Well we still haven’t done much that is exciting!! Had my second day of the art class on Thursday evening and it was ok, I’m TERRIBLE at drawing people! But it is kind of fun to try! Lol we had to draw an older lady Thursday, so all the proportions were a little different if you know what I mean J

Last night we had a taco Night with our Roommate Cordula J Mom had sent me a pack of Taco seasoning and some tortillas in the mail and we had just got our new stove top put in so we were anxious to do some cooking!! We made meat, rice and beans and it was super yummy!!!!!

William also got here last night, He isn’t very friendly. Came in said hi and then left. He got back really late and left early again this morning, so we don’t really know. He is like 6’5 or so I’m guessing.

And We have good news… Internet will be here in the apartment in a week or so! ACTUAL INTERNET!!! So then I will be able to skype everyone!!!!

Today we slept in and got up and went to a “market” we had heard about. When we got there it was actually a Renaissance Festival, and everyone was all dressed up. We decided to go ahead and see what it was all about and it wad rather fun! They had lots of booths and shops and food. We did some shopping and testing out the food!

Tonight we are going over to a house where an entire soccer team lives who we have made friends with and are going to stay up till 3 am to watch the KU game with them and all the KU kids. So tonight will be a VERY late night, or an all-night event! But it will be fun!

Tuesday evening we leave for Italy!! I booked us a hotel right in the middle of the island part of Venice and we google mapped it and it looks awesome!!! I am super excited!!!

 Audrey Cooking some pasta for our first meal with the new stove top!!!

 Yummmm!!!

 Audrey and Cordy making Tacos!!

 Taco Night!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Cordy, Kenra, and Audrey all heading to the market!

 The RV park! Grandman, Grandpa, Granny, and Papa can stay here! but your motorhomes would be GIANT compared to the small ones they have

 Kenra was SOOOO excited to eat this thing!! hers was just cinnamon and sugar

 Mine was covered in chocolate sprinkels, we dont know what these were exactly but they were DARN good!!!!

 Kenra being a goofball!

Grandma and I tried really hard to make these and I found them here that were super nice and cheap! i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So today was finally a better day with more classes. The first one was our Layout and Typography class and its going to be super easy! All we have to do is go to a few classes on how to use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign and we have already learned both of those already, then there is a few classes on the history and background of typography and our final project is to create a portfolio. This will be super easy and nice to have a good portfolio. I already have one but I could be better!!! This class ends the first of June also J

Second class we went to today we have decided we aren’t going to take it. It was supposed to be an art class (so we were told) but really it was a studio type class where they did a very similar project to something we have done first year of college so we have decided not to take it and are going to try and take a basic art drawing class, or a fashion design drawing class, so we will see

Tomorrow we are going to try and take photos for the photography class! I’m so excited! It will be easy and fun and I will be happy to get it over with!

We finalized out Italy trip today. Bus tickets to the airport, flight tickets and the same for the way back. We leave in a week; I am very excited for that!!! J

Our male roommate will be here soon, by the end of the week, we don’t know what happened or why he is 2 weeks late at getting here but he will come! Thursday we are supposed to have our stove top put in! yay which means we will be able to fully cook now! J The other day our landlord brought us a bottle of wine, 3 glasses, 6 cases of 2 liter bottles of water, and a full case of beer. She also has been taking our towels and jeans to wash on weekends since it is soooo expensive to do laundry here, so needless to say SHE IS AWESOME!!!!

On Wednesday we got up early to try and rent a camera so we could take our photography class photos, it was a mess and very stressfull, plus all of us girls were in a bad mood so It was a fun filled day of bitchin at each other, but we did get all of our pictures taken so hopefully they are good.

We also went to the first class of an art class we signed up for not really knowing what kind of class it was…. And it’s a nude art class. We had to buy huge notepads and charcoal, then the model was a girl. We had to draw her for 2 min at each pose for about an hour then she switched to 15 minute poses. It was surprisingly fun to draw people, which have always been my weak point, and it wasn’t as awkward as I thought it was going to be drawing a naked lady! Lol but I will be taking this class for one week each month.

 The best one that I drew

Chicken Wings and Fries!!! :)

Lately...

Well I have been busy lately! School has been getting started and has been interesting! Well I pretty much have only had one class so far!

I’m taking that photography class and we met on Wednesday for 5 hours, Friday for 9 hours, and Saturday for 5 again. But pretty much all I have left is 2 class periods of it then a night of presentations and I’m done and I get 1 U.S. credit for it and to be honest it has been COMPLETELY worth it! I have learned SOOOO much already and I’m very glad I decided to take it! As soon as I get home and can save up I will be buying a nice fancy camera now that I know how to use one and the different settings and things you can do with one.

