Bree Surges

New Website

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:06:00 -0400

Hi Friends!

Please click on the following link to view my new website for Bree Surges Photography: http://www.briannasurges.wix.com/photography.

Thank you!

Bree

Very excited! Out of 16,000 entries, this photo was selected to...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:37:20 -0500

Very excited! Out of 16,000 entries, this photo was selected to be a finalist in Photographer’s Forum - The Best of College & High School Photography 2013!!

Studio Portrait of My Beautiful Sister!

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:21:00 -0400

Studio Portrait of My Beautiful Sister!

Photography II Class- Assignment: Choose items from a random box...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:42:00 -0400

Photography II Class- Assignment: Choose items from a random box of tech stuff and photograph in the studio.

I learned a new technique today in photo class! Super excited...

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:31:39 -0400

I learned a new technique today in photo class! Super excited about it!

Farmer’s Market Saturdays!

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:09:18 -0400

Ground Cherries... delicious!

Farmer’s Market Saturdays!

The Losi Family

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:05:00 -0400

The Losi Family

Erin and Kenny: Young & In Love

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:59:00 -0400

Erin and Kenny: Young & In Love

Day 10: Mannheim and Heidelberg, Germany

Sat, 26 May 2012 16:10:12 -0400

Thursday, May 24^th

Mannheim and Heidelberg, Germany

Today was the. best. day. EVER! We started out at the Mercedes Benz production plant. It was awesome to get to see how the coach buses were made! Unlike the steel factory, I actually enjoyed the Mercedes production plant. It was interesting to see how people worked. One of the funniest things I saw were bikes that workers could take from one side of the plant to the other. I though it was a really efficient way to get around the plant because it would save lots of time.

This is when the day gets great. After coming back from Mannheim we were given the rest of the day to explore Heidelberg. We decided to go to the top of the mountain and get a great view of the city. For only 10 euro we got to take a tram up to the top of the mountain. My ears popped a lot and the tram was extremely slow, but after getting to the top and seeing that amazing view the 10 euro was totally worth it.

From the top of the mountain you could see basically everything from miles around. We took a few photos and then went hiking around the area.

(Look at the castle and bridge in the background!)

Jake, Taylor, Craig and I standing by the Neckar River.

LOVE IT.

Later that night we went to an authentic German restaurant and had a delicious meal. I do have to say, when it comes to food Germany has a lot tastier food than the US.

After dinner a few friends and I went down to a park that looked over the Neckar River. It was honestly the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. We stayed there for hours talking and watching the night sky, lights and boats pass by.

If I had to pick one place in the world to live it would be Heidelberg. This city is magical. The cobblestone streets, unique stores, friendliness of locals and fantastic scenery is breathtaking.

Again, today was probably one of the top ten days of my life. Heidelberg is outstanding.

I’ll post the rest tomorrow! I’m super busy and don’t want to be spending a bunch of time on my computer! Bye :)

Miss you lots family and Andy! xoxo

Day 9: Heidelberg, Germany

Sat, 26 May 2012 16:02:47 -0400

Wednesday, May 23^rd

This morning we went to the Heidelberg Castle. It was BEAUTIFUL. This castle is located along the Neckar Valley and was originally build in 1300. It was so cool to have the opportunity to walk around and see how the kings, queens and villagers lived. Although the castle was damaged from wars, it still gave off a magical feel. My favorite part was when we got to walk through the castle’s gardens and get an remarkable view of Heidelberg.

Me overlooking the city of Heidelberg.

The group in the castle.

Inside the castle.

After the castle we did a little more exploring. It started to downpour at one point of the day and we forgot to bring our umbrellas. Nonetheless, we ended up in a shoe store to do a little shopping J.

After the rain, we meet up wit the group for a dinner at an authentic German restaurant. The food was served on big platters and you could pick and choose which dishes you wanted. Of course, I got a bratwurst with lots of delicious sauerkraut and a big boot of beer. (Andy, you would have loved this meal!!).

Day 8: Strasbourg, France

Sat, 26 May 2012 15:59:21 -0400

Thursday, May 22^nd

Hey guys! Sorry I haven’t posted for a while… I’ve been so busy!

We started off our Thursday by traveling to Strasbourg, France. When we arrived, we headed over to the Council of Europe. For a little background information, the council was “founded in 1949 to help develop common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the protection of individuals.” It was interesting to learn the differences between the Council of Europe and the European Union’s roles. Although the two are often considered the same, they are actually every different groups that do many different things. For instance, the European Union deals with standard of living issues, and money and power while the COE deals with quality of life issues such as freedom of speech, acceptance of homosexuality, equal and fair voting rights, and safety of medicines.

