Achtung Bette! (Attention Please)

Halo Family!
Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote but believe it or not I am been pretty busy these last few weeks. Ok according to the United States work ethic it was probably nothing, but for being over here is good old England I have been doing a lot.

Starting April 3rd I returned to my homeland...Germany! Originally I never thought I was going to be able to come to Germany but early in the semester, my friend here Kerri asked me if I would want to visit her really good friend who was studying abroad in Berlin. Surprising I answered with "Heck yes!" and booked my ticket right away. The best part about the deal was that we were going to be able to stay with him at his apartment for free, yessss (kip voice)! That was a definite plus. We got there on Thursday the third and Brian (the name of Kerri's friend) picked us up at the airport. Over whelmed by the crazy but awesome German language were very glad that he was there to pick us up. He showed up and we took the bus to another train that in turn took us to his apartment, however mid way in the ride he pulled out two bottlea of beer to start the night off, they were very tasty and in way cooler bottles than we have in the states.

Friday we started the day off by getting into a free art museum with Brian's class. He asked his teacher if it would be ok and she was so glad to have us. Pretty cool eh? We got to see the Pergamon Altar that was stolen from Turkey by the Germans in separate pieces, they now are the main exhibit at the Pergamonmuseum. They are so beautiful and full of ornate detail. Unfortuantely, as with a lot of things we saw in Germany, because of the language barrier it was really hard to get the history behind things if Brian didn't know. So I do know this altar was very important...but not exactly sure why haha. I will work on that for you all. Brian then took us into berlin city and showed us all the important buildings and since he is an architecht major he knew a lot about the buildings themselves and whn and why they were built. It was very cool to learn and see. [I thought of you a lot, Anna :) ] There were many places that were just fascinating such as thw Brandenbug Gate shown in this picture, the monument to the murdered Jews (inspiring and kind of eerie, picture below) , and the Sony center, but the two that stuck out to me the most were the Berlin wall and this momument that was dedicated to the burning of the books done by the Nazis. In the strip where there are lot of old government buildings there is this glass square into the ground that shows a bunch of empty shelves below the ground. The significant action that happened here involved, the library that was to the right. At the beginning of the Nazi reign Hitler ordered that all the books that "went against what the Nazi stood for" should be burned. Of course this was practically all of them and in the spot of the monument all the books were burned. The really creepy part of the whole thing is the plaque that is placed right below. It states, in german, a quote by a philosopher at the time that says "when there is burning of books, so too the burning of flesh will follow" and soon after the book burning in the plaza Jews were captured and tortured as well. This was probably one of the most shocking and aweing parts of the trip considering the Nazis. It was very cool to say the least.

We ate lunch at a beer garden where we got one of the best bratwurst ever tasted along with a litre of beer. It was so German of us! Haha. We then headed back after being out all day and eventually went to a local bar later. The bar was called Slumberland and it was run by these Jamaican men and there was sand on the floor! Yes sand! It was one of the coolest bars I have been to and the beer wasn't too bad either. We headed home and Kerri and I shared a bed on the floor ready to start another amazing day.

Saturday began with the Berlin Wall. While I have heard some disappointment from people involving this structure, saying it is just a wall and not that impressive, I completely disagree. I found it very fascinating and amazing that this was the actual wall that separated so much. It is now called the East Side Gallery because a lot of artists have come and done some very cool depictions of what has either happened there or the feelings that were felt. I loved it for sure. After that we went to what I think was my favorite part of the weekend, the Berlin soccer game!!! It was insane! I have heard that the German soccer games are more intense than the English ones, because there is more violence between fans.

The game was very close and there is this one section where the "hooligans" sit and it basically is where the crazy of crazy fans go and cheer the whole game. It was crazy and actually quite intimidating hearing all the German cheers go on for literally 3 hours. It was amazing...amazing. By halftime there was reported to be 60,000 people there in the Olympic staduium that holds roughly around 70,000 people. Crazy! I loved every minute of it and was so proud of my German heritage. Wahoo! The only section that was designated for the other team had to be gaurded by men in orange so that they wouldnt be attacked by the Berlin fans. If you look very close at this picture you can kind of see all the orange men lined up to keep the two peoples separate. After the game, in which Berlin lost in the last minute, we left with the pack of people who when coming in were crazy, singing, and chanting German things, but when leaving were sad and quite as if all the life has just got sucked out of them. Oh soccer, it can make or break days for these people.

