Gwen Studies Broads

Whew, it 's been a while since I've updated! A lot has happened since I got here. After a bit of a housing debacle (which I can tell you about if you're really interested) I ended up with a little studio apartment about a fifteen minute walk from the center of town (which is about a ten minute bus ride to school). It comes with a bed, a desk, some chairs, a little table, a wardrobe, and lots of bookshelves. I also have my own little kitchen which has a stovetop, as well as a sink and a refridgerator. It's not the best place in the world, but I've never really had my own apartment before, so it's very exciting to me. If it were in the Back Bay in Boston, it would rent for nine-hundred dollars a month, so I'm not really too upset about it. The best thing about the apartment is that a five minute walk from it is what appears to be an old synagogue which is now, I kid you not, a Chinese restaurant. No, I swear! It looks like a synagogue and has stained glass windows and a giant Jewish star on it, except there's now a sign on it with the name of a Chinese restaurant! I think it's called China Garden or something like that. I totally want to go there. I wonder if it's kosher or not.....

Omigod, and guess what I found out is nearby?!? Hildesheim! You know, the church with the doors that I made a replica of out of Swedish Fish? I'm hopefully going there on Sunday! Man, what with seeing the Island of the Grande Jatte AND the Hildesheim Doors, this may just be the best Summer ever.

Right now I'm in the middle of trying to figure out the two weeks I have off between when I finish the program here, and when I have to be back in Paris to fly back to New York on the 15th of July. I have lots of different places I could go, but I think my itinerary is going to look something like this: There's a trip to Berlin through my program that I'm going on which ends on the 29th of June. SO, I'll hang out in Berlin until the 2nd of July, then I'll go down to Frankfurt, where the Eels are playing a concert and I would really like to see them, since I'll be missing their New York and Boston tours this Summer since I'll be here, and I missed their tour last Summer as well. I'll hang out in Frankfurt until the fifth of July, then I'll hop on over to Amsterdam until the 10th, where I hear they have some pretty neat comic book stores. Then I'll go back to Paris for a few days, including the 14th of July which is Bastille Day! It's supposed to be a lot of fun. On the 15th, I fly back to the states. Whew, it's a lot of travelling, but I think I can handle it.

I started my classes yesterday, and they're going pretty well. I'm taking German, Comparitive Public History (which from the description made it seem as if it had something to do with museums) and German Culture. So far, in German I can ask you your name, where you're from, and how you are feeling (as well as answer all those questions back to you). AND I can conjugate basic verbs. Oh, and I can count to one-hundred. I wonder what useful things I'll learn how to say next?!?