Adventures of a girl in Germany

brandyingermany @ 2007-07-13T10:44:00

2007-07-13T08:47:34Z

I guess I should at least give a breakdown in the places I went. After getting back from Rome, Justin, Andy and I went to Prague for a few days. Then back to Germany for a bit. Justin, Andy and Kai drove up to Amsterdam with me and I went to the Amsterdam Lindy Exchange; which I have to say was freaking amazing. Then chilled in Germany for a bit. Sunday I left for Barcelona and got back Wednesday night. Yesterday and today has/will be spent enjoying my last bit of time with Justin and Andy.

Tomorrow I leave for an almost 24 hour trip back home.

brandyingermany @ 2007-07-13T10:41:00

2007-07-13T08:43:56Z

I have been a terrible, terrible blogger. I know this. But, so far no one has complained...so I guess it's no big deal. Now I am at the very end of my trip. Literally, I leave tomorrow.

So I guess I will try to write about my trip a little more later, or I guess you will hear about it in person.

Catch up...day 21

2007-06-15T14:43:19Z

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting. I kind of fell into a funk and just never got up the right mood to post Note to self: Birthday alone in a strange city is not a great idea.

The night before my birthday I was planning on going on a pub crawl with the hostel across the street. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and there weren't enough people so it ended up not happening. I hung out at that hostel for a while, but it was mostly younger boys still in that 'frat boy' stage. I did get to witness a game of beer pong. I am thinking that if I were wasted and/or really liked beer I could have fun with this. And although it was good for me to witness this phenomenon that I missed during my own bland college years, it was kind of boring. So I left. I asked a few people about good places to go, but they were basically saying that since it was Sunday everything would be kind of lame or just offering up the touristy places that I had already seen. So that was a bust.

I went back to my hostel and read. The next morning I got up later and just kind of sat around for a bit. I couldn't figure out anything that I wanted to do. I think at this point I was just tired of making all the decisions. So I ended up at one of the shopping areas and bought myself a couple of books. Then headed back to the hostel to spend my afternoon to read.

I ended up chatting with another hostel roommate and we went out to find something to eat and to wander the city. That was fun. Then we went back to the hostel and chatted till 2:30 in the morning and I left at 5am.

I got back to Aschaffenburg about 2:30 in the afternoon and Justin and Andy picked me up again. That was Tuesday and it's now Friday. We have done a lot of relaxing. I don't even remember what we did on Wednesday. I know I did laundry. I have been feeling like I'm coming down with something and I pulled something in my shoulder that makes me feel like I have a massive charlie horse there. The shoulder is feeling a little better today, but I'm still having some stomach issues.

Yesterday we went to a tower on the top of a mountain and looked out on the view there. You can see Frankfurt from up there. Then we went to the store and bought water and food for dinner. Andy and his dad made an Indian style dish with lamb and pineapple that was wonderful and made me eat too much and mess up my tummy again. There was an awesome thunderstorm after dinner, lots of lightening...it was great!

Today we have played WoW and relaxed and I've played online and payed my CC bills. There is a festival thing starting tonight and there is supposed to be fireworks. Andy is whining because it's still rainy and of course that means fireworks might have issues. But it should be fun and we'll go out and see lots of people. Tomorrow is a rock concert of a band i've forgotten the name of. Then Sunday we head off to Prague.

Also, after talking to some of my hostel-mates in Rome; I have changed some of my itinerary. Instead of Paris I am going to go to Barcelona, Spain. I have heard really great things and I am looking forward to it.

Day 16

2007-06-10T14:49:46Z

I went out and partied last night. I met up with some other travellers from my hostel and we went bar hopping. I had a lot of fun, just hanging out, talking, walking the city.

Got up a little later today...I went to the Antica Appia and rented a bike and spent two hours riding past really great scenes. I people watched, I sat and wrote in my journal, I listened to music while sitting under a a tower, I watched an Italian couple who had just gotten married go through and take pictures, (it was hot, and you could see that they were very happy, but really freakin' hot and probably ready to get to the reception to relax). It really was pretty enough to take wedding photos almost every where you turned.

I sat and had lunch in the afe on the corner and had a great time. Caught the bus back to the metro (I am totally transportation savvy now, it only took 2 tries to get to the Antica Appia, haha...but I got to stop and see Circus Maximus or mo or whatever, and I wouldn't have done that otherwise, but since I was there...), the way home went very well; first time around.

