A Couple of Pictures...

So on Saturday I went on an AMAZING hike in the Swiss Alps with all my new buddies...and we saw amazing sites like this. Seriously though, absolutely no picture in the world could really and truly convey the absolute wonder and awe of the place we were...

Again, amazing views...this is looking out over Switzerland in the direction of Germany.

The further into the mountains we hiked, the more intense everything became...and this one was only about half way through the hike. It took us about 3.5 hours to get all the way to the top and about 3 back down...

This is my bunk...complete with my perfect quilt!

P.S. Next weekend our group is all going on another outing to Schloss Neuschwanstein...even though I went there in July, it will be really cool to see again. AND we are hiking up into the mountains around the castle to get some aerial views...and some postcard-esque pictures!

P.P.S. If any of you out there are blog-deficient, but have email, you can shoot me a message at:

fast.lorraine@gmail.com

Hausaufgaben 101

One word: Hausaufgaben.

Translation: Homework.

I have officially been assigned AND completed my first homework. Super exciting, I know! :-)

Anyway. It was exciting because on Monday, 'normal' life at Bodenseehof began. Or, as normal as it can really be at this point considering we are all still getting to know each other and the rules and everything. The schedule was completely normal though. Here is how the average week day goes...

6:30-7 Wake up
7:30-8ish Breakfast
9-Noon Lectures (3), coffee breaks, etc.
12:30-1ish Lunch
1ish-5:45 Free time (supposed to be used not only for liesure, but also for homework)
5:45-6:30 Dinner
7:15-9 Lectures (2)
9-10:30ish Free time
10:30ish Bed time

So yes. I am going to be totally on this schedule before long. On weekends it's different obviously though. We have almost every single Saturday completely off and on Sunday we have a required church service in the morning with nicer meals (lunch and dinner) and usually some kind of service later in the evening.

So Bodenseehof is definitely a 100% full time kind of thing, but when you're here it really is the only way to go. You are all together all the time because the facilities triple as your school, home, and church. There is no running away. No hiding. No getting lost. No being left alone. No being overlooked.

Perfect and terrible at the same time...

Die Sonne sheint noch. -Sophie Scholl

I have good news!!! Today, the sun rose and started to shine and I can officially say that I am ready to shine with it. The past few days have been really hard for me what with being tired and sick and lonely and whatnot, but God has done a mighty work. I got out of bed this morning and did not feel tired, but refreshed. Was starving (this is a good sign, don't worry!), not indifferent about meals. Was chatty, not quiet and loner-ish. My adventurous and fulfilling life at Bibelschule (Bible school) in Germany has officially begun!

Back In the Saddle...

I arrived here at the school, but it was definitely a harder trip than it had to be. I almost missed my connect from Philly to München (ah! üäö!!!) and then when I got there, my luggage didn't. So I have been living without baggage for two days. Then I got on the S-Bahn to München Hauptbahnhof on an ICE train. Alone. I was impressed with myself, but rather lonely. Then I sat by some really nice old German men. When I got off to make it to my connect, however, I found out that my train was like, an hour late. So I asked someone (a German, who should have known the train system) which one to connect with and they told me the wrong one! Lame. So now I was in some weird little hodunk train station in Germany, already an hour and a half behind schedule and with no idea where to go. I asked another person then and they told me ANOTHER wrong train. Thanks dude. So I was on one late train, two wrong trains, and 2.5 hours late before I finally arrived in Lindau, the city where I was supposed to meet my new buddy Jennifer. Before I could get to the hotel, however I had to find a taxi in a deserted part of town with a freshly-dead cellphone. That was an adventure. Basically I just started walking and hopedHopedHOPED that I would run into someone who knew what they were talking about. Eventually I ran into a taxi man (slash car :-) ) but then the ride to the hotel costed more Euros than I actually had. I must have looked like I was about to die or something though because the driver said he would do it for whatever I had. Vielen dank Herr Taxidriver! So after a lovely taxi ride across town, I finally made it to Jennifer and our hotel. Gottseidank.

Today went much more smoothly though! I woke up nice and refreshed, ate a nice continental breakfast of German fare (bread, cheese, fruit), and showered! (After my 36-hour day, this was much-needed) Then we hopped on a taxi, a train, and a bus, and were picked up at the bushaltestelle (bus stop) by some Bodenseehof people! Yay!

