Etap Hotel Dusseldorf Hilden

... pretty tough for everyone, especially yesterday. I have said goodbye to all of my friends. Tara has left for her host family, Santiago has left to his host family, Trevor went to visit his fiance and son before flying home today. I think that Rafael from Chile might still be around but he is travelling around seeing Karneval all weekend in Düsseldorf and Köln.

I went on Thursday ...

... means that the women have the power and the town goes crazy! We can chop off men's ties and shoe laces, infact , we are supposed to do it!) I have bought a costume for the evening. It is a Tirolean ( a cute German dress with an apron. Don't worry, I am sure u will see pics of me in it later...
Friday we are given the official certificates for passing the course. After that I will post some stuff to Australia and then pack my bags before going out to a Salsa club to ...

... I would have liked, but oh, well! When our language class started we all had to write a letter to the editor about the Government banning Cigarette advertisements. It was quite easy for me to do and I wrote nearly two pages in the time that it took some to write half a page. And that was without a dictionary! Thanks Monash Uni for making me have to write 300 word essays in 30 minutes in the end of semester exams... So I think that mine was OK...

After that we did a ...

... and unfortunately Cori has to leave Saturday at 3pm to get back to Munich to work that night. Also, I promised Scott that we would see Neuschwanstein together and I am really looking forward to experiencing it with him.

I have 2 free days at the end of the course in which I might be able to visit other cities or countries. I was thinking maybe Brussels or Amsterdam then, because they are so close... I also have the option of coming back to ...

... the whole Opera he wore PJs, the 3 magical maidens wore 20s style Lingerie dresses and the whole set (because it was a dream) was created out of the Prince's bedroom walls, floor and furniture. It was creative the amount of ways that they put it all together, but still I found the sets in La Boheme to be so much better. Granted, they had 5 minute scene changes, where they turned on the house lights and closed the curtains. I liked the music ...

... for others. The music was so different to Rent that it was hard to appreciate it. But at least I knew what was happening.

After the Opera we managed to get back to the hotel with 2 trains, one bus and one tram (and 20 mins of walking). I really hope that the train sytem comes back soon!

Yet again I must depart. In my next installment I will tell u about my trip to the Opera on Sunday night to see Der Zauberflöte.

Tshuss!
Sarah

... for their freedom, longing to be outside and know what was happening. The TV wasn't working, a static screen unable to abate our curiosity. One laptop managed to connect to the internet but took 15 minutes to download the German news page. "was ist passiert" ask the students. They crowd around the screen, brows furrowed as they translate the German text into their own language. 8 people have been killed in Germany during the hurricane. It has ...

... sure that I go to my room and then give me a call at the hotel. I have to be there because I am not allowed to go out anywhere. Thanks so much for ur message! It makes me miss u even more!
Don"t worry about my safety. Luckily the hurricane changed direction and will hit the eastern states worse than here.
So I"ll go now. Still cooking dinner and it's 10pm. I will try and leave another blog entry tomorrow if I can to let u know what I get up to.
Sarah

How clever can you be? I pretty often forget a lot. If you mix that with a certain ignorance (Iam changeing) against the world around you it becomes a pretty tricky mix (especially if you travel from one country to another). I went to the wedding of a very good friend - so I flew down to Germany.

... them look about 13. It was a good night out but not a great morning the next day! Ah, my first spew in Germany... With a horrendous hangover, Adam and I got to check out some of the museums in Cologne. For a small entry fee we went to the chocolate museum and the sports museum. The chocolate museum was basically Charlie and the Chocolate Factory come to life. We got to see how the chocolate was made and where it comes from. The best part was the giant ...