Mannheim and more...

Imagine trying to do your washing here.... I had to ask for help..... Annie and I were being silly...

There are sooo many setting to choose from if you use the tumble dryer!!

I FINALLY met my penpal. We have been writing for about 9 years now.. and we have never met each other. We are in Mannheim. I took the train (3 hours 30 min)

We had ice cream and sat by the fountain!

Mannheim, zoo and Germany game

Mannheim. Judith and I... after a long day in the sun (and at the zoo!)

Gardens at the zoo, lovely.

how pretty!

Don't worry-- this was not during the England v. Germany game.

This was when Germany versed Ghana.

Tuesday 29.6.2010

So we did our presentation this morning (8:15 AM!) and I believe the professor quite liked it! She kept saying "PRIMA!" which means (Great!) in German. It is nice to know that our work is appreciated. We did our presentation about prepositions in German and sung a few songs that we learned in America to help us remember which prepositions are which. That means one down... and more to go..... oh well. I finally have a children's book picked out for my 7-10 page essay. No more classes for the day. I am going to take my beach mat outside and lie on the grass and read for my class, tomorrow.

this past weekend!!!

This past weekend was lovely. Thursday night I just hung out with people in the Wohnheim and helped a girl with her English presentation... she did a really good job, I just had to correct a few words. Then Friday morning my host mom (Heide) from last year texted me at 8:50am to say they were about to eat breakfast and I should start heading over to their house. (They invited me to go the zoo with them.) I got to their house and ate breakfast with them. Then I played with the kids and we got ready to head over to Stuttgart to the zoo. Heide's brother was there with his wife and their 4 kids. So there were 6 kids all together! The weather was finally nice so they picked a nice day to go the zoo.
In the car Felix asked his mum when I leaving again... and she told him in about a month. He said: "Ohhhh nein!!!!" (I love those kids!) Then Judith kept asking "Warum?" (Why??) to everything.. and it reminded me of when I was a child!!
We had a good time there... it was nice seeing the kids get so excited about seeing all the animals. Felix, my host brother, kept asking me what the animals ate so I had to read the signs for him. It was good practice for me. (Mum--I think you would love to have Felix in your class at school.. he is a really good observer, quite serious at times and loves learning new things!)
I took a load of pictures of the kids and in general it was a good day! The sun was verrrry hot so we had to sit in the shade at times, especially since the kids were running around a lot. It was a very nice zoo and not too busy. They had a lovely garden that I think both Nannies and Aunty Pat would love!
OK.. just about to go into Schwaebisch Gmuend and get some food..... will write more later!


At the zoo the elephants had the German flag painted on their tails...

some picssss

They speak a dialect in Schwaebisch Gmuend and so my dictionary (that I can use when people speak the dialect to me... well I just have it as a souvenir really)

I am with my host siblings from last year.... they still remember
me and love to play.

"Let's see how many people we can fit in the telephone box!!!"

I really wanted Weetabix... and I had been trying to eat "German food" but I gave in because German food is not my favorite..........

I made this sign for the group that were at the same uni as me.. they only stayed for six weeks. I found pictures and made them a nice sign!!!

more Oslo pictures (click on them to make them bigger)

We walked down the pier a bit.. and found this place... there was an expensive restaurant to the left of me

You can see how Norwegian looks....

an "artistic" view of the harbor....

me sitting at a cafe.. it looked expensive so I was looking all "posh"

The Grand Hotel.. on top of the building it had flags from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway

some Norway pictures....

Me sitting on the wall looking out onto the harbor... note the "viking" ship in the background.

Det Kongelige Slott
(The king's castle)

Annie and I sitting in front of a castle... I like this picture because you can see the Norwegian flag in the background....

Note: it is 11PM and it is still fairly light...

about to land... but couldn't help but take a pic
of the beautiful view looking down onto Norway

Look at our room which we slept in....(the classroom)

I love Oslo, Norway!!!

