Cityhotel Dortmund

... Frank McCourt, Stephen King; the "*****" books, and books by Danielle Steele. Quite a good range I think. I went for "Depths" by Henning Mankell, because a) The Guardian says: "Razor sharp...Mankell is, without doubt, one of the most impressive crime writers at work today" according to what's printed on the front cover, and b) I have never heard of Henning Mankell.

... way.

Annabel isn't coming to Belgium anymore and the tour ended up being booked out. So now I am sitting in an internet cafe in Essen trying to work out what to do for the day. I have been looking on a website to see if I can find a castle to visit. I may have found one too! It's not too far away which is good cos it means I can get back reasonably easily.

So this week has ...

... the Orchestra which I intend to copy so that u can hear it along with my German Phantom CD.

Last night I didn't do anything, just started to pack up my room a little and tried to finalise buying my presents. I cannot find any of the Baby Born stuff that Emma wants. I have been to every toy shop in Essen. I am so so sorry, but maybe Ebay is the better option aunty Noni...

I am certain that I will have too much weight so I will try and post a package home as ...

... next Thursday and hopefully the Phantom of the Opera on Friday, plus on Valentines day I am going to see Don Giovanni. It should be good. And it's so incredibly cheap here. I have never known an opera to be only $15 for students in Australia. (Mind you, I have never been to the Opera in Australia...)

So I will leave u to think of me in a winter wonderland (I am not sick, so this is an accurate description).

Speak with u soon,
Sarah

Hello!

Sorry that it has taken so long to tell u about my weekend. Usually I would only write one email... but I am always running off to class or to have lunch.
So I left u Saturday night and I got home at midnight. The most wonderful thing about the whole weekend was the fact that I didn't have an excursion Sunday and was able to sleep for over 12 hours!!

When I finally decided to get up I read a bit of my German teen novel ...

... being down due to the hurricane. We just hoped that everything would be Ok and left the station. We walked along the shopping promenade and Lauren bought a Karneval hat for her friend who collects hats. It was shaped like a toaster with 2 pieces of bread. Then we ate dinner before going to the Opera.

Once we stepped inside, we felt really excited and also really unnerved. We were the only people there who were not beautifully dressed. Mostly ...

Hello,
I made it. I survived the hurricane thankfully! The aftermath made my weekend a bit chaotic as all of the trains were cancelled because of trees falling on the tracks and warping the tracks too. That meant that my plans didn't go exactly as planned..... Let me take u back to Thursday night...

The wind was howling, and whistling eerily outside while the trees were swaying frantically in the breeze. 40 students sat in their rooms ...

Hi guys,
Don"t know if u have heard or not, but Germany is in the middle of a hurricane. 150km winds and severe warnings from the government to stay indoors. It was supposed to hit Essen really hard and we were all sent home from uni early and told to stay indoors. I really wanted to go online today to talk to u all like I said I would. Sorry guys!! I"ve just borrowed Tara"s laptop now. Mum, if u read this, send me a text message when u wake up so I can ...

A big hello to all of my friends who have to live through the sweltering Australian climate. 41 degrees today I believe? I would say that the weather here has been quite good in that it is an average 10 degrees when at this time of the year it is more common to be -10. However, at negative 10, although it's cold, it's also dry. It has rained most days here and is quite uncomfortable, however my solution is to stay indoors more ...

Dortmund is a bit of a business/conference town but we found a rather cheap fare there (about £20 rtn) so figured what the hey, its there (therefore we must go), and off we went. On arrival it was unexpectedly hot. Really hot. And i had bought nothing but skivvies! Opps. A quick stop in H&M fixed all that up and then I was ready for some sunshine! Dortmund has a nice little church, but then again every European city ...