Tonight will probably be a party night as tomorrow is my birthday. I'm leaving on an 8am plane on Tuesday morning, so can't party too hard tomorrow night. A couple of guys from the hostel have already promised to buy me drinks and show me a good time.

Well, off to the hostel for a siesta before my party night. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me before I get back to Germany.

On a pouty note...it would be nice to get an email or two from somebody...but I am sure you all are running around busy with your lives and not thinking about little ol' me (like the guilt trip?). Seriously, I want to know what's going on at home.

Day ? +1

2007-06-09T19:06:41Z

So last night I did the city night walk. I saw lots of beautiful things. I met some interesting people along the way. I walked for about 2 hours with about an hour mixed in with stopping in squares and enjoying the sights. I was at the Sapnish steps at the end (really notmuch to see at night and I was not about to climb up them after my walk) and went to find my way back. I saw the metro sign and felt pretty happy with myself for finding it so quickly. I went down into the tunnels and was glad to see not too many people around (I've had enough crowded metro/bus/train rides for a bit). I kept walking and suddenly I'm in a long tunnel with a few tourist people walking and it is definitely not getting to the metro. Eventually I figured out that the metro was closed and we were taking the nice long walk to the next station. Cut to me and about 10 other people emerging from the tunnels on a street where we have no clue as to where we are. I saw a bus go off beyond a wall and went around it in perfect time to overhear a woman ask about termini station. I listened in and found my way to teh correct bus stop. So yay! I made it home alive. Boo! I could have had a shorter walk if I had just planned on walking it. So my laziness once again cost me more work than was necessary.

Another day in Rome. Today I am exhausted. I got up early to go to the Vatican Museum. I heard a rumor from one of my hostel roommates that it was closed because Bush is here in Rome. I decided to try just in case, cause I don't want to get up early on my birthday to go. I went to the Termini station to find the metro was closed due to an accident.. So I found a bus that would drop me close to there. The bus actually dropped me closer than I thought it would. The museum had a line that was moving so it appeared open. I got in line about 9:15 and got into the museum almmost 12. Let me tell you about the sun in Rome...I can still feel it on the back of my neck and it's like 8pm or something. I got into the museum and spent about 3 hours in there and wandering St Peters Basilica (it's easy to forget how big it is, but it is pretty massive. No pictures from today because my camera batteries ran out and I forgot to put in the new batteries this morning. Oh well.

I then wandered my way back to my hotel. The transportation was all messed up due to the hordes (I really mean 'hordes') of police around for the president. The buses wouldn't go all the way to the station because of the demonstrations that were happening. I got to see the paparazzi waiting for him...and more police (but let me tell you, there were more good looking police officers than warranted, seriously the percentage of the cute ones was high).

In total I think I figured I walked close to 10 miles today, and I am about 20 percent darker (unfortunately famers tan due to the respectful clothing the museum requires).

I am now off to find some food and nightlife.

I hope everyone at home is doing well.

Day ?

2007-06-08T17:19:15Z

I am now in Rome, Italy. I spent the last few days in Tuscany, Italy in a little town called Contea. Although not really in that town, I was up on a mountain behind the town in a house on the side of a hill with the vineyards of lots of homes all around. It was a 10 minute drive down a pretty steep, very curvy road to get to the town. Kudos to Andy for handling the car up and down that road every day for us!

We spent one day just at the house, which was very cute. Still limited on hot water which has been a problem for me. I am so used to my big water heater and taking long showers when I have time. We went to the town and bought food to cook. Martin showed us the area around the house and it was very nice. As he would say 'it's just sooo beautiful!'

We went to Florence and that was fun. We actually walked through quite a bit of the city. Went to teh Accademia and saw David. we weren't able to (read: didn't want to wait in line that long) to get in to teh Uffizi. But we strolled through the market place and went to the major architectural sites. It is a beautiful place.

We went to San Gigimano ( I think that's right) and then to Sienna. This was the first day I started to feel more like myself. I really enjoyed walking around the smaller Italian 'touristy but not really' towns.

Then we went to a restuarant that Martin was really wanting to go to. It was definately good food, it just wasn't the day for me to go eat a big meal. I wasn't very hungry and filled up before the third course. But it was nice to do a little people watching too.

