Mitbewohneren (Roommates)

So, George has left the building. Either he is dead or he has gone on a mission to recruit as many other multi-legged creatures as he can to aid him in the death of me. I hope I'm being too imaginative in that last guess, but knowing spiders in general and George in specific, I'd say I'm being too lenient. Either way, before he left, George apparently sub-let his little space.
Everybody meet Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre is from France. He is here on Business. Or migration. I'm not sure which. I don't speak French. Jean-Pierre only speaks just a little German. Basic phrases, really: "Hi, my name is Jean-Pierre" "How are you?" "AAAARRGGGHHH!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Strangely, he knows that last one in English too. Has a little dance/flight pattern that goes with it.
Due to the language barrier betwixt Jean-Pierre and myself, Jean-Pierre has decided that he is allowed on my side of the room. He really likes my red curtains. I think he wants them for his own. Then again, he could be just playing dumb until George gets back with his Insect Army. Now that I think about it, that MUST be it! Crap. I need more shoes.

Do you think I'd get in trouble if I used my Bible to smash bugs?

Brocken, or, "The Hike that Wouldn't END!"

If you haven't read the previous post, it's also new and has to do with events preceding this one. You can read it here, or scroll down to the bottom of the page.

On Saturday, we got up fairly early. Not dawn, but it seemed early. Then we had breakfast and those of us who weren't weenies/didn't have too much to drink the night before and thus were not puking out our guts, took a train (and I mean an actual choo-choo train) up the side of the mountain. We got out before the top and then hiked the rest of the way up. If you're good at this kind of stuff, it was reckoned to be about an hour hike. It took my group 2. Ah well. It was REALLY cold. I had on 2 shirts and a sweater and I was still shivering. Professor Ecke promised us Pea Soup once we got to the top and once we got going, however, I quickly warmed up. At first the hike was really nice. The climb was not too steep and the going was really easy. We kept seeing slugs all over the place. In German, "Slug" is "Nacktschnecke", which, literally translated means "Naked Snail" (because, you see, "Snail" is "Schnecke". Yeah, it's a logical language). Only, we didn't know what the German word for Slug is. I was hiking with my two TAs and the one who is from Germany couldn't remember. Finally she said, "I think it's 'Schnecke ohne Haus'." Snails without houses. How sad!! Here is a picture of Herb and Claudia - two Schneckes without houses:
Anyway. I think that was one of those "you had to be there" sort of stories. so, now, some nature shots!

Then we reached this sign that gave us an option. Never a good idea. One option was the longer, but less steep route. The other was shorter, but steep. The steep only had one exclaimation point after it. We thought: There's only one exclaimation point after steep. How bad could it be?
Silly us.
We went on the short but steep route. At first it wasn't too bad. It was a little steeper than before, but not too bad. Then we got there. The rock climb from Hades! We were climbing up the side of the mountain over massive boulders and little rocks at what seemed to be a never-ending 90 degree angle.
And so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and so forth and so on and

and then it just kept going and going. Like the Energizer Bunny, only not cute and pink. My legs and lungs hurt. My breath was coming in spurts. Phrases like "No soup is worth this!" began to show up in the conversation. We finally asked some people and they said "900 meters more" and I almost fainted. I don't know Meters and Kilometers, etc, BUT any distance that has 900 in it has GOT to be bad. And I was right. It was bad.

By this time it was raining, but I was so warm that I was wearing only my tanktop. Finally, we were done with the rocks and got to the road. It was still raining, but not enough to warrant either an umbrella or a jacket. We kept walking. Onward and upward. Onward and upward. The people walking down the mountain kept giving me funny looks. I finally realized it was cuz I was only wearing the tank top. I eventually did put it back on - the, uh, jacket, I mean. The fog got heavier and heavier. It was so cool! I have never walked in fog like that before. You could see people in front of you, but not for very far before details began to be blurred and then suddenly they were no longer there.
The climb continued. Eventually I realized that the Pea Soup was just a fairy tale. A bribe, if you will. There was no soup. This climb would never end. The Pea Soup didn't EXIST!!!
Then we got to the top and found the Pea Soup and I realized that I was being a tad bit dramatic. Ah well. It was really good Pea Soup too! We also bought some chocolate and shared it between the four of us. It was really good. We rode the train back down the mountain, which was awesome. It took about an hour. People kept dozing off, but everytime I started to nod off, a little dog in the back of the car would start barking at another little dog in the back and I would wake with a start, heart racing, and the whole process would start all over again. But we didn't have to walk.

