Mak and Christina are in HD!

Campus fuer Christus

The Christmas Markets Have FINALLY Started!!!

Why is German so hard?

This morning in pronunciation class we worked some more on the new text we got. It's much harder than the first one and has a lot of words with r's and ch's. Those are the two most difficult sounds to make in German because there are four dfferent ways to say the r and then three for ch. And the ch can be a hard sound depending on what other letters surround it. I struggled so much with saying "fressen." Instead of rolling their r's at the front of their mouths, Germans roll r's at the back. And I kept pronouncing words that I know the pronunciation of very well...very badly! If that makes any sense! Christina, a girl from Czech Republic, always argues with the teacher's pronunciation and rolls pretty much everything she says. The teacher gets so annoyed because it's like she isn't listening. And Christina always says "aber (but)...", which really drives the teacher crazy! After trying to explain something to Christina with no avail, she said "ICH...DEUTSCH!" (I am German!) Kind of like, I am German, I know how it's supposed to be said. You are not, so you should listen to what I'm saying. It was just too funny! I also brought my computer with me to class though so that I could record my teacher reading the text. Everyone in the class (especially the Chinese girls) couldn't believe how good of an idea that was. They even asked me after class if I could make a copy for them. But I recorded it in Word, so I don't really know how to do that! Any suggestions, please share!

Heidi and I headed to PennyMarkt to pick up a few things after class. Even though it's further away than CityMarkt, it's sooo much cheaper simply because it's not on the Hauptstrasse. I restocked on water and bread and also got a little pizza for lunch. Then we went to Tschibo and I got a big Latte Macchiato Nougat! This time the clerk spoke to me completely in German and I got the size that I actually ordered. Love that drink!!! And significantly cheaper than Starbucks! Probably like 2 Euros less or something! We window shopped on our way back to AJY and thought about buying a few different sweaters, but decided we'd come back another time.

Katie Wolfe, Katie Gramlich, Heidi and I were meeting at 12 so we could go buy tickets for Der Nussknacker!!! Yep! The Nutcracker!!! It's this coming Sunday afternoon! Sooo excited!!! Maressa and a few others are coming too so it should be a lot of fun. And I think we get to dress up again, which is exciting! After we got the tickets at a Smoke Shop (who knows why they sell tickets there) near Bismarckplatz, I stopped by my favorite school supplies store and got some notecards. They have so many cool pens and such there. Two sales people asked if I needed any help finding anything, which is really rare. Usually they totally leave you alone except for saying hi. Very friendly little store!! Too bad most of the stuff is crazily expensive!

I studied for my film test for a little while when I got home. I made some notcards and read through a bunch of the information. The test is on Thursday and since I'm only here until December, it is the only test that I will take. So I HAVE to do well on it. I don't think it will be too difficult, but I really want to make sure that I'm prepared for it and that I don't wait until the last minute to study. It's a little harder (ok a ton) to cram in German!

The pizza I bought today wasn't nearly as good as the one I ate last week. Way too many onions. Killer breath afterwards!!

First Free Monday in FOREVER!

Papers Galore!

Lazy Saturday

I slept in a little bit today and then worked on papers and such for the rest of the afternoon. I did venture outside, even though it was really cold. The atmosphere here is just awesome right now. There were people playing accordions, singing and being merry all over the place. I stopped by AJY to print a draft of one of my papers. Hardly anyone was there so I headed back out and eventually made my way to PennyMarkt. There were people everywhere. I have a feeling that Heidelberg is going to get pretty crazy again once the Christmas Markets start. I am very much looking forward to all of the holiday festivities, but not so much the crowded streets filled with even more tourists. All I have to say is that the Glühwein better be good!

Friedrich also emailed me back today. He sent pictures of what the Alps really look like. Much larger than what Heidi and I had seen from the plane! He said that they are also setting up an ice skating rink in Karlsruhe and that he'd like to drink some Glühwein in Heidelberg. Pretty exciting!

I also surprised Brittanie and Jessica by calling their cell phones. They were so excited and I just loved that.

The rest of the night was spent working on homework and trying not to procrastinate too much. I have two papers due on Monday and then one later in the week. I also have a test on Thursday and some homework for Wednesday. There is another paper in there somewhere that needs to be written. After this week though things should calm down again!

Rainy, but lovely Friday

After working on my AJY paper some more, I headed over to the Kindergarten. I can't say how cute I think these kids are! Each time I go they talk to me even more and continue to get sweeter and sweeter. After brushing teeth and building caves (their FAVORITE thing to do) I took a group of about seven into another room to read stories. Among the kids were Sophie, Chiara, Sidney, Lukas, Xi, Jackson and a girl whose name I can't pronounce! I sat down on one of the mats and crossed my legs in front of me. I think it's so funny how they all want to sit on my lap or very close to me. Three of them sat right down on my legs. That made it really hard to show the pictures to the other kids so I had them get off. Sophie had to lay down on the other mat and after every page she would say "Ich kann gar nichts sehen!" over and over again (I can't see anything!). So I would show her the pictures and she would smile and then say it again in about two minutes, even if I hadn't finished reading. After reading we painted. There were two paintbrushes per color and they were supposed to only put the blue back in the blue jar and not dip them in other colors. Not once did they put the paintbrush in the wrong jar! I was so amazed! These are some disciplined kids! Sidney, his sister and I played a game afterwards that was like a matching game. Nina wanted to play too, but she was too young to understand the object. She is just too sweet and speaks English and Spanish. She is my newest friend! I ended up staying for nearly two hours today. One of the other teachers came in to where we were painting and complained to Andrea (one of the main teachers) saying that she was fed up with having to work so much. She wanted to know why some of the other teachers weren't coming in and that she wanted to start seeing more money if she was going to be putting in more time. It was SO awkward for me. I had wanted to leave right before she came in, but then felt like I had to stay for a little while longer. Just a strange situation!

A little later I went to AJY to see if Heidi or anyone else was there. She was just on her way to visit me so we decided to go to a little cafe and read/write our papers. I took her to a place that I had been to with Simone called Vivo. Great atmosphere and we had it to ourselves for most of the time! We mostly talked and looked at pictures and such. Eric and his friend came in for a drink too! Out of all of the cafes in Heidelberg, it was so random that they came to the one we were at! We chatted for a few minutes, but then went back to working on our stuff. At around 6 the waitress turned down the lights and changed the music. It was so romantic! We stayed for a little while longer and then headed back to AJY where nearly everyone else from the group was. They were all going out to dinner and after some hesitation, I joined them. I didn't really want to go out to dinner, but I wanted to hang out with all of them. Heidi stayed back at AJY and said she'd be there or at her apartment when we were done.

I got some kind of potato dish with an egg on top. It was pretty good, but really filling. It was fun talking and hanging out with others again. Patrick and I talked a lot about Elon and how he's going to go home for Christmas to surpise his mom. Too cute! They were all going over to Patrick's (Wartburg) afterwards, but Maressa and I went back to AJY to see what Heidi was up to. She wasn't there, so we went to her apartment, but she wasn't there either. We were a little concerned so Maressa sent her a text message. We went back to AJY and played Sudoku online for awhile. We never heard from Heidi so we went back out to see if she was at her place. Nope. Sarah Mulvaney let us use her phone and finally Heidi answered. She was at some cafe. It was kind of a strange situation and Maressa and I were legitimately worried about her and where she was.