Sunday morning involved a very early wake up to make the train that took us to the airport. Brian got as far as we needed and then it was supposed to be straight on out to the airport, however we come to find out half way to the airport that there is a rail replacement bus that we needed to take instead of the train. Since all the announcements were in German, the only reason we knew we had to get off was beacause everyone else with suitcases and such were heading off...unfortunately when we asked them what was going on they were all German speakers as well. So in a panic Kerri and I were just like "Alright, our best bet I guess is to follow all the suitcases!" So like little ducklings following their mother, we followed the Germans and their suitcases. Needless to say, after turning around 3-4 times we all managed to find he rail replacement bus and made it to airport just in time. Phew!! What is a trip though in a foreign country without some stress right? Haha. .We made it though and had a blast as well and that is all that matters.


Well, I know that was long but I had a lot to say. There is going to be a few more coming from me soon because I have a lot of updating to do but bare with me. I hope all is well in the states and just want to say that I will be arriving in less than 4 weeks! It is going to be bitter sweet for me. I am so excited to see all of you, but also very sad to leave this place that has been my home for four months and given me so many wonderful memories. I love you all and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Take care! Probst! (that is cheers is German)

PS- The name of this album is something that I said a lot on the trip. It was said all the time on the trains and is really fun to say. It is pronounced auktongue bitta! Haha, if you want say it all the time to your students, friends, and fellow workers. Make me proud! It means attention please if you didn't get that :)

Spring Break UK 08!

Hiya!!!
Greetings from the UK this lovely Monday night. I have just got home from a two week excursion throughout the UK and let me tell you it was incredible. First off, I would like to say that I feel very lucky to be able to travel so much and I am just trying to take advantage of as much as I can while I am over here. I am very blessed to say the least.


Ok so first week I was with Ryan and it was amazing. We saw all of London and then some. We started the week off by seeing the Tower of London where all the prisoners including Queen Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, Robert Dudley and company (this goes out to all The Other Boleyn Girl books lovers) stayed and possibl. Yeah so I saw where Elizabeth inscribed into the stone wall and big 'E' and some phrase underneath it. It was so cool to actually see all these things that I have been reading about and in love with come to life! I actually saw where everyone got executed in the courtyard of the Tower, Anne Boleyn including. That is what this picture indicates. It is the monument to the people who lost their heads at this place. I believe the middle thing is a pillow, not sure why, I like to think that it is where they can "rest their head now" but who knows.

We made it to the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Hyde Park, Alfred Hitchcock's House, National Portrait Museum (which had all the original paintings of basically everyone in the other boleyn books, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth, Robert, Anne, Mary etc.). What really made the week though was our day trip to stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath. They were so amazing and so old! Not to mention we had an amazing day. Stonehenge was creepy cool considering that all the stones involved were brought over 200 miles over a mountain range and the heaviest one weighs over 20-50 tons! Yeah crazy. Windsor Castle is the official residence of the queen and is huge! It was cool to see and there was a lot of history behind it as well (what doesn't have history here, I wonder sometimes?). The last place we went to was Bath a city about 2 hours outside of London. It was absolutely beautiful. Quaint, peaceful, and traditional English. The big tourist attraction here are the Roman Baths. The baths are still in tact and were the place where people back in the day sat in the natural springs and healed or cleansed themselves. The water in the baths had not been touched and is actually very dangerous to get near the skin because it is extremely unclean, however it was very cool to see and the town was beautfiful. The week was wonderful, Ryan had a great time, and I had a great time with him and seeing all these great things.

The second week was completely different but extremely fun as well. Caitlin came to the UK and man did we see a lot! We started the week off by heading off to Scotland by train. The train ride was gorgeous with more sheep than you can imagine, so we were excited to get to Edinborugh, our final destination. It proved us right and was green, great and full of scottish accents. Kilts were abundantly on sale in every store window and at the head of the city, which was built on a volcano, is the castle. It is huge and was a very big defense mechanism for scotland against the dreaded English. It is very interesting to hear the Scottish peoples opinion on the history involving England because they feel very different about some parts of it. We took a tour around the castle and city and learned a lot and heard some crazy scottish stories, I will have to tell when I get back. From there we went to York, a cute little English town, which is walled and also built by the Romans back in the day. It is also known to be the most haunted place in England, which is spooky to know. Loved this city, there was lots to see and they people were so nice and welcoming. Our last days of our adventure were spent in Dublin, Ireland and that was an interesting experience to say the least. Dublin the city is very big and definitely cool to see but mostly just a westernized city with lots of different types of people. Oh and Guinness reins free there as the major beer of choice while it is also the home city to it. In fact one of the best parts of the city was going to this sketchy bar with authentic irish music playing where where got some Guinness, nice! The best part of Ireland was the countryside. We took a day trip that went on a bus from 9am to 5 pm all throughout the coast and countryside of Ireland. We saw some ruins and this great city called Glendaloch, city of two lakes. This was the most beautiful place I have ever experienced and would definitely come back again with anyone who wants to join. The pictures are great, because we had an amazing day, but they don't even do it justice.