We spent the entire Friday at Petersburg which is just outside of Trier, this is where the other University is also. They have a GIANT adult size playground! We went for photography class, 7 of us piled into a tiny car and drove 15 min out to it and this is where we had lessons and we were able to practice using the cameras. We played on all the stuff and learned how to take awesome pictures!! Our professor even brought a picnic for all of us, it was a lot of fun. But after being in the beautiful weather all day we had to go back for another 4 hours to be in the dark room and learn stuff, so it was an exhausting day. Saturday we had the class again and did the same thing pretty much just in the studio instead of outside. I had to model for a shot L it was how to back light a model to have the light shine on the hair and a flower I had in my hair too, it was awkward but the photo actually turned out nice! Surprisingly!!!

 view of the park on Petersburg

 A giant slide that was only for adults, you have to climb up to the top and i was honestly scared to death when i finally got to the top, it was scary and dangerous.

 concert house with the tower of Luxembourg in the back ground

 Residential houses, very nice!

 Professor brought us a lunch we ate in the middle of class

 giant sand pit that after easter they turn on the water and it becomes a mud pit!!

 Smaller kid playground

 the water fall thing

 Pretty Flowers!

The tower of Luxembourg, we didnt go up in it, but next time we will

Now we have 2 weeks until we have to meet again for that class and in the next two weeks we have to take our own analog photos. We were giving the topic “2” and we each had to interpret a different way than figure out how to get that idea into a set of photographs to turn in in a presentation. Mine is going to be the time of 2. Like 2:00 am and 2:00pm. So I’m going to take 5 photos each at the exact time with one of the many giant clock towers in the background to clearly show the time, but I want to capture what the town is like a 2:00 (which is usually busy) one will be of people in the city center and all walking around, another of one of the outside cafes with everyone eating ice cream and drinking coffee, then one of the automobiles and people traveling, then the 2 random night shots. But we have to take them with an analog camera then we will learn how to develop them and make a presentation of them! It’s a lot of fun!!

Saturday night was our German Friend’s Birthday, his name is Sunday and he is super funny, he has a crush on Audrey and she is not interested but he will not give up J it’s cute, but we went to his house for a party with all of us from K-State and KU and some of our Friends from Russia, and Spain, and then a new girl from California who is studying anthropology. We hung out and spent most of the time teaching each other bad words or funny words in all the different languages. J we were up very late and with the time change it was a short night because we were excited to get up on Sunday for the big market.

The have a huge market and all the stores were open one Sunday before Easter and it was this past Sunday. So we went shopping and walking around all the tents they had set up. It was SUPER packed and busy, I have never seen so many people in one place. Audrey needed a new jacket and I wanted some flat tennis shoes like everyone wears around here. So we did some shopping and looking. Bought fresh food at the market and ice cream, lots of fun!

 Downtown on the Market Sunday

Very busy!!!

Today we were able to talk to the bank because our “secret numbers” (aka pin numbers) for our debit cards had not come in the mail yet, and we found the post office so we can mail stuff home! We also stopped at the train stations and had Cordula our roommate with us so we could figure out how to buy or tickets for our trip to Italy next week! I’m very excited to travel around more! We will be leaving Tuesday the 3^rd from here, very late at night like 10pm and going to Frankfurt, we will arrive there about 2 am and then we fly out at 6 am to Rome!!!!!!!!!! We will spend the day venturing around Rome then take an hour train to Orvieto, Italy where Melissa is to stay with her for most of the time, we plan on taking another day to look around Rome but because it will be Easter weekend we know it will be super busy! But it will be nice to have a place to stay and Melissa can show us all around! Then we will take the train to Venice for 3 days before we fly out of Venice to come home on April 10^th! It will be super fun I cannot wait!

 The fancy Recycling machine, you stick the bottles, and cans in, the machine scans it and then keeps track of what all you have

 When you press the Green button it spits out a ticket that tells you how much it was worth and you take it with you when you go to pay and it takes it off. :) America DEFIANTLY needs to do this!

My nails :) they were fun and messy!

Well tomorrow I have 2 new classes that start! My typography and layout class then my art class, so we will see how those go! I’m kind of nervous, but I know it will be ok!

lately

So today was my second day of class, and it was quite boring! All I did was meet with my studio professor and the other 14 kids in my studio and they told us what we will be doing and everything. Lasted a total of 30 minutes (was supposed to last 2 hours) the class only meets one day a week for 2 hours, this is quite different than my typical American studio which is 3 days a week each day 4 hours. So I’m not sure what exactly to expect with this one but I guess I will find out! Anyway the project is about a Winery, there is an existing building outside of Trier but very near to here, and it’s a very large and well know producer of wine that ships all over the world including the U.S. the building is large and ugly and they want us to redesign the entry and front along with updating the interior to match! So it will be fun! We don’t meet again until the 11^th of April when we will be traveling to the site to look the building and get a tour. I’m really scared about what I will end up having to turn in or present, and how I will get to that point, they primarily use AutoCAD which I am very knowledgeable with and comfortable doing, but they don’t use Revit which is our rendering program so I’m scared to try and figure theirs our, because it has taken me 2 years to master Revit!