We all played Sudoku for awhile and couldn't figure it out! There were four of us working on it, but nothing! We were there until the lock guy came. Maressa had told Patrick and the others that she'd stop by the Wartburg so she went there and Heidi and I went to my place. Maressa came over about 20 minutes later and we talked for awhile and then watched 'Along Came Polly.' Such a cute movie! We were going to watch another movie, so Maressa ran home and got some chocolate and other sweets for us to munch on. She lives kind of far away, but made it back so quickly! We actually didn't watch another movie, but just talked until about 4 AM!!! We were exhausted at that point and called it a night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It really didn't feel like Thanksgiving today. Except for the fact that I didn't really hear from people too much since everyone in the US was spending time with their families and were not on the computer! Totally as it should be! This made it very different than every other day!

I slept in a little bit and then worked on homework and other papers until it was time for film class. I have three papers due on Monday. One is for my program (we get an extra credit for doing an extracurricular activity, so we have to write an 8 page paper about it in German. Four pages now and then another four pages in a few weeks). The other two papers are for the American Effect class I'm taking online. Thankfully, those are in English! But one of them has to be 5 pages long!! It was supposed to be a group paper, but I messed up and didn't complete it with my group last week. Thankfully, my professor was really understanding and said that I could turn it in on Monday. Aside from this, I have been really on top of all of my work here. Even a little bit ahead of things sometimes!

In class our teacher asked the Americans what they're doing for Thanksgiving. Some said that they were eating with friends, making dinner on the weekend and then there was one girl who hadn't even rememberd that it was Thanksgiving! Then the professor turned to us (Patrick, Doug and I) and said something to the effect of, "I know what you're doing for dinner, because I will be joining you!" I had no clue that professors were also invited, but everyone in the class thought it was pretty funny. I really like the teacher, so I was kind of excited that he'd be there! We watched more of Turkisch für Anfänger. That show is just...interesting and it surprises me everytime! By the end of class, Patrick would give me an update every few minutes about how much time we had until our feast. When 5 rolls around, we are all ready to get out of there and those last 15 minutes are just killer sometimes, but knowing that we were celebrating Thanksgiving in an hour or so made us even more anxious! It was very strange having class on Thanksgiving...first time ever. Not cool Germany, not cool.

I went home and changed really quickly before meeting the others at AJY. The feast didn't start until 6:00 or so, but Dr. Tracy told us to meet at AJY around 5:30 so we could walk over to the restaurant together. We were all expecting a pretty good feast since it cost 25 Euros to bring a guest! Katie Gramlich's mom sent a box full of little turkeys she had decorated and we put them out on the tables. She sent enough for each student to take one home. Maressa, Heidi and Charis all had class before dinner so they got there a little later. I really wanted to sit with them, but Dr. Tracy wanted us to spread out and have only 3-4 students per table. Katie Wolfe had two friends visiting and since I was the only one they knew, they wanted me to sit with them. That was fine, but I really wanted to spend Thanksgiving with my good friends! I asked them if it would be ok if I switched tables, but they understood it that they would move too. But that couldn't work since Katie was with them and then there'd be too many students at the other table. That was pretty selfish of me, but I just thought they were a little weird and honestly didn't really want to sit there! Another lady from the Akademische Auslandsamt (place for foreign students) sat near me, but she was really quiet and it was hard to talk to her. Dr. Tracy said we could speak English since it was our holiday, but I felt sort of weird speaking it to her because I felt like I should be speaking German. But I had to speak English so that Katie's friends would understand what was being said. It was just a really weird situation. They served salad and bread first and then came the buffet with all the traditional Thanksgiving foods! There was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables and a few other things. Everything was pretty normal except for the stuffing. It almost looked like banana bread. They even used a knife to cut it! Tasted really good, but it just looked weird! Then we had pumpkin pie that tasted just like home! So overall, a good night!!

Some people were hanging out after dinner, but I went home so that I could call my family. They all went to the beach for a few days because my grandma, Leah and Kaiden came! I'm so sad that I couldn't be there! I talked to mom, grandma and Leah for awhile and then we decided that we'd talk again on Monday. Derek and dad had gone golfing, so I called Derek's cell phone and talked to them. Even thought I'm not ready to leave Heidelberg, I'm ready to go home! Less than one month left!
This was definitely the strangest Thanksgiving ever. Totally prefer celebrating it in America!! Wonder why!?

Kindgergarten Fun

Since Heidi was in Rome with me on Monday, she missed the Wortschatz class and came with me this morning. Meierhoefer was boring again, but class actually went pretty fast.

Awhile later I headed over to the Kindergarten to read and play with the kids. They were still eating lunch when I got there, but I'm glad because I learned some things. Every day they make the children a warm lunch. Today they were eating noodles with chicken. If they finish everything on their plates, they are allowed to get something else from their backpacks like a desert or fruit or something. Something else I've noticed is that all of the kids wear house shoes when inside. They're all so cute! After lunch we all went into the big bathroom and everyone got ready to brush their teeth. They all stood around a table and the teacher put toothpaste on each toothbrush. When everybody was ready they flipped the little timer and everyone brushed their teeth! They explained to me that they have to keep brushing until the sand runs out of the timer. So disciplined!!

I took a small group of about 5 into another room and read them stories. A few left after awhile but two in particular stayed close to me the entire time. I'm not sure how much they understood because I read in English, but they listened intently and loved seeing the pictures. The kids that I read to mostly speak to me in German, which I absolutely love. It makes me laugh though to think that I can't understand some of the things they say. There is one little Asian boy named Xi and he constantly gets in trouble because he is too loud and always tries to mess with everyone else's toys. But he came and sat on my lap the entire time I read. When I would get up to get another book, he would try to make me sit back down. He was quiet and listened the entire time! The hour went by really quickly and before I knew it I had to leave. I've noticed that the kids respond better when I wear brighter colors. Today I wore black and they weren't as interested in me the entire time. This sounds like a minor thing, but I've noticed that all of the teachers wear bright clothes too. Maybe it doesn't even matter, but I think it's really interesting to think that it might play a role in their responsiveness.

I have a lot of work to do, but decided to go to AJY so that I could at least do work in the company of others. Heidi, Alexander, Charis and Patrick were all watching 'Fried Green Tomatoes' in the TV room so I joined them and worked a little.

Ups and Downs

It’s a good thing I like my Tuesday morning class because even when I’m exhausted it doesn’t bother me that I have to go to class. Frau Voigt-Zimmermann had each of us read part of the text we’ve been working on. She made comments about each person’s pronunciation and I was the last to read so I was kind of nervous that she would have a lot to say when it was my turn. But after I finished reading she said “Super!” and that I did a really good job. She didn’t even critique my pronunciation! Not gonna lie, I was pretty excited about that. I mean she even corrected Heidi and Maressa quite a bit and they’re the two who I think speak the best German in our class. Today was just my day in class because every time it was my turn to read she complimented me and used me as an example a few times. That was just really cool because usually I’m not extremely confident in my German. I guess I just feel like so many people can speak it better than I can. Today was definitely a confidence booster!

