Ill Have Claire and Kellen read this when they get home...

I feel like my blogs could be so much better but I havent really had the time to make them more detailed. I have had so much fun with Claire-Z and Kellers. Yesterday we said, "Enough with the metro!!!" and decided to walk to Museé Rodin. I LOVED IT THERE! The Rodin museum is so beautiful with gardens filled with Rodins statues, including The Thinker. We carelessly walked through the rose gardens and under the shading trees laughing and talking pictures. Due to my recent photo shoot on the Siene, Im much more willing to take pictures with such miraculous pieces of art. I guess it will be nice someday to look back at pictures of me hanging out in the gardens of the Museé Rodin. After seeing all there was to see at the museum, the three of us walked along a quiet street and found a beautiful church. Mass had already taken place earlier that day. When we walked through the front doors, our bodies were the only ones below the stain glass windows. The ceiling reached to the sky it seemed and it felt as though we had stumbled upon a secret treasure buried in Paris. The echo of each footstep filled every space imagined. For about ten minutes our silences were kept constant due to complete fascination. We were thankful to have found this place.

This morning was the day that the three of us switched hotels. Once we checked out and made our way to the metro we made a plan to meet up at the Picasso Museum around three. Claire and Kellen took the metro to their hotel and I took the metro to my hostel in the Bastille District. I found it just fine and I am happy to say that it is located in a somewhat nice part of town. However... when I walked into the entrance of the hostel I stood behind two couples both waiting to check in. The first couple was angry and impatient. In the second couple, the girl had tears streaming down her face. Each couple upset at a separate situation. This wasnt comforting for me to see. When it was my turn to check in, the hostess was very nice and spoke perfect english. I was thankful because there was a lot for me to know about this place. Like having a separate COMMUNAL room for luggage and having only one key for the room you sleep in (meaning you have to coordinate times to leave and return with your roomate). Since I will only be staying here tonight and tomorrow I decided to go along with this only because this place was the cheapest I found. I think I can suck it up. The girl at the front desk said that I can keep my valuable things behind the desk with her. She gave me a paper with a number on it and told me that I need to have that number with me when Im ready to collect my things or else they keep it. I will not lose that paper. Once I was ready to leave my luggage in the communal room I walked to the door that keeps the luggage area locked. A man, also a guest, walked up to the door at the same time as I did and opened the door for me. He waited for me to go first. Chivalrous. Let me explain what this moment was like through the eyes of Kim. A tall older man telling me to go down a very dark, narrow, spiral staircase with dirty beige brick walls and water dripping from odd places. I was entering a dungeon. The stairs continued longer than I would have liked and once I got to the bottom I walked down a long, very narrow hallway to the chamber where all of the luggage was stored. The man never talked to me or bothered me but if he did happen to have an erge to kill me right then and there it wouldve been a fine and inconspicuous place to do it. After that experience I used the bathroom before I left to find an internet cafe and Im pretty sure I have a disease now that no vaccine could possibly help against. But at least its cheap. To me... that makes everything ok.

Dont worry after this blog. I think all of this is funny and Im sure my things will be fine. Im still having so much fun in Paris and Im happy Claire and Kellen finally have a bit of alone time. They are engaged after all!!!

Tonight we are all going to a museum and then to dinner. Im sure it will be nice because I already miss them.

A lot of you guys have emailed me lately and I really want to get back to you but my time is racking up on my computer now but I just wanted to write one long universal blog so that everyone could read it. Ill try to get to my emails soon but if things come up I might have to get in touch with everyone once Im with Kate and Philip in Africa.

I love you guys more than you know and I miss you!

Why model in Paris?

So Claire and I have been in debate. She wants to take pictures of me in front of the national monuments but why? Im in Paris to see these wonderful masterpieces and take pictures of them but not with me standing in front of them. Before today I refused to let her take pictures of me. But while sitting in the shade and slightly delirious from the sun I did a model shoot on the Siene.

I feel like a model. Im going to throw up later.

Well, I need to brag for a bit. We went to Belgium yesterday. We look at Mannequin Pis, drank beer, shopped, drank beer and drank beer. Can I say something... a Delerium Tremens is cheaper than a Corona. All of the beer (Duvel, Chimay, Kwak and Grimbergen) is cheaper than ordering a Cafe Crema. Maybe thats not really bragging but we were vry excited about how cheap it was.

Anywho... We are having a relaxing day today which gives the three of us time to rest, blog and lay under the Eiffel Tour.

Love you guys!

Bye Avior Ciao Salute Cheers Adios...