This morning I also went to the foreign police to get my Residence permit (my student Visa). Getting this officially made me a legal resident of Germany! I got an awesome sticker in my Passport! So now I can stay here until August then I will have to leave for sure. Since I have gotten this done I have finished all the important technical stuff! I finalize my enrollment in classes tomorrow then everything is done!

Well we have been eating a lot of different foods lately! And they have all be wonderful! We do now have a working oven and this weekend we will get a stove, so then we can really cook!!! But we have been eating at the café which has had some unique food, and tonight we found a place called Louisiana, which had “American Food” and it was the closest thing to the real deal as we have found! I had a delicious hamburger and fries with a diet coke which even had ice! We never get Ice here and we also got a Full bottle of Ketchup for no extra cost which NEVER happens here! So needless to say we will be going back when we get our food cravings like home! J

 Cafeteria Food, Potatoes and Chicken in some kind of spicy sauce, came with a salad for 2 euros!

 My Delicious hamburger and Fries with coleslaw!!!

 Kenras Chicken and Shrimp with Fries and Garlic Bread

 a Coca-Cola light WITH ICE

Me and My bottle of Ketchup! I was so excited to get a big bottle for dinner!!!! I have missed ketchup!

First Day of School

Well today was my first day of school! J took a lovely traditional picture (just for my parents) with  my book bag in front of a door.

We got our schedules all figured out and then we had the first day of one of the classes. Thursday we have another one. Basically I love the German school system!!! They don’t have class for very long, and they don’t meet very often. I have class ONLY ON TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS! Except for one class, and I am only taking a total of 5 classes, one is only for 3 weeks and one is taught in English!!

So on Tuesdays I will first have a layout and typography class, which will be great to do better on laying out presentations and boards to show for all my other classes and in my future career. This class starts at 10 am which is the earliest I will have to be to class!!! My second class is a level 2 art class, I don’t know much about it but it will be architecture related and I will be using lots of different types of media. I will be making models, sculpture, and drawings. The teacher says it is a pretty hard class, but he was comparing it to the level one class which is very very simple he says. Also everyone thinks we are first years because that’s who they put us with, so they are putting us in easy classes and don’t realize how skilled and knowledgeable we are with our major. So I’m hoping this art class won’t be too hard, but will be nice enough that I will have fun and learn something. But I am scared because every class is in German and I don’t understand a bit of it. So hopefully I can make a nice friend who will translate for me!!!!! The third class I have is on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings about 6pm. It’s a German language class for beginners. Basically all of the international kids take it who doesn’t speak German, so I’m excited to make my language better so I can hopefully understand professors!!! And I’d like to be able to read a menu so I know what to eat!!! J I do have a girl in my major who is an international student who is from Poland and she doesn’t speak English or German and she is struggling. She is crazy! I don’t know how she does it, its bad enough for me and I speak English!!!

Then on Thursdays I have my main studio class about 11:30 and all I know about it so far is I’m designing a winery. So hopefully it will be fun and easy! J I’m also taking a 2 week Photography class, like a real one with analog cameras and a dark room! It’s going to be really hard for these 2 weeks but fun I think. I sat through that class today as my first real class and the professor spoke English well but lectured for 5 hours in German then translated that entire 5 hours into a 10 min English lecture for us Americans at the end of class. So that worries me but I think most of the professors know that we really want to travel and see places, and that we are going to do our best on our school stuff but we struggle with the language barriers and all, so hopefully they will pity us or help us out a little. All I have to do is pass the classes, grades don’t matter at all, just pass or fail. Sooo it’s going to be interesting!!!!

There is a nice Cafeteria on campus where I can go for lunch only but I can get a salad a main dish and side for only 2 euros, really cheap and good food! This will be nice and handy! There are also TONS of vending machines that sell fresh bread and pastries and candy bars. Then I can get a cup of coffee from a machine for only 50 cent euros and all kinds of juice and beer, you can’t ever find water in a vending machine and they DO NOT have water fountains! But we bring 2 water bottles with us most of the time, one for our lunch and the other for all the rest of the time.

We are booking our tickets to Italy today!!! We plan on flying out April 4^th and going to Rome for 2 days, then Orvieto to see Melissa for 2 days, then hit Venice for 3 days before we fly home the 10^th! I’m really excited! I’m ready to see more of Europe, now that Trier has lost its “newness”! J I do love it here though!