I came back and did some cleaning so that I didn’t get in trouble from the cleaning police aka Keith. I swept the kitchen and the entire common area of the apartment as well as my room. Then I mopped everything making sure that I got up some of the spots that had been there all semester (even though Keith and Julia have also mopped the floor). I even mopped the bathroom floor! Then I disinfected and cleaned the stovetop, counters and all other surfaces in the kitchen and the bathroom. Everything smelled so nice and fresh and looked really good! And finally, I wrote my name on our little cleaning chart so that it would be known that I did my part.

For my cell phone I am doing a plan where you pay as you go. The money on my phone ran out on Friday so I went to the machine where you buy the cards but only had ten Euros and then change. The card I wanted costs 15 Euros so I put in the ten and then it came back out in coin form! So I put in four Euros worth and it didn’t do anything! So basically I didn’t get minutes added to my phone and I lost four Euros! I was so mad!!! But there was really nothing I could do about it except walk away. There wasn’t even a button to push where you could get your money back. Big time boo.

Charis had sent a text asking if some people wanted to eat at the Mensa (cafeteria) for lunch. Heidi, Charis, Katie Wolfe and Davor were all there and we got some lunch. They think it’s a cheap place to eat lunch, but I disagree. They weigh your plate and it costs at least 2.50-3 Euros each time. I could eat for much cheaper at my apartment. It was only my second time there and I don’t think I’ll be returning anytime soon. It was so busy we even had to eat outside where it was FREEZING.

We ran up to AJY and then headed over to Café Knösel where we did our homework for class later tonight. I knew that I wouldn’t get as much done as I would have liked because Katie Wolfe has two friends in town and they came too. It was just really hard to focus for awhile since everyone was talking. I have to really focus when I’m reading things auf Deutsch in order to understand it. After we finished reading, we were talking about what we thought the message of the story was. Nobody said anything so I said what I thought the message might be and Heidi looked at me and said, “Alison, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.” And then she continued on to say basically the same thing I had just said. This is something that has really been bothering me lately. She tells me that she thinks my German is good and has really improved, but then acts like I don’t understand things. Earlier I had said that I didn’t completely understand what the text was about and so she told me what she thought it was saying. After that, I was able to pick up on the story a lot better. She doesn’t know if I understood it or not. This has been happening a lot in the past few weeks. She asks me my opinion and then does the opposite of what I say. Or when I tell her things that I’ve learned in class (even in classes that she is also in) she asks someone else if it’s true or even says that I didn’t hear it correctly. I just don’t understand that and it actually makes me really sad. I mean, I’m not going to make things up or give someone bad advice, especially when it concerns what kind of chocolate you should buy or which jacket to wear. Having people not believe in your abilities or even value your opinion is not such a great feeling. It’s also pretty embarrassing.

After the café some of the people went back to AJY to watch a soap opera that Heidi and Maressa have been following. There was no way that I was going to go after what I had just experienced. Unfortunately when I went back my Internet wasn’t working. So I went out and bought a Christmas candle that I saw last week and did some laundry and other things around my room. Then Keith came in and he apologized for the sign he put up in the kitchen last week. He said he was having a tough week and that he was just frustrated with a lot of things. I understand what that’s like, but told him I didn’t know why he couldn’t have just said something to me. We decided that we’re going to get coffee sometime this week and start hanging out again. He also said that he noticed the kitchen was sparkling! It turned out to be a pretty positive conversation.

Frau Heckmann’s really long class was also tonight. Usually she has Tuesday’s off and then just comes in for our class, but she was there the whole day today. Dr. Tracy just got back from the US and they had a lot to do since he was gone for almost three weeks. He even went to ELON! Oh I am just so jealous! She ended up coming about 45 minutes late to class. She called us and said she had gotten caught up and would be there as soon as possible. Thankfully we were only there about an hour. We went over our test (I got a B+, could have been higher an A, but I messed up on one thing) and read some new poems and such. She had a really bad migraine and just told us we should read the other things before the next class.

My apartment had a little get together tonight in one of the apartments on the 4th floor. I had never been to any of the other apartments in my building, but they are so much better/nicer than mine! They are really open and the kitchen is bigger and everything. I do like where I live, but kind of wish that I lived upstairs! Everyone was supposed to bring something that was typical in their country. I didn’t have time to cook so I just bought Oreos at the store. So many people didn’t know what they were! I told them about dipping them in milk and twisting them apart to see who gets more cream, etc. I spoke German almost the whole time and three people told me my German is really good. I really don’t think it is, but totally appreciate the compliments! I met quite a few nice people that I hope to hang out with again. I was surprised that there were only three or four Americans there. Quite a few live in my building, but mostly international students came. No problem there! I like that better because Americans always tend to talk to each other in English even if they know German. It is awkward, but I’ve had to do it so much with my program it doesn’t really phase me anymore. There was a lot of yummy food there like pastas, potato salads, bruschetta, tiramisu and more! Most of the people were going out to the VespaBar afterwards, but I decided to just come back since I was so tired.

Our Internet didn’t work today, but Keith fixed it tonight so I was able to check emails and stuff when I got back. While I was sitting on my bed, Heidi knocked on my window. She came in and apologized for what she had said earlier. I really appreciated that and we talked for awhile. She really is a good friend. We all make mistakes here and there. She said that she didn’t know what made her say that and then afterwards she felt awful. I told her that it happens to me too. I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth plenty of times!

Back to the Fatherland!

Makenna had class this morning so she woke us up to say goodbye right before she left. I hardly even remember it but saying goodbye wasn't a difficult thing at all since I'll be seeing her again in two weeks! So excited about that, by the way!

Heidi got up and showered before me, but I was woken up by one of Makenna's roommates Joanette. It is just unreal how disrespectful some of her roommates are! She and her mom walked in and were SO loud! The pull out bed was right there as you came in the door so it wasn't like they didn't see me sleeping there. Granted it is her apartment, but really, you don't have to walk around yelling! It was really cold the past few nights so Makenna had turned the heat on. It was a little warm in the apartment, but all Joanette could talk about was how hot it was. She flung open all of the windows and in came the wind and cold air. She even told her mom that she better get 80 Euros back at the end of the semester since the heat was on all night. Oh please. Heidi and I got ready and then headed out to the metro station. We followed the perfectly detailed directions we got from Makenna and then waited for the bus.

I think the bus came about 20 minutes late. Couldn't wait to get back to Germany because of this! It made a stop on a busy street and just as we were pulling away, a car hit us from behind. Heidi and I got pretty nervous about missing our flight. Thankfully we were in Italy and the driver just got her number and we drove off. No need for the police! We checked in really quickly (one of the great things about RyanAir!) and then grabbed a little sandwich for lunch. Not much longer and we were on the plane to Karlsruhe! We slept the majority of the flight and when I woke up there were huge mountains covered in snow below! So pretty! I realized that I left my camera at Makenna's and was so sad. I had put it in her purse the night before when we went out for gelato and forgot to take it out. Big time bummer on that one. We were so excited when we landed, but it was definitely cold! We saw a couple cute German guys and talked about how we wished we had more German friends in Heidelberg.

