The morning we left for Amsterdam Adrian had had to spend some hours sleeping at my place before the busses started to run again. He shook me awake before he left saying set your alarm! Set your alarm! Don't forget! i was totally out of it in a wonderfully deep sleep but fortunately I set my alarm, crawled off the floor into my bed and went back to sleep for 4 more hours. Good-freaking-thing i set that alarm. I was sleeping so well i could have slept for ages, even though it was 9 which is kind of a late morning [View Full Entry]

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WEDNESDAY Wednesday we booked a hostel. I had spent all night seeking out our best options. We'd be staying three nights and wanted to be near city center so we wouldn't have to use the trains or busses. The best we could find were multy person dorm rooms. Everything else was extremely out of our budget. The way I saw it, I was going to Amsterdam, might as well make it the whole 'travel experience'! We booked two beds of a 12 bed room in a fairly well reviewed hostel. They had safe locked lockers and a bathroom for multiple rooms [View Full Entry]

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I don't remember much happening during class today. I remember i was late and there was a new young girl sitting in with our class. Giving there were only 3 days left of instruction i was a little confused. She didn't have any books. Was she a friend of Sinzi's? At break I asked her her name. Lena. She was doing an internship at the Goethe and would be working in the Culture office with Maxi. Very nice girl. I think she was from Hannover.. Also during the long pause I'm sitting at a computer and BAM ....... Adrian slaps his [View Full Entry]

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On Monday the 22nd after our wonderful trip to Berlin we returned to Unterricht (instruction, school). It was also Sinzi's birthday! But the little stink hadn't told anyone but me after seeing the big to-do that was put up for my birthday. Instead she brought a box of chocolates to share with us all. Very yummy. But she didn't realize when she bought them they were liquer sweets so most of them had an almost spicy taste from the alcohol. But still, yummy chocolate. To further celebrate, a large group went to Adrian's favorite Italien place. (just like Sinzi didn't want [View Full Entry]

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I slept well like always. Or "always" that I've been here in Europe. The beds were crreeeeaky though. I slept below Sinzi and honestly, no matter who or where or what.... I really just don't like bunk beds. There's a reason Jen Ralph and my room was like it was, with my head safely out from under her. :S I just don't like it. Anyway, slept well and I was the first to wake, like always... I have been an early riser for quite some time now. I changed my clothes and brushed my teeth but didn't bother showering. Actually, Sinzi [View Full Entry]

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As I type this memoir of my trip to Berlin, I am lying halfway in my room, half way on the terrace, bathing in the afternoon Hamburg sun. It is 84 degrees here with clear blue skies. :) I feel guilty for being inside, so a tentative plan for tomorrow is donning a tank top and shorts and spending the afternoon on the Elbe, reading or something along those lines. There is actually a beach. I could go there and work on a tan too. hmmmm. That comes tomorrow! (Its currently July 2nd, omigosh! Its JULY!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The night before Berlin [View Full Entry]

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The original goal was to leave for Berlin Friday after classes but the ticket price deal was only for Saturdays and Sundays. The ticket is called "Schoenes Wochenende" (beautiful weekend) and up to five people can split the £37 price and travel on trains all over Germany on that day. Another ticket to get home plus an £18 hostel stay = trip to Berlin costing £36.5!!!! Friday was class as normal, then a group of us went to a Turkish restaurant for lunch, which brings me to a side note. There - are - so - many DOENER shops here. Doener [View Full Entry]

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Thursday the 18th I returned to class and found that I had missed essentially nothing. I'd say that it was probably Thursday that Derronnie and I started to click a bit more. Derronnie is from Michigan originally but now lives in Germany with his life partner. He's an artist, painter to be specific. Maybe 25. At first he seemed stand off-ish but I think we connect on just being Americans and our humor is very similar, party because as said, we're both American, and partly because we are the only one who catches the others cultural or idiomatic cracks. Classes work [View Full Entry]

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Its been a while since my last post! More than a week! I'm just going to combine all in one! Sunday the 14th... Today I slept most of the day after a long night early morning with Adrian and Matt on the Reeperbahn. I watched Dogma and Angela's Ashes, chilling in my bed drinking warm cocoa. Its still been cold here. Monday was class as usual. We have a new teacher. Her name is Brandt-Cleider or something along those lines. She is older, has been teaching for 30 years at the Goethe. She speaks painfully slow German but has us, the [View Full Entry]

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Its Friday! It's Friday? Woah! Where DOES the time go? Wednesday... right right. Wednesday a group of us went to the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Art Museum). I went for a number of reasons. 1. Nothing better to do. 2. It essential to be cultural while I'm here and haven't made it to ANY museums yet 3. It was free Possibly in order of importance^^ ;) Anyway, we went as a group of a little less than ten and they took us through a very large main hall and up a flight of stairs. Door to the left says: Neu (New), and door [View Full Entry]

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