I miss everyone a lot and everything will be much easier once I get internet in my apartment, then we can have a big Skype date with anyone who would like to join and I will be able to Skype more and longer when we do, right now I just don’t have much internet and when I do its slow or on campus! So I miss everyone and love you all! 

History of Trier

Trier is originally a Roman city, founded in 17 B.C. and is the oldest city in Germany.It is only 80 miles from the famous Rhine River and was founded under Caesar August so it was named after him “Treverorum” and was later shortened to Treveri. A city wall was built around the town in A.D. 180 to protect the Romans from a Germanic invasion. The wall was 4 miles long and had 5 gates; remains today can be seen by the Amphitheater, the Roman Bridge (which is still the same) and the Porta Nigra (which is completely preserved). The Gate was butyl with stones that are held together by iron clamps without the use of mortar, in later years when the price of iron was really high people tried to chisel into the stones and steal the iron to see. The actual name of the gate has been forgotten so the name “Black gate” was given to it because of all the pollution that has been turning the stone black for years.

 In 293 it was named one of the 2 capitals of the Western Roman Empire along with Milan and by the 4^th century the population was 60,000 people, but by 485 the population dwindled down to 800 due to the Franks talking over politically. In 882 Vikings destroyed Trier and the city never recovered from there (until the 1970s).  The University was founded in 1473 and by 1522 the city was strong enough to withstand a siege by Franz von Sickingen, but was destroyed many times during the 30 year war and French war, causing many to flee the city and with this the University shut down.

In the Middle of the 18^th century architects and artists turned the city into a beautiful and prosperous place. But the French took over Trier in the 1790s and the entire area was incorporated into France, by 1900 the population got into the 50,000s but the First World War set Trier back again, it was bombed 22 times and with the second world war the town seems to be at an end. Nearly 40 percent of the town was destroyed and it was so poor that it could not rebuild itself.

Since 1970 the Universities have opened again and the population has grown to over 100,000 with lots of preservation and restoring. Today there are 20,000 tourists that visit the City each day!

School! :(

Well lately we haven't done anything too exciting, we have been working on getting school figured out and everything done right. Sunday we had a city tour with a local man here who spoke English, he took us all around town and told us a lot about the history of Trier which was very nice to hear and learn! I wish I could remember it all and I would tell everyone but there was too much information that day for me to retain any! Lol

 A famous basilica close to the city center

 Biggest one in Trier and Beautiful!!

We have been hanging out with the KU students a lot, they all live in the dorms and we go over there to hangout, we have met some interesting Germans too which are fun and quite a few other international students, from Mexico, Poland, Holland, Russia, Columbia, Greece, and Spain. They are all very nice, and help us completely with translations. 

 Kenra and I getting ready to eat German food!!!

 Tiffany, Kenra, Audrey, and Me. all of us are from K-state

 Audrey and i

Monday morning we had a meeting for the first day of school. It was completely in German and after we broke off into our groups according to our majors. We are pretty much stuck in with the freshmen in interior architecture, but we can choose as high of level classes as we want. But they just talked about what goes on and what to do in Trier. They gave us chocolate and a glass of wine for the meeting (alcohol is all the time). But it was confusing because we are not freshman and there was a lot of stuff we needed to do that they didn’t and vice versa. Anyway I really don’t get my class schedule and choose my classes until tomorrow.

 My room, finally pretty organized and homey!!!

 This is a Beer vending machine in the dorms... in the DORMS of all places

But we did sign up for a Photography class that starts tomorrow and only goes for 2 weeks but will technically transfer like 2 credits for me! So hopefully I can take some classes like that which will be fun! J We also go tomorrow to listen to presentations by professors to explain the projects that they will be doing in their studios so we can figure out which one we want to do this semester. So it’s going to be tough when they are all in German!

 Audrey had been wanting a giant ice cream this whole time and we finally stopped and got some yesterday

 it was DELICIOUS!

 i had a giant banana split!!!! :) :)

Last night then all the design majors got together to celebrate the first day of the semester. We met on campus in front of the design building and all hung out and talked, got to meet a lot of people in my major and more upper classman. Then we went to a restaurant to hang out and played some games and sat around. It was nice!

 Kenra, audrey and I (all roommates)

 Kenra, Lauren (our KU friend) and Me

 Kenra and I at the Roman Amphetheatre

My mail is working, I got a package from my Mom and Dad today, THANK YOU!!!!! J and on Thursday we get our resident visas. Cordy is our roommate and she is super nice! She has helped us a lot and done a lot of translating for us. The boy roommate never has shown up, Cordy is worried because technically he started classes yesterday and he still isn’t here. We don’t really know! Elizabeth and Victor will be back next weekend to put in our stove top and our oven!!! Can’t wait for that! I’m ready to do some good cooking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im really stressed about the classes and getting everything right and started for school, once we get that figured out then I will feel better and be ready to conquer this school semester! J

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