We waited for the bus outside that would take us directly to Heidelberg for about 20 minutes. The bus was there but the driver wasn't letting anybody on. He just sat there and smoked while we stood outside freezing. Once we got on we got all adjusted and then this guy came up and asked us if we were going to Karlsruhe. I told him that we were going to Heidelberg but that it would also take him to Karlsruhe. He asked where we were from and after that talked to us in English. We ended up talking to him for over an hour! He sat facing us the entire bus ride! His name is Friedrich and he is studying Economics and Physics at the Uni Karlsruhe. He was SO nice! We talked about all kinds of things and then he gave us his email address at the end. I thought it was funny that he gave that to us, but he said his cell phone plan had just ended so his phone wasn't working. He said if we want a tour of Karlsruhe just to send him an email! I really hope we can be friends so I'm going to email him within the next few days. Heidi and I found it so funny that we had just been talking about how we wanted German friends and then BAM! Friedrich gets on the bus! Not gonna lie though, Heidi and I were pretty giddy about this whole situation!

On our way home we stopped at PennyMarkt to pick up something for dinner. We quickly stopped by my place and then headed over to Marissa's. We got home just in time for the Bible study and brought our dinner with us. It was just us three this week, but we enjoyed catching up and then discussing the next part in John. I had a SKYPE date with Brittanie so I didn't stay too much longer after we finished. But I had really missed Marissa while we were gone! I'm so happy to be back in Heidelberg for the rest of the semester.

While we were gone they started setting up for the Christmas Markets!!! The big bus stop by my house is even being shut down to make more room for everything! On our walk to Marissa's Heidi and I saw that they are setting up an ice skating rink right under the castle! How cool! We're totatlly going to do that! Everything is starting to look Christmasy here and I can't wait for the markets to start! They'll be everyday from November 28 until Christmas! Yay!!

Brittanie and I talked for awhile and she filled me in on all of the exctiting things from Formal. It sounds like they all had a really good time. I kind of wish that I could have been there too, but I have to say that Rome was pretty great too! Jessica even came down for a bit and the three of us got to talk for awhile. I just love them so much!!

Church and the best Gelato EVER!

Makenna had to go to church early this morning to rehearse with the choir, but she and Christina came back afterwards to pick Heidi and I up. We had to take the Metro since it would have taken too long to walk. There was a huge line to get the tickets so Christina went to some stand outside and bought them for us. On our way to church we passed the Spanish Steps again. I just think that's so cool! We'd just be walking through town and then bam! there's a famous landmark! We got to church a few minutes late so we couldn't all sit together. Makenna and Christina had to go up and sing a few times so it really didn't even matter. Per their request, I filmed their songs because how often do you sing at a church in Rome? We talked to Pastor Dave (from Oregon) for a few minutes after church and then saw Steve too! I met some of Makenna's other church friends and they were really nice. It took us quite awhile to make it outside and then once we were out there it was awhile before we actually headed off to lunch. Right outside the church there was this large square on the ground and within a few minutes this man came and danced in it! I'm thinking it was some kind of modern interpretive dancing. Interesting is the only word to describe it! We watched in confusion for a few minutes and then headed off to find somewhere for lunch. Most of the people who went to lunch were Americans, but there was one girl from Finland named Tina. We found a relatively inexpensive restaurant and of course got pizza again. Cheapest thing on the menu! This pizza was really good even though it was just Margarita again. We found out that it was Tina's birthday so we bought her a dessert. I think she chose orange tiramisu. Looked pretty great!!

Steve, Makenna, Heidi and I all went for Gelato after lunch. This place was called Della Palma and it had 100 different flavors and candy everywhere! It probably took us about 10 minutes to make our decision on what to get! I chose lemon and mango and they were so flavorful! We tried to eat it slowly and really savor it, but it was just so good that it was gone before we even knew it!

Afterwards we headed toward the Spanish Steps for some pictures. We sat down for awhile and people watched. There were so many people there doing very interesting things! We saw this group of people dressed in clown clothes and they had signs around their necks that said "Free Hugs!" Heidi went down to one of the guys and gave him a hug! It was so funny! They stood and talked for awhile and Makenna and I just laughed and made a video of it! We decided we needed a hug too so evenutally we went back down there too and got a hug and also pictures! Makenna took us up to this beautiful park that's above the Spanish Steps and it was just beautiful. We walked around for awhile and had the best view of Rome! Great pictures! Then we even got to see the sun set over the Vatican! This was one of my favorite things we did all weekend. So pretty! Makenna also showed us the first Roman telescope. It is inside a random statue. Pretty dang cool! It took us awhile to decide what to do next and we chose to walk home instead of taking a bus. Now that was a long walk! When we were almost to Makenna's this Italian guy stopped us on the street asking where some Piazza was. Heidi and I didn't understand a word so thankfully Makenna jumped in and used her awesome Italian skills. He ended up asking all of our names and laughed a lot at Heidi's. It was really funny. He told Makenna that he wanted to take us to get hot chocolate, but Makenna said we were going to meet friends for dinner and were already late. He responded with "It's only 6! Why are you eating now?!" We're Americans said Makenna!! Since we didn't have time for hot chocolate, he wanted to take us for tea instead. Crazy man. He also wanted Makenna to give him her number. He said that he would give her his but he left his phone in his vespa up the street. She said she didn't have a number and that we really had to go. It was kind of hard to get away from him, but she did it. What a funny little encounter! After that we walked to a grocery store and picked up some Tortellini and sauce. I just love these little Italian grocery stores! The Christmas cakes that Julia had told me about were everywhere. I was tempted to buy one, but decided against it since I knew we'd be getting gelato again later!

It was just Makenna, Heidi and I for dinner (fine by me!!) and we laughed so much! We taught Makenna some German and it was the cutest thing ever! She was actually really good and caught on quickly. She made everything more gutteral than it really is, but that made it even funnier. Her favorite things to say are "Ich bin ein Freund von Gott" and "Es ist wunderbar!" aka I am a friend of God and It is wonderful! So so funny!

We were all really tired but decided to head back out for gelato one last time! Debbie and Greg (Makenna's parents) and her grandma and papa were arriving later tonight so we figured we might as well go meet them at their hotel! We wanted to go back to Della Palma again because it was just so good. When we got there, it looked like it was closed because nobody was in there and a few girls were standing outside. We thought that they tried to get in but the doors were locked so we headed off to Giolitti to see if they were open. Makenna went the wrong way which turned out to be a great thing because we had to walk past Della Palma again. This time there were customers inside so we walked right on in and got some more Gelato! This time I got banana and some kind of crispies with nutella. Really yummy! One of Heidi's flavors was Raspberry and it was amazing. Even though you don't get quite as much here as at Giolitti, the flavor of everything is just phenomenal!

Debbie called and said that their flight was 40 minutes late out of London so we just walked around for awhile trying to keep warm. We even went to the hotel to see if we could wait there, but the man who opened the door didn't seem like the type to let us do such a thing. So we found a bench in a well lit area outside a gelato place and snuggled up! Finally Debbie called and we ran to the hotel. It was SO exciting to see them! It was almost like seeing my own family! We all talked for a little while inside (too loudly according to the mean reception man) and Debbie even gave Heidi and I advent calendars. Too cute. It was about 1:30 at this point and Makenna had class in the morning so we decided to head back to her place. We wanted to take the night bus back, but it took so long to come we decided to walk. It wasn't a bad walk at all and we were back before we knew it. Makenna wrote us directions for the next day and then we all crashed!

Bus Tour Around Rome!

