and we're off

Auf geht's leute!

Let's go folks!

Today’s the day! The day we’ve been waiting for for quite a while - we are leaving for Berlin! 

Nearly 60 of us across the two Berlin programs, Global Entrepreneurship and Language and Culture, met at the Newark airport for our giant group flight. There we connected and got to know one another, played card games, and explored the food options in the terminal. It was very impressive to see such a large group of students in their blue CIEE T-shirts.

Once we were secure in the fact that we had all of our students, we began the very typical practice of “hurry up and wait” (a reality the students will likely get used to during their time in Berlin, as this program requires a bit of flexibility). First, we experienced a gate change, and then we experienced two hours of delays. Throughout our students stayed patient and respectful and, of course, we were happy to wait if it ensured the safety of the plane and our precious cargo. We took off around 8:30pm Saturday night and arrived in Berlin around nine in the morning. Tired by excited, we moved through the Brandenburg Airport, got our Germany passport stamps and collected our luggage! Luckily, none of our luggage was lost. From there we took a bus to the CIEE study center in the heart of the Kreuzberg neighborhood and got situated with our German cell phones and ate a lovely German lunch of open-faced sandwiches and apfelschorle. We were a sluggish group but a happy one and there were many smiles of relief when the students met their German host families! 

It was a long journey but we are so happy to be in Berlin together! Thank you for reading and following along on our journey!