Willkommen

Welcome to my new life in Braunschweig (otherwise known as "Brunswick")! Inside are some fun, bright posters I got at Ikea for just 10 Euro, for all 3. The lovely marigolds are a gift from my pastor's wife. My front door has a fresh welcome mat saying "casa" in Spanish. Kind of random but it seemed cool. And especially appropriate (after the fact) bec. today Annette asked me if I'd like to join her and a friend on Friday to begin practicing Spanish. Guess I'd better brush up!

These 4 students are new friends who came over for my first pizza and video party on Friday! Yea!

Birthe studies social work and we had lunch at a cafeteria on Friday at the social work college. Pictured with her is Tie, a newer friend from Oklahoma, with the BSU there, who did an exchange semester in a city a few hours away and visited me! She was an amazing help getting my apartment organized.


This palace is actually a re-construction with facade and not the real thing, of a Residential Palace built here in 1837 but messed up by the war in the 40's. It's where there is a brand new shopping mall in the city center. The wacky, pop-art, disney-ish building was done by a famous artist James Rizzi.


I kept thanking Tie for her good ideas, hard work and organizational ability. And she kept saying, "Like I need to be thanked for helping YOU spend your MONEY!" We shopped for light household items, and enjoyed FREE drink refills at Ikea -- not a common item in Germany.