Photo above: Inside the Council of Europe

After our presentation and tour at the Council of Europe, the group wandered over to the Strasbourg Cathedral to check out some beautiful architecture. A handful of us went up to the top of the tower in the cathedral. From up above the city was gorgeous. You could see everything and the breeze felt amazing after climbing up 328 stairs to the top (and back down again).

Photo above: The city of Strasbourg from the top of the cathedral.

Candles inside the cathedral.

Fun fact: The Strasbourg Cathedral remained the tallest church in the world until 1880.

After checking out the cathedral, a few of us split up from the group to do a little shopping. Strasbourg is an AMAZING city.

Later that night the entire group went out for a night of fun back in Heidelberg.

Day 7: Köln, Germany

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:47:28 -0400

Monday, May 21^st

Today was a travel day. Our coach bus came to pick us up for hour seven hour venture to Heidelberg, Germany. The plan was to stop in Köln (Cologne), which was about half way between Osnabruck and our ending location, Heidelberg. Köln was beautiful. We stopped at the cathedral in the town and got the opportunity to walk through it. The music from the organ echoed off the high-arched ceilings and gorgeous stained glass windows. The sound was so powerful I got the goose bumps; it was like you could feel it in your heart.

Photo above: Taylor and I outside the cathedral in Koln (Cologne).

After that, the girls and I walked down the main street and did a little shopping and ate at a cute Italian restaurant. It was nice to get a feel for the city.

After spending approximately four hours in Köln, the group jumped back on the bus and continued our voyage to Heidelberg. We traveled through picturesque country sides with rolling hills and patches of crops whose hues ranged from forest green to pale yellow. I felt like I could stare out the window the whole day; the scenery felt like a description from a childhood storybook.

Photo above: This was taken on the bus so there is a weird glare from the window.

Photo above: This photo isn’t that great of quality :(, but I wanted to show all of you the view from the bus.

As I’m writing this entry, we are still on our bus to Heidelberg. We’ve got about two hours left and it is 18:58 (6:58 p.m.) here in Germany. I’ll fill you all in with the rest tomorrow.

Day 6: Hamburg, Germany

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:23:47 -0400

Sunday, May 20^th

Today we took a day trip to Hamburg (pronounced: hAHm-bog). The weather was beautiful and I finally got the opportunity to wear one of my new dresses :).If you haven’t heard already, Hamburg is on of the major port cities in Germany.

Photo above: The train station in Hamburg

When we arrived in the city our professor bought all of us tickets for a bus and boat tour around the city. Luckily, most of the tour was in English. (We American’s kind of expect everything to be in English when we leave our country. It won’t always be.) There was 27 popular/historic stops on the tour that were explain over the duration of two hours. After walking all week, it was nice to be able to sit and listen, rather that running around the city trying to see it all by foot. After the bus section of the tour, we hopped onto a tour boat and went around the port. I’m going to make this post shot because I don’t have Internet connection.

Photo above: Tyra and I on the boat cruise

The next post will be more detailed! :) Goodnight to me, good morning to you!

Europe Day 5: Cloppenburg and Bremen, Germany

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:04:50 -0400

Saturday, May 19th

After being up until 2:30 a.m. last night, the crew still woke up bright and early, excited to eat our delicious breakfast at the hotel. Once again, I got an omelet, mouth-watering European bread and brie cheese. After breakfast we hopped on the train to our first stop of the day, Cloppenburg. Our professor found out that you can buy a weekend train ticket and go basically anywhere in Germany for a set price. The train ride to Cloppenburg was about thirty minutes and a took a little cat nap on the ride there. When we arrived in Cloppenburg we went to the ‘famous’ Open Air Museum, which is basically an area with many historical structures around Germany. Ironically enough, there was also a market going on the same day we were there. This gave us the opportunity to do a little shopping, food sampling and sightseeing.

Photo above: Me in front of the famous windmill :)

Photo above: My new leather purse!

After the museum, we hopped on the train to Bremen. The ride was about an hour and a half, but it was so worth the time. As I looked out my window of the train I, again, realized how important agriculture was to the area. We passed areas of beautifully kept crops, farms with cows and lambs, and houses with the classic wooden fences. We also passed by residential areas and cities. After finally arriving to the Bremen, Professor Kosvik gave us a little tour around the city. In my opinion, Bremen is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. Although it is extremely crowded, the architecture of the buildings, the cobblestone pathways and the attention to detail is absolutely breathtaking.

Photo above: City center in Bremen

To make a long story short, today was amazing. The company of great friends was wonderful and the beauty of the city made the time even better. I had such a wonderful time with the friends I’ve made on this trip already. I can’t wait for Hamburg tomorrow!