We took quite awhile getting up and ready this morning so we didn't leave Makenna's place until about 11:30. She and her roommates have a favorite restaurant that's right outside their apartment so she took us there. She said that it has really good, cheap pizza, but Heidi and I didn't think 7 Euros was that cheap. The pizza was good, not fantastic, but I was hungry. We enjoyed our lunch and shared a huge bottle of water. Something I don't like about eating in Italy is that they charge you a fee for dining in. I think it was about 1.5 or so for each person! That's crazy. Lauren met up with us and we all headed out to get on a bus tour.

The one Makenna wanted us to do (that was only 8 Euros) was only doing tours of the Catacombs that day. So instead we got on another bus that was 16 Euros. At least on this one we could get on and off at the various stops as we wanted. It was already cold outside, but we decided to sit on the top so we could get better pictures! We all had headphones that we were supposed to plug in. It was kind of boring, but there was so much to look at that it didn't really matter.

The first stop we made was at the Church of Santa Maria. This is where the Mouth of Truth (Bocca del Verita) is. We each took our turn putting our hand in the mouth. The legend goes that if a liar puts his hand in the mouth, it will be bitten off. But now the mouth refuses to work because it was tricked many years ago. A suspicious husband who thought his wife was cheating brought her to put her hand in and it drew a big crowd. Suddenly, a man jumped out from the crowd and kissed her. It is believed to be her lover, but he was made out to be a crazy person. When she stuck her hand in she said that she had never been kissed by anyone other than her husband and this other crazy man. Her hand was not bitten. But the Mouth of Truth was upset by this trickery and has refused to work since. We took a walk around the church and even saw the skull of St. Valentine. Across from the church was the Temple of Hercules. There wasn't any information to tell us about it, but I found out that according to legend, as he was passing through Rome on his return from stealing the cattle of Geryon, the monster Cacus made off with a few cattle and hid them in a nearby cave. Hercules located them and slue the monster Cacus. To celebrate his victory over Cacus he made a sacrifice of some of the bulls at or near this site. It was a Greek temple and I think one of the only round temples in Rome.

Our second stop was the Vatican. How beautiful! We thought that they charged to get in everywhere, so we didn't even go into the Basilica. I guess that's the only problem with traveling places for the weekend on a tight budget. You pass up going to different things so that you can save money or there are many things that you just don't have time to see. But there were so many people in line it probably would have taken us quite awhile to get inside. We found a place that was selling 20 postcards for 1 Euro so of course we had to buy them! Then something I've been waiting to see happened. There are tons of people selling purses, watches, sunglasses etc. all over the place. I've seen them walking around with their huge bags, but never saw them get busted by the police. As we were buying the postcards, the police pulled up and all of the "illegals" started running all over the place. Some of them dropped a few purses in the street and the police came up and kicked the purses out of the way. My favorite was watching the ones who were a little slower try to sneak past the police. Nobody was arrested, it was just really funny watching them scurry all over the place.

My favorite stop was the one we made at the Trevi Fountain. It was so pretty! There were SO many people there, though. We found a nice place to stand off to the side where there weren't quite as many people. Heidi and I threw our coins in together, but when we flipped them over our shoulders the first time, they didn't go in the fountain! It was so funny and thankfully Makenna got a video of it! We took quite a few pictures and then headed out. There were even guys dressed as Roman gladiators. Good thing I didn't ask them to take a picture or they would have charged me!

Makenna had been telling us about a realling good gelateria that was nearby. On our way there we decided to walk through the mall to warm up a bit. We found a Lindt choclate store and each got a few pieces. Then we made our way to get gelato at Giolitti. I had never thought about getting banana gelato before, but Makenna and Lauren said it was really good. They said that if it is brown, then you know it's fresh. I got that, Straticella and cheesecake. SO yummy!!! Heidi and I couldn't believe how good it was! One of the flavors she got was cantaloupe and it tasted just like it! I could have stayed there and eaten gelato all day long!

We headed back to Makenna's and made pasta again. We also made a little guacamole and had that with chips and salsa. Christina (from the IBC Conference) came over and ate with us. Then we waited for Lauren to get back from dinner and we watched 'The Holiday.' I love that movie! Now I'm totally in the mood for Christmas! We had talked about taking a walk to the Colloseum, but were so tired that we just couldn't do it!

When in Rome!

Heidi and I left this morning around 1:15 to walk to the Hauptbahnhof. There weren't any buses running since it was Thursday night. I would never have done that alone, but Heidi didn't want to pay for a taxi to take us there. It was cold outside, but since we were walking quickly it wasn't bad at all. We actually made it there pretty quickly. Usually it's about a 45 minute walk including walking down the Haupstrasse, but I'd say we made it in a little more than a half an hour. We wanted to make sure we didn't miss our bus, so we walked into McDonald's so we'd at least be warm. Of course we had to get something in order to stay in there so I got fries and Heidi ended up having two cheeseburgers. The bus pulled up just as we finished and we were able to get right on. Heidi brought the second cheeseburger with her and ate it on the bus. She was still hungry and said they were so good that she almost got another one. But then we saw that they were closing so she didn't. Oh Heidi.

We tried to sleep on the bus, but just couldn't. I was somewhat uncomfortable and not too tired at that point. I think I was just really excited to be going to Rome! When we got off the bus there was snow on the ground! It was FREEZING! We walked as fast as we could from the bus stop up to the check-in place, but I nearly froze. I was shivering so much and my face was really red. My asthma also started bothering me. I think it's because I kept talking as we walked up, using up the breath that I needed to save! Heidi got a croissant at the little bakery inside and then we went through security. We had to wait there for about an hour and Heidi got a Twix bar to eat. I swear that girl could constantly eat and then eat some more. Looking at her, you would never think that though!

The last few times I have flown with RyanAir I have used the online check-in option because you don't have to pay the 3 Euros that they make you pay when you check in at the airport for priority boarding. Each time they tell me that people with American passports can't use that option, but they've let me by anyway. On the website it just aks for a government issued ID from Europe and I have one of those! There's a number on my visa that is supposed to serve as that ID. It was issued by the government! I don't understand why I can't use it! And NOWHERE on the website does it say anything about US passports. Well this time they made us pay. But we didn't have 6 Euros readily available. So we held up the line a bit and then they let us go through. We got seats in the first row so we had a ton of leg room. I think we slept almost the whole way there. We were exhausted and cold when we arrived. I don't think I ever defrosted! We followed the directions Makenna gave us to get to the busses and we bought our super cheap 1.50 tickets. The bus was coming in about 30 minutes so we stayed inside and Heidi picked up a newspaper and tried to figure out what it said. She knew it had something to do with sexual violence and it also said the word two. So before I knew it she had turned around and was asking the Italian women behind us to translate it into English. The woman had no clue so she got her friend who told us that it said two women are killed everyday as a result of sexual violence in Italy. Awkward. We said thank you and then decided to walk outside. I was slightly embarrassed. But the bus finally came and we quickly got confused. Makenna told us that there would be masses of people and that we should follow them onto the bus. No masses. She also said that we would have to stand on the bus crammed like sardines. We got seats easily. She also told us that there would be no other stops than the one we needed, but there turned out to be quite a few. We knew the name of our stop, but nothing else. The first time the bus stopped I got worried and thought that maybe we were supposed to get off there. But then I realized that the final destination of the bus we were on was the place we wanted to go. Once we got there we had to find Makenna. Luckily Heidi found her pretty quickly and we bought our metro tickets and hopped on. It was so good to see Mak again! This time, in her city where she knew exactly what was going on the entire time!