Needless to say Caitlin and I saw a lot and absolutely had a great time together. She is extremely laid back and a great traveler, not to mention really fun and so we had some good laughs. There are many stories from this trip, too many to write now, but I will definitely have to tell you all when I return.

I love you all very much and hope that Easter was a hoppin good time. Hopefully the easter bunny was good to you all. I can't wait to be back in STL and spend time with all of you just chatting and catching up. It will be much needed. Cheers!

Ciao Bella! Milan, Italy

Hello family and friends! I know it has been a while since i last updated this thing but I have been a busy student over here (with less emphasis on the student part) in good 'ol England. First of all to update you on the month of February:
Feb. 15th I went to Conwy, Wales with a few friends to see a real intact castle, cleverly named Conwy Castle. It was amazing let me tell you! Being a lover of the royal era of England it was my dream come true. We got to walk around the whole thing and see the King's chamber, the maids quarters and where th guards stood watch. It was breathtaking; it was literally right on the water (a strategic position for defense) with boats all around it and the cutest little town all enclosed in the castle walls!
Feb. 23rd I went to Chester, one of the most typical english towns right on the boader of wales. The whole city is walled and is full of fun shops and pubs. I was very historic and fun to see, however the best part of the day was when we went further into wales and saw the reminence of another castles, called Flint castle. This castle was also on the water and thankfully we had a beautiful day. This castle was literally at the end of town just all by itself, no gift shop around it, no touristy signs, just the castle in all its old glory. The info sign in front of it said it was built in the 1200s! I am just blown away at the history behind everywhere we go. All of the girls that went spent the rest of beautiful day playing in the castle on the grass. It was simply perfect and we are planning on going back. PS- Wales has been beautiful! I highly recommend it.
Feb. 28th-March 1st Kensey, Jess, Kerri, and I went to Milan, Italy! This was a big amazing, crazy weekend with a lot of stories. I dont have space to write all the stories on here but let me just say that the weekend started off with Kensey getting stuck in a bathroom (literally stuck. They had to take the handle off and call someone to break it down), Jess got hit by a car (dont worry she is alright, it is but a flesh wound), and we wound up in a four star hotel for dirt cheap after not having any place to stay. Ok so those stories can be explained another time haha. Anyway, Friday we say Milan the city which was very cool. It had an amazing cathedral in this massive plaza (shown top) which was surrounded by great statues and stores, mainly those of the extremely wealthy: Prada, Gucci, Mercedes (yes there is a store for it), Louis Vouton (sp?) and many others that were most likely a big deal but I had no clue. We planned on seeing the the last supper painting done by Leonardo De Vinci but apparently you have to book it 2 weeks in advance! So we were bummed out by that. Milan city was interesting and very cool however the best part of the trip by far was going to Lake Como on saturday. This lake is surounded by cities in the hills and if you think of Italy and what it looks like, this is what you would picture. It was gorgeous! We spent the whole day there and honestly could have spent the rest of the semester just at this lake. Anna I now fully understand why you didnt want to leave Italy...beathtaking! We ate pizza on the lake at a little mom and pop place, on tables that were just sitting in the plaza followed by real gilatto which was to die for! The day was amazing and only pictures can truly explain the beauty that was this lake. If you want/can get onto facebook I have albums of pics that you can look at to get a feel for how beautiful this place is.

So, that was my February and now I am making my way into March which is crazy beacause now I only have two months left! Where has the time gone? We have a short, three week spring break coming up where I will be graced with first Ryan's presence in London for a week, then Anna and Caitlin (my friend from high school) for the second week in Scotland, England and Ireland (I am more than pumped for them to be here!) and the third week is still up in the air, maybe Spain again? Maybe Croatia? Who knows we will see what fits into the budget by then haha. Never the less I hope that this gives all of you a good recap of what I have been up to and will be up to in the coming weeks. As much as I love it here I do miss home and all you lovely people that come with it. I hope all of you are doing great and know that you are always in my prayers, please keep me in yours as I am going to travel a lot soon. Cant wait to reconnect in May! Love you all! Let me know what you are up to as well!

