City life, country life

I've been in Berlin for about 3-4 weeks now and have found my favorite cafés, restaurants, and quiet places to sit and work. I have walked more in the last three weeks than I probably had in the prior 3 months. It's good. Other than what I think might be mild tendinitis developing in one of my feet, I enjoy the fact that I don't have a car.  It's funny, actually, every time I come to Germany, I swear that I'm going to walk more and forgo driving the car.  But then when I get back to the US I always fall back into driving everywhere.  To be fair it's a little harder to go without a car where we live, but for day to day commuting, it's entirely possible.  It just takes getting up earlier and planning more.  We'll see what happens when I get home.

In some ways I miss city life. There is always something to do often at little or no cost. DC and Berlin are very different cities, but they share a liveliness and energy that you don't necessarily get where we live now.  Sometimes it's really nice and sometimes I just want to shut it off and escape.

This week, while most of higher students are on an excursion to Munich, I will be renting a car and driving to the south to visit my family. The idea that I have no responsibilities except to myself for a week sounds like heaven to me. The quietude of being in the countryside and being able to work on my own research and writing without getting texts from students or roommate drama is really appealing. 

I'm driving because it's cheap and it gives me freedom. The cost of renting a car for a week, even with gasoline, is about the same as, if not less than, flying and getting a car, or taking the train and relying on others for transportation. Plus, the constant pull of freedom and convenience always seems to win out.