After we got back, I took a much needed nap and then tried to watch tv. Smallville is just not the same when it's been dubbed into German (apparently everything is dubbed in Germany. They don't believe in subtitles. Annoying.)
That evening, the four of us again got together and we went to a bar and watched the USA vs. Italy game. We tied. Italy scored on themselves. Sigh.

Then it was bed time. Sunday was really relaxing. We slept in and took a train back to Leipzig, where in we just hung out and got ready for Monday.

Monday was nothing special. Just class. I met with my tandem partner again. Our conversations are interesting because we don't have that much in common, but we're expected to talk to one another. We disagree on some really interesting topics, but neither of us knows enough of the other language to be able to have a good conversation. That's somewhat frustrating. We went out to this old cotton factory that has been converted into a bunch of art galleries. It was closed, but we walked around and I saw an actual Trabi!! (it's an ugly little car that East Germany made).
We also saw a gallery. It had the funniest name I've ever seen. I took a picture of the sign. so funny.
Today was a good day. We had class like normal and then went to the Stasi Museum. The Museum deserves a post all it's own, so all I'll say here is that it was really interesting and compelling and a little frightening. I'll write more on it later. After that, we had a little get together at the American Consulate. It was kind of boring. Speeches. Pretzels and Muffins.
It's raining now. I love the rain.
Now I have to go pack for our trip to Poland. I'll be there til Friday evening. Nothing more til then. Bis dann!

Ah, Wernigerode

On Friday, we got up and met at the train station to go to a little town in the Harz Mountains called Wernigerode (pronounced: Ver-nig-a-road-a). This town is such that when you tell a German Native that you are going to Wernigerode, they look at you in utter disbelief and say something to the effect of "Why are you going THERE? There's nothing to see in Wernigerode." Much like the reaction we would have if someone said they were going to Dove Creek, CO. Yeah, see what I mean? So, at the beginning of this little excursion, I wasn't sure what to expect. We took a two hour train ride and the first thing I see when I get out of the train station in Wernigerode is this:
I knew right then that I would love this place. Any town that has it's own Castle is, in my book, wonderful, amazing and otherwise just perfect.

We took a bus to our little hotel. It dropped us off at the bottom of this ridiculous hill and we had to climb up it to get to the actual hotel. Well, actually, half of us had to. The other half of the group took Taxi-Vans and were dropped off at the front doors. We stayed at the Schanznehaus. It was adorable. I roomed with Sierra and our window overlooked just trees. It was so beautiful. The pillow was amazing and the bathroom was HUGE and clean and I wanted to cry cuz it was so wonderful. This is, of course, in comparison to my measly little room here in Leipzig and also to the Hostel in which I stayed at the beginning of my trip. Those also made me want to cry, but for a completely different reason. After we got settled in (meaning, we dropped our bags on the floor and locked the door behind us), we went downstairs and ate lunch. I had Gulasch, but it wasn't like I think of Gulasch. It was more like a pork stew. Not the best thing I've ever eaten. Ah well. Then we went on a city tour. Our guide was adorable! She was this little old lady with funny shows and she spoke in English, but her accent was so funny and you could tell that she had memorized what she was going to say. The town was just as cute as it could be. It was what you would think of as typical German. I kept expecting men in hosen with tubas and accordions to show up. But alas. no. The town was gearing up for it's annual Rathausfest, which is it's Festival for City Hall. They had stages and vendors and people ALL over the place. (After the city tour, we went to the Castle, but I'll talk about that later.) The Fest was wonderful. It was just a little town, celebrating their past. They had beer and bratwurst with mustard and you could walk all over the place and just see people having a grand old time. In the evening a band took the stage and played a bunch of old 80s music. In english. Of course, people from our group started dancing. They were the only ones. By the end of the night, others were dancing too, but for the most part it was the Americans. It was weird cuz they would play an American song and then do a little speech in German. The also played a bunch of old German songs (like Nena - you know - 99 Red Balloons). It was fun. Even the old people were doing a little bit of dancing. I really enjoyed myself and didn't get to bed til 12:30 (gasp! I know!!).

