Hotel Imperial Wuppertal

... 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 ...

... that I am intelligent and I have learnt something!!!

However I am so glad that I was put in the bottom class because we got the best teacher by far and also... a whole heap of really fun people. I may not have had as much fun if I was with the brainy kids if u get my drift.

I have recovered from being ill on the weekend. I am telling u, sleeep is fantastic but so is an immune system builder called astralagus. It's a natural herby thing in tablet form ...

... shower and needed to hold up their towel. Sometimes they would use one arm for a gesture, but I mean really... how graceful can u be when u look like someone who just stepped out of the shower? It was bizarre to say the least. The sets were reasonably boring. The costumes, well, apparantly we were lucky coming late because in the beginning there was someone in a g string, the others tell me. And also, all of the people pretty much wore the same thing to the point where I couldn't ...

... 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

... city with Rafael and bought a blank CD to put all of my pics on to bring home. Jan 22nd is also a really important day in Germany for shopping. All of the shops have massive sales on all their winter range starting from then. I went to a really popular German fashion shop called H & M. I found a cute cardigan there that would be perfect for my character in Backbeat, but I don't know if I would wear it otherwise... I'll post a pic of it ...

... there had white hair and looked at us disapprovingly. The only 'young people' were couples of aybe 30 or 40 who were obviously there on dates and some of those ladies wore exquisite ball gowns. Guess what I was wearing...sneakers, jeans and a jumper!! Ooops!

La Boheme was really good. It helped to have the storyline of Rent in my head as we went. Some parts were a little confusing. The sets were amazing, costumes very simple for the artists and ...

... singing. I would buy a copy here if it wasn't so expensive, but I can't justify spending 30 euro $60 AUD on one DVD.

In the afternoon we met Herr Bayer, our politics and Berlin teacher and looked at some video footage from the reunification time in Berlin.

After class I went to the Hauptbahnhof for a couple of reasons, 1) that I wanted to purchase my train ticket to Fulda for the following weekend so that I can visit Cori and ...

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 ...

... before I go to class. I can do it Thursday, but Friday I have a politics class starting earlier than usual, so my next time online will be Monday. I hope to chat with some of u...
So u want to know what I've been up to the last couple of days?
Nothing too crazy...
Monday I went to the movies to see 'Mein Fuhrer', a comedy about Hitler, made by Germans. I'm sure that u are all interested about how it was. Well ...

... massing around the various Carnivale areas, and start drinking. I managed to achieve all of these things, though finding Fiona in the crowd without mobile phones or a meeting spot was definitely an achievement! Then Carnivale began. elf uhr elf... more to come - If I'm going to climb the Dom and go to a museum and squeeze some more shopping in then I'll need a nap. So tired... Ciao! (P.S. I hope my Newtown pals had a great time at the Festival...)