The metro ride took about a half an hour and then we walked to where Makenna lives. It was a cute little street with restaurants and such. I was so surprised by her apartment. Everything was from Ikea and looked so cute! Joanette's (one of her roommates) mom had also just arrived so we talked to her for a little while. They used to live in Mannheim and she could speak a little German. After they left I decided to take a little nap because I was so exhausted. Heidi showered and even fell asleep for a little while too. We went out and walked around for awhile after that and saw the Pantheon and just some of the city. It was so pretty! We briefly walked past things we were going to come back to later in the weekend and then went back to Makenna's for dinner. We stopped at the grocery store across the street first and Heidi and I got some yogurt and Musli for breakfast. Both the Musli and yogurt were German brands! Can't get away from Germany even if I try! Makenna made a zucchini pasta dish with red sauce. Yummy! We ate sooo much and were sooo full! We just hung out the rest of the night and ended up staying up pretty late!

Roommate Conflicts

Even though I had a ton to do today, I decided to sleep a little longer than I originally planned since I didn't want to be exhausted the entire day. I worked for awhile on my AJY paper that deals with the extracurriular activities I've been involved in since here. It has to be four pages long, but I am writing about the DAI Kindergarten and also about Campus für Christus. I haven't been to one of their meetings yet, but I plan on going next week. This paper isn't due until later in November, so I still have time to have a few experiences with the group!

When Anna (my roommate in the wheelchair) showers, it takes quite awhile. Though I completely understand, it is sometimes frustrating because I don't know when she will be done. So after waiting for awhile, I decided to run to the bank. Right as I was walking out the door she came out of the bathroom, but I went anyway so that I could just get it done before class. Last time I went to the bank, the ATM told me that something was wrong and I needed to contact my bank. They told me nothing was wrong and I went back later and it worked. Today I used the same ATM and got the same message. Then I tried another one and it worked. Strange. I'm just glad that nothing was wrong there!

I came back, showered, ate lunch and then headed off to my marathon of a class. I really do like this class, but we are always there for the entire 3 hours. We have a 20 minute break, but he doesn't count that in the class time, so instead of the class lasting from 1:45-4:45, it goes until 5:00. I know 15 minutes doesn't seem that long, but by the end, it is definitely time to go! We watched some really funny clips and also did a little group work where we had to put different pictures from a show in order. My group got it 100% right! There was another group that did as well, but the professor only talked about our group and how great of a job we did. Kinda funny! Then we watched the show. It was called Türkisch für Anfänger aka Turkish for Beginners. It was a really funny show about a German mom who is dating a Turkish man. They each have two kids and they move in together. The professor said that we really needed to pay attention to what was going on because we were watching as part of Uni (for school) and not ins Kino (at the movies).

After class I walked back to AJY with Patrick. He had friends from Spain (they go to Elon too) visit. He offered to meet them at the airport, but ended up going to the wrong one. Frankfurt am Main is the big airport and then Frankfurt Hahn is the smaller one that RyanAir flys to. Even though its called Frankfurt, they are really far apart. He went all the way to Frankfurt am Main and then had no way to get to Hahn. So he decided to take a Taxi. What a crazy idea. It ended up costing him almost 200 Euros. Unreal. Never would I EVER. They had also already bought train tickets from Frankfurt am Main back to Heidelberg, but then had to buy bus tickets that would take them directly to Heidelberg since it didn't make sense to go back to the airport. Wow. Talk about an expensive visit! We talked about all of this dealing with Frankfurt Hahn during Orientation, but I guess he didn't get it or wasn't listening! So happy that I was well informed!

I had planned on going to a Campus für Christus meeting tonight, but Katharina sent me an text earlier in the day asking if I could help her write a paper. She offered to bring dinner with her and I knew that she really needed my help. So she came around 5:15 and brought me some kind of Nouggat drink! SO GOOD! So we worked on her commerical aviation paper for awhile and then made this really yummy pasta she brought. It was made by Kraft but I had never heard of it before. I have to look for it at the stores! It had some kind of yummy cream sauce. While we were cooking we saw a Daddy Long Leg spider in the kitchen and thought that he had caught a bunch of bugs in his web. But as we looked closer, we noticed that they weren't bugs, but about 20 baby Daddy Long Legs! GROSS! Keith hates spiders so I think I will just try to vaccum them up! Then we finished her paper and she looked over what I have for my AJY paper so far. I just love hanging out with her. We always have so much fun and laugh a lot. If my mom were here, she would have taken a lot of pictures of us. Making dinner, writing the paper, seeing the spiders, everything! We documented nearly every minute when she came to visit us in North Carolina and when i came to Ketsch. Good times!

Heidi stopped by after her class and we watched the movie from Jessica and Brittanie. She loved it, of course! Then we went to AJY and printed our boarding passes and such. It started snowing on the way there! It was just a little bit, but nevertheless really really exciting! When we got to AJY we met Katie Wolfe's friends who are visiting from the States. They were at the airport at 7 AM Thursday US time! And they were still awake at 9 Germany time today! I can't imagine how tired they were! I also found out that Maressa is able to stay for next semester as well! I'm SO excited for her! She has been planning on doing so since she got here, but only told her school three weeks ago. They told her that the deadline had passed and that she couldn't stay. She has been working with them and waiting, waiting, waiting for a reply for the last few weeks. How cool!

Tomorrow morning Heidi and I leave for Rome! We have to be at the train station around 2:15 so that we can take a bus to the airport for our flight that leaves at 6:30. I wouldn't be making this journey alone, so I'm glad she's coming with me! She isn't going to sleep tonight, but I think I will need to so that I'm not a total mess in Rome! I'm so excited because not only do I get to visit Makenna and another country, but her parents and grandparents are coming on Sunday! I love them! Cannot wait for this trip!!!

While I was making lunch today I noticed that there was a sign in the kitchen that read "Don't leave your dishes in the sink. I am not a maid. -Keith" How weird. When he came in the kitchen I said that I thought he was a maid and that was the reason for him living with us. I don't think he liked that. Things have just been strange between us lately. We haven't hung out in a really long time. He always talks about what he doesn't like here and plays on his computer and goes to the gym everyday. That is not how I want to spend my time here!

I had planned on sleeping for a little while before Heidi came, but ended up talking with my roommates about some issues including the sign Keith had put up. I overheard them talking in the living room about how I wasn't doing my share around the apartment, etc. Keith wasn't there because he left for the weekend, so it was just Julia and Anna. They knocked on my door and told me this and I was really shocked. I do more than my fair share around here! We have a cleaning plan and chore chart in our kitchen and whenever we buy something or clean something we're supposed to write our name in the respective category. My name is by far on the list more than anyone elses. They said that Keith had talked to both of them about me leaving my dishes in the sink, but I saw him multiple times last week and he didn't say a word about it to me. I explained to them that there is no way that the dishes in the sink were mine becuase if I don't have time to do them right away, I just leave them in my room because I don't think its fair for other people to have to do my dishes. We decided that we cannot live like this and that our communication has to improve. If we have a problem with something, we have to talk to the person it involves or it won't be solved effectively and people will get mad. How weird.

