The Lou is currently occupied.

Sorry familia! (and others) I've been very busy lately, too much so to be writing a blog post. But seeing as I'll be in Berlin for the next 4 days, I probably should get this done before I leave. Lately I've been busy from 9 in the morning till 12 at night. Every day we go out to some small town and draw and paint till about 5, return home and eat dinner, and then go out after dinner around Essen-Steele (Sh-tay-la) and then return home when it gets dusk around 9, and then work on Art History and Color Theory till around midnight (sometimes later) then it's straight to bed to only get up and do it all over again the next day!

The most recent adventures have been quite funny. A few days ago we went on a laundry adventure. Aside from looking ridiculous due to the lack of clean clothes I had (I just threw on random stuff, I had two huge bags full of laundry, so I'm sure I was quite the sight to behold walking down the street. We also got lost and ended up walking with our bags for half an hour. Then we found a laundromat that was in this weird part of town (nightclubs/indian restaurants/bars) and started washing our clothes only to find out that we didn't have enough coins for the dryer! So me and Nicole went to find someone to exchange our money with, but it soon turned into trying to find a bathroom. We avoided scary places, and places that would make us pay to pee, and so we went into this super nice red carpeted theatre! The bathroom was upstairs and we walked right through this really nice restaurant (white tie event and all, and we walked in in jeans and sneakers and hats and weird shirts...) and we get to the bathrooms, and the only labels that were on it were a 'D' and an 'H'.......

I didn't realize how much I relied on pictures on bathroom stalls. So we took a stab at the 'H' door first. Yeah, that DEFINITELY wasn't it. There were no guys in there, but once we saw the urinals we knew that wasn't it. So after choosing the correct bathroom we went to a tanning salon to exchange our money, finished our laundry, and got on a train that (conviniently) was right next to the laundromat (wished we would have known that to begin with, but, we didn't) and got on the train. There were some guys on the train playing guitar and a didgeridoo and singing. We struck up a conversation and they asked what part of America we were from, and we said 'Utah' and their response was 'OHHH! UTAH! Where the Amish people are!!' ha ha ha ha ha ha! Needless to say, we died laughing. Then we went home.

So yesterday we went to a steel refinery that was turned into a park in Duisburg. It was so cool! The toxic gas holders/chambers were turned into a diving tank, and the barracks were turned into a rock climbing gym, and there was a childrens park with an awesome slide, and you could climb up on the tallest tower! So anyway, I sat down to paint, and after about 10 minutes, these German kids came up behind me to watch me paint. So I turned around and started to paint them. After a while they started asking me a question in German, and I didn't understand, so I called my teacher over, and he interpreted for them and they were asking if they could paint also. So I lent them my paper and paintbrushes and paints, and they painted and chatted. We couldn't really communicate, but I found out their names (Niklas, Chelsea, and Shirin) and they lived in Germany and they could count to 30 in English (they were quite proud of this) and I tried to count to 20 and they laughed at me and helped me out past 15. I told them I was an art student. And I told them I spoke english and they were like 'from England?' and I said nine and then they said 'from Africa?' and I said 'America' and they said 'is that right below England?' and I laughed and told them nope. And they asked where my parents were and I told them they were at home in America. And just random fun stuff like that. They stayed and painted for like an hour and a half! So after we were all done, I took pictures with them! Then we left, so I said goodbye to them! It was a really fun day. One of my favorites here!

So those are my most recent adventures, but now I have to go to bed. I will write again this weekend after Berlin. Tschus! Liebe euch alle!
-Lauren

Shirin, Niklas, Me, and Chelsea

Awesome Steel Refinery!