Love ya,
Auds
PS- did you know that their mother's day is different day over here? Weird.

Barcelona es mi amor nuevo!

Hello everyone! I recently just got back from Barcelona, Spain and let me just say that no matter how well I described the experience it still would not do it justice. It was incredible!
Day1-Jan 31, 2008
Just to give you all a taste of the transportation system here, this is what happened to get to the airport. We left early in the morning on Thursday and first had to take the campus bus to the train station because we had to catch the 9:50 train from Ormskirk to Liverpool, then from there we switched to another train that took us closer to the aiport. From there we took a bus that took us to the airport. We flew out at 12:55 and landed about 2 hrs later. We then had to take another bus followed two more trains, climbed a mountain, and then we were there! Haha so yeah the first day was long but we ended the night with some authentic Spanish food from our hostel. It consisted of some type of green soup, egg casserole tortilla thing, and salad. It was very tasty. On the way back I noticed something that looked like a hairy pig, i thought i might halucinating but after looking closer I realized that it indeed was a wort hog or bore (the debate continues)! Pumba came to tell us goodnight! haha Don't worry it ran away after we all screamed. The hostel was very nice and we all slept extremely well as you can imagine.
Day 2-Feb.1, 2008

The next day we wanted to see as much as possible so we woke up early and went to see this basilica that we heard of and saw at breakfast at the top of the hill. The lady told us it was the highest point I Barcelona and you can see the whole city. Man was she right. This was the highlight of my trip and I could have stayed there and talked to this priest we met all day and been happy. It was absolutely gorgeous. If you really want to see some great pictures of it, check out the album on snapfish. The priest we met gave us all the history of this Church and then took us up to the top. He did not make us pay and when we asked to give a donation instead he just said in his broken Spanish with a smile"please just say a prayer for the Barcelona community instead" When we

reached the top, he gave us each a tissue heart and gave each of us something such as kindness, sincerity, faith, etc. I got love. He said when you get to the very top blow this heart to the community of barcelona. It was the best experience of my life. The rest of the day would have to live up to this moment. After we left there we headed to the Sagrada Familia, which is a church made by Gaudi a very famous Spanish architect. He wanted to build his version of the catholic cathedral, unfortunately he died before finishing it so under controversy other architects decided to finish it. One side is the crucifixion, which the other is the Christmas story, both very different in style. Very cool looking. From there we headed to another cathedral, and we saw some museums of the artist, Dali. One of his paintings was really cool. I thought it might be the fallen angel but I am not sure if he was going for that. We saw an old fashioned car show along with many markets where they had goat heads, duck bodies, brains, and dead fish just sitting out as if it was nothing. Ha ha a little freaky but really interesting! Towards the end of the day (sunset) we went by the water and saw the port of Barcelona which was right near this strip full of shops and people selling things. There were also statues that stood along the walkway, this one was my favorite: the devil and angel playing chess. we ate dinner at this authentic place and I ate baby Octopi! Yes, it may have taken a good half an hour to muster up the courage but I did! They were crunchy, salty, and chewy all at the same time and it was a great experience but never again haha. After that we went on a quest to see the olympic stadium and complex and don't be mad mom but we ended up going through the ghetto, literally. haha but we made it out alice and saw the building. We unexpectedly walked back through this park and ran into the most beautiful set of fountains ever! It was amazing! Right as we got there, there was a light show synced with classical music. It was incredible! Unfortunately my camera died by then so no pics, but I will try to steal some from a friend. The fountains cascaded down a big hill that like lead right into the city. It was breathtaking and unforgettable. I wish all of you could be there just to understand the beauty of this city, I vowed to go back someday and spend more time in it.
Day3-Feb 2, 2008
Remember all those ways of transportation I talked about earlier, yeah well we had to do that and more to get back on the plan and to Edge Hill, but we made it. Leaving at 5 am that morning really helped. I got back to my room ate and crashed for the day. All in all it was the most amazing experience and would do it again in a heartbeat. Oh did I mention that this other girl and I were the only ones who could speak some Spanish? Yeah, well I was very proud of my performance and am glad I paid somewhat attention in high school :) Love you all take care!

Cheers mate! Cheers!