Justin, Andy, and I went to look for this local festival in another close town. We found it, but it was smaller and seemed like a lot of the people knew each other, so we wandered arond the town and had a lovely walk and saw some cute houses and had some great ice cream at this tiny little place.

I got to Rome yesterday, I spent the first part of the day on the train, then went around a little familiarizing myself with the area around my hostel. The hostel is clean, thank goodness :) It is literally a bed in a room. It's a small room with 3 bunkbeds. The toilet and showers are down the hall. Last night there were 5 girls and one guy in mine. They all seemed very nice.

Today I went to the Vatican Museum, but I got started later than intended and the line was insane. So I wandered around Vatican City a little and jumped on a city bus and got off where it looked interesting. I found Piazza Navone, which is a pretty big social place in the evening. We will see about that tonight. Then I went back to the hostel and had my lunch. Then went out to the forum. It was very lovely to wander around the forum at my own pace and just sit and enjoy it. It started raining while I was there and it was fun to watch the tourists run around and try to find shelter. It wasn't really raining that hard and the forum was lovely under the rain as well. Then I headed down to the metro, which was very packed with the people getting out of the rain. Lucky for me I wasn't on my way anywhere in particular and not on a schedule so I could laugh at the people who were getting all annoyed and upset and not understanding why there were no uncrowded trains.

Now I'm on my way out to enjoy the city in the evening and find some food. I don't have any particular plan, I'm just going to see where I end up. I have spent anough Euro trying to find dances in Rome and can't find anything, so I'm a little bummed about that, I really feel like dancing tonight. But who knows what I'll find on my roam through Rome. :)

Day 7

2007-05-31T15:07:21Z

For the rest of yesterday I did very little. I sat around and finished my book. I did go out and pick some strawberries. Then we had dinner, which was roast chicken and french fries with salad.

After dinner we played some poker with Bennie and Niko, then came up and Andy and Justin watched some TV while I played on the computer.

Andy and I went to pick up Martin. We are leaving for Italy later tonight. I have decided to not take my laptop. I am too worried about carrying it around and the chance of it getting stolen, and I don't really know how much wifi will really be available anyway.

So we are going to Tuscany Italy. We will be visiting Sienna and Florence for sure. Then I will be going to Rome by myself. I will try to check email and stuff while I am there, so feel free to send me an email, let me know I am missed :)

I may not be posting in my journal during that time, so don't worry about me...

Itinerary news

2007-05-30T17:06:44Z

So I just booked myself at a hostel and am staying for 5 nights by myself in Rome! Here is a basic outline of how my time is looking for the next 6 weeks...

may 31st night drive to italy
june 1st - june 7th italy w/martin
june 7th-12th Rome by myself
week of June 18th Berlin or prague
June 23rd and 24th theme park
june 29-july 1st amsterdam w/Kai
july 4th-july 8 or 9th paris maybe alone
July 14th back to US/real life

Martin and Kai are Justin and Andy's friends. Andy hasn't decided which is better yet, Berlin or Prague. One of them is rather cheap to stay at, but the other they might have a friend to stay with. I told him I have never thought about either one, so whichever is fine with me. I will read about whichever one he chooses.

Tomorrow night we are heading to Tuscany, Italy where we will also be seeing Firenze and Sienna. I am glad I have had these few days to get my body together. I am feeling much more like myself now.

Day 6

2007-05-30T10:20:52Z

So far I have done very little here. It's very nice. Most of the stuff I've been worrying about is stuff at home that I have extremely little control over now.

I have still been having trouble sleeping. I wake up every few hours and it's hard to go back to sleep when I wake up (which is kind of odd for me). This morning is the first time I've felt nothing bad from my tummy. Again another thing that is odd, I don't really get stomach aches often. Yesterday, in the afternoon I could feel a migraine coming on. I got to the medicine in time for the big part of the pain of it, but I could seriously feel the nausea. I was careful with dinner, and managed to work my way through it. I went to sleep not feeling great, but woke up feeling much better this morning.

