Robert Koch Institut - Berlin, Germany

The city of Berlin welcomed me with torrential rainfall and cold weather. After visiting Cologne, Germany and seeing the beautiful gothic cathedral while meeting some great and hilarious new friends from Canada, I continued my journey to Berlin via overnight bus. Since I arrived early Sunday morning, virtually every store was closed and streets were absolutely void of people. Of course this made being lost so much less embarrassing and so much more difficult. Skip forward all the struggles, and with the help of some exceptional strangers (one who couldn’t speak English and called her son, who then proceeded to google-map directions), I made it to my new temporary home!

The next day I began my first day at the Robert Koch Institut, a public health institution funded by the German government. It plays a comparable role as the Center for Disease Control for the United States. Dr. Fabian Leendertz, my supervisor here, gave me a tour of the building and briefed some of the ongoing projects, which was particularly impressive since he was recovering from malaria. It was really fascinating to hear of all the projects ongoing in this group encompassing so many different pathogens, hosts and habitats. Some of the recent endeavors of Fabian’s lab involved creating a collaborative team to go to Guinea in pursuit of finding and understanding the source of the Ebola Virus pandemic. In the scope of this infectious disease group, I will be focusing on a project looking at polyomaviruses in pregnant mountain gorillas from the Virunga National Park in Rwanda.         

While beginning a new project and meeting my working group has been an exciting process, finding housing for three months in Berlin has not. According to Berliners, finding affordable housing has become an increasing problem in this growing city, particularly in the past few years. I arrived in Berlin with only a week of housing, hearing that finding a room to rent is much easier in person. My experiences verify that finding a room is likely impossible unless in person, and pretty impossible even in person. I can attest to the difficulties after sending over 50 emails, having visited rooms from across all corners of Berlin after sorting through the “fake” apartments, and only one apartment inviting me to move in after two weeks. While finding a home is difficult alone, there are additional issues arising from the language barrier, as I discovered when I was asked to sign a 15 page document in German in order to secure one of the rooms... no, I didn't and yes, I lost the room.

Though initially stressful, I’ve gotten to really explore Berlin through looking at different apartments. I’ve realized how large Berlin truly is, and the large variances in the numerous districts. Ranging from “cool” to “touristy” to “quiet”, the districts are very different, yet knitted together by the common and rich history they share. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to learn about history through simply walking through the streets and seeing the barriers imposed by the wall that once split Berlin or visiting places like the 'Topography of Horrors,' which give a detailed account of how Germany transitioned in that time . Being a tourist without the rush or limitations of time constraints has really been a privilege I’ve enjoyed my first few weeks here!

East Side Gallery, Berlin (Friedrichshain, Berlin)
Painters from all over the world converted the old wall into a space for art 

Tempelhofer Airport (Neukolln, Berlin)
This airport, in the  which is no longer operating, is now a space where people can go for picnics and bike rides. A beautiful giant green space - one of the coolest parts of Berlin I have seen so far!

Volkspark Humboldthain Park (Wedding, Berlin)
I ran into this park a few days after moving into my new home in Wedding. It was an old anti-aircraft bunker during WWII, but can now be climbed for a beautiful panoramic view of Wedding. There is also a hidden rose garden, and the walls are now used for rock climbing as well (below)