reisen -- to travel
I thought it might be easier to do these blog updates in shorter spurts, so we'll start with a few trips.
Way back in the last week of March, my exchange program took a day trip to Wittenberg, from where Martin Luther came. There, we saw the house where he lived (it was HUGE! and is now a museum), the cathedral in the city, and toured the old part of the city. It was fun to see small town Germany again after being away from Schwäbisch Hall.
A few days later, Michael, Chris, and I left Germany and took our first low-budget flight to Barcelona! There, we met up with Michael's girlfriend Kara and our friend Kaitlyn who are studying abroad in Ireland and their friends Brandy and Annemarie who are studying abroad in Rome. We got into Barcelona fairly late and wandered around a little bit before finding our hostel. The directions we had told us to leave the subway and "climb up the mountain" to reach our hostel. They weren't kidding. We were a little skeptical of our hostel at first, but by the end of the trip we really loved it. It was in a national park a little north of the city. The balcony where we ate our (at-no-extra-cost) breakfast overlooked the mountains. The weather was beautiful for our entire trip. We took a free walking tour, saw Gaudi's Sangrada Familia, visited the Picasso Museum, wandered up a mountain to Montjuic Castle, and spent a lot of time just laying out on the beach (which we learned was man-made for the 1992 Olympics from Egyptian sand). We also ate cheap mangos and bread-and-cheese sandwhiches and drank cheap sangria.
It was so much fun to meet up with friends from Notre Dame and just take a few days to relax in the sun! Unfortunately I also experienced another side of Barcelona for which they are infamous -- petty theft. The last day on the beach, a few hours before our flight, my purse got stolen. Luckily my passport was not in it, and also on the bright side, Michael and I got to ride in a cop car from one police station to another (how many people can say they've done that?!). It did cause major headaches for a few weeks, and I also no longer have my camera or the pictures that I took there (so any pictures I've posted have been from friends). As crazy and stressful as it was, I suppose it was a great learning experience (watch your purse, even when you think it's safe; never put all of your credit/debit cards and your cash in the same place; you can live for 2 weeks without credit/debit cards; Mom will do anything in her power to help you, even wake up at 3am to call banks and Western Union). Hopefully an experience that I will never have to deal with again, however.
The week I got back, I moved out of my host family's house and into a new building. I was sad to say bye to my host family, but luckily we have stayed in great contact! I was in a single room for a short time before I decided to move into more apartment style housing. I now live in an apartment with 6 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a common room. The great part is that my roommates and I all speak german with one another, so I'm getting lots of contact with the language every day!! Two are from Baden-Württenberg, one from Saxony, one from Bavaria, and one from Italy.
It's in a studentendorf which means student village. (If you've seen The Reader with Kate Winslet, part of the film was filmed here!) It's a collection of buildings with apartments and single rooms and filled with students (many of them being international students). Hilary, Maureen, Maria, and Mark all live in other buildings on our "campus" which has been really nice because we can cook and watch our new favorite TV show -- How I Met Your Mother -- together! Its a little further away from the city center, but Berlin in general is very spread out, so no matter where you live there will always be some sort of commute. We're very close to our univeristy. It's also in the former American sector of Berlin and therefore has a strong US-Suburban feel. And the best part is that there are at least 3 lakes very close to us in which we can swim and around which we can run! Not to mention, I can see Aldi out my window.
Anyway, as you can see, life has been a little crazy lately. And that was only the end of March/beginning of April!
More to come soon!
Liebe,
Emma
Way back in the last week of March, my exchange program took a day trip to Wittenberg, from where Martin Luther came. There, we saw the house where he lived (it was HUGE! and is now a museum), the cathedral in the city, and toured the old part of the city. It was fun to see small town Germany again after being away from Schwäbisch Hall.
A few days later, Michael, Chris, and I left Germany and took our first low-budget flight to Barcelona! There, we met up with Michael's girlfriend Kara and our friend Kaitlyn who are studying abroad in Ireland and their friends Brandy and Annemarie who are studying abroad in Rome. We got into Barcelona fairly late and wandered around a little bit before finding our hostel. The directions we had told us to leave the subway and "climb up the mountain" to reach our hostel. They weren't kidding. We were a little skeptical of our hostel at first, but by the end of the trip we really loved it. It was in a national park a little north of the city. The balcony where we ate our (at-no-extra-cost) breakfast overlooked the mountains. The weather was beautiful for our entire trip. We took a free walking tour, saw Gaudi's Sangrada Familia, visited the Picasso Museum, wandered up a mountain to Montjuic Castle, and spent a lot of time just laying out on the beach (which we learned was man-made for the 1992 Olympics from Egyptian sand). We also ate cheap mangos and bread-and-cheese sandwhiches and drank cheap sangria.
It was so much fun to meet up with friends from Notre Dame and just take a few days to relax in the sun! Unfortunately I also experienced another side of Barcelona for which they are infamous -- petty theft. The last day on the beach, a few hours before our flight, my purse got stolen. Luckily my passport was not in it, and also on the bright side, Michael and I got to ride in a cop car from one police station to another (how many people can say they've done that?!). It did cause major headaches for a few weeks, and I also no longer have my camera or the pictures that I took there (so any pictures I've posted have been from friends). As crazy and stressful as it was, I suppose it was a great learning experience (watch your purse, even when you think it's safe; never put all of your credit/debit cards and your cash in the same place; you can live for 2 weeks without credit/debit cards; Mom will do anything in her power to help you, even wake up at 3am to call banks and Western Union). Hopefully an experience that I will never have to deal with again, however.
The week I got back, I moved out of my host family's house and into a new building. I was sad to say bye to my host family, but luckily we have stayed in great contact! I was in a single room for a short time before I decided to move into more apartment style housing. I now live in an apartment with 6 bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a common room. The great part is that my roommates and I all speak german with one another, so I'm getting lots of contact with the language every day!! Two are from Baden-Württenberg, one from Saxony, one from Bavaria, and one from Italy.
It's in a studentendorf which means student village. (If you've seen The Reader with Kate Winslet, part of the film was filmed here!) It's a collection of buildings with apartments and single rooms and filled with students (many of them being international students). Hilary, Maureen, Maria, and Mark all live in other buildings on our "campus" which has been really nice because we can cook and watch our new favorite TV show -- How I Met Your Mother -- together! Its a little further away from the city center, but Berlin in general is very spread out, so no matter where you live there will always be some sort of commute. We're very close to our univeristy. It's also in the former American sector of Berlin and therefore has a strong US-Suburban feel. And the best part is that there are at least 3 lakes very close to us in which we can swim and around which we can run! Not to mention, I can see Aldi out my window.
Anyway, as you can see, life has been a little crazy lately. And that was only the end of March/beginning of April!
More to come soon!
Liebe,
Emma
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