Observations:

The European lifestyle is extremely sustainable.
Example #1: When you go to a hotel in America you normally receive a small, travel-sized bottle of shampoo, conditioner and sometimes even lotion. By doing this, a lot of the material goes to waste. Each plastic bottle eventually ends up in a landfill and tons of product goes to waste. So far in Europe they haven’t given us any bottles. Instead a bottle of shampoo/body wash is mounted to the wall saving plastic and product all together.
Example #2: The garbage cans in Europe are SO SMALL… less waste

Europe Day 4: Osnabrück, Germany

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:39:00 -0400

Friday, May 18^th

Today Taylor and I woke up and went down to breakfast. Hands down, it was the best breakfast I’ve ever had in my entire life. I *accidently* ate like a cow. I couldn’t help myself! Everything was so tasty. I got an omelet, delicious bread with brie cheese, homemade fruit juice and lots more.

The bread is DELICIOUS. I would be huge if I lived here.

After that, we met up with the rest of the class and took a bus to a steel factory in the city. [Germany ranks high in the steel industry.] It was awesome to see how the steel is formed and heated. I was mesmerized by the amount of flames and sparks that were flying around the factory. The tour was SUPER long and not really my thing, but it was still nice to see!

My class at the steel factory. (I’m in the front row on the bottom left).

After the tour we went to Fachhochschule Osnabruck, which is the University of Applied Sciences in the city. We started off with a very tasty meal and a cup of white asparagus soup! After lunch we listened to a lecture about the European Union and how it became what it is today.

The class outside the university.

The food we ate at the university. :)

After that we went back to the festival and did a little shopping and eating.

Me and my bratwurst!

Tonight a few of the German students from the university are picking us up to our hotel and taking us to the “local hangouts’’ for college-aged kids! I’m excited!

The city.

A few observations:

-Again, no one speaks English in this city because it isn’t a big tourist destination.

-The residential houses are beautiful, but if you look closely most of the standard-sized houses have four doorbells, meaning four families live there.

-To further explain the last point, I think the difference between Americans and Germans is very interesting. Clearly, they have nice houses (about the same size as ours), but obviously they spend their money elsewhere. To me, it seems like being relaxed (i.e. working shorter workdays, taking off for holidays, having a beer after work) is more important to them than having fancy things. I think we Americans could learn a lot from this; work hard, but don’t over work. Make sure you have enough time for fun and have time to unwind. That extra hour of overtime you put in isn’t really worth the extra $15-ish you’ll make!

-People wear winter jackets this time of year. Weird? Ya, I thought so too.

Europe Day 3: Osnabrück, Germany

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:23:00 -0400

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Today we are traveling by coach bus to Germany. It is about a three hour drive and we are driving through a country area. As I look out the window I see beautiful agriculture, baby sheep, horses and windmills. We stayed up pretty late last night (until about 2 a.m) so I may end up taking a nap during the drive.

When we arrived in Osnabruck we checked in to our beautiful, modern, four-star hotel. This hotel is MUCH more spacious than the last one we stayed at. The shower is huge, the beds are comfy and Internet costs € 5/per day. *YUCK* So I probably won’t be able to post updates for a while. Here’s a few photos of our hotel, Steigenberger Hotel Remarque.

Anyways, Osnabruck is gorgeous. It has a much more relaxed and calm feeling compared to Amsterdam. The streets are cobblestone and the buildings and cathedrals are old and beautiful.

Observation: No one speaks English. (And we don’t know German!!!! Haha). So I just point to the things I want rather than trying to slaughter the names. (They laugh at us!)

Photo above: The group in Osnabruk.

Today is a holiday in Osnabruck. For a little background information, nobody here actually knows why there is a holiday. This year marks the 40th anniversary for the festival/holiday. The festival lasts ten days and it’s filled with lots of food, beer and music. It kind of feels like a German-like Summerfest, but in a MUCH smaller space.

Photos of the festival, food and more:

Photo above: Me, Craig, Jake, Taylor and Sam drinking our first beer in Germany. I got beer with peaches in it! It’s called Spezial-Bowle! So good.

Photo above: My first bratwurst in Germany. YUM

Photo above: Reibekuchen (a potato-like pancake with applesauce)

Right now, we are taking a break in the hotel room and getting ready to go to the festival tonight!!

I’m having an absolute BLAST. I love it here. These three days have already been such an amazing experience; I can’t thank my parents enough for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity. I love you guys!!!!

Again, I probably won’t be able to post for a while, but I hope everyone in the US is well and I’ll talk to you all soon!

