From Hipsterville

I'm tempted to start this entry by describing where I'm sitting right now. But I realize I've started many an entry this way. So instead of trying to depict the ripening tomato plants outside my window and the best coffee place in Berlin outside my front door, I'll find another way to begin:

As I was making myself gnocchi with homemade tomato pesto sauce, simultaneously staring out into Berlin's posh neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg, I couldn't help but think life really couldn't get much better.

Funny, there I was only a few days ago: livid, sweaty and confused. And here I am, after-explosion: peachy. I'm living in, what I have deemed, the coolest neighborhood in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg. I am being graciously hosted by the couple who runs the Yo Yo Dance Camp, Jean Marc and Katelyn. Their apartment is incredible: Two stories with a balcony upstairs and garden downstairs. I have my own bedroom with these enormous German windows where hipster Germans and non-Germans alike sip cappuccinos directly outside. If I really wanted to (which I probably will) I could open my window and knock one of those fedora-wearing-cigarette-smoking-hipsters out cold.

I love Berlin. I love Berlin. I love Berlin.

I also love Dresden. I went this weekend for a little holiday with co-counselors Sally and Carmen.

But back to Berlin. What else can I say, other then: next time I feel like running away it will probably be to Berlin and not Paris.