Lubeck

This is a cute pic from Hamburg on friday night, we are in the burgerking. yum. haha

But Hello again. This week was really good. I can't believe I have almost been here three weeks. it has seriously flown by. I also started to plan out some of the places I would like to travel while I am here, and its making it seem even shorter than it already seems! But as for now I think I might travel to Bremen next weekend and visit Toledo's sister city of Delmenhorst. And then in two weekends I will go with my flatmates to Dusseldorf to a Carnival and for my flatmate's boyfriends birthday! soo i have a really busy month coming up! Still undecided about spring break, any ideas?


Here are some pictures from the city of Lubeck. It is near the Baltic sea. It was a really pretty city and we had beautiful weather (unlike today). This train ride is about an hour away from Lueneburg and we can go for free with our Student ID. :)

This is the house that Thomas Mann's famous books; was set in. it was a really cool museum. And below is me in a thing that is like a tunnel in the old days they would make, and on the other side is like a neighborhood. they would make these so that they did not have to build so many roads and have more room for houses. you can see how tiny this tunnel is. it was really neat. And here finally is Julia eating some of my HOMEMADE mac and cheese. yesss.... it turned out ok... i did not have everything exact because it was really hard to find the right cheese, but it turned out edible. I am becoming quite the cook (believe it or not!! ) Also today i went to Church in Hamburg, I liked it, It was different from what i am used to (what isn't here) but i am not sure .. i need to reflect on it and see if it is for me.

have a great day!

New, new and more new...

Hello there... I just got my hair cut in Hamburg yesterday... here are some photos of the new short EURO-do. haha :) The other picture is of my new (really cheap!) coat and hat, i look french... haha oh well. Let's see... what else is new...
Update: Classes are going well, I am just auditing my Anthropology class, because i was bored to death in it, and then i picked up a govt and politics class. I have to write a 15 page paper in that class (gasp!) but if i dont wait until the last minute i will be fine... I got an A on my last quiz and test, tonight I will study for my german test tomorrow.
Language: I can order at the cafes, i know my numbers and alphabet and some verbs and nouns and other basic things. I sound like a fool when I speak but it takes time.
Money: God has totally answered my prayers and providing for me. and also I have been able to learn how to cook so I am saving money by not eating out all the time. ( i made really good chili and i am enjoying this cooking bit... haha)
Flatmate/friends: last night my flat mates and i went to go get sushi- and i have never had it and loved it. it was great fun. Also my flat mate Kathrin lived in Hamburg so when she took me to get my hair cut she showed me the cool places to shop and eat and go. we also went to starbucks--- ahh the taste of home. haha I have been trying to hang out with more germans than the americans. but i really like most of the Americans here, they are cool.
Bible study: was great, there were 4 germans, two other kids from ohio and the leader is from Australia! it was really fun and we are going to start to study Joshua. it was really neat to see some correlations between things and it was fun to hang out with some great people. I am excited to see where God takes this study!
exercise: i walk like everywhere, and maybe i will get a bike when the weather is better. I just joined the gym and will do a power yoga class then tone and step class. this should be fun (especially when it is taught in german!! yikes!)

Anyways-- hope your weekend goes great!!! Thanks for the comments, prays and love!


Tchus!!!

Hamburg

So we went to Hamburg Yesterday. Here are alot of pictures from our trip. This is a photo of the Rathaus, or the city hall. It was beautiful inside. Some of the other students and I want to go back and watch the Parliment work.

This is Brooks, Alex Kaleb and I on a boat ride in Hambug Port Area. Many of the boats near hamburg are used for museums (they look like old pirate ships). Hamburg was neat, but I want to go back and shop. Also they have really great museums that I would like to go back and see. They have a Blind Museum and you get to go through it as if you were blind. I would really like to go to that one. Here below is brooks, kaleb and me on the boat. Good thing we did not get sea sick!! haha
Here is a statue... can you guess what restuarant is behind it? Boy were we excited to see that! haha.


The pictures below are from the International Dinner. This was a fun night, I got to see the choir, and some hip hop dances, intrepretive dances and a live band. The food was good but there were a lot of students there so it went fast! I even had a few conversations in german!! haha Here is Julia (my flatmate) and I, and then Sergio and I below that.



That is all for now. Some friends are coming over tonite for dinner, we are going to create something with the LACK of gorceries we have... haha since everything is closed we are going to make a mod podge of something. haha we shall see.

Chocolate Preztals....

Hello there, I have been making chocolate covered preztals for the international dinner for tonite. Here are some pictures of the final product. they look great, dont they? haha anyways... yesterday i had lunch with a girl from Wright State University and she is in an english speaking bible study. i am excited to start that, and to have something to do. Also i met up with my language partner, her name is Sandra. She and I will meet up and cook, watch movies go to the bar or cafe and just get to know eachother and the other culture and language. I am excited. she seems really nice. Today i had my first test ( at 8 AM!! yikes!) but i think it went well. We shall see... haha Also today is the big international dinner, I will take pictures there and post later tonite. Have a good day.


