Adventures

So I have come to several realizations over the course of my study abroad. One is that I am just as bad at keeping my blog updated as I am at writing in my journal. So I figured I would make up for it and post several pictures at once. I decided to pick a picture from each of the cities I have visited outside of Berlin.

First up is Stettin, Poland. It is right over the border and is a beautiful city. My aunt Marzena grew up there. Sadly, the weather did not cooperate. It was VERY rainy and VERY cold. We survived and enjoyed looking at the old buildings.Next up is Lübeck in Northern Germany by the sea. It was the capital of the Hanseatic League. Don't bother asking me what that is, just go look it up on wikipedia. They do a better job of explaining it. Anways, we looked at a bunch of old buildings. Walked through this old gate that was leaning to one side. Later, my friends and I found a playground, so we played on it. It was definitely way fun, and of course, it rained for the first part of the day.
So Lübeck was on a Saturday, and the next Monday we visited Potsdam, which is right below Berlin. We had Monday off because there was a random German holiday that no one could tell me why we had off. Anyways, we saw a bunch of palaces, but we didn't go in them because we are poor college students (who have enough money to go to Europe, oh the irony). Of course, it rained then too (sensing a pattern yet?). We still had fun walking through the giant park and finding all the random little palaces.
Then came Prague. i was so excited to revisit one of my favorite cities. The food is amazing! The money is very cool-looking but very confusing. I felt rich because everything I was buying was in the hundreds. I definitely grew closer to the girls on the trip. My favorite part was when we found this little playground on top of a hill overlooking Prague, while we were on our way up to what looks like a miniature Eiffel Tower (only 299 steps!).
Dr. Kelling, my professor, is the most wonderful man. He took us all to Schwerin, his hometown, one Saturday. We all loved the trip because he was so excited to show us everything. We all got to go on a boat ride and go through the palace. It was Schwerin's 800th birthday (I think all I know is that it is really old) so there was a festival going on.
Last but not least is Milan, Italy! So we found some really cheap flights and a really cheap hostel, and the result was that 6 of us flew to Milan for the weekend. I love Italians. They are way nice. So our first night we basically got completely lost finding our way back to the hostel. So we asked the bus driver if we were going the right direction. He didn't speak very much English. Luckily, a guy on the bus translated for us. We were on the wrong bus, so they told us where to go. We get off and are totally confused, but we just cross the street and then try to figure out where the other bus stop is. We hear a noise and turn around to find most of the people on the bus with their windows opening pointing us in the right direction. We felt like we belonged in a movie scene. Anyways, that was a long story. Basically, Milan was wonderful and full of delicious food, shopping, and gelato!

Ode to Juice

Since I love juice so much, I figured I would write a little post about the reasons juice is amazing and be held in high regard by all who drink of it.
*note: I am not a poetry writer. This will not make sense and probably breaks most rules for poetry and grammar. That being said, enjoy my nonsensicalness.

Juice, I adore you.
I adore your sweet taste.
I adore your orange appearance,
and also when you appear reddish.
You give me life.
Juice is my reason for living.
You have my undying gratitude,
for the energy you provide.
Juice, Juice, I wish to place you on a pedestal,
for all to know of your greatness.

I know what you are thinking. Lauren is a genius and deserves some sort of literary prize. Well, I accept it whatever it is. Now I shall come to the sad fact that I do not drink a lot of juice in Berlin. Though, I had a real smoothie the other day (usually the German-style smoothie is the same consistency of juice).

Anyways, I have failed to keep my blog updated, which is really no surprise to me. Since I last posted I have been to Poland, Lübeck, Potsdam, Prague, and Schwerin. Let me tell you about them. Wait, there is too much, let me sum up. The first four places it rained. Schwerin was sunny. Then end. If I tried to sum up all the places I would be writing for days. Instead I shall post a blog with pictures in the near future. Now I am off to my Sunday nap.

Random Realizations

So I have come to realize that most places have highly unusual things that define them. Take Berlin. There is graffiti everywhere in the most random places. I have never seen so much graffiti in my life. It's not just the graffiti; it's the fact that it is in random places. Take a park. We walked through a gorgeous park and what was there on the wall. That's right. Graffiti. I'll take some pics and put them up eventually. Of course just about everywhere there is graffiti.

Another thing is rain. I thought it rained a lot in Alabama, but Berlin has it beat. Kinda. It's not like Alabama rain, but more like a continuous drizzle. Unlike Alabama there is never sun at the same time it rains. Of course that probably doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me since I know both places. It's like the generic Utah rain, but it lasts longer. . .like all day, or all week really.

Europeans don't have to make decisions. They automatically know what they want. A sure sign of an Ausländer (foreigner) is someone who actually has to think about what they are buying. It continues to baffle people when we don't make our decision the minute we step in the place about what we want to eat. Take the Turkish guy at the bakery. We said we needed a minute and it took him several minutes to figure out we actually had no clue what we wanted. We just knew we wanted pastries. It was actually quite entertaining.

I feel like I'm complaining, but really I'm just pointing out all the random things I have realized in the past five days in Berlin. Hopefully this was somewhat entertaining. I have more things that have shocked me, but I can't think of them right now as it is late. I should be in bed, but you know me and procrastination are best friends.

Deutschland!!!

I have officially made it to Berlin and my apartment for the next two months!! Nothing too exciting yet. I stayed in my first hostel. That was definitely interesting. It was a bit out of the way, which we didn't exactly realize until we got here. I stayed there with a friend, Melissa Seipel. We spent yesterday, Saturday, finding a few places, like our school, and scoping out our new apartments. Basically we were trying to stay awake, which we did. This morning we took a combination of the U-Bahn and the buses to get to our apartments. Not the most fun with two suitcases, but we survived, along with our luggage. I know this isn't really entertaining this time, but I'm tired. I still haven't bought German chocolate, I know shocker! Soon I will buy a supply for a week or two. . .you know how fast I go through chocolate. Here's my tip for travelling. Don't travel with a cold. Your ears will be plugged. Mine were and still are, which could be problematic eventually. Oh well. Tschüss!!!

I capitulated

So I finally gave in and made a blog, since Marissa and Danae have been bothering me about it forever and ever. Apparently they think my life and mind are entertaining. Let's see what I can say. I'm currently sitting at Marissa and Tony's. We just finished playing games and eating dessert. Which is my favorite thing ever after books and shoes and dancing and. . .okay I have a lot of favorite things, but dessert is up there in the top twenty. So this week is finals. I might die. And I'm moving to Fiji after I get back from Germany, despite what everyone says. Oh, and while I'm declaring things I shall say that I am also going to live in a castle one day. So really this post has absolutely no subject besides whatever is coming to mind. Which is really how my brain operates some days. Though I am always right and logical in my declarations, just for the record. So now that I am running out of topics, I'm going to go pretend to be productive.