5/15/2010 20:44

Guten nacht! I never know what to write in these here posts...
So for the past few days we have been doing lots of traveling to small cities outside of Essen for some drawing and painting! 2 days ago we went to a place called Werden which was full of cool old buildings, and a 1200 year old cathedral! Yesterday we went to Kettwig, which had a beautiful river and awesome bridges and it was all so green everywhere you looked (even in the middle of the railroad tracks! It looks so overgrown it doesn't look like its ever used, but it gets used multiple times a day! But that's just what it looks like) I love it. I've gotten some good paintings, and some not good paintings. I just need to keep puttin' 'em out and hopefully I'll get more good ones than bad ones! It has been cloudy and rainy every day, but today the sun was out for a while! But it was windy, so it wasn't so warm. I have gotten lots of sun though, so I need to pull out the sunscreen! Today we went to a museum in the main city of Dusseldorf, and it was an amazing building! It used to be a parliment/government building that they transformed into a museum, so it was very big with awesome marble staircases and a sky roof, and coolness! They had paintings by Bonnard, Picasso, Mondrian, and lots of other big names. It was a contemporary art museum, so it had some weird sculptures and art and installations in it (of course) but it was very enjoyable. So that was class for today.
I'm starting to learn how to pronounce letters and words and such in German, so hopefully I will be able to pronounce words correctly, even if I don't understand it all. I'm getting to the point where I can understand somewhat what people are saying to me. Even if they say it very quickly. Usually it's 'do you speak German?' but also when the ladies at the cash registers tell me the total, I can pick out numbers and such. I don't know, I just am understanding more, though its hard to explain.
Lots of funny things happen to me each day, usually because I either don't speak English, or because I do. Like tonight me and Emily ran to the market by our haus and we were talking in the checkout line, and the guy behind us was like 'where are you from?' because he heard us speaking English. We told him America and he was very excited to hear we were here for like 5 weeks. He started telling us about how he is from Sri Lanka, and he's lived here in Essen for like 25 years, and his 2 children were learning a bit of English, and he was showing us pictures of them and such. Next thing we know he was telling us that we should come over to his house and teach his children English and he would pay us! We said we were busy with school, but we'd think about it. So he wrote down his number and address on a receipt (he even payed for Emily's orange juice box that was .97 €!) and he seems like a super nice guy, but I think I may just turn over his number and stuff to the missionaries, and see if there is anything companionships that teach English classes or anything? I don't know, but it was just a funny story and random things like that happen to us every day.
Tomorrow we are going to church- Yay! I haven't been in 2 weeks due to traveling, so I'm very excited :) And it will be nice to just have a down day where we don't have to be anywhere or do anything. A day of rest, hallelujah!
Well that is all for now, I will write more in another few days, and hopefully I will be able to attach pictures if my package gets here! Tschus!
-Lauren

5/11/2010 19:00

Guten tag! Today was the first day of classes and it was completely boring! So here is the usual schedule:
9-12 Morning class
12-14 Lunch break
14-17 Afternoon class
18:30 Dinner
The classes are in random order, it's just one of the following:
Color Theory, Drawing, Painting, or Art History.
I am very excited for my Drawing and Painting courses, I already bought art supplies. Unfortunately today and yesterday we've met in a seminar meeting room in the same building as we're staying in, and It's been nothing but lectures. I took a cat nap during Art History today, whoops. So my classes like Art History and Color Theory will take place in seminar rooms in our building (called 'The Grend') but for Painting and Drawing we will always be out on locations, random locations. Dinner every evening Montag-Freitag is at an Italian restaurant located on the ground floor of The Grend.
So The Grend is very nice. It is in the top floor of an old school house. The bottom floor is the restaurant, the 2nd level is a theatre where some bands will be performing sometime. They sometimes bring in semi-popular US bands. I have yet to hear of anyone coming. So the Gastehaus we're in is comprised of a kitchen (minus a microwave) a lounge/dining room area? 2 bathrooms (one for the 2 males that are here, and the other for the 15 girls) and then 5 bedrooms that fit 4 people in each. Each of us have a window with an amazing view of the city, and a ledge that overlooks the street below that is fun to sit on. But it's like, 1 and a half foot of a ledge, so its a bit scary. But scary fun! The main market is a 2 minute walk from our haus, and the train station to the main part of the city is a 5 minute walk. On the train, the main part of Essen is a 5 minute train ride as well. So everything is in close proximity.
The weather has been nothing but cloudy the WHOLE time I've been in Europe. There was blue skies for an hour or so once in Edinburgh and once in Inverness. It rained today for a bit. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same. I went to the market yesterday and bought food. I'm so glad I was able to find peanut butter that (I thought) wasn't supposed to exist outside the US!
I've learned a lot more German words/phrases! Among some are:
"Good morning!" (Goo-tin Morgan)
"Do you speak English?"
"No, I understand English"
"I am American"
"I want"
"Thank you" (Dank-a-shoen)
"Please" (Bit-ta-shen
"Excuse me"
and "How much" (Vee Feel)
Not bad for two days eh?
So unfortunately I caught a bit of a cold. It must have been all that traveling around. It's going by quickly though and so far it has just been a stuffy nose! 2 nights ago I had a headache, and I woke up with a sore through that left by the afternoon. Then last night my nose became incredibly stuffy. This morning I woke up completely stuffed, and now, it is running like a fountain. That means I should be getting better, right? I feel completely fine, it is just my nose that makes me sound sick.
Well that is all for now. Hopefully this will satisfy Jordan & Rachel for a while. Tschus! (Choo-se)

The Lou is in Deutschland!