I have officially been at school for 3 hours and am very comfortable, if only slightly tired. I am in a room with only 4 girls instead of 10 (woohoo! this will be VERY beneficial to Lorraine's sleep habits!) but have only met one of my roommates so far...her name is Elisabeth (Lizzy) and she is from Austria and she is lovely! We seem to get along really well so far...introverted, love to laugh, are dreading all the school work we are about to start...y'know...so so far everything is good!

I love you all and miss you too!!!!!!!

P.S. I'll post a picture or something as soon as I take one :-)

This is where the Germany blogs begin...if you are looking for pictures of my trip for the month of July, go to where the pictures start and work your way back up the page.

Another outing our group went on was to a place called Salzbergwerk. It was a salt mine and before we were allowed to go down inside the mine, everyone had to put on these ridiculously attractive jumpsuits :-) I must say, I felt like the 8th dwarf.

At another Biergarten, but this time near the salt mine where there was a very lovely little lake called Koenigsee.

Each year at the end of the school year, Ernst Mach holds what is called Sommerfest (Summer Fest) for all of the students and their families. There is music and dancing and all kinds of foods, drinks, and desserts and is pretty much just an all-around good time. We don't really do school things like this unless you count band barbecues or something...so I thought it was really fun! The highlight for me was that some German guys in my exchange group had formed a band and were allowed to play a set. I expected them to bust out something more traditionally German (techno, anyone?) but then they started playing and it was JACK JOHNSON!!! With a cute German accent!!!! Needless to say, it made my year.

More Sommerfest pictures...with my crazy Britt and Coleman friends :-)

Kathrin didn't tell me, but Sommerfest continued LATE into the night...CRAZY late into the night...emphasis on the crazy!

Laura, Laura, and I waiting at a bus stop before our tour of Munich...

A rather famous location in Munich called Karlsplatz...all of the really famous places in the city are kind of right next to each other so you can walk between them all...the historic district, the main shopping place, the food market, everything. It's my favorite part of the city!

LoveloveLOVE this picture. Another one of the famous Muenchen Loewen (Munich Lions), this guy is one of two standing guard over a major historic Stadttor (City gate)...the eyes get me every time.

We had kind of bad luck with rain, but it was ok cause this time I was prepared with my umbrella!

The entire group (Deutsche und Amis...Germans and Americans) went on an outing to Schloss Neuschwanstein, Neuschwanstein Castle. If you don't quite recognize that name, it is the castle that Walt Disney modeled his fairytale castle from. Even with the lousy weather, it was still really crazy to see. Inside it was even more dramatic and glamorous because Koenig Ludwig (King Ludwig), the builder and primary inhabitant of the castle, was extremely eccentric and was actually even insane. (No really. Clinically insane.) He had FAR too much money to know what to do with and went all out on the castle...crazy art, huge tapestries, ornate carvings, with jewel tones throughout. Whoa.

Another example of art-that-comes-out-of-the-wall...

Britt, Laura, Laura, and I playing "The Ha Game." If you've never heard of it, ask a twelve year old girl :-)

This is my "OH MY GOD I'M IN GERMANY!" face. I had just spent approximately 20 hours in transit and had finally made it through the final gate, with Kathrin and her dad waiting for me.

Wow, talk about beautiful sunsets. This was taken at Bugasee, a little man-made lake in Haar. It's pretty small, but totally perfect to spend an afternoon laying around in the sun and swimming. The lake was created a few years ago because Munich hosted a really famous garden show (wow! that rhymed!) and now it is maintained by the city so the people who live in Haar can enjoy it.

This is something I actually find REALLY cool...it's a monument located right outside Ludwig Maximillian's University, where die Geschwister Scholl (the Scholl siblings) attended. The Scholl siblings were two of the very few students, as well as some of the youngest, who decided to take a stand against Hitler and the Nazi regime. What they did in order to fight was begin what came to be known as Die Weise Rose, or, The White Rose, in English. Members wrote anti-Hitler pamphlets and passed them out all over the city. When the Gestappo finally caught onto the Scholls, both were tried and charged to be executed by guillotine. Hans Scholl was executed before his sister, Sophie, but at the last minute before her execution, Sophie Scholl gathered as many pamphlets as she could and threw them all over the square in front of the university in the hopes that people would pick them up and see the truth. How cool is that??!