I packed, wrote emails and just hung out until Heidi came around 1:15. I knew that it was a bad idea to not get any sleep, but Julia, Anna and I talked for so long I just didn't have time! To Rome we go!

From One Thing to Another!

Class this morning was exceptionally boring. For the longest time I really liked the Worschatz (Vocabulary) class. But then all of my friends kept talking about how boring it is and how the teacher just talks on and on. So now that has changed my perspective on it a little bit. I still like the teacher a lot, but have noticed that it is pretty boring.

After class I came back to my room and hung out/ate lunch. I went to the DAI Kindergarten around 1 and actually got to play with the kids for a long time. I had friends from the second I walked in the door! I had forgotten how much little kids like to touch people. They were constantly hugging me, sitting on my lap, touching my hair, looking at my earings, touching my shirt and just staring at me. Just too cute! One of the little girls, Kara, would only call me Alice. She was my BEST friend. There was one little girl, Lisa (pronounced Leza) who couldn't speak any English. She was super cute. We just talked in German. We played games, made forts, read books and before I knew it, I had to leave. I'm going back next Wednesday and Friday and cannot wait. I just love little kids! Especially when they speak German! Or English with a German accent!

Next I went to AJY to meet Maressa and Frau Heckmann. She took us to the University Library for students. This isn't the normal library, but instead one that has books to read just for fun. The guy who runs the library orders the newest and most popular books. I decided not to get anything, but will come back another time.

Then I met Simone and we went to Marstall Cafe for coffee. That's the best place since we can get our Latte Macchiatos for the cheapest! I was really tired and couldn't focus on speaking German very well. But I tried. Going to London for the weekend (and travleling in general) really threw me off in terms of speaking. In a sense, I'm really happy that this weekend is my last one of travel outside Germany because I just want to be here surrounded by German. I mean, of course we speak English too, but German for the most part and if we aren't speaking it, everyone around us is! Simone and I have been wanting to go see a movie for a few weeks now. We saw Lissi und der wilde Kaiser. It is a German animated movie. It was really funny. Since there were so many jokes and the characters spoke in different dialects, I didn't understand everything, but for the most part, I got what was going on!

I also got another package today! It was from Brittanie and Jessica and it was the best idea ever! They made a little movie with stories to tell me and had other friends say hi. Of course I cried my eyes out! It was the sweetest thing ever! Even though its such a simple thing, I think it is one of the best packages I've ever received! Such an awesome idea! THANKS GIRLS!

I spent the majority of my night catching up on emails and writing postcards. I have gotten the sweetest emails since I've been here. And I've saved every last one of them! It just makes me so happy to read them. I did get a not so happy message from Derek. He said that my mom went to the bank and they told her that I had overdrawn my bank account. Oh no!!! It really wan't a problem since they just take the money out of my savings account, but it is still something that I never thought would happen. I think the horrible London exchange rate is what did me in. I guess I didn't fully think about that when I withdrew money there. But my mom wasn't mad and everything worked out just fine!!

Yay for Packages!

We sang another song in Phonetics class today. I think that's what makes me love that class so so much! Christina, the girl from Czech. got really mad when a few people in my program (including me) were speaking English to one another. She said it was really disrespectful. Class had not started and we weren't even talking loud. She is a nice girl with good intentions, but comes off as a know it all who always has to be right. She even argues with the phonetics teach about how words should be said. Crazy.

After class I came back and studied for my midterm that's tonight. I felt pretty confident about the material and just needed to memorize a few phrases and review the material. Katharina came around 3 and we talked for awhile and then went to Subway for an early dinner. Subway has my favorite ice so I was able to get that too! Oh how I miss the convenience (and cheapness) of Subway at home! It's not even that I eat there a lot, but it's just nice knowing that it has good food for not so expensive prices. Soon enough. In fact, too soon! As we were walking back we saw the girl and guy who always play music on the Hauptstrasse. The girl always does some kind of interesting dance or twists her leg while she plays the tambourine. The guy, maybe her husband, plays the saxophone and some songs they have a little choreographed dance they do. It really is interesting. Katharina told me that she had class with the girl last year! She said she was also a bit strange in class. How funny. I'll have to get a video of this little show.

I headed over to AJY to study with Maressa and Heidi before the test. I also found out that I had two packages!!! One was from my mom and she sent a new Nike coat! It's dark brown, white and turquoise!!! It also has an inner shell that you can zip in. LOVE IT! She also sent some Halloween candy and Bath and Body Works lotion! The other package was from RACHEL! She sent a pretty card, peanut butter cookies, lip gloss and nail polish! How sweet! She also put about a million stamps on the front of the package. It's so exciting to get mail!

Class was really short today. We just discussed what we read from the week before and then took a little break. Frau Heckmann always brings us a little snack. Today there were yummy cookies! After the break we took the test and then could leave after we were done. There were a few things that I think I didn't get right, but for the most part I felt good about the test. I can only hope that I also got the extra credit right!

Last Day in London

Caitlyn and I really wanted to go on a tour of the BBC this morning, but when we called the rude lady told us that there was no way we were getting in. We had to book our tour at least two days in advance. Big bummer there. So we had to decided what we wanted to do in the time that we had left. We chose to go to Fleet Street and check out some things there. It was a place Caitlyn had been wanting to go and I wanted to help her cross some more things off her London to do list! Fleet Street was also a big place for journalism stuff, so clearly I wanted to go too!

For breakfast Caitlyn made us a really yummy egg and cheese bagel. Great start to the day! After I got all of my stuff packed up, we headed out. I bought another travel ticket for the day since you can't go anywhere without using transportation and it quickly pays for itself. Since she has been in London, Caitlyn and her friends have been trying to take one of the posters that line the escalators in the tube stations. We saw one today and I ripped it off the wall! Then we ran back down the escalator! Totally not something I would do, but it was so fun! It was really dirty from being in the station, but we wiped it off once we got on our train. It was a Sound of Music poster. Even though she had to carry it around all day, Caitlyn was pretty excited!

We saw St. Paul's Cathedral on our way to Fleet Street. What a huge church! It's expensive to go inside, so we didn't. But it's cool to think that Princess Diana got married there. The financial district was neat to see as well. Everyone just looked so professional! We stopped at Saint Bride's Church for a look inside. It is also known as the Wedding Cake church because of it's steeple that looks like a wedding cake! That's actually what the first real wedding cake as we know them was designed after! It is also known as the Journalist's church. Each pew is dedicated to a different journalist who lost his/her life while covering the news. What a special place. We really enjoyed walking around and reading/looking at everything.

Our time was running short so we hopped on a bus that would take us to Primark, Caitlyn's super cheap and favorite clothing store. The first bus we got on was an old school double-decker. But for some reason the line ended and we had to get on another bus. I only bought a few things at Primark since I didn't have a whole lot of space in my bag. Two super cute sweaters for 3 pounds! And six pairs of socks for 2! So cool!

