i can't decide if it's real or still too far away to be

I always told myself that when I started looking, really looking, for a place to live in Berlin, that "it"--my study abroad--would become real. Today, I talked to a friend of our family's, Susi, who lives with her boyfriend in Berlin (I'll be staying with them when I first arrive). She basically confirmed what I already knew: that there were only three neighborhoods or boroughs of Berlin that I really should consider as ideal living situations for student life: Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, or Prenzlauer Berg

I've been looking, and found some great places to share with other german or international students. It makes me so nervous not to know where I'll be living yet, but it's also incredibly exciting. The choice, though, seems at this moment to be a little beyond my grasp. I keep imagining my life differently based on the descriptions of potential roommates and pictures of the flats (Wohngemeinschaft, in German) themselves. I guess, really, that the decision is one I'll leave up to my future self--the one that will have to send emails of inquiry. (That is, my future self of three days from now. ACK.)

(Kreuzberg)

(Prenzlauer Berg)

(Friedrichshain)