Cheapest city in western europe

So my first weekend in Berlin is going quite amazingly. I made some last minute changes and had canceled my apartment in hopes to live with some others instead of in solidarity in some apartment. I could live with some lab mates for July, but that leaves June and August for me to find somewhere else. So for now I'm at a hostel.

The hostel So far is proving to be a great idea. My roommate Julius is a German web developer who is traveling around. Fun guy and gave me some pointers for seeing Berlin.  So with his advice I explored the major tourist places on Saturday,  including Alexanderplatz and Reigstag Parliament building. Though I had cut my day short to go back to the hostel for a festivity to celebrate the building's 100 yr birthday and a chance for a raffle to get my stay for free. Well didn't get it but owell. 

While manning the free preseco and bruchetta  bar, I met this Irish fine arts couple, Kevin and Fem, here in Berlin on a one way ticket to explore the art of Berlin while still not having found a place to stay semi long term.  Quite ballsy if you ask me. But I suppose my situation isn't much better now I think about it. A guy from Indiana joined us in a bit and we chatted for hours over some absurdly cheap beer.  At some 6+ drinks in I decided to show the Irish folks the great game of beer pong.  It was probably the saddest game ever since we had to play with these small coffee cups which was simply impossible to make. The only redeeming quality of the game ended up being Fem's suggestion to take a swig of beer everytime  you miss a shot. These Irish people sure can drink! Well it was a great night.

Sunday I took it quite easy. Turns out everything aside from restaraunt are closed on Sunday as it is the day to relax. At around 2pm I went out for some Chinese food I saw the day before and thoroughly enjoyed the fried duck and veggies cooked up by the Cantonese owner. We chatted in mandarin for a while and  he told me about Berlin's cheap prices and school systems.

Afterwards I grabbed my longboard and skated aimlessly toward a general direction.  Ended up at a Turkish flea market and ended up buying  myself a man purse for 10 euros. Later on I went to the big park in Tiergarten and it seemed like everyone in Berlin was having picnics and rolling around the grass making out.