I am sitting here in my I Love Oslo t-shirt. I can't believe I was there and I know that I am very fortunate that I had the opportunity to go to Oslo, Norway for the weekend!!! This city was something else and to be honest it was a breath of fresh air to get away from Germany for the weekend. I loved the fashion there... and the girls actually wear BALLET FLATS. (In Germany everyone wears trainers and I don't understand.....???! Basically, I would fit in well in Norway. I wear ballet flats all the time and the Germans always question me if my feet are cold... and my answer is always NO. lol) The men were also very well dressed and very nice looking!!! :-D
We paid 16 euros return with Ryanair-- how good is that?! We flew from Memmingen (Munich West) to a small airport about 1 hour outside of Oslo. We had to take a bus to the city center then take another bus to our youth hostel.
We arrive at our youth hostel, and then get shown to our room. When the receptionist at the youth hostel is walking us to our room he explains that this building is a school. He then unlocks our room and we notice that we are sleeping in a classroom??! There are beds stuck in this room with a chalkboard on the wall and tables stuck in the corner. Let's just say I was a bit shocked! We all had a laugh about it and then went on our merry little way to explore the city of OSLO!
We get to Oslo and we walk around a bit... we see the city hall and go in some souvenir shops. Of course, we were all starving so we decided to check out a Norwegian McDonalds. I bought a cheeseburger and fries... We then notice that there are a bunch of people gathering around the harbor and we want to check it out! There was a big concert going on, free of charge and they had some really good dancers. We walked around the harbor for a bit and took a ton of pics... I was just enjoying looking at all the boats and the lovely islands in the distance. Then we walked up to the top of the hill and noticed they had a public viewing from the England v. Algeria game and very few people were cheering for England.... but of course I was!!!!! We then walked around while it was tipping it down with rain. Of COURSE I had forgotten my umbrella at the youth hostel and had to walk around with just a fleece and no hood. Oh well... I managed to warm up when we found another McDonalds and I got a hot chocolate. We then walked around the place and went to a karaoke bar and had something to drink. Then it was about 11 PM and it was still light outside!!!! Everyone was quite tired from the whole day so we went back to the youth hostel and slept (in our classroom) til 7:00 the next day.
Saturday:
We woke up at about 7 AM to get breakfast. Once again, like the Germans, the Norwegians eat bread and "lunch meat" for breakfast. They had fish in a tube...and weird cereal... but I did see cornflakes!! They also had more normal things like eggs. Thank goodness for that! We then went to the city for the day. Our youth hostel was about 20 min ride from the center so it wasn't that bad of a ride. We just walked around... and it rained again. We saw the city center and did our own thing... we saw a castle... and therefore walked around did some shopping and took it easy. We walked up on the opera house and saw the views from the top. It was a tiring day because we woke up so early.... and we stayed in Oslo til about 11 PM and then had to wake up at 530Am on Sunday.

Nächster Halt: Schloss Weikersheim

one of the views.. after we came out of the castle, on the way to the bus.

a quick "snap" outside the castle window-- we weren't supposed
to take pictures of the inside.

The castle... Schloss Weikersheim

Der Schlossgarten-- (castle garden)

Jeanette and I-- we have been in the
same German classes for 2 years now.
(it was a bit sunny!!!)

Rothenburg ob der Taube

I thought the flowers looked nice!
One of the many streets... cute!

A cute shop... I liked the flowers coming up the side.

Do you see enough tourists yet?? It was a bit of a shame

because so many toursits were there....

Schwaebisch Gmuend at night-- this was at the Stadtfest (city fest)

Strasbourg

Hello everyone!! So on Friday I went to Strasbourg, France. It was one of the places I have been really wanting to see, for various reasons:

1. The Alsace region went back and forth between Germany and France so I wanted to see the German influences on this city. (The interesting history)
2. I wanted to practice my French.
3. It is close to Germany and we could do the trip in a day.

So this was our day: We caught the train from Schwäbisch Gmünd at 954 am and reached Strasbourg at 1334. We then jumped on the tram and got to the city center and walked around... I started recognizing some French... and reading it outloud. I was excited! Then we walked to the cathedral. It was soo breathtaking, look at the details on the picture I took! We walked around a bit inside, but it of course was filled with the senior citizens browsing at every detail. We then caught the tram to look at the European Parliament building... see the pics. We couldn't go inside but.. we could go inside the first bit. It is an open air circle and the offices are through doors...from the center. After that excitement was over we walked back along the streets and went into a few shops. Then we we walked around looking for a cafe, that was affordable. We finally found somewhere to have a drink. I ordered an ice coffee (in French) and spoke to the waiter a bit in French. I then asked for the bill. in French. We then walked around... and found a Subway restaurant.... haha... so American. We then wanted to buy some French wine-- and found a French supermarket-- we walked around there for a bit-- and looked at all the French products. A lot of the sweet things were the same as Germany. Then it was time to go back...we slowly made our way to the train station... and I bought a French GLAMOUR magazine. The train ride home was long, 4 hours. We then made it back to SG and went to the city fest they were having. We stayed til about 1 Am and then went home. We were all soooo tired. We had to wake up the next day at 7:00 AM and go to Rothenberg with the international students. Let me tell you--- that wasn't very fun-- having to wake up early. Everyone was either hung over or tired from the day before-- because most people drank waaaay too much beer at the city festival because the beer was so cheap. I was just very tired....

more pics... click on them to make them bigger!

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, it is Gothic because you can tell by looking at the ceilings; the high arches
Look at the outside--- lovely or what?! It was a lovely sight to see

1. I was fulfilling a wish to be sitting outside in a French cafe drinking coffee

2. I was thrilled to bits because I ordered my drink 'en francais' (in French).

3. The weather was lovely!

I took this pic outside the parliament building, look at how perfect the flags look!

Strasbourg, France!

I was in the middle of the EU Parliament building...in my element "Look at this place!!!"
I have learned about the EU and here I was, standing in front of the parliament building. 736 MEPs meet here. They meet here, in Strasbourg, and also in Brussels.

a little stand right by the cathedral...

First view of the city center....

The train station... yep we reached our destination!

wunderbares Wochenende!!!

I had a great weekend partly thanks to the Deutsche Bahn-- the German train system. I was lucky enough to get to Strasbourg France for 17 euros round trip!! In Germany, if you travel in groups of up to 5 people you can buy Länder Karte (state tickets). It costs 28 euros all together for 5 people. We travelled to Appenweier (close to the German and French border and then we bought a ticket for 5 euros each way... so all together... it was a cheap day out!!

I will explain more about our day when I get back from having tea with a friend in the wohnheim.....

Black Forrest Pictures....