Too much fun in Paris...Ill write more later

Hello, I just wanted to write a bit before bed. Claire, Kellen and I have been so busy these past couple of days. We have already seen a lot of the city. Everyone we have run into has been so nice and everything we have seen has been beautiful. We, however, keep finding ourselves back at the Eiffel Tour by the end of the day. Its so beautiful. Tonight we sat at the edge of the Siene and talked while it sparkled behind us.

I have been having a lot of trouble uploading pictures with the computer at this hotel. Hopefully I can use Claire or Kellens camera soon or else I will just upload a mess of them once Im in Kenya.

Tomorrow the three of us are visiting Brussels which means it will be a very early morning tomorrow.

Bon Sior!!

She said yes!!

I think a mass majority know what I am talking about with this blog... Claire and Kellen are engaged!!

First of all- I need to thank Kathryn and Laurent for giving me such a wonderful time in Dusseldorf. It was honestly amazing and I hope to get back there again someday. Saturday night the three of us visited a very chic area for drinks and met with Kathryns good friend Kai. The four of us sat for hours at one swanky place, called The Swan, drinking a variety of mixed drinks; chatting a variety of mixed conversation. We eventually were kicked out because it closed so we finished our night across the street for one more round of drinks. Ever since I was a teenager, I always dreamed of myself sitting around a wonderfully ambient setting in a different country with drinks and friends that have lived all over the world. This scene was exactly that. Kathryn from the U.S., Hong Kong and Germany; Laurent from France and Germany; Kai from Asia, South America and Europe. I'll just say that the conversation carried itself very well. It was everything I could've wanted from my last night in Germany. So thank you guys! The last day that I spent in Dusseldorf, Kathryn took me to this cute chocolate shop near the Rhine to try this yummy chili hot chocolate. It was so interesting and so good. It was a bit spicy but so sweet at the same time. My favorite part of all of this was that we sat right at the table in the window that overlooked the busy street. The sky was grey and slightly drizzly so it was perfect to enjoy it sitting inside this quaint little chocolate shop. Kathryn and I talked for 2 hours about EVERYTHING. The conversation ranged from fun light-hearted topics to very deep, personal issues that had curiously plagued our minds for a long time. This reminded me that even through all of the years I have known Kathryn (15 years!!) I'm still able to have such a good friend. A friend that no matter how long it has been since the last time we talked we know that the friendship will forever be. Thank you.

The next day I left for Paris early in the morning and found my way right to the hotel where I had told Claire and Kellen to meet me. They had arrived before me so I was able to conveniently find them already in our room. I knew that Kellen wanted to propose that night but it was hard to hear his exact thoughts and plan while Claire was in the room with us. At a convenient moment, Claire went into the bathroom before we decided to leave for the Eiffel Tower and this gave me and Kellen just enough time to quickly plan.
So there we were... the three of us... marching our way to the Eiffel Tower and only one of us walked aimlessly blind. I'm thankful Kellen wanted to do it that night because it was already getting hard to hold such a huge secret. We found a nice grass spot to sit in front of the beautiful monument. We sat there waiting until dusk and until the tower began to sparkle. The perfect moment came when a stranger came to us and asked if we wanted to buy a bottle of wine from him. We kindly declined and as he walked away from us I looked at Kellen and said, "We should drink wine on our first night, should I go chase him Kellen?" He said yes. I grabbed my camera and ran. I didn't know where I was running but I knew there was little time, I knew I looked completely insane, I knew I didn't care. I don't know if you guys know this but in the fields in front of the Eiffel Tower there are large, beautiful areas containing flowers that are fenced off from the rest of the field. I realized I had a huge area blocking my view from Claire and Kellen and I could have either gone all the way around it or I could've chosen a short cut thru the flowers where instead of being fenced off with normal fencing it was fenced off with thorn bushes. I chose thorn bushes. Let's just say I got the pictures.
Once I gave them their moment, I walked all the way around the planter. While I was heading back to congratulate them and cry a little, a group of people asked me what I was doing earlier. I told them that they (pointing to Claire and Kellen) just got engaged and as I walked up to Claire and Kellen to give them the fattest hug, they all cheered from under their Eiffel Tower tree. It was wonderful.

Today was so much fun as well. We are all very much in love with Paris. Personally, I think it is very hard not to be.

I do miss all of you tremendously. When I write these blogs I pretend like I have all of you in a room and I get to tell you the stories in person. I know that is not the case in actuality but it is nice to pretend. I hope California is wonderful as usual and I will talk to you sooner than either of us know.

Much much love
~Kim

Dusseldorf: A clean version of New York City!?

