This is a little section of Bremen (Yes, just like the story "The Brementown Musicians" with the donkey and the dog and the cat and the rooster. Same city.) where there are a billion little alleyways and everything is brick or stone. The inside is almost entirely brick though so you're walking on cobbled streets that are maybe 6 feet wide, surrounded by 3-4 story tall brick buildings and can barely see the sky. Talk about surreal. It seriously made me think that I was walking down Diagon Alley. And yes, I did just make a dorky Harry Potter reference.

This is the Brandenberger Tor in Berlin. Basically, it was a huge city gate that separated East Berlin from West Berlin and so now it's a hugely ridiculous famous landmark. Like, you don't go to Berlin without seeing this. We didn't get that great of a view though because of all the tents and people in front. When we scheduled our time in Berlin, we failed to realize that it was Berlin Fashion Week. Oops! :-) I went into a Prada store and tried on a 500-Euro pair of sunglasses. Egad!

Laura, Laura, and I again, this time back in Munich. (Sorry there isn't a better order of all these pictures...) On our first school day we had an appointment to meet the Burgermeister (Mayor) of Haar, which is basically a little suburb of Munich where everyone's exchange partners lived and went to school. Since das Rathaus (the city hall) is pretty close to the school we decided to save money by just walking. Lucky for us, the second we got to the sidewalk it started downpouring. Since we were still not quite in the German mindset, we forgot our umbrellas at home and everyone was TOTALLY DRENCHED by the time we arrived. Interesting note, EVERYONE uses umbrellas in Germany. You can be in a public place and at the first little hint of sprinkling, an entire sea of umbrellas automatically rises up around you. They still took our picture with der Burgermeister and put it in the newspaper though!

Yes, this is a bicycle garage. And guess where it is? In the basement of their high school! SOOO many people ride bikes!!!

Ernst Mach Gymnasium, the high school where our exchange partners attend, decided to undergo a sort of beautification project a few years ago so they did all kinds of really intense art projects of all kinds and put them up all over walls. This lovely piece (:-)) was my favorite. Something I noticed though, is that Germans are huge fans of art that comes out at you...for example, there was another piece at Ernst Mach in which a VW Bug was cut in half and stuck up against the wall in the hallway with a driving scene painted on the wall around it. Cool.

I wrote about this in the first picture blog. Me being sick. Train station. Elevated feet. Yeehaw!

Me with my fancy new hiking backpack (thanks Dad!) as we embark on our Germany Tour...we ended up spending a significant amount of time hanging out in train stations so this was a fairly common thing to see. People just kinda chill so we just kinda copied them. In a group of 24 you automatically stand out super-a-lot so we tried to look as normal as possible...

My first time on an ICE train. That is actually an acronym, but it's in German and I forget what it is. Basicaly ICE=Look At Me I'm A Really Fast Train! We got lucky though because it started raining just as we climbed aboard.

This is Der Dom (The Dome) in Koeln, Deutschland (Cologne, Germany). It is the biggest, most architecturally crazy, most awe-inspiring building I have ever seen in my entire life. What is visible in this picture really doesn't capture even half of the feeling you get standing near it...and it only shows a little piece of the front. It makes you feel really small and insignificant when you stand next to it...


More pics coming later! I promise! (Hehe...and no, it won't take another month.)

This was on my first full day. I was at a battle of the bands. I made a funny face. I took a picture. Silly Lorraine!

Also at the battle of bands...with my friend Britt. I have known her since my first year at Bellingham and we've had classes together and a that good stuff...she didn't think it was taking and it kind of caught her by surprise. Lucky her, now her surprise is posted on the internet :-)

I'm terribly sorry this is sideways, but as I have previously stated, haven't quite gotten the hang of this picture stuff...Anyway. This picture is me kissing one the the Munich Lions...kind of like Seattle has pigs all over, Munich has lions...Berlin has bears...they're just kind of cute and characteristic touches I think. This guy was sitting the the Muenchen Hauptbahnhof (Munich main train station) and we had a bunch of time to kill so I figured it was a nice photo op.