Hello everyone,
It is finally me again updating you on my crazy English life over here. The past week has been a little crazy starting all my classes and mostly finding the classrooms! The way they set it all up here is very different from the states so I had to sort of work my way through, but now worries i made it to every class and was never late. yes! A few friends and I decided to go on a journey to find this hiking trail we heard about in Ormskirk. ALthough it seemed kind of sketchy considering every british person was like "Were are going to go hiking at mate, it is all flat around here!" but alas we did find it. It was a park more than a hiking trail but beautiful none the less. It showed beautiful countryside and nature that we had not exactly explored yet. The pictures I am showing you are the ones from the park and the one with my friend in it is Kensey and I on a cliff. I wasnt really a fan of that but I just didnt look down. We had a great time and made our way around Ormskirk quite well.
I am having a blast here with all the people and am really making some good friends. Kensey the girl in the picture is probably my best friend as of yet, she lives right accross the hall and is so funny and nice and we just clicked. I will not name names but there is a girl here who is nice but getting on my nerves let me just say that she remindes me a lot of Will Farrel in the saturday night live skit where he has voice imodulation. In other words she is hecka loud! All the time! Anyway small detail but just though it would get it off my chest.
The past few days have been kind of boring just hanging out in town, going to the campus club, and watching movies. The movies come out about four months later here too fyi. Today, on the other hand we got to experience some of the best breakfast yet. We heard about this local cafe that made belgium waffles and so we decided to try it. Let me just say that my taste buds were in heaven! OMG they were the greatest waffles ever (besides dads special waffles of course)! You could pick bt maple syrup, candy syrup, and chocolate syrup...of course i picked the chocolate. Are you even kidding me! Incredible, wish I could ship some home to all of you just so you could also enjoy the splendor as well.

Tomorrow we are going to Manchester for the day, just to check it out and see what is there. We have heard it is pretty cool and it is so nice just to be able to hop on a train for 8 pounds and see it! I will have to inform you of it when I return. I hope all is well at home, thank you for the responses, I will be anxious to hear more. Also, my pics are on snapfish as well so you can go check those out if you would like. Also, this is just for all yall's info(more my parents then anything) here is my address:

Audrey Lampe
16 Lady Openshaw
Edge Hill University
St. Helens Road
Orskirk, Lancashire
L39 4QP

Love you all, take care and you will hear from me again soon!

One week down! Many more to come!

Hi all, as you can see thanks to the lovely older sister anna i now have a blog that you can all see and come to for pictures and just updates about what I am doing. Cool huh? Yeah I thought so too. Well the past week as beed a whirlwind adventure and I let me just say that I am learning something new everyday. The people have been very nice and accomodating and quite halarious as well. I went into Liverpool the past two days to do some shopping. They have this place called Primark which is bascially an upscale walmart but only with clothes....ok so really cheap clothes I should say, but cute! so i got some stuff from there but not much, no worries I am saving some for the big places like Barcelona which I might add I am going to in two weekends. 10 people from my hall are all going to barcelona on a plane for under 40$ per person! Yeah, Europe is awesome let me just say that. Anyway, I also have a plane booked for Milan Italy at the end of February and that should be a blast as well. Other than that I am just getting ready to start classes on Monday along with joining the Field Hockey team. I got a stick and everything! So this week should be exciting, but I am missing all of you and mainly just being able to call home whenever i feel lonely or want to talk, but I will survive. Email and this will haev to to for now I suppose. If you know of anyone who might want to be updated on my trip as well just feel free to give them this address and they can check it out. Well hope all is well there and let me know what is up with all of you! Love you!

PS- Here are a few weird things about this country that I have already found out:
1) They dont like ketchup or penut butter. When you ask for some ketchup (aside for paying per packet) they only give you onepacket of ketchup! Who eats fries with only one packet of ketchup!
2)"are you alright?" means like what is up. Talk about confusing! Each time i get weirded out that the cashier of the store is concerned with my wellbeing!
3)They are obsessed with telling you where fire exits are. Apparently knowing where the fire exits are in a building can be nice art or something cause they are everywhere!
4) No one writes in notebooks. A notebook that you could get at like taret for 70 cents is like 4 dollars over here! Not cool. Oh and they are only in like one store in the entire town, odd.

But...you got to love em! I mean i guess i am the weird one being in their country and all :)

the first post (courtesy of anna)

ok, so auds is in england and since she has little time to make a blog for herself i decided to make one for her. so here it is in all its beginning glory. this is where i leave the duty of keeping it up to date to audrey now. it is made, a picture is added, even some text. and so now it is up to her.

it's a good thing i'm only working on my masters this semester or else this blog would be just a dream.

:) much love to auds and i hope this helps...

anna