Yesterday we didn't do much. Justin and I sat around on our computers most of the morning. Then I taught them how to play poker. I swear, they asked me, I don't even remember bringing it up. I want to take a picture of us playing cause I know it will be funny for Dano. We are playing with weird cards (in Germany the Jack is a B and the Queen is a D), the dealer button is the word dealer on a scrap of paper and our 'chips' are monopoly money. I totally understand the other poker player's frustration with new players now. Being the only not new player really changes the game. I was losing in the beginning, which was fine for me. The second game I was trying to win and kept folding. Then when i had good cards, it would just not be good enough. So I finally went all in and they called with crappy cards 'so i could keep playing'. I said that wasn't fair and they needed to play right. No friends in poker, right? They accused me of not really trying. I said I was and Justin said he wanted to see me win cause he had heard I was good. It doesn't really show that I'm good when they play poorly on purpose to let me win. I told him I was trying and then I started getting good cards. Maybe it's a cultural thing. We'll see when they start getting better if they keep trying to let me win.

Justin likes to watch Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives on Tuesdays. Andy was looking at the TV guide and saw that Gilmore Girls was on. So I got to Watch Gilmore Girls in Deutsch! It was fun. It was an episode I had seen before so I knew what was happening, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. But it was so cute. I can't imagine the work that goes into translating all that Gilmore Chatter.

Then we ate dinner. Roland, Andy's dad, made a chili that was very good. I did very well on controlling myself though and only had one small bowl and some bread. I was feeling really nauseous at that point so it was easier to control myself. Maria, Andy's mom, brought out some spanish champagne after dinner, but I had to decline because of the way my stomach felt. Roland asked if it was because of the book I am reading, 'A Million Little Pieces' by James Frey. It is about an alcoholic/addict in serious trouble and his first 6 weeks in rehab. Roland had picked it up earlier that afternoon and started reading it also.

Then we played more poker till Grey's Anatomy was on. During that I went to play WoW with Isaac. I was feeling bad that Andy or Justin would have to explain something to me while they were trying to enjoy a show that I have already seen a while ago. I played WoW for a while then went to bed.

This morning Andy and his mom had to take Meitze, the cat, to the vet. She is doing fine now, some weird thing where her fang got caught in her lip and the vet just had to move it off. Then we had breakfast. And now Andy and Justin are playing WoW, while I write this. I think I might grab my book and read for a while. We decided to just relax around today since tomorrow we will be getting ready to leave for Italy. I am also planning to go to Rome by myself when the boys are done in Italy, then I'll fly back to Frankfurt to come back here.

If I do it this way I will be spending my 31st birthday in Rome by myself. Which could be pretty amazing or sad, but I'm aiming for the amazing end of that spectrum. Wow, it just hit me how weird it is that I am going to be 31, it just seems a strange age for me to be.

Anyway, I am off to make travel plans/relax some more. I hope you all are doing well back at home!

PS

2007-05-28T21:27:18Z

And I do have more pictures, they shall get posted soon. I am having trouble with the livejournal scrapbook so I am going to look into a Flicker account or something like that.

I will post a link when I get around to that.

Day 4

2007-05-28T21:25:56Z

So last night I pretty much sat around feeling sick. I looked up jet lag and nausea is one of the symptoms. As is increased emotional states, it heightens other feelings of stress as well. And we all already know that I'm plenty emotional enough. I was definitely feeling homesick in that way that when you feel sick you just want your own bed and house (and also, in my case, water).

I watched the Venture Brothers, which at first was not entertaining me at all. But the third one with the parody of Disneyland/Walt Disney humored me well enough that I will watch the others. Then I was tired and slept a while. I wasn't sleeping well at all and kept waking up. I ended up putting on the German cds playing softly by my head to try for some osmosis learning (it's also just boring enough to help me fall asleep). Learning a new language is very hard. I don't think I noticed as much with sign language because I was doing something with my hands. Also, it was once or twice a week in class, this is full time trying to catch the meanings of what someone is saying. I am going to keep working at it though. It's my new goal to try and learn German, for real. I want to be able to catch the real ideas of conversations around me and be able to hold a simple conversation with a stranger before the end of my trip. I think that is a realistic goal. It's also got me thinking about interpreting also, but in a curious way. The fun way that got me started with it.

Andy and Justin will translate some stuff for me. I have been listening to the way they say things and the way the original message was conveyed. With the background knowledge that I have about implicit/implied (?, I think I have the wrong terms there, darn university classes being so long ago...darn not having access to my sign stuff that is at home :) ) meanings and politeness. And then adding in thinking about things that really can't be translated and cultural mediation; I have to be careful to not let my mind wander when they are having a conversation and keep myself focused trying to pick out words I understand (other than Brandy).

