I <3 Berlin

It all started when she handed me the ticket: “Happy Birthday, dear!” said my best friend. Then I looked closer to see that it was not a real ticket, it was a birthday card. “We are going to Berlin”, said she, and I started wondering. Why Berlin? Why now? I didn’t know what to expect, I was rather skeptic even. “There is nothing much interesting to see there”, my father replied. Nobody prepared me that it would be one of my best trips. Maybe that is what made everything even more exiting.
Once we started the trip it was clear what our aim was: to see it all. To feel Berlin, while walking on the streets, to meet Germans, to eat their typical food, to explore the museums, and most importantly: to go to the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Well, we did all of the above, however, we were not prepared for an event that broadened our horizon, and made us a part of Berlin’s underground life. What happened there, in the strange building, in the non prestigious neighborhood, was probably the most defining experience in my trip. It was the culmination.
Everything began as a joke. I and my friend printed those visas___ from the internet. I found about the event by a chance while I was researching the various attractions in Berlin.
After looking for the address for half an hour, we found the strangely decorated building. It looked ordinary on the outside, but it was certainly different on the inside. The interior was filled with strangely dressed people. They were all waiting in a line, filling in their “visas”, just waiting to be granted a permission to enter. After giving 4 Euros each, an “officer”, dressed in a pink pajama escorted us to the next room.
It was a small rectangular room, with plain white walls, and white doors. The only colorful objects were on the people, who were standing with their backs to the wall. And all those people were so diverse, so interesting, so intriguing. I met a Hawaiian girl, a Canadian boy, a famous New York singer, and few French people. This did not happen in the white room though, nor in the next, or the next. I found myself waiting in different lines, in different rooms, for about two hours.
I was in an empty pool, in a changing room; I found a roller coaster, and boats, in this strange place.
I entered a party, a “Dream Land Party”. And I even received a passport, “Welcome to the “Land of Dreams” “, it was written. However, it also stated, “you may have entered your Dream Land a long time ago”, and this was probably very correct for me.
I may have been in Dream Land in Berlin, but I believe that I haven’t left it, and that I never will. I have been to a place where people had no restrictions. They did not have to comply with the society expectations. They were free to choose who they want to be. They were free to live up their dream, to dress differently, to act differently, and to feel differently. This event gave everybody a chance to escape from the reality, and to enter a place where everything was possible. A place so individual, and personal, and still shared with the others. A Dream Land, I entered Bibi Land, and nobody would take that away from me. Even though, the only thing left from that night is a vivid memory, I believe that it is one that won’t be forgotten.