Before that, however, we went to Schloß Wernigerode (the Castle). It was old and really neat inside. I want to live in a castle. Here are some of my favorite pictures. They are all from the outside because we weren't allowed to take any inside.
Don't you just love the fog? It's so weird and amazing and wonderful!
This gargoyle is so cute! I wanted to take him home with me. I would have named him Harold. But alas. They wouldn't let me. sigh.
And that, my friends was Schloß Wernigerode. I really loved this castle. It has such history and character. Can you imagine what those walls have seen? Oh to be an immortal fly on the wall.

Yikes!!

I just realized that I am almost a week behind in updating. oops. Boy, these weeks go fast!!! Ok, let's see if we can't get caught up. Where was I? Oh yes. Tuesday.

Ahem.

On Tuesday, we had class like usual. And by "like usual", I mean just like we had class on Monday. Anyway. Sierra and I were 10 minutes late to class because we missed our first Straßenbahn and the next one was late. It was really embarrassingg to walk in late because the class is really small, as is the class ROOM and the only open seats were at the front. Then, to top it off, Professor Ecke came in later in the class and gave us a lecture about being on time (punktlich). It wasn't directly to Sierra and me; he was just talking about stuff in general, but you can see how it was a tad bit embarrassingg for me. sigh. After class we had a group excursion.

First we went to the Russian Church. I'm not entirely certain why it's important to Leipzig, but it has something to do with the war against Napoleon and the many Russianss who lived here......yeah. Here's a picture!


We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. That's ok, cuz the inside was REALLY small and kind of disappointing, as far as old churches go. It had lots of old icons on the walls, a huge chandelier and a nun. Seriously! That's all it had.

After the church, we went to the Völkerschlachtdenkmal. A 'Denkmal' is a monument. 'Völkerschlacht' means 'peoples fight' (roughly). This is a monument to the war against Napoleon and the people who died in it. It is HUGE. It took 100 years to build. It was started in 1813 and finished in (ok this where the dilemma comes in. Do I tell you when it was finished , or does that mean that I think you're stupid? - OR - Do I leave it blank and let you guys think that maybe I don't know? hmmm).
They have got a whole section roped off for repairs - the netting is not normal. It was full of really awesome statues and carvings - all about the people and war. Here are just a couple of my favorites. They don't come with any descriptions because there were none. I think they left it blank because they wanted the monument to stand for the people for all times, not just that one incident. Inside they have a bunch of displays representing the people throughout German history - WWII, Reunification, etc.


Then we went all the way up to the top. I think I counted 737,928,463,797,010 steps. All twisty and windy and close and scary.
And then we saw the following view:
I still haven't decided whether or not it was worth braving the claustrophobia and the fear of heights (not to mention the sore and shaky legs) for this picture. I'll let you know later.

On Wednesday, we went to Cospudener See. It's a lake here in Leipzig. The trip out there took a long time, but the lake was pretty and there weren't too many people there. I didn't stay very long. Sierra was sick and I was hungry, so we left early and went shopping, but I did notice one thing. Topless sunbathing is real. Yep. Real.

On Thursday, the day was open, but Sierra was still sick (and I wasn't feeling well either), so we took it really easy. We had class and then went to eat with our TAs. I can hear you now "Teacher's Pet!!" But whatever. She's from Leipzig. She knows what's going on! So there. And the food was good too. After lunch, Sierra and I wandered around a little bit. We got on the wrong train to go home, but it was worth it, cuz we took it all the way to the end and wound up in a rural area. It was green and peaceful. I want to go back and just stay there for a while. Maybe read a book. After that, we came back and had a picnic (in German: Picknick) in the park.

On Friday, we got up early and took a trip to Wernigerode.
Ok, now laundry. Later Wernigerode.

Side Trip

Ok, so not that I've been all that good at posting and updating, etc, BUT:

Just to let you know, I will not be online for the next 3 days. Our program is taking a little trip to a town called Wernigerode. I don't know why, but we are. I'll post on that when I get back. I just wanted to tell you all. Don't expect any updates. You don't even need to check my blog until monday at the earliest. So yeah. I have to go finish homework.