I spent a little time playing WoW, then Andy and I played Carsoconne (sp? the game we played before), and then had dinner. Dinner was a fabulous roast lamb that Andy's father cooked. It was seriously delicious. I told myself I was going to be careful with my stomach and not eat that much, but I am feeling that I ate too much still and it's been a few hours.

We watched I, Robot, which was a fairly decent movie. Today was planned as a lay around/relaxing day. It is a holy day here so all the shops and things are closed. We are going to the grocery tomorrow. It is 11:30 here now so I may just play a little bit of WoW and then sleep.

Day 3

2007-05-27T18:45:52Z

We went to a hookah place in Aschaffenburg (sp?). It was cool. I was already so tired though. We went with Ben and his friend and Susan, Andy's cousin. They also serve crepes there, Justin got a cheese one, and Andy and I shared a chocolate, banana and cinnamon one. We walked down a couple of streets in the city and found out that it was a night of open churches.

We only got to go into one church cause it was already midnight by the time we saw it. But it was pretty cool, the typical old, roccoco (sp?) style. Then we came home and I was ready for bed. So I went to lie down and the boys were on their computers and I zonked out.

I got up this morning and we had a light breakfast with toast and coffee. Then I basically sat around until we went to their friend Peter's BBQ. It was some sort of annual thing where they distill schnaps. They were doing plum at the time I was there. They bbq'd steak and sausage and vegetables. It was good but very greasy. My stomach doesn't like me today. I think it might have to do with jet lag cause I usually don't have stomach aches and I've had this one all day.

Andy's friend Tuon (I think) was in the town close by and had brought something for Andy so we went into town to meet him. We went to a park and walked around and rented one of the little row boats. It has some old buildings laid around it as it was made because of the castle that is near there. During the walking I got to be very tired and with my stomach bothering me I was happy to head back here.

I napped for about 2 hours and unfortunately I still feel sick to my stomach. I think I might just watch some of the Venture Brothers shows Isaac put on my computer for me and relax.

Andy just asked me about eating and just thinking about it made my stomach clench up. :( I hope this goes away soon. It's not helping me be in a good mood.

Day 2

2007-05-26T19:24:37Z

So far today I have done very little. We played a game out on the patio area. It was a game where you draw tiles and they have things like towns, roads, abbys, and meadows on them and you have to place them on the table and try to make towns and roads in a domino fashion, you have to match the sides of the tiles. It was fun.

While we were playing their friend Ben came over with another friend of his (who's name I cannot remember right now, not a name often used in America). I am unsure if it was known that Ben was coming over or not. He has been joked about as someone who comes over to watch a movie and then he is there for a few days. He and his friend have been pretty quiet. The friend talked to me a little bit, he tried really hard with broken English. He knew way more English than I know German.

I have gotten to hear a lot of German which is good. If I can get a context/topic I can get a vague idea of what is being said. There was a short conversation after Andy's mother, Maria, called me Brenda about whether or not the names were connected like Andy could be short for Andrew. I couldn't tell you exactly what was said, but I understood that was what they were talking about. But most of the time I am fairly lost as to what they are talking about.

We went for a walk around the town. It took about a half hour. Then Andy picked some asparagus from the garden and we made dinner from the fresh asparagus and I helped make dinner. I chopped mushrooms and cooked chicken and we made a white sauce with chicken, mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli and pasta. It was nice working with Andy and his dad in the kitchen, then we had dinner.

I spent the last little while on the computer while Justin was on his. Andy is scanning in some slides and Ben and his friend are just hanging out. I stepped outside and it is beautiful out with clouds in the sky, it is probably going to rain tonight. We are going to go into a city and go to a hookah place.

Andy just said that he is done with the slides so I think we are going now. It is still really light outside even though it is almost 9:30pm, but the sun is on it's way down now.

I have felt a little bit homesick already, which seems odd. But then I am mostly hearing German which I am not understanding at all really yet.

In Germany

2007-05-26T11:19:39Z

So I have been in Germany for almost a day at this point. It is beautiful here. It is wonderful being able to hang out with Justin and Andy. Andy's family is wonderfully nice.

Their house is very cool. It is like two houses connected by an atrium. The one side is Andy's parents and the other side is Justin and Andy's.

