Hallo from Germany! I really need to start blogging a little bit more. I've officially completed 3 out of 5 weeks of my stay here. It really is very interesting. We are staying in a neighborhood of Essen called Steele (pronounced shtay-lah..i think.) It's a cute little town full of old people, little shops, and creeping Lebanese men. There always seems to be a festival going on of some sort, and I even had the chance to attend the concert of a man who was the equivalent of a German Elton John. I forgot the guys named but I don't think he was quite Elton famous, they just dressed similarly..although I did see many middle-aged people flocking for his autograph. I've had many bratwursts, baguettes, gyros, tons of bread, and too much gelato ;) Although currywurst is the food of choice, I still haven't tried it yet. We've visited many art museums, including a Josef Albers museum, the Folkwang museum, and many more I can't remember because the names are all German. Two weeks ago we went into Dusseldorf, and went to a museum then walked around town there. It is beautiful because the Rhine river runs right through it. This past week Monday through late Thursday were spent in the city of Berlin. It is just a tad bit different then our little Essen-Steele. But I have to admit it is a pretty incredible place. We had the option to visit many museums there, but I can't say that I did. Our teacher took us to the Bauhaus archive but other than that I was more interested in the city and landmarks. We saw the Brandenburg gate, parts of the Berlin wall, and all along the city on the ground you can see where the wall used to be and is now covered in cobblestone. Also had a chance to see a memorial for murdered Jews of Europe which was really depressing but good to see. The East Berlin gallery also was so cool-it is a huge wall in the city where artists that had painted on the original Berlin wall came back and recreated some of their pieces so people could see them. Had some incredible food-definitely the best food I have had was in Berlin. The nicest weather experienced so far was also in Berlin-because now I am missing it in cloudy rainy Essen. Oh, well :) Other Berlin adventures including sleeping in Pizza Hut for 2 hours, getting kicked out of a store for reading their magazines too long, and riding a six person bike. Today I went to church here in Essen. It was fun, the people were really nice and many spoke english, but the actual testimony meeting was in German-so I found myself watching the entertaining child sitting on the counselor's lap making funny faces and noises. There were translators but we chose to listen to the German instead and try and figure it out...yeah, right hah. Overall, I have had a really awesome time so far. I've been getting lazy with my artwork based on the fact I have a hard time motivating myself to draw and paint buildings all the time. But I need to suck it up.We live on the third floor of a civic center type facility. They have classrooms, a theater, and a restaurant on the other floors. Monday through Friday we get to eat dinner at the restaurant called El Patio. The owners are Italian, so it is a lot of pasta. They made the best lasagna I have ever had for dinner one night (second best to Nana's lasagna of course). We have classes on and off 9 till 4:30 everyday and they are painting, drawing, color theory, and some art history class we must not talk about often, hah. That is pretty much the gist of my trip so far! I have a good group and have met some really cool people and am liking it here. Although I will admit there are some things I am missing back in the states, especially free refills!! I think in two weeks time I will just about be ready to get back to friends, family, and the boyfriend. But until then, Tschuss!!
p.s. I have refrained from posting a ton of pictures because they are all on my facebook, so if you would like to see them go there!!
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