I stopped and got a sandwich on our way back to Caitlyn's apartment. We found a credit card on the ground and luckily there were two police women walking down the street. We ran to catch up with them, but it was their first day and took down ALL of Caitlyn's information so they could contact her when it was claimed. Cute that they wanted to make sure they did everything right! When we got back to Caitlyn's we had to move fast in order to get to the train station in time for my bus. I made it and slept the entire way. I also slept the whole time on the plane and got to sit in the first row that had a lot of leg room. Perfect! I got in later than I had thought I would and then hopped on the bus back to Heidelberg. Luckily there were busses running that could take me back to my place.

Today was my dad's birthday so I called him up on Skype to surprise him. I put money on Skype a few weeks ago and was able to call him directly on his cell phone! He was so excited! We talked for a little while and then I crashed! What an exhausting weekend! I had such a great time in London. I could go back there hundreds of times! There's so much more that I want to see and do!

We saw Brangelina!

Grease!

First Day in London!

Since we stayed up SO late last night, we slept in so that we would be well rested for the rest of the weekend. I think we ended up getting up at around 11. We had planned on going out to lunch today so we skipped breakfast. Caitlyn gave me a little tour of her neighborhood. It's called Little Venice and is really cute. There is a little river that runs through and there are even houseboats on it! We bought three day passes for the tube/bus since Caitlyn said we'd be using them all the time. As we were walking down the street we saw Amy Cranford, a friend from Elon, waiting at a bus stop. How random! We talked for a few minutes and then Caitlyn and I got on the bus. We went to a place called Wetherspoons. They have a special for Fish and Chips - 2 for 7 pounds. Pretty good especially since one order is 5 pounds! Luckily the water was free! Of course they were nothing like Fish and Chips from the Bowpicker, but they were really good. While we were eating one of Caitlyn's friends came in to meet me/chat. Her name is Amy and she also goes to Elon. Actually, Caitlyn is in London with an all Elon program.

After lunch we headed over to Buckingham Palace. On our way we walked through a beautiful park. I think it was called Green Park. We weren't there for the changing of the guard ceremony, but I still got to see where all of that takes place. We took quite a few pictures and then moved on to find the London Bridge. I've heard that it really isn't anything exciting, but you've gotta see the London Bridge after all these years of sining about it! We did in fact see it and also got to see the Globe Theater. Didn't go inside because the tours were expensive, but it was cool to see it from the outside. We then went into The Tate Modern Museum. Pretty cool place, but I just have a hard time understanding art. There was an entire floor dedicated to a crack in the ground. I still have no clue what that was about! We checked out a few of the exhibits and then decided we'd seen enough. We took a walk across the Millenium aka Wibbly Wobbly Bridge. The view of the Thames was just beautiful and St. Pauls Cathedral was the focal point on the other side of the river. We hopped on the metro back to Caitlyn's where we started cooking dinner. Her roommates really like making this chicken broccoli caserole. All of Caitlyn's roommates were out of town except for Kirsten. She also had a friend visiting for the night and we got to hang out with her too. We all talked for awhile after dinner and then got ready to go out to the ABSOLUT ICE BAR!

Caitlyn and I had bought Bacardi Breezers earlier, but we didn't have a bottle opener. So Caitlyn used the wine opener and put a hole in the cap. And that's how we drank them! Since there aren't laws about drinking in public, we all took a drink on the Tube. The Breezer hardly tasted like alcohol and I think there was very little in it! Caitlyn had made reservations at the Ice Bar for 11:45 and we pretty much got in right after we got there. The cost was 15 pounds but it also included one drink. Before we could go into the bar, they put a really warm eskimo-like jacket over our heads. They even had gloves! After taking a lot of pictures we ordered our drinks. My drink was WAY too strong. I could hardly even drink it. So after trying for awhile and letting the others try it, we decided to ask for something else. I didn't think they'd actually give me a new drink, but maybe that they'd add a little more juice or something. But the girl offered to make a new sweeter drink. It was much better! My favorite part about this place was that the cups were all ice! They even had ice tables, chairs and a Dj stand! We could only stay for 40 minutes since it's so cold in the bar. We had a lot of fun, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. The whole bar was only one room and not 100% ice like I had thought. But I did enjoy it and thought it was still pretty cool!

We thought about going to another bar after this, but ended up just going home instead. Caitlyn let me sleep in her bed and she slept in Lindsay's (also an Alpha Chi!!) It didn't seem like we did a ton today, but we had a lot of fun just hanging out together. I was exhausted and fell fast asleep!

To London!

Back to Reality

Even though I didn't have class today, I woke up at 7 to finish homework for my online class that was due today. I had gotten most of the work done before I left for Greece, but still had a bit left to do when I got back. So between 7 and 11 I wrote two 700 and one 350 word essays. Luckily, it was all in English and about the United States. Most of the stuff that we had to read and respond to dealt with the US post 9/11. It was all interesting, just time consuming. I do like that the professor for this class allows a week or more to complete assignments so there aren't a ton of due dates for things.

When getting ready today I noticed again that I hardly have any warm clothes. And it is COLD outside. So I decided to pick up a sandwich at a bakery and then go to H&M. I bought two sweaters and another long sleeved shirt. I love shopping there when I have a ton of time to try on all kinds of things. I stopped by PennyMarkt on the way back and got some groceries and such for the week. The line was sooo long and my arms were full of stuff. It's definitely been an adjustment remembering that I have to bag my own groceries. It's kind of like you have to bag as they scan the items and then pay and quickly get out of the way. I've gotten better about it, but I'm just not very skilled in that department.

As I was walking out the door, Heidi jumped out and scared me. She had seen me waiting in line and then waited for me to come out. She is having Maressa and I over for dinner tonight so she was buying groceries for that. She came over to my place after she finished there and I showed her all of the pictures and videos I took in Greece. I had bought this latte macchiato mix and we made that too. It was sooo easy and super yummy. It only cost 2.50 which is the same price for just one drink at a cafe. I can totally work with that! Around 5:30 we headed over to her place to start making dinner. On our way the bus drove past us and we saw Maressa! Heidi was really into scaring people today, so we stood behind a little tree and waited for Maressa to come. The three of us went to Heidi's and cut up tomatoes and mozarella while the Knoedel cooked. I don't know exactly what Knoedel is, but it's like a little ball of potatoes and bread. Usually they are really big, but Heidi got the mini version that you can cook in 5 minutes. It seemed like forever since the three of us had been together and we had fun laughing (as always) and catching up.

Our program was going to the opera tonight at 8. They also arranged for the Director of the opera to come talk to us before hand so that we would be sure we knew what was going on. He talked for about 30 minutes and then I went back home to change. For once I was excited to get all dressed up. Charis came over too and then we walked to the theater which is pretty much next door to where I live. We had pretty good seats, but we were all over the theater. I sat with Charis and Heidi for the first half. Maressa came and joined us for the second half since there were available seats. The opera was called La Boheme. Of course it was in Italian and then they projected German subtitles above the stage. It was...interesting. I understood what was going on, but it just seemed really random. I think the take that this theater did was pretty different than the original. Charis seemed to know everything about the opera so she gave us some insider info. She's just a little expert on everything.

When I got home I talked to Brittanie on Skype for a little while. I still think it's so weird that I have to schedule times to talk to people. I miss not being able to pick up my cell phone and call my friends and family just to tell them something really quickly. For the most part we use text messaging here since it's significantly cheaper without an actual plan. I don't send texts at home but now I definitely want to sign up for them when I get back!!! So convenient!