And now, for your utmost pleasure and enjoyment, a picture of the dinner that I had last night.
It's called Döner and it is Turkish food. It is SO yummy. Sorry that it isn't whole - I forgot to take a picture of it earlier. Ok, nighty night!
Bis Montag!!

Spinnenangst

In my room here in Leipzig, I have a huge window that opens out onto the street.
Here's the view from my window:
(picture taken at 9:30 pm)


In the upper left-hand, outside corner of my window there is a spider-web, where-in lives a spider. His name is George. I am afraid of George, but we have an agreement, whereby he will stay on his side of the window and I will stay on mine. This prevents both of us from dying horrible, painful, terrifying deaths. Currently, George is not home. (please note the lack of spider in this photo. don't be fooled by the large white spots; those are just left-overs.) This worries me. Has George broken the agreement? Is he currently in my room, figuring out the best time, place and manner in which to kill, dismember and then carry me home for his family to eat? I think that this is likely.
When I discovered that George was no longer home, I began thinking up battle strategies. I brought 4 pairs of shoes with me. Two pairs are high heels. They are strategically placed about the bedroom so that at any moment all I need to do is reach out and I will have my weapon ready to go. Now, granted, high heels are not ideal in a battle such as this, but one makes do with what one has. I also have a rather large dictionary with me, so hopefully that will make up for any lack in the shoe-weapon department.

Ok, George. Bring it on.

Ole, Ole

On Sunday, the 11th, a group of us attended church services in the Nikolaikirche. It's a very beautiful church. I don't have pictures cuz, well, church was going on. Just trust me. It's pretty. It's a Lutheran church, so the service was set up differently than I am used to. And, there was the whole not understanding the language thing. It was really echoey. Hard to understand, but interesting all the same. My tandem partner tells me that not very many people go to church in Germany these days, which for some reason, I find odd. I don't know why. I guess I thought that given the old world traditions, it would be a big thing. oh well.

Sunday was also the game between Holland and Serbia/Montenegro, which was being played in the Leipzig Stadium. I don't know how to describe this to you, but I'll try: starting on Friday, we began to see people wearing orange (Holland's color). By Saturday afternoon, the were EVERYWHERE. And I mean EVERYWHERE. And they were all wearing the same color of orange. Also a few S/M fans started showing up and the had little oompa bands around and dancing. If felt like you wouldn't be able to fit any more people in the city. By Sunday, the city breathed Orange.





Orange everywhere. And all around you heard Dutch being spoken. Truly one of my favorite languages in the world to listen to. It is so funny. It always makes me smile. They also would sing Holland's song. I don't know the words, but it starts with "Ole, Ole, Ole" and they say that a lot. Someone would just start singing it and then pretty soon the entire city was singing it. It was great! We could even hear them singing it outside while we were in church. Apparently, there are no people in Holland. Every single one of them has bought all the orange they could find and are now traveling to each game that Holland plays. There was a moment when we 4 girls found ourselves between S/M fans (who were yelling obscenities at Holland) and Holland fans who were singing. We were really nervous and moved as far away as we could, but thankfully, nothing happened. As Alicia put it, these are the types of fans who will fight and then go out for drinks together after the game. I have to say, though, Holland fans are the best!After church, we went back home and got ready to go to the Opera. We changed into dresses and nicer clothes (ok, honestly, most everybody was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I dressed up, but then, I'm weird that way). Then, we went to Augustusplatz to watch the Holland-S/M game. It was COVERED UP. There we are, standing around in the hot sun, surrounded on all sides by sweaty, smelly, boisterous fans and all I want to do is take off my shoes. We finally found a little bar and watched the game there. That was much better!

Then, the highlight of the day, we went to the Opera.
We saw Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. It was 5 hours long. That's right. FIVE. FÜNF. CINCO. hours. IT WAS GREAT!!!!! The Gewandhaus Orchestra played and was in tune, the singers were amazing. The horns blazed. I was enthralled. All about me, the other students were falling asleep. Some left after the 1st act. Not I. Sure, there were times that I thought the acting was overly-dramatic, and even bordering on cheesy, but overall, it was wonderful. I got chills.
And that was Sunday.

