06:28

Location: Berlin, Hotel breakfast bar

Feel: Surprisingly good

Thoughts

I woke up to my alarm this morning. My neck was aching a little bit, but I assume that was from caring my heavy ass backpack around. I lightened it up this morning before breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, continental breakfast is done right in Germany. This isn't a particularly high-class hotel, but its breakfast is top notch. The bacon is on point. I will definitely need to eat less of this in future breakfasts.

I am excited to see what this training day has to offer.

20:55

Location: Berlin, Hotel

Feel: 7

Thoughts

The training day was pretty good. However, my fear this was a condensed training turned out to be true. I didn't even need to boot into my VM. I still got the full three days of material, so it isn't a complete waste. The presenter just kind of flew through the material.

That said, the material seemed to be quite good. The presenter, Milian, seemed to be very knowledgeable. He even wrote a few of the tools the training is on.

During the morning break, I went looking for a SIM card for my phone. Europe has so many choices for mobile service due to the population density. Because of this, I was able to go to three shops, compare, and buy access in less than 20 minutes. The plan was more expensive than last year though.

Oh, and the food. This place had food at all of the breaks. I am not talking about a tray of danishes that can sit out all day, but real food. I had a yogurt parfait for second breakfast and a tasty af mini sandwhich for break. Then for lunch: beet salad, polenta cakes, ratatouille, and cakes. For the last break, I hade Light Taste Coca-Cola and a ham/cheese croissant. And the last thing I ate at the convention center was a beer. This convention knows what is up. I will definitely have to eat a lighter breakfast for tomorrow.

After the training, it was already dark. At least stores were open. The bcc sits right next to Alexanderplatz. I went to a second hand store to look for a replacement coat.

I found a few I didn't mind, but everything had buttons in weird places. Then I realized I was trying on women's coats. Once in the men's section, I narrowed the selection down to two coats I would be willing to buy, but one was too light and the other was basically a winter coat. I decided my money would be better spent on souvenirs and I would just tough it out with my NDSU hoodie.

I found a board game library (?) that hosts game nights that was only a 50 minute walk away. So I walked there and made it on time for their open board game night. There was just two problems: the place only had 7 tables and they were all full. The lady behind the counter seemed to be apologetic, but no matter. Instead of playing prototype board games with random foreigners, I went to look for some döner.

I found a place called Mustafa's and had an amazing veggie döner. It was spicy and had potatoes and cheese in it. I considered getting another, but decided I had had enough food earlier.

Since my original plan of playing board games was shot, I walked to the East Side Gallery. It is a 1.2 km section of the Berlin Wall that was preserved because a bunch of artists started painting on when it fell. There is also a park where it was previously no man's land.

Because the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall was happening, there was a large exhibition of the history all through Berlin, including at the East Side Gallery. There was a video projected along the wall depicting the events as well as some new art being showcased. It was crazy walking along the wall and seeing some of the original art.