Laura, Lorraine, and Laura. How cute. We were a nice little trio throughout the trip...we always roomed together in the hotels and hostels on our 10-day Germany tour and kind of ended up being associated as a single entity instead of three individual people...hmmm... :-)

Dang. This whole picture lining up thing isn't working. Sorry. I'll try to make it better. With the next set of pictures :-)

Here are finally some pictures from Germany! They will show up as being different blogs...because I am not so skilled at picture-blogging. But enjoy!
This is Lehner's Biergarten...it's a local favorite and was definitely a good place to go for a meal or to just hang out...and for those of you who aren't so familiar with German culture, a Biergarten (Beer Garden) isn't a place people go to drink...it's a place for families and is kind of the equivalent to places like Applebee's or Red Robin...only with traditional German food :-)


Kathrin (meine Austausschulerin, or exchange partner, in English) and I waiting for our dinner at Lehner's.

Kassspaetzen anyone? Kassspaetzen could be considered the German version of Mac'n'cheese I guess...but it is homemade noodles, therefore is much more filling and dense, with real cheese. And not cheddar either because they don't have cheddar cheese in Germany!






This is me with my host mother, Gabi. We were at the farewell party thrown by the Americans...














My new friend Laura and I making sad faces right before we loaded the bus to go back to the airport... :-(

I didn't really know Laura at all until the trip, but over the course of the month we became super buddies. She is an actress and loves England (and those cute accents!) and is altogether a lovely person.







So that other blog about me puking all over the train platform and station? Ya, this is right before.

I had never heard of this, but apparently it helps when you're sick to put your feet way up above your head. There were actually a few things about like, hygiene and illness and stuff that seemed to be common German knowledge that I had never even heard of...

Nur 2 mehr Tage in München...

Servus Freunde und Familie!

Despite the constant stream of German running through my head, I will now write in English so those of you non-German-speaking-types can understand :-)

I have had QUITE the month here in Germany...I can even honestly say that it has been the best month of my life. I would like to be able to sit down and record every single detail so you all could understand just what has happened and how much I have been impacted, but this is a feat considered by all of my fellow GAPPsters (exchange group) to be impossible. However, I look forward to showing you all pictures and telling you wonderful stories of my adventures. For now, suffice it to say that I am happy, healthy, and cannot think of a better place to be coming back to in September.

P.S. When I get back to Bellingham I will be able to add new pictures to my blog but my camera doesn't quite coincide with German computer cables, so that will have to wait.

Meine Erste Tag in Deutschland

Hey there!

So this is a brief overview of my first day in München, Deutschland:

1. Don't sleep at all, so I wake up ridiculously tired.
2. Get up and try to do stuff anyway.
3. Make it to the train station, but barely.
4. Tell Kathrin that I don't feel well.
5. Get on the train, she coaching me through it.
6. Start feeling very woozy, switch to a seat out of the sun.
7. Realize that I'm going to puke.
8. Get off the train.
9. Puke feeling passes.
10. Lay down on the ground in the middle of the train platform.
11. Puke feeling rapidly returns.
12. Kathrin rushes me to find a toilet.
13. No toilets to be found, but there are several lovely garbage cans.
14. Based on No. 13, you can guess what happens.
15. Nice couple with a baby in a stroller give me some tissues to wipe my mouth up with.
16. Feel much better, but still not good.
17. Find a return train and return to platform to wait.
18. Must lay down again, with 17 minutes until the next train comes.
19. Puke feeling comes back.
20. Lean out over tracks and puke up presumably the equivalent to the entire contents of my abdomen.
21. Try to get the terrible taste out of my mouth.
22. Fail.
23. Barely make it to Kathin's mom's car.
24. Manage not to puke again in Kathrin's mom's car.
25. Come upstairs to bed and am pampered (tea, bread, warm pillow, etc.)
26. Sleep for four hours and feel fine, if only a bit shaky.
27. Eat dinner. Pasta!
28. Shower to get sick feeling away.
29. Beautify myself.
30. Go to battle of the bands!

What a day right? I will certainly never forget my first full day in Germany.

Liebe,
Lorraine

P.S. If there are any weird letters mixed up in my messages, it's because the keyboard is all switched around.

P.P.S. My time since the puking incident has been MUCH more enjoyable :-)#

P.P.P.S. I will download a few pictures as soon as possible, but European computers apparently don't have USB ports so I'll have to find a special kind of chord. Wait anxiously!