We didn't do anything special on Monday. We had our first day of classes, and then I met with Sierra and my tandem partner. Sierra is joining us cuz her tandem partner is not around. We talked for 2 hours. Half in German, half in English. We covered a wide range of topics, including the forbidden ones (you know, religion, education, weather - though we didn't get around to politics). It was fun, but my throat hurt afterwards (cuz he smokes) and my head hurt too and I couldn't hardly think. Then Sierra and I came back and did homework. It took 4 hours to read 15 pages and answer 10 questions, but we really understood the reading after that. Today we found out that we aren't turning the questions in - so, yeah, we didn't spend nearly so much time on homework today. Ok, well I'm gonna go. Here's a picture of my room:

Wow!! So much to update!

(continuation of events on 8 June 2006)

After a 4 hour wait, we got moved in. During that wait, I met a bunch of really nice people an we hung out/explored. We divided up the group. One part would watch all the luggage while the other part went searching for sustenance and then we'd switch. That was nice. I'm living in a little apartment-type thing. There is a general area - bathroom, kitchen. The entire area would fit into my bathroom at home. Then there are two rooms, each locks, and I think that technically we have different room numbers. My roommate is Mary from China. She is very nice and has lived in Germany for 5 years. She's really nice and speaks really good German. It's cool to practice with her, although a little intimidating also.
We got together as a group and went to the City-Hochhaus (the tallest building in the city) and looked out over the city:It's kind of all higgeldy-piggeldy. No straight streets. It makes it a little bit confusing to get around. Here's a picture of where I live:
It's that row of boxes towards the back - very communist-style. This is, after all, the former East Germany.

On the 9th the group went together and walked to the Herder Institute, where we'll be having class. Then, we divided into small groups and were given an assignment. We had to find different places around town and gather information about them. When is this shop open, how much does a beer cost here, etc. We were on our feet from 8:50 AM until the next meeting at 4 pm. My feet hurt!!! It was cool to explore, though! Then we met our partners for the Tandem Program. This program pairs us up with a German student who wants to learn English. Then we simply get together and spend half the time talking in English and the other in German. It's pretty sweet. My partner is named Michael. He speaks much better English than I do German, but he has the stereotypical accent. "Zis is zee Coffeehouz". Not that I mock. Apparently I have a major accent because whenever I speak, they reply in German and then quickly repeat in English. sigh.
The 9th was also the 1st game of the World Cup Soccer Tournament (Weltmeisterschaft). Leipzig set up two giant screen tvs in Augustusplatz and pretty much the entire town showed up to watch that game. Deutschland vs. Costa Rica. Deutschland won, AND scored a goal for Costa Rica. It was amazing. I have never watched soccer before, but it was interesting to see. You should have seen the crowds!

On the 10th, I went grocery shopping. Mostly breakfast type foods, but some other little things as well. That was a weird experience. I never knew how meaningless the pictures on boxes are w/o the word explanations. I got what I needed, but it wasn't exactly like I expected. We watched more soccer games. I was finally able to get my calling card to work and made a much-needed call to my parents. It really helped cure the homesickness, I think.

Ok, I realize that I'm not keeping up with this, but I will try to get all caught up tomorrow. No guarantees. But I'll try!

Day.....3?

I think this is my third day here. I'm not sure. I left on Tuesday evening from Philadelphia. I got to my hostel on Wednesday evening. What a weird experience THAT was. 6 beds to the room - 3 sets of bunks. There were only three people in the room, so that was nice, but we shared a bathroom with another room of people. Blech. Don't get me wrong, the bathroom wasn't disgusting, but you could tell that other people were using it. Hair all over the place. yeesh. The shower kept turning off. It was like one of those annoying faucets in public bathrooms that you push down and it turns off automatically. Except, I don't think it's possible to shower in 2.5 minutes. For anybody. So, I kept pushing the button in, and after maybe 8 minutes, the hot water starting running out on me. sigh. It was not a good shower.

I went to bed around 10:30 pm. The sun had barely set, so it still felt like 8 pm, but then again, it felt like 2 am, because I only got MAYBE (and this is being generous) 4 hours of sleep on the trip here. I'm not talking about 4 hours on the plane. I'm talking about 4 hours between 3 planes, 3 airports (at one of which, I barely made it to my plane because they changed the gate on me. Scary), 2 streetcars and 1 train. 4 hours in total. Maybe. I doubt it. Needless to say, I was TIRED. Anyway.

