Lollapalooooooooza

WOW
First of all, Lollapalooza Berlin was located in the OLYMPIC STADIUM built in the 1930's. It was huge, and all I could think about was Leni Riefenstahl (and I felt slightly guilty because of that). The festival brought funny undersea animal balloons to decorate the stadium with, there was a lit-up ferris wheel, and there were 5 or 6 stages. Our first show was Gramatik, who was dope and exactly the kind of music I wanted to hear--but he was playing full songs start to finish. It didn't have the right energy. Plus, the sun was still up, so people weren't dance dancing. I was having fun, but after a few songs we had to run to the next stage! Our next show was supposed to be Billie Eilish, but my friends and I ended up at the wrong stage--after watching 15 minutes of a middle-aged man rapping in German. We literally ran, but the crowd was so huge we landed in a crappy spot. The sound quality was trash, but I sang and danced anyways.

Then we waited for Twenty One Pilots, and had some pasta in the meantime. TOP was awesome, they played older songs I knew, and the crowd was much more excited than at Billie. After a few songs we decided to run over to Princess Nokia, but she was highkey bad so we were kinda bummed we had left TOP. It was also raining at this point. I had to buy a sweatshirt in between sets because my Californian brain was like No, you'll be fine in your skimpy festival gear. A hoe never gets cold, right? So wrong. I got a cute Billie sweater though so I'm not too mad about it.

After that we had to run over to Swedish House Mafia, but AGAIN we went to the wrong stage and ended up at the back of the crowd after running in circles to get there. They were great though, they had lights that really made the rain look cool and fireworks in time with drops. The people around me kept grabbing me cause I was dancing (it's a festival, that's what you do), so I was like, "We have to move." And thank God we did, because we found a spot where everyone was dancing, there were 3 mosh pits, and no one tried to grab my head. We ended up leaving before the set was over since it had been a long day, and stopped for McDonalds on the train home. I had a McFlurry with Schokolade something and Sauce Schokolade. And it didn't come in a regular McFlurry cup with the trademark spoon. It was underwhelming. My thoughts are with you Berliners, who will never have the greatness that is chemical-based half-frozen fake Mc-Ice-Ceam with Oreos in it.

It's Not All Festivals and Sunshine
It has officially cooled down in Berlin. We're in the 60s every day, and the cold is dry and crisp. The rain at Lolla was really light, just like heavy mist, but it went for long enough that my hair frizzed up. I'm staying in a new hotel until tomorrow evening (I have a feeling they'll push it to Tuesday cause they're like that), and then I'll have access to all my cute sweaters and warm jackets. Very exciting.

I went for a croissant and coffee this morning, and when I tried to order in Deutsch the guy behind the counter was so nice it made me feel really proud just for trying. He spoke English luckily, and on my way out said, "Thanks for the English practice!" So we're all just out here trying to learn how to communicate with each other. I love it.

I'm going back to the festival in an hour or so, where I've decided I have to just stay at the EDM stage in order to really get my moneys worth. I need at least one head-bang to make this worth it. If anyone from Santa Cruz is reading, I miss dancing with ya'll.

One More Thing!
We had a lovely evening in Kreuzberg on Friday, I can't not mention it on here. We found a phö spot, and I had tofu curry and rice that I had been CRAVING since I got here. Then it was off to do some bar hopping, where I encountered a menu with a Mint Julep, but a waitress who had never heard of it. I received straight whiskey and crushed mint leaves. Bleh. We had gelato as we walked along the river, and mine was walnut and fig flavored. Insanely good. We walked all around the area in the chilly weather, eventually settling into a cute candle lit cafe-bar with cushy chairs and a big window to people-watch through. It was a lovely evening!