Back in Berlin!

Hallo!

After what seemed like forever,  I am back in Berlin!
I got here Monday after two crazy flights through Aer Lingus. I had a few issues, (Mainly the lying Hotel Ibis Budget that I'm at..) But besides the point Alles ist Gut :)
I move into my apartment in Litchenberg tomorrow and couldn't be more excited to get out of a hotel.
School officially starts for me on October 3rd, but right now I am in orientation. I already had a "mini-class/introduction to the program."
These are the things I learned so far:

1-You HAVE to do field work. Research, otherwise is useless.
2-The point of this masters is NOT to just publish a book. It is to spread what you learned so that people will want to rally behind it to change a situation.
3-We categorize people, however when entering a new situation we need to use new categories. If we don't this is imperialism/manipulation and is WRONG.
4-What you see is NOT the problem, but the solutions to a problem. The other goal of this masters is to analyze the solutions to find the problem.
5-NEVER say you want to learn from a certain Professor. Don't. You should want to learn from your fellow peers. This is why they call ASH a "Living Laboratory."


I also had a very interesting conversation with my taxi driver.
He happened to be a Syrian and told me how much he hates ISIS, Communists, and Bicyclists.
He was very sweet and even tried to call my hotel (it was supposed to be in Berlin, but it actually was in Hoppegarten-Dahlwitz) to ask what was going on with their website. Lots of miscommunication with them...

On another note, if anyone is looking for apartments in Europe try UNIPLACES ask for Bernando. I have his number as well. He is super nice and speaks English.
Anyone looking for apartments in Berlin try EBA51 (Storage containment apartments) or Berlinovo. (Ask for Linda Lehn or Larissa Koenig.)

As soon as I get my internet set up, I will update this more.

Until then!
(Also it seems my German grammar is creeping into my English. Apologies for any mistakes)