A Day in the Life: Foster P. in Berlin

I wake up and make my typical breakfast of OJ, toast with jam, and an apple.

After getting ready, I walk about 10 minutes through a beautiful park with gravel walkways lined with trees to get to my train station; it was a quiet, shady, and great place to start my mornings. Once on the train, it takes about 20 minutes before I get off at my stop and walk for a few minutes to the EF Berlin campus.

First class of the day, usually a German language and grammar class.

Lunch break! I usually head just off campus to a local cafe for sandwiches and pizza with my friends; other times we stay on campus and get lunch from the school before eating in the lounge area.

I’m back for my second class of the day—this one usually is focused on vocabulary or specific cultural aspects of the city; sometimes we discuss architecture or history, other times we learn about traditional clothing and food. I enjoy how varied the lessons are as it really gives you an opportunity to immersively discover so many different aspects of Germany.

The school day is done and I have free time to explore the city. My friends and I like to go to a local rock climbing gym after school to get a workout in.

Today we decided to do a little more exploring in the city: a short bus right away is Alexanderplatz, a busting square in downtown Berlin with shops, museums, and more! We went to a bakery for some small pastries, then explored one of the biggest malls in Berlin, stopping here and there for a little shopping along the way.

I head back to my host house for dinner, where I eat spaghetti and meatballs with my two roommates, one from Korea and the other from Brazil. We try to speak a little German at the dinner table, but often resort to English as a more common language. Sports is a main dinner conversation topic and we love to talk about soccer teams from around the world; sometimes we get into lively discussion over whose favorite team is the best.

Sometimes we like to visit some of Berlin's famous beer gardens, but tonight is a movie night hosted at the EF International Language Campus. My roommates and I head back to the school and meet with our other classmates for a showing of Dirty Dancing—in German, of course.

The days are usually activity-filled and busy so I head to bed early to rest up. I usually look over my notes from the day and do a little studying before going to sleep.