Welcome to Berlin

And updates on many Lasts at University

A few months ago in Barcelona I learned a powerful lesson, when I needed to look at something four times before I really understood what I was seeing.

On the first look, I saw a cafe near my flat hosting a morning buffet, perfectly timed, as I was in search of breakfast. But as I walked closer for a second look, I saw it was not for passers-by, but for a private event.

On the third look I noticed — not sure how I missed this the first two looks — a bunch of lights and photo or film equipment. Now it was clear to me that the buffet was a treat for the crew as they shot whatever video or photograph was in process.

But it wasn’t until the fourth look that I understood that the buffet was what they were shooting. It was the star of the upcoming show. Not breakfast for the crew, nor for a private party, and decidedly not for me.

I’ve been making good use of that lesson, as I did on this sunny Sunday morning as I walked around Berlin and saw the streets littered — quite literally — with bottles from substantial partying the previous night.

Hundreds of bottles. Along the streets, the riverbank, around utility poles, all over.

But why are they grouped that way? Why are they stacked neatly around, but not in, trash bins? Why is it not just beer and wine but champagne?

My first clue came from the hostel/hotel last night, when I bought a beer and was informed that I should return the bottle for a deposit, 50 cents.

Think about that, those of you in the US — in Germany you get paid to recycle.

So, all those bottles have value, although it’s not as much as 50 cents in most cases. Someone will collect them, turn them in, and get paid for it.

I saw several people doing just that, cleaning up the streets by filling up big bags and shopping carts with bottles. They’ll bring them to a store or center and collect some money. Maybe some extra cash, maybe the bulk of their income, maybe the money that will buy them a meal later.

As it turns out, Germany has a word for this, Pfandsammler, which I believe translates to “pawn collector” in English.

So while it looks like a huge mess, this is actually not only purposeful, but charitable. The kids (I make only a small assumption here) who are drinking leave their bottles, often grouping them for easy pickup, so less-fortunate people can come along the next morning to clean it up and get paid for it. They are having fun, and also doing a good deed.

Certainly there are better ways to deal with the several societal problems here, but this seems to be a rather elegant solution.

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So, Berlin! This is our last study trip, and in fact our last activity as a class. We have a full week of urban farm tours and food stylists and street food crawls and fermentation lessons and food artists.

And yes, a hostel. I have a private room, being the outlier only guy, with a spacious executive bathroom. The hostel comprises a large two-building facility, and this morning at the breakfast buffet I felt like I was on a teenage cruise ship.

After a week of more amazing experiences here, we fly back to Milano and bus back to Bra on Friday, at which point I will say goodbye to my sisters until graduation in October (excepting the ones who will go elsewhere from Berlin, and the one who was not able to participate in the trip).

This follows a bunch of Lasts in the past few days. On Thursday I took my last bus ride to, and then last from, Pollenzo. My last walk to campus from the bus stop. My last cappuccino in the Tavole, and my last salad there at lunch. Our last course, and our last class, and our last presentations to each other with how we might change the world.

(I do not consider any of these to be my last-last experiences here, as I hope to someday return here as a guest instructor. Work in progress…)

I spent Friday working on my fourth and last paper, and got the first draft in a really solid spot. It’s based on our Sustainability module, and I wrote about Entanglements. I’ve learned too much here to call it a summary of everything, but I feel really good about it as a conclusion to my coursework.

You’ll see it here soon, as I continue completing and posting so many things, from the third paper, on Museums and Curation (and Billy Joel), to a report on the dinner-event I hosted for my Portfolio Presentation, to stories of Siena and Firenze, to more recipes and learnings and things about UNISG and Bra and Italy. And also about study trips to Berlin as well as Catalonia.

Next week I head to Palermo, Sicily, to finally visit my friend Jennifer, who has patiently waited while I’ve toured other Italian cities.

Then I pack up and clean my apartment and on 7 July move to Barcelona, for the next leg of this adventure. Fish and fisheries and show-cooking, living with cats in the middle of Old Town for two months, and then — I shouldn’t even say this — the possibility of spending September living in…nope, not gonna jinx it.

Stay tuned.

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