Europe Day 2: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:50:26 -0400

Wednesday, May 16^th

After a good night’s sleep everyone was excited to explore Amsterdam once again. We started off our day eating breakfast at our hotel. Note: the bread in Amsterdam is outstanding. After eating, we went to the Van Gough Museum and saw the “I Amsterdam” sign. Obviously, I was the only one to climb on top of the letters; I got soaked from the rain water that was on it! :) But it was worth it! Later, we jumped on a tram to go to our second company visit: Gassan Diamonds. It was very interesting to learn about how their diamonds are polished, cut, etc. At the end of our tour we even got to try on some diamonds.

After the company visit we went to lunch at this DELICIOUS little restraunt located off the canal. We had a pre-paid three-course meal ready for us. Best meal I’ve had so far. Also, a glass of wine was only € 2.5 so all the girlies got a glass!

Later on, we did a little shopping and sightseeing and ended up at the Anne Frank house. I was so glad we stopped here because I remember reading her diary when I was younger; everything felt so real. We learned a little more about the Frank’s time in hiding. We got to walk through the bookcase that hid the Frank’s Secret Annex from the rest of the world. The staircases were steep and narrow and the old floorboard squeaked. My stomach dropped when I walked into Anne’s room. The photos she decorated her room with while in hiding were still glued to the walls. Her room was so small, but it was interesting to see.

After a very sobering experience at the Anne Frank house we went to an ice bar. Although it was a little cheesy, it was super cool to be in a bar made up of ice. Even our mugs were made of ice! They gave us these huge, space-suit looking parkas and funny mittens. We could only stay in the bar for ~30 minutes because it was so cold!

Next we went to the Red Light District to walk around. There’s only one word I can say to describe that experience: weird. I’m glad I went down there to see what it was all about, but I definitely wouldn’t want to go back! Haha!

Observations from Amsterdam:

Amsterdam has that ‘big city’ feel… mobs of people… more Americanized that I expected, etc
Many people speak English
Awesome transportation system (they have bike lanes, tram lanes and places for cars to drive)

Europe Day 1: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:29:51 -0400

May 15th, 2012

Today has been a long, but very exciting day! As I’m writing this post, I’m sitting in the lobby of our quaint, authentic hotel called Hotel De Filosoof. To me, our ‘hotel’ looks more like a Bed & Breakfast because of the individuality between rooms and homemade artwork.

But back to my day, we started off at the O’Hare airport and boarded our flight to Europe at 4:10 pm. Our flight was extremely long, but thankfully we had our own personal TVs and great service from the flight attendants. Immediately after we left the airport, we checked into our hotel and began to explore the beautiful city of Amsterdam. For our first activity, we went on a boat tour with Holland International to see Amsterdam’s canals. The bridges and architecture throughout the city is beautiful. There is so much detail on everything including fences, light posts, windows. My goal for tomorrow is to take more photos of the doors because they’re so beautiful!

After doing a fair amount of exploring, our class went the Heineken Experience to learn about the company and see how their beer is made. Of course, we all got a few ‘samples’ of the beer at the end to get the full Heineken ‘experience.’

For dinner we went to a cute Dutch restaurant called ‘Haseje Clase.’ Although some of us fell asleep at the table, the dinner was still delicious.

Good night everyone! It’s 1:45 p.m. back in Wisconsin and 8:45 p.m. here. Everyone here is completely wiped out after traveling and being up for 30+ hours. I think it’s safe to say we’re all excited to get a good night’s sleep tonight.

Lessons we’ve learned today:

Unlike Oshkosh, the trams don’t stop for anything or anyone.
Unless you say otherwise, mayo will come on most of your food.
Similar to America, ketchup comes in the red squeeze bottle, but MAYO comes in the yellow! Ha!
If you ask for water with your meal you’ll have to pay for it!

Observations:

The architecture in Amsterdam is beautiful
Everyone bikes (there are even stop lights and cool bike lanes for them)
Fun fact: Instead of throwing out their bikes, locals throw their old bikes into the canals when they are done with them! Weird!

Photography 1 Final [To make the slide bigger, click on the...

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:20:00 -0400

Photography 1 Final

[To make the slide bigger, click on the button in the bottom right-hand corner]

For my photography final, our professor asked us to either create an advertisement or tell a story using photojournalism. I chose to create an advertisement for Maybelline’s Falsies. After shooting the five photos, I edited them on Photoshop and created a SoundSlide out of them. Thank you Natalie and Amanda for being my models for the project! :)

Washington DC Trip [Part II]: Photos by Bree Surges

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:27:22 -0400

Washington DC Trip [Part II]: Photos by Bree Surges