The Lou is in Roma!

I CANNOT believe I am Rome! I feel as though I am in a dream! If you were to ask me my whole life where I would most want to visit in the entire world, it would have always been Rome, or Athens. But I'm in Rome! AHHHHHHHH!
But yes, enough of the mini freak-out. We left Florence yesterday morning (and with our luck) it was DOWNPOURING when we had to lug all of our stuff to the train station to catch a train at 6:30 in the morning. Needless to say, that day walking around Rome was quite a long one. Our hostel is great, and we even have 30 minutes of free internet a day! So I may be doing more than one blog post while I'm here. So far, yesterday and today, I've seen the Colosseum midday and at night, the forum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Arch of Titus, the Piazza Navona, the steps in Roman Holiday (can't think of the name at the moment) and lots of palaces and fountains and bridges and TONS of Roman statues. Holy cow, everything is so amazing here, I am in heaven on earth! Tomorrow is my birthday, and tomorrow we are going to Vatican city during the day, and watching the sun set at the Trevi Fountain, and then going out to eat a good meal in celebration :) It will be a fabulous day! It has been rainy, it rained a bit yesterday, and it thunderstormed today, especially this morning! We tried to make it to church, but we got as far as one metro stop away, but then when we went to exchange lines, we found out that trains don't go to that stop on sunday, except once every hour. It was about 11 around that time, and sacrament meeting started at 11:20 and the train would have come at 11:45. I was all for walking but then it started POURING, so we didn't go :( Bummer. We'll have to plan better if we want to go to church in Paris. Well, that's all for now, I will write more and hopefully post pictures next post (of Rome so far, and probably some from Florence) Ciao!

Me and the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine! Blurry picture, but don't worry, I've got more


Only in Rome will you find a random broken ancient column jutting out of the ground- I love it.


Pretty pretty flowers...



Arch of Constantine, again- but I still love it just as much!


Inside the Colosseum! When I first walked in I could hear a chorus of angels singing!... Or maybe that was just my imagination

The Lou is in Florence!

Hello everyone! Quick update on Florence:
We arrived alright and the city is great! Lots to see, small walking distance. We toured the city yesterday and today we saw the David. Oh my it is amazing! Tomorrow we are going to another art gallery then heading across the river to some supposedly gorgeous parks to watch the sunset. Hopefully it's good weather tomorrow, the bad weather kind of followed us because it poured today/was cloudy for the most part of the day. I had to buy a 2 euro umbrella cause I lost mine in Germany and I didn't think I'd need another one, and I was wrong! After the first downpour one of the spokes broke off the fabric. So it still works, but darn that cheap umbrella! After tomorrow we're off to Roma! Sorry this update is so short, but the internet is quite expensive here. I'll say more about Florence when I get home, which isn't too much longer! Love you and miss you all! :)

Me and Em, obviously not ready for the picture


Beautiful sunset in Florence!


Pan-o-rama


Pretty awesome chapel in Florence. It's so big!

The Lou is in Venice!

Bonjourno everyone!
Today is our last day in Venice, and it has been GORGEOUS! Surprisingly, its been rainy lately. The first day we wandered around mostly, and it started out sunny, but then we got caught in a downpour. It was so much fun because it was a warm rain, so we went puddle jumping! Our hostel is beautiful, looking out over the canal, and its got nice beds, our own bathroom and everything. The canal here is amazing! All the colors of the city with boats going every which way on the canal is literally picture perfect. Ive been taking lots of pictures! The second day was the only sunny day, and we walked to St. Marks Cathedral, which I learned about in Art History, so it was exciting to visit there. Today we went to some Islands, but unfortunately it has been rainy and cold all day, so we havent been too enthusiastic to walk around. Instead we tried to take the bus/boats to where we wanted to go, and wound up getting on wrong boats at every stop. We ended up going to the same 2 stops 6 times! We were probably on a boat for at least 4 hours today. It was quite frustrating!
Tomorrow we leave for Florence, and I will make a post there and add pictures. Sorry I couldnt attach any to this post but I forgot my camera cord at the hostel. I will write more there! Ciao!

Wow. This post was all over the place. Sorry about that as well.









These are the only pictures they would let me upload, bad connection or something. Not the best ones, but still, pictures?

The Lou is not partial to any country.

Oh yeah! World cup time! I figured I should get into while I'm in Europe. Who is everyone cheering for?

Not that I'm totally indecisive, but I think I'll be cheering for Italy in Italy, Spain in Spain, and France in France. Otherwise my safety would be in danger...
But I think the U.S. actually have a shot this year! Britain is the only other tough team in our region/conference. Let's go U.S. of A!

The Lou is leaving Essen!

Wow, I can't believe the program is already over! Today is the last full day in Essen, and everyone is packing to leave tomorrow. It is quite sad! There are so many (strange) customs about Germany that I've gotten used to seeing!:
1. Lack of public bathrooms. And when there is one you have to pay to use it.
2. Wedding rings are worn on the right hand. I don't wear one, but still, strange.
3. There is music everywhere! You walk down the street and you will pass street performers playing violins, saxophones, accordians, guitars, all sorts of music and it just adds to the atmosphere.
4. All the change! There are 1 cent peices, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 euro, and 2 euro. So many coins to keep track of!
5. You don't tip. This is considered offensive if you give them money for the sake of giving them money. Instead you have to sneak it in, like if the total is 9.80, you give them a 10 and say to keep the change, like it is an inconvinience for you to get change back.
6. Ice cream and chocolate are a seperate food group that must be consumed daily.
7. Beer is cheaper than water here.
8. I have inhaled more secondhand smoke here in my 5 and a half weeks than my entire lifetime. Everyone smokes, even 12 year old boys.
9. Dogs can go anywhere people do, and everyone has a dog!
10. Stores close at 6, there is nothing to do but to go to bars and pubs after that time.
11. No running in the cemeteries. People really respect the dead here. Oh, but biking is okay.
12. Lots more people bike than the US. Like, 30 percent of the people at least!
13. You have to bring your own bag to the grocery store, if you forget, you can purchase a plastic bag. I will never get used to this!
14. There is an H&M on nearly every block (No exaggeration- I counted 4 in a 5 block radius) And everyone shops there! From Goth's to babies to old people. Everyone.
15. PDA is quite common here, even for 80 year olds making out under a tree... Gross.
Despite everything, I will miss living in Essen, but I'm also ready to move on. Here are a few photos of things around Essen-Steele that I used/went to daily.

The Rewe! The local grocery store we did all of our shopping at.


Ah the grend, such a beautiful building. We lived on the top floor and ate at the Spanish restaurant at the bottom.


The street view from my ledge during a rainstorm.


The street view from my ledge in the other direction, including the cathedral that rang it's bells every hour. Everywhere you walked in Steele you could see it, so pretty!


My favorite ledge, how I will miss it!

Essen (cont.)

Stupid bus that sounds like a semi when it drives by. Not to mention it runs 24/7. I hate this bus.


Hey! H&M took all my money!


The U-Bahn in the main city of Essen. U-bahn = Underground Bus.


Getting on the S-Bahn at the main train station in Essen.


Walkway to the train station in Essen-Steele.


Well that is all for now, I will post again when I'm in Italy! I learned some Italian words/phrases from a girl in the program who went to Italy on a mission. So I feel quite prepared for Italy. So, Ciao for now!

A few photos

Here are few photos of the place I've been so far. Mostly just small outlying towns around Essen. Enjoy!

Werden