The beginning of November

Well, it's 4 pm here in the UK, and it is now nearly fully dark. The sun sets early here ever since our daylight savings time, and my body clock is not very fond of it. And it's Wednesday, which means I have no afternoon classes. I had a lovely nap, and now I am updating you, my lovely readers, on what I did in the beginning of November.

First off, I was in an act in the talent show here at Harlaxton. On a whim, I 'auditioned' for a step team that was gathering to compete in the talent show. We practiced twice a week for about four weeks, and we were the opening act! It was a blast. There were eight of us, including the two students from Western Kentucky who instructed us and wrote the routine. We didn't win (my friend Laura did; she wrote a fabulous song about all the British professors here), but we did manage to ensure another performance for the Steppers! We are performing next week at the choir concert; the choir director loved us! But if you are interested in seeing what step is, I have a video of the performance from the talent show.

The weekend after the talent show (Oct 31-Nov 2) Libby, Lea, and I went to Germany! I love being able to say, "I went to Germany for the weekend." But we really did. We bought really cheap airfare to Frankfurt-Hahn airport, which is a 1.5 hour bus ride from Frankfurt. We left school on that Friday morning at the ungodly hour of 6, caught all the necessary trains, and jetted off to Frankfurt. We arrived in the city at about five and proceeded to find our hostel. When we booked our hostel, the website said it was new, clean, nice,...and in the red light district of Frankfurt, though they said it was really safe. We walked down the necessary roads, attempting to read the German names in the dark. We found our hostel! It was indeed in the middle of the red light district, but I have never felt safer in my life. There were lots of neon signs and thumping techno beats, but the streets were pretty much deserted, and they stayed that way. We walked around the city that night, just exploring - Frankfurt is really safe at night. The river was beautiful!

Some pictures from our traveling to and first night in Frankfurt:

Our very early morning in the train station

The beautiful German countryside - the bus ride was actually nice since we were away from the city.

Lea trying to make the top bunk at the hostel.

The view from our hostel. You can see some of the neon lights. But seriously, our hostel was great.

After an amazing night of sleep at the hostel (the three of us were the only ones in the 6 person room!), we set off to wander around the city with no real agenda. This is my favorite thing to do when traveling - maybe have an idea of what you want to see, but just go wherever your sense of adventure takes you. We found a giant Euro statue, the older part of Frankfurt (most of the older city was destroyed by bombing in WWII), awesome modern art, St. Bartholomew's Cathedral, and a huge indoor market. Some pictures:

Lea was very excited about the giant Euro!

New meets old in downtown Frankfurt.

Very cool lampposts. Frankfurt in general is a beautiful city.

View across the river. Again, we had gorgeous weather!

Your lovely blogger in front of the river.

The leaves were changing! It was wonderful - the leaves don't really change here in the UK; they more just fall off the tree. No pretty colors.

Cool building!

A large collection of cool buildings!

Libby is now the kaiser! Note: when we have no real agenda, we tend to take goofy pictures.

Candles inside St. Bartholomew's.

The inside of St. Bartholomew's - it was the most colorful church I've been in over here. The brick/stone was all red - a nice change from the grey and white.

The steeple - as you can tell, it's being renovated.

Yay for modern art and self-timers on cameras!

This was so beautiful!

Part of Frankfurt's skyline.

Now, we only really spent that day in Frankfurt. Our flight back to the UK was at six am on Sunday morning, so we were sleeping in the airport. We caught the bus back at 10 on Saturday night, and bunkered down under the stairs at Frankfurt-Hahn. We ate bread, cheese, and apples we bought at the market. Lea was lucky enough to pass out fairly early. Libby and I, however, did not sleep at all. My body was in some strange survival mode, and I was not sleepy at all. I woke up Lea around 4:30; we freshened up in the bathroom, checked in, and made our way to the gate. I wasn't feeling all that sleepy until we got on the plane. When the safety demonstration started, I remember thinking, "I don't need to hear this; I know it all." I put my head on Libby's shoulder, and the next thing I know, we are landing in London! I don't remember taking off or any of the 1.5 flight. I guess I was that tired! Libby was kind enough to fill out my landing card for me. Customs went by fairly smooth (for once!) and we made it back to school without any mishaps. Needless to say, I took a wonderful nap that Sunday afternoon!

There's my trip to Germany! Frankfurt was wonderful, and I wish I had more time in other German cities. The language barrier wasn't an issue, as most people spoke a little English. Otherwise, pointing and smiling tended to work well. We had three people approach us on separate occasions and speak to us in German, assuming we were natives. All three looked shocked when we shook our heads and said "Sorry! English."

Hope all is well! I'll be home in about a month (how sad!).