The bed at the hostel was small and hard, and creaked every time I turned over. They provided the pillow case and a blanket case, for lack of a better term. Basically, they had this comforter and then they gave you a ginormous pillow case to put over it. It was weird. Warm, but weird. For all the good it did me, they might as well have not given me a pillow. It was flat as a sheet - and that's after I folded it in half. I woke up around 2:30 or 3 and was wide awake for awhile. That was really annoying. I finally got back to sleep and had some WEIRD dreams. Mostly about big fluffy pillows - I dreamed that there was one hidden in a secret cupboard in the wall by my bed, but that I didn't discover it until it was time to leave. That did NOT make me happy.
Breakfast was good, though. Meat, cheese, tomato, cucumbers, fruit. yum.
Then, I and two other girls from my program trekked our way to the University. This is when I discovered how much I had packed. I'd had an inkling from the train ride from Berlin to Leipzig, but I didn't KNOW until we took 3 Strassenbahn and then walked for 7 billion miles to the dorms. I think I will just start mailing stuff back. Wear an outfit, mail it home. Do laundry in August. That way, my suitcase will be really light for the trip back!

(I'll finish with today's stuff later. It's almost midnight and I'm gonna go to bed now.)

stuff I've done thus far

So, now it's time to get more caught up on the stuff I've in the last couple of weeks. I will try to be on top of posting whilst I'm in Deutschland, but no guarantees. I guarantee to try. I know, I know. Yoda will be disappointed. Too bad.





Anyway, this picture is from May 25th. We went on a short walking tour of Asheville, North Carolina. It's a very pretty little town. A big tourist attraction during the summer, cuz it's up in the mountains and is cooler. I really liked what I saw of it. I like this picture because it makes me laugh. People are funny.




Then, last week on May 28th, we went walking around Philadelphia. What a beautiful city. There is so much history, and at the same time, it's very modern. There are trees EVERYWHERE, which I love.





This is a view of the Delaware River, looking south from the Ben Franklin Bridge. On the left is Camden, which has the highest murder rate in the country (we didn't go there) and on the right is Philly. It was quite the walk, but well worth it.




On the 30th, we went to see the Liberty Bell. It was a super humid day, but thankfully the security line wasn't terribly long and we got through without any trouble. They had a pretty cool display of the history of the bell and the different groups that adopted it as a symbol. It has been the symbol for a lot of causes over the years. Actually seeing the bell was an interesting experience. It looks EXACTLY like it looks in all the pictures you see of it. You know how sometimes you can see a picture of something a million times, but you are never really prepared for what it looks like in real life? Well, not this time. It was just a simple bell, with a crack in it. And at the same time (maybe because of its history, maybe because of the symbolism), seeing it had a powerful effect. It's amazing how so much history and meaning can be wrapped up into one everyday sort of object.

Then on June 2, we went to Independence Hall. It was really neat to see where they set up the constitution. Once the tour moved out of the room, I stood in there for a bit by myself and I could almost FEEL the presence of the founding fathers. I don't normally go for the new-agey, ghost stuff, but there you have it. The room was very still, very quiet. I kept thinking about the line from Les Miserables "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables". I don't really know how to explain the feeling. I really enjoyed the tour and seeing the place where our country was began.


On June 3rd, we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was really fun. I like to go to museums. I got some goo pictures of some of the artwork, but the best thing is this:


Yes, you guessed it. These are the stairs from "Rocky". You know, the ones that he can't get up at the beginning of the movie, but, after the greatest training montage ever, finally manages to run up them as if they were nothing and then stands victorious while the best music in the world blares triumphantly. Yep, these are those stairs. And I was there. Who needs culture?






And, last but not least, today. Today I had my first Philly Cheesesteak. It was good. Really good. We went to Geno's.
I won't go into detail, but there are two big names in Cheesesteak around here. One is Pat's. The other is Geno's. They have a small feud going. They are right across the street from each other. We chose Geno's. I'm not really sure why. I think I'll have to come back and get one from Geno's and one from Pat's and then I can truly decide which is better. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.








So yeah, that's it so far. I leave for Germany tomorrow. Pray for me! I'm a big bundle of nerves right now - nervous and excited all at once. (I don't know how my sister has put up with me for as long as she has.) :-) Boy, I hope I don't get lost.