10.10.21

My night train to Malmö was from 11pm to 5am. I slept on and off but never fell into a deep sleep. I then got off and boarded a 30 min train to Copenhagen. Once in Copenhagen, things got complicated. I was supposed to board a 6 hour train to Hamburg, then a 3 hour one to Berlin and be done, but the listing for that train was not posted at the station although it showed up on my rail pass app. I talked to a ticket helper and she told me to board a random train, then a bus, and all this stuff I was very flustered. So, confused and very sleep, i

1. Took a train from Copenhagen to a small town called Ringsted, it was 40 minutes. I actually fell asleep on this train, thank god my stop was the last one and someone woke me up’!

2. From Ringsted, I bought a ticket to a Tog Bus that took me to a town called Korsør, the ride was 40 min. I actually forgot a bag on this bus and sprinted back as I remembered and thankfully the bus hadn’t left yet and I got my bag.

3. I traveled on a 1 hour train from Korsør to Frederica. It was stressful because my transfer time between trains at the station in Frederica was only 7 min!

4. I scrambled to find my next train in the time limit and then from Frederica, I travelled by train for 4 hours to Hamburg.

5. Finally, once in Hamburg I took a 2.5 hour train to Berlin. i got to Berlin at 7pm

It was exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, confusing, and scary. But I did it! I was too tired to figure out the Berlin public transport, so I walked a mile to my hostel where I took an amazing shower and laid in my bed, just filled with relief and pride.

But my day had only just begun!

I had met two guys in Amsterdam in my hostel who study at Duke and are doing a semester abroad in Berlin. I contacted them and they said they were out of town, but coming back around 8 that night and would love to hang out! I then met my hostel roommates. One is a baker from Sweden who is working at a bakery in Berlin for a little while. He is very nice and I love baking so I loved learning about his schooling and what he did to get to the job.

I also met Kate who has been living in Frankfurt and Hamburg for 8 months, but is from New Zealand. Me and Kate decided to go to some bars together. We found one that had some very cool drink options, my favorite was the “Chichi” which tasted like a boozy iced latte. We also got some nice dinner (Nachos).

The guys from Duke were ready to hang out so we met them at a different bar. Only one was able to make it (Alex) but he came with two other guys from his semester abroad program Dan and Allie. We all sat down for drinks and had an amazing night. I loved talking to his group of people so much. We all got on very well and the conversations were endless. Around 4am we called it a night and said our goodbyes. Me and Kate finally got to our room at 5am, right as our baker roommate was leaving for work! A crazy, long, but ultimately great day.