Hotel Palla Garni Essen

Rebecca: 100 days to go!!! Since many of you keep asking about the status, we're now sending a pre-departure travelogue entry. Of course, this shouldn't keep you from asking, please, don't! We love being asked about the trip. Our flight Duesseldorf - Lima is on 22.09.07, which means we now have 100 days left. Still sounds a lot, but with all the work (job for me and Master thesis for Thomas), plus some planning and organisaitonal issues, we probably won't get that bored ...

... 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 ...

... to our teacher to say 'thanks'. After lunch I have IKK and have to give a presentation about Australia in German. The idea is that I give everyone an idea of how Aus is so that they won't experience culture shock if they come to visit. I have to do it all on my own. The Argentinians have to do their's altogether.
Thursday night we have a break up dinner in Essen and after that I am going to Düsseldorf for the start of the Karneval festival. It's Weiberfastnacht ...

... br>Wednesday we only had classes in the morning because in the afternoon we went on our excursion to Burg Linn. This is the one that was supposed to be on 2 weeks ago on the saturday after the hurricane but the trains weren't running... Remember? Well, anyway it was really nice. It was nothing like the Residenz at Würzburg, but that's because it is a Burg (i.e. Fortress) and not a schloss (i.e. Castle). There ya go, you are all learning some German words too!
The fortress was ...

... 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

... This weekend coming is the free weekend. I am visiting Cori on Friday and staying over in Lauterbach. Then Sat I am going to Rothenburg, one of the prettiest and oldest villages in Germany, and from there to Wurzburg (they are the start of the Romantic strip of Germany). Sunday night I will head back to Essen.

And guess what? In 4 weeks today I am going to be back in the land of Aus!
Funny how time flies... Luv u all,

Sarah

... But I still went. From Essen we had to catch an incredibly cramped bus to Duisburg and then from there we had to wait for over 30 mins for a train to Düsseldorf. Whilst there we walked to the Altstadt, that I have visited previously, took a stroll along the Rhein and had some lunch. Then we found a map and decided to walk to a park where we saw heaps of squirrels (they are so cute) and a playground with some pretty cool equipment. I went on the ...

... of sleep than I wanted to have, I looked out the window and the tiniest branches on the tree outside my room were perfectly still. No crazy wind; a damp, but not wet day. So I made the decision to go to school.

My morning class was easy to sit through. We watched a movie called the comedian harmonists. It's about a barbershop quintet from Germany from 1927 to 38. Some of the members are Jewish and others are Arian. A really good story and ...

... 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

... to spend money. I am hoping to bring whatever I have left from my living expenses to put towards the wedding so that I feel less guilty for coming here and putting so much pressure on Scott for the next 2 months.
Last night I learnt how to play an Argentinian card game called Chancho, which means pig. We had heaps of fun.
If anyone wants to call me. My phone number at the hotel is as follows: 0011 (international) 49 (germany) 201 (Essen ...