Last night and today have been great days for learning about the city of Dussledorf. After I finished typing on Tomorrow's Yesterday Blog yesterday, I rode Lauren's bike back to the Volksgarten and relaxed listening to music under a tree by the lake. Kathryn called me from work shortly after I got there and told me she wanted to meet me there. A half hour later she rode up to me on her bike and took a seat in the shade next to me. We talked for about an hour about our lives and what we had been doing for the past year. We analyzed the differences between cultures and talked about people in general. Our conversation was incredibly insightful to me. It was almost helpful to me more than anything. Kathryn has travelled most of her life and has so many interesting and truthful ideas to contribute to conversations. I love it! The breeze and afternoon sun hit us the entire time we were talking and it felt like fall. It was such a wonderful feeling. A removal from the summer's heat.
After talking we jumped on our bikes and rode home to see Lauren and to get ready to go out to dinner. Lauren and Kathryn took me to the area of Altstadt (pronounced as alt-sh-stat) which is also known as Old Town Dusseldorf. They showed me about three different bars so that I could try the different beers. Dusseldorf is popular for its Altbiers. They are served in 10oz sized glasses and are kind of a dark ale. Altbier is the most popular beer to drink. It is more popular to drink than water. After my third beer on an empty stomach they showed me a fun place to grab a quick Bratwurst. With a quick lesson from Kathryn in german, I ordered the wurst myself. I said, "Halo, ein brotchen mit brotwurst bitte...danke!" I felt special and then I felt full. Before heading home, they took me to their favorite bar called Zwiebel (shwee-vul) for one last Altbier. That beer was my favorite. Zwiebel is a fun 'hole-in-the-wall' type bar that reminded me of someplace you would find in San Diego. A nice unpretencious bar with nice people and good beer. It was great.
Once we came home, the three of us sat on the balcony again and opened three Bitburgers--more beer. I couldn't do it anymore so I gave Lauren my beer to drink and I continued conversation with water. My conversations are better with my coherence, I'm sure. By 2 o'clock we had all decided to call it a night and we went to bed.
Today Kathryn took me out to see more of Dusseldorf. The weather was grey and a bit cold this afternoon so it was nice to walk around and not be so hot. We met up with her parents at a really cute and chic coffee shop near the shopping district in the Altstadt. It was fun to see her parents again. The last time was the summer after junior year of high school! They are very nice people. They are currently living in a northern region of Dusseldorf so they were only a phone call away. After meeting with Kathryn's parents we walked to the train station and began drawing a comparison between New York City and Dusseldorf. New York City is great because it moves fast, offers anything you could want, has a great transpotation system and brings people from everywhere in the world. Dusseldorf is all of this however it is also clean and green. Parks are on every corner, trees surround the streets and the air is always fresh because it drizzles often. If someone made me chose between the two cities in which I could live, I'm beginning to think I would choose Dusseldorf... I reserve the right to change my mind about that later though because NYC is great too but anyway...
Now this brings me to where I am right now. We are all resting a bit but might go out later tonight for more Altbier. Lauren and Kathryn have been such wonderful hosts and tour guides for me. I've been here enjoying the ride!

I get to use characters like Ö ä and ß cause I'm in Europe

Hi everyone! I'm in Dusseldörf and it is so wonderful. Traveling here felt like forever only because two of my flights were delayed by a total of four hours, I sat next to a man who talked to me about the powers of Christ for almost my entire trip to Philly and I had little sleep from the night before. Once I boarded my flight from Frankfurt to Dusseldörf my eyes closed and I snoozed out without even realizing. I think the only other time I passed out like that was when I took a statistics class at SCC. Right before the plane landed I woke up and felt completely rejuvenated which was a good thing because I was very excited to see Kathryn. She met me at the airport and took me home using the train. It was so nice to see her again. Once we got home I met Lauren, Kathryn's boyfriend. He is French and has a wonderful french accent. They are currently living together in a quaint apartment in the heart of the city. I could definitely live where they are living. After that, Kathryn took me out on bikes to show me around so that I would know where to go. We rode to this park called Volksgarten right near her house. It is pronounced Folks-gar-ten and it is breathtakingly beautiful. It is one of the most charming and captivating parks I've seen. Once we returned, Lauren had made dinner for us. We sat out on the patio and ate, drank Bitburger (their bud light but better) and had really fun conversations. They are very welcoming to me.
Today both Kathryn and Lauren went to work so I took one of the bikes out and have been taking pictures and exploring all day. Speaking of taking pictures and exploring... I think I'm going to go do that again...
I type more later!!!