Hello from Germany!
I arrived in Essen last night safe and sound. Here are some quick updates because I've almost reached the 1 hour internet limit at the internet cafe I'm at:
1. It is so nice to be able to unpack and not live out of a suitcase!
2. The house we are staying at is lovely, and I can sit on the roof outside my room! Fun!
3. I already know how to count to 10 in German, and order an ice cream scoop!
4. The city we are in is called Essen-Steele, a small part of Essen.
5. To give someone money at a store you put it in a tray and they take the money and put your change back in the tray. This is because they don't like to touch other people.
6. German keyboards are very weird! The 'Z' key is where the 'Y' key is supposed to be and vice versa! I have yet to locate the @ symbol on the keyboard, and the enter key is cut in half to make way for these keys: Ö & Ä. Whatever.
7. Classes start today when the professor gets in at 2, and we're just taking a tour of the city for the first day.

Sorry for the short update! I will write more another day. Love zou all!

The Lou is in London!

Hello mates! I am currently in London sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, using a (seemingly) free computer... Anyway! For the past two days I've been all over London. We arrived late Thursday night and immediately went to the hostel. It was a very nice hostel! The showers were actually hot, though we had to keep pushing a button every 3 seconds so the water would stay on... but no other complaints! Friday we woke up bright and early and bought tickets for a Big Bus Tour. It was freezing cold sitting on the top, and we only went past a few sites before we got off at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. The pass we bought was an all day bus pass, unfortunately we walked to most everything so it was a huge waste of money. Gr. But after Buckingham we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was full of cool statues from Italy, early Europe, Asia, etc... A lot of them were replicas and casting, which kind of sucked, but we'll be seeing the real ones soon in Rome! :) So that museum was free. After that we walked through Hyde Park/Kensington Palace Gardens. It was SO SO beautiful there. It is the park that is in Finding Neverland. It is gorgeous, and we spent about 3 and half hours there. Sketching/watching birds at the ponds/walking around/visiting the Peter Pan statue, really there is a lot to do there. After that we went to Kensington Palace, then H&M, and back to the hostel. Friday morning we went to a Market along Portobello Road (road near where Nottinghill was filmed) and the market was so much fun! All sorts of shops, pastry stands, fruit stands, lots of stuff! I bought some cool things :) Can't wait to show you when I get home! Yes Megan, we went to the Travel Bookshop that was in the movie. So that took up the whole morning. After that we went to Big Ben/Westminster Abbey, and we went inside Westminster. It was gorgeous, well worth the money, but no pictures were allowed :( I've got a funny story from there: I was sketching William Shakespeare's statue in the Poets Corner when a tour group came by and the guide was talking about his statue. As he was passing by me to leave the tour guide was like "And here is someone sketching the statue- very nice drawing." So because he said that, every person in the group proceeding to come look at my drawing, and I had to say about a million thank-you's to everyone because they all complimented my drawing. We were leaving before I could finish my drawing and this worker at the abbey was like "You can stay for another hour and finish!" and I said "Oh but my friends are leaving" he said "Oh then take a picture and finish later!" I said "But pictures aren't allowed" he said "Oh I'll allow it" But I didn't end up taking the opportunity, I felt kind of silly. But I wish I had! Danggit. So after the abbey we were getting pretty tired so we skipped St. Paul's and the Tower Bridge and such, but we had to go to H&M to do some returns, then to the hostel! We did laundry last night and left this morning at 6!
Well now they are telling me that we are boarding! (Good timing.) So I will talk to all of you later!

Oh and Mom:
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! :) :) :) I Love you!!

Oh, hi, hello. Sorry about that.

Sorry about the scary post last time, my life was not in danger I was just overreacting. Though the hostel was pretty suckish. But I made it out okay and I am now in London! (I got here last night but unfortunately to use the computers here at the hostel it costs money. I'm using someone else's right now and I don't think they're too keen on me using it, so I'll write more when I get to Germany this sunday!)
Sorry again for making anyone worried!
Oh, and Mom, if you could please send the cord that would be lovely. Here is the address where I will be staying:

Lauren Howell
Grendgastehaus
Westfalenstr. 311, 45276 Essen
Germany

Uh, I'm not exactly sure if that's the correct format, but that's all the information I've got. I'll write more later, so, Cheerio!

The Lou is by the Loch Ness! (Sounds gross.)

