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)