best clubs in berlin (or so we've been told). on friday night after our depressing but good visit to genenkstatt concentration camp, we decided to test the waters. it was great. i wont reveal too many details but i will say that i left the club at 7 in the morning. unfortunately, saturday was solely a day for recuperation. i cant wait to go back! (after i get some work done of course)

mein neues Junggesellehaus!!!

what do you guys think of my new bachelor pad in berlin? doesnt it look cozy?

just kidding...

Guten Tag! (06.18-07.02)

i think that means good afternoon? i'm in berlin, germany now which means that my 2 week vacation is over. sorry i havent posted anything in a while, i've been without my computer and internet for the last couple weeks. my last couple of days in england and my week in spain were great. i'm not gunna give you the blow-by-blow cuz i don't want to bore anyone but i guess i'll hit the key points. i think i saw every tourist attraction in the city and a lot of amazing architecture. gaudi's work (sagrada familia, park guell, casa mila...) and the contemporary architecture of the city (barcelona forum, agbar tower,...) was amazing. as usual...here's some photos.

sagrada familia

park guell

barcelona forum

i have no idea what this is but it looks kool

...ditto

agbar tower

back to work for me...