In Berlin, there are so many of these giant bears, and each one is decorated differently to portray a different aspect of the city. This is the bear that stands outside our Mensa/cafeteria. The plaque by its feet calls it the “Study Buddy Bär” for all the students at the Technische Univeristät, and its decorated with paintings of things relating to the school that you can find around Berlin. On the last day of class, I had to snag a picture with this bear!
This picture is from the sunflower patch at the Botanical Gardens. The other girls and I went there on one of our free days and it was so worth it. There was a really cool museum, a ginormous greenhouse, and so many nature trails to walk. It was fun to just walk around and look at all the greenery. There were so many plants from other places around the world that I had never seen before!
For our free week, the girls decided to travel to Italy for a few days. On our first full day in Venice, we took a 5-hour boat tour and went island hopping. Each island was unique, but all had buildings with bright, beautiful colors. I have never seen so many colors in one place. It’s really cool because the people who live in these homes even match their flowerbeds, curtains, and doormats to the color of the buildings.