Oh hey, there's the Brandenburg Gate. Oh hey, there's a Starbucks right next to it.

My first night in Berlin, I met an Italian guy who was staying at my hostel and he invited me to go down to Alexanderplatz with him to check out the night scene.

While the liveliness of the plaza was exciting, I started to notice something...things began to look familiar. To my right was a Dunkin Donuts, to my left, a Burger King, up ahead, a McDonalds? Wait a minute, I thought to myself, am I still in America?

It's a bit daunting to consider the extent of globalization nowadays. Virtually every street corner in Seattle houses a Starbucks, and even thousands of miles away, a similar phenomenon has occurred.

Ironically, I placed myself at that Starbucks corner last Saturday morning, and I sat and stared out towards Bradenburg Gate. Next to me, a construction site was in the process of repaving a road, the heavy scent of the asphalt mixed with the morning heat, and the sound of drilling and pounding echoed through my ears.

It was pretty vacant for a Saturday morning, a change of scenery for me because the last time I was in the vicinity, thousands of Tourists milled about. On this particularly quiet morning, at least, compared to other days, I found myself wondering in amazement of how 20 years can do so much to a place. To think that it was impossible to walk through the columns of the Gate two decades ago, people now do it without a second thought to it. This historic place that is home to pivotal moments in history now has a money sign labeled to its face. Costumed guards stand at faux attention, where, for two euros, tourists can capture this "authentic" German moment on their digital cameras. Just down the street, a five star hotel with fast food chains neighboring it offers these tourists the comforts of good ol corporate America comfort.

Perhaps I'm old school, but I like the classics. I wouldn't mind not having the American commodity outside of America, after all, I'm traveling outside of America for a reason, right?

What if you minus-ed all of the glitz and glam of the 21st century? Perhaps the dense smell of gas exhaust would be replaced with the scent of trees and dust from cobblestones. Perhaps instead of a venti, double shot, non fat, no foam mocha latte, a local cafe that serves fresh espresso with home baked croissants might stand on the street corner.

Or maybe, I'm just over romanticizing what Berlin should/could be. After all, Berlin did get ridiculously bombed during the war, so rebuilding something of contemporary day is what's suitable.

Still, I had so much hope for authenticity.