Hello from Inverness! We arrived here by train this morning around noon. The train ride was absolutely fabulous! An englishman was sitting by us and was quite talkative the whole 3 hours, but it was interesting nonetheless. So as soon as we got here we found a cute little cafe (with cheap food!) and I had the best sandwich I've ever had, only for about 3 pounds! Then after that we found a tour to take us around the Loch Ness and to the Urquahart Castle, and that was AH-MAZING!! My favorite part of the trip so far (I've got some great photos too!) Then we went back to the cute cafe (called 'Yum!') and got some smoothies for about 2 pounds which were excellent! And the lady running the cafe was so cute bringing us small samples of food and telling us all about each one (Get this, I tried pigs blood and cow tongue! I found this out only after I had eaten it) But I love that little cafe! At this point I was thinking Inverness was like heaven on earth!... then we got to our hostel. Uhm, yikes. Now mom, I'm not saying my life is in danger, but, to anyone who is reading this, please pray for us. It's very close to the bus station which is super nice, about a minutes walk. But to get to the station you have to go down an alleyway with a bar and a nightclub to one side and a covered empty parking lot to another. We took one trip down that alley in broad daylight and decided we never will go down that again. So we'll take the extra 3 minute walk around the block to get to the bus station. The hostel itself is even a bit weird. The person at the reception desk told us when we were checking in "Here is your bed sheets (which I don't think have been washed in a while...) and our lounge is open 24/7. We don't care if you drink, sing, play the piano all night, we don't care." And not to be racist but the people running the hotel are indian, so the whole place smells of 'indian food and cat piss' (Jenny's words, not mine) So yeah, we are going to sleep (hopefully) and get out of here as soon as possible in the morning and just travel around the city until our flight leaves later in the day. All would be good but even the city is creepy. EVERYONE smokes here and everyone gives you the shifty eye and watches wherever we go. The main streets aren't very populated either, there aren't too many tourists. So it's just a very creepy city... It's a good thing we're only staying here for one day! Well, that's it for now, I will write when I get to London!

4/5/2010

Hello Everyone! I'm still alive! So yesterday we did a huge tour of the city and tried to hit every spot of interest in one day, including H&M:) (Mom, remember that birthday money I supposedly get? Yeah, it is no more.) We went to tons of different churches (all of them are beautiful! Why don't we have a million cool buildings in each city in the US??) and lots of monuments. Today we went out into the country to a little church called Rosslyn church (Beautiful interior, but they don't allow pictures, so I sketched instead, it turned out great!), then came back in the city and spent about 2 hours at the Edinburgh castle (It's so big you could easily get lost/seperated in it! Which may or may not have happened with me and the other girls... But don't worry, we eventually found each other an hour and a half later.) Both of those buildings are my favorites in Edinburgh, they are amazing! Tomorrow we leave for Inverness bright and early by train. We were debating leaving, apparently the volcano erupted again some, so we weren't sure if we'd be stranded there or not because we leave Inverness by plane, but we'll find out when get there! :)



So there are some things I've noticed about Edinburgh since I've been here...

1. The prevailing fashion trend among girls is leggings and a t-shirt (No pants or shorts.) Don't worry Megan, I will not come home dressed like this.

2. People hired to help tourists (hostel workers, bus drivers, etc...) are very grouchy! The old people around here are a million times nicer.

3. It is socially acceptable to wear crazy outfits/wigs and proceed to sing and yell very loudly in the middle of the street if it relates to rugby.

4. EVERYTHING closes after 6 pm. EVERYONE goes to bars after 6 pm.

5. No sales tax is a glorious, glorious thing.

6. All dates are day/month/year, which is throwing me off alot... Simple observation, lots of confusion.

7. And lastly, the bus system here is amazing! Very few people drive because the bus system is so convenient (lots of stations + lots of buses = frequent stops) and it is very easy to get around the city. I love it!



So yes, Scotland is quite different but I love it! I would post pictures, but unfortunately, no way to upload them. Maybe once I get to Dusseldorf this sunday someone will have something, if not, this monday I will buy something (it will be cheaper than sending something in the mail I'm pretty sure). So until then, see ya!

The Lou is in Edinburgh!

I'm alive!! After 12 hours of flying and 3 hours spent at airports, I arrived safely in Edinburgh Scotland and checked into the hostel without a problem. We're all a bit tired (considering it's 6:47 am there and we haven't slept a full nights sleep since yesterday morning at 6. And the day's not over yet!) but we need to stay awake so we can sleep tonight. The city is gorgeous! Everything is so green, the accents are awesome (but a bit difficult to understand), and the architecture is amazing! I've already taken lots of photos but forgot that the computer at the hostel doesn't have a place to upload photos off a memory card... Whoops! So I guess there won't be photos till I find an internet cafe with a photo upload option...
We're off to explore more of the city! Just wanted everyone to know (especially my family) that I'm alive and well and will post more tomorrow!