I spent the last 2 1/2 days before the trip pretty much freaking out about being ready. I got very little sleep the last week. When i got on the plane in Pheonix, I had been awake for just about 24 hours on about 2 hours of sleep. I couldn't really sleep on the flight to Chicago, maybe an hour or so.

When I got to Chicago I very quickly figured out that I had set up my connection to the wrong airport and I was at Midland and needed to be at O'Hare. Luckily, I had about 7 hours to figure it out.. So I took the city train to downtown and then connected to O'Hare. I got to see some of the architecture of Chicago which was pretty cool, especially after the stress was over and I knew I was going to be okay with catching my flight.

On the flight to Frankfurt I took a sleeping pill as soon as I was settled in my my seat. Next thing I knew the two people next to me had finished their meals. They said they tried to wake me up, but I was totally zonked out, I never even realized when we took off. The stewardess saw me and brought me dinner. It was some form of Indian food and it was delicious, Best airline food I have ever had. I was on Air India and they were definitely all Indian and wore traditional Indian clothing, it was really cool. After eating I realized that I had much of the flight left still and I was still very tired. So I took another sleeping pill and zonked out for the rest of the flight, I woke up when we had about 25 minutes left on the flight. I realized then that the flight announcements were very quiet. When they were announcing landing in Frankfurt, I had to listen very hard to hear what they were saying.

I got off the plane, went to get my bag (they really only let you have one bag for international, if you have a purse it has to fit in your carry-on). Then went through customs to find Justin and Andy, Just a note about that. It helps that I look like a goody goody white girl. Not one person through my entire trip actually looked at my id.

Then we drove for about 30-45 minutes and got to the village they live in. Literally a village, 151 people live here. And it is lovely. I have some pictures of the garden here. I got settled a little, they showed me around. We had 'lunch', which was basically bread and jams and meat and cheeses. We picked strawberries in the garden and Andy's mom made a strawberry cake from them, the strawberries are so fresh and sweet. We had strawberry cake and coffee and went around the garden some more and chatted and had iced tea and watched the newts in the pond. It was a very rough day.

Then we went to the next village over for Andy's uncle's birthday. We had salad and pork roast and goulash. There was also more strawberry cake and chocolate cake and a dessert that seemed to be a mix between cheesecake and flan. I even tried a sip of Justin's beer and it wasn't as horrible as most beers I have tried So there is hope for those of you who are hurt by the fact that I am in Germany and don't like beer. I promised to try a bit of every beer Justin and Andy have.

I was doing great until one point at the party, after eating, I just got hit by tiredness. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. A little bit after that we came here and I was ready to just lie down on the couch and sleep, but Andy insisted on putting out fresh bedding or something. All I know is that I finally got to lie down. Justin placed pillows all around me then got my camera and took a picture of me and I am laughing, basically telling him to just let me sleep already.

I had gotten in to Frankfurt around 11am and stayed up till about 11:30 pm. I woke up at 7:30am and had to use the bathroom like crazy. Then came back up and forced myself to sleep some more since the rest of the house was still asleep.

We got up this morning and had breakfast which was similar to lunch. And then walked around the garden. I have just showered and feel fresh and clean and I am going to upload the pictures I took yesterday to this journal.

Getting close to time to leave...

2007-05-21T21:54:09Z

So I am getting ready for my trip now. I leave in 2 1/2 days! I am starting to freak out a little bit about all the stuff I have left to do to have things be okay here while I'm gone.

A massive huge THANK YOU!!!! to all the people who are going to stop by and check on my puppy and give her (and the cats in soem cases) love and her medicine. I really really appreciate it!

A massive fuck you to my tenants next door who haven't been paying rent and looks like they are goingto force me to get a lawyer to get them evicted. Today is supposed to be terir last day. If they don't leave today on their own I have to go downtown and file an official complaint against them and then deal with all that crap from Germany. Arggghh to people who add stress to my life!

Last shift at the Circle K tonight, thank goodness! I am just not the person to do this kind of job. Real job hunting will commence as soon as I get back from Germany.

I bought a German CD. I have listened to the first one and part of the second one and that is all my procrastinating self has done so far. But I can recognize most of the numbers from 1-10. And I can say and understand the most important things...'yes, i am single' and 'Are you married?'

Anyway, I just thought I would post with the pre-trip nervousness. I hope you all are having a wonderful week!