OH yah pS, yesterday they closed school for a thunder storm! haha That made me laugh, the germans were really nervous about this storm and they were like stay inside and everything, but it was nothing more than what i am used to in Ohio. Also i think i just saw the sun, the first time since sunday. It has been raining non stop here. I wish i had my red boots. :(

Schule!!!

Hallo again!!


Today was my second day of school. But here is a picture of my room and my first day of school. I look like a dork!! haha (but i had to take one for chelsea... TRADITION!) haha
but school... ok well i have a gorgeous teacher for german, and she is so nice. She acctually did some teaching in the US at Mount Union College (small world!) but there are only three other students in my class, one of which is from Mexico! He is have a really hard time even though he knows english very well, its difficult. We learn for about 90 minutes, have a half hour break and then another hour after that. it goes by really quick because everything is so new. The language is weird for me, not because it is hard, but my French keeps popping up, and French and german are similar but very different. but we have class m-thursday and then big tests on fridays at 8 am!!! can you beileve that! hahah it should be a challenge. i havent gotten lost yet (but it is really small town too get lost in) the school used to be an old miliary base, and here is a few pictures of it... (really ugly i know)..

But then i am also taking a cultural anthropology class... which i am not sure if i will stay in.. its not going to be hard, maybe even a little fun. but i dont know if i want to do the work because it counts towards absolutely nothing. so we shall see.

last night our internet was down for a while, and my flat mates (by the way its kathrine is not kirsten i made an error on the last post! duh! kirsten is whom i took her room... while she is in norway) my flatmates and i tried many times to fix it... and we called and uhh it took us a long time. We have alot of consturction around our flat (they are re building this bridge) and we thought maybe that happened and blah. then finally we got it, by turning ON and OFF again. go figure. haha so easy.... but then we celebrated... with homemade schaaps.
Julia is on the left and Kathrine is in the middle. That is also our kicthen...
PS i will be going to Hamburg this weekend for a fun trip (it is free for us students and only a half hour away!) and then also i will be getting my hair cut soon-- blah it is soo long!


tschus!

Allo!!

I arrived here in Luneburg Germany on Thursday... after very long flights from the USA... I got to sleep on the plane from NewYork to Frankfurt which was good. I met and traveled with many nice people. But I was on the group flight, yet there was no group. I am mad i paid extra because it was not any better than going alone. I arrived in Lueneburg and met my buddy Janina (you say it like yah-neen-nah- the j- like a yah) she is very nice. She and i had coffee and then she took me to my flat.

my flat is very cool. and big! it is alot bigger than i am used to! (but no microwave!) the girls i live with are 25 and 26 (julia and Kristin) They are really nice, and vegetarians! haha so much for all that german meat and sausage!!
here is a picture of my flat. I live on the third floor, or second floor in europe (the ground one does not count!).
My address for my flat is
Reichenbachstr 10
21335 Luneburg, Germany (with the two dots over the U!!)
I would love to hear from you.

My school i will start tommorow. I have class at 845 and then a few breaks, there are three other students in my class, two (a couple) from Toledo, and a Mexican student. There are about 14 other students and then they will have other classes and then they will mix with the students who have been here since the fall. The university is about 15 minute walk and 5 minute bus ride from my flat. I live more downtown area.... the uni used to be a miliarty base, so it all looks alike but the city is beautiful... here are some pictures from downtown area.
it looks just like what a german town should look like. The weather was quite nasty on thursday, but today and the other days it was nice, cold but at least not raining. It is pretty warm for this time of year too, usually it is very cold and lots of snow, but not yet.

Today is sunday, very quiet on sunday because everything shuts down!! Unlike in the USA where sunday is just one more day to do chores and errands. My flatmates and I went on a walk through a park-- it reminds me of the parks back home.


That is all for right now, I will update later how school is, i hear it is supposed to be really hard and very intense.

Also, I am learning German quickly as i feel really out of place not knowing it. haha


Prayers needed for language barriers, new friends, money, safe travels, spritual conversations with my new friends.

Danke!! Auf Wiedersehen!!!


Allison

counting down...

Nine days and counting.....



I received a web cam for christmas and am SO pumped about using it to chat with family and friends!

I am really freaking out about money but I know God has a plan, I just need to trust Him. (and save!)

I have gotten a few emails from my "German buddy", which is comforting. She will know where I am living soon. She tells me it snowed on Christmas but it has now melted. She is 24 and her name is Janin. ( i have no idea how to say that) and so far our emails have been in English (phew!) . She seems really nice.

Prayers for living accommodations, money, travel, new friends and old friends and language barriers are much needed.

Thats it for now. I bet my next up date will be from Germany!