Danke, Deutschland [thanks, Germany}

I just had the adventure of a lifetime. After five months of living in Germany, there is so much I have seen, so much I have learned and so much to say. I can't possibly sit here and write a proper summary of my German experience. Rather, I wanted to say thank you for a few things on this last night I have in Potsdam.

Thank you, German language. Even though you can be a real bitch with your senseless three genders and arbitrary plurals, the fact that you've added Schwangerschaftverhütungsmittel and Rolltreppenbenutzungshinweise to my vocabulary has earned you a thanks. 

"Entry to the construction forbidden"

Thank you, University of Potsdam. America should really adopt your European model of having classes meet once a week. Easily the most relaxing semester of my life, but one of the most interesting. Now I know exactly when to write a ß or ss; it's also embarrassing that a German professor taught me that "smog" comes from "smoke + fog." 

University of Potsdam at New Palace

Thank you, Potsdam. As "Berlin's pretty little sister," I will miss your green parks and elaborate palaces. Your close proximately to Berlin complements your smaller size wonderfully. I will oddly miss the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) with my favorite Döner shop and the best ice cream in town. Funny to think that five months ago I didn't know how a train station worked.

Sansoucci Palace in Potsdam

Thank you, to all of the people I was able to visit while I was here and all of their wonderful friends I met, too. Whether I was in Stuttgart with Bettina, in Kiel with Edda, Leipzig with Julia, Bremen with Franzi or in Jena with Patricia, I enjoyed every chance I had to see as much of Germany as possible. I have now been (bin) to 14/16 Bundesländer [German states]. But these cities would not have been nearly as special if I hadn't had such hospitable hosts.

My last trip to see Patricia in Jena.

And thank you, Pit (and Missi the dog) and Frederike. I am truly so, so lucky to have found the apartment in Potsdam that I did. This semester would not have been as amazing and life-enhancing had I not had such nice, fun roommates. I got to speak German every day; I got to help Frederike with her English; and I made lifelong friends.

Roommates: Frederike, Pit and Missy. 

Tomorrow I board a plane at 12:15 Germany time and head back across the Atlantic. I am ecstatic to see my family, girlfriend and friends, but I can't ignore the bittersweetness of it all. I will miss Germany; I will miss so much about it, but I just have to tell myself that this won't be our last encounter.

Thanks, Germany.

Fragen [questions]

It's been a month since I last posted something here. In the beginning, there was so much I wanted to write about, but the more accustom I've become to life in Germany, the fewer "blog-worthy" experiences have happened. But with four weeks left until I come home, I still want to post a few more entries. What I thought I'd post this time is a list of my favorite ten questions that I've been asked by Germans about America. The answers are pretty obvious, so I'll include what I should have answered.

Me with Copernicus. We're both thinkers and are always ready to tackle the big questions. 

Here we go: Top Ten Questions asked by Germans about America. Please note that these questions were originally asked in German and sometimes by multiple people, but I've done my best to translate and paraphrase.



10. What TV shows are the most popular in the U.S.? 

Antiques Roadshow, reruns of Charmed,  and Judge Judy 

9. Is the videotaping of the subway stations a big issue where you live (like it is in Berlin)? 

Yes. I feel like my privacy is being breached every time I take the subway from Lockwood to the Heights. That's why I stick to the tram. 

8. Montana? Like Hannah Montana? 

Exactly. Have you seen our state quarter? 

7. What stereotypes do Americans have about Germans? 

Friendly, easy-going people with a beautiful language. 

6. So do a lot of people go to Montana to live the American Dream?

You must be thinking of North Dakota. 

5. Can you really drive when you're 16?

Actually I could drive when I was 15, but then you have to wait six more years to drink. Wait...

4. Are there really these house parties? And do they really drink from these red cups?

Yes, but you have to be 21 to attend them. And normally the cups contain non-alcoholic beverages such as grapefruit juice or skim milk. 

3. What was the 51st state again? (Yes, I've had three Germans try to convince me that there are 51 states)

Where is the 51st star on the flag? 

2. What do you think of the job President Obama is doing?

REDACTED. 

1. Is college in America like American Pie? Like when you go to college are all the girls hot?

So much like American Pie that's it's scary. Harvard's got the hottest girls, though.

Auf halbem Wege [halfway]

I'm over halfway done with my time abroad. WOW. I can't believe how the time has been flying. In the past month since I last checked in here, I had my family visit me, I went to a new German city (Bremen) and my girlfriend Alice came to see me. 

With the g.f. in Bremen.

I could give you a blow by blow of what I've done in the past month, but I'm going to take different approach; so let's give it a try. 

My Favorite Five Things I Saw in the Past Month

5. All of Leipzig

Hip, art-deco sort of apartment building in Leipzig.

Okay, I'm kind of cheating on this first one considering I'd been to Leipzig twice before (and for the record, I am heading there for a fourth time tomorrow). But I journeyed to my favorite German city outside of Berlin/Brandenburg with the family and got to do a bus tour of the whole city. What was hilarious was the fact that we were the only ones on the bus, and the tour guide blabbed on for over an hour in German, and my mom, dad and brother, of course, had no idea what she was saying. I told them just to nod and smile (except about the part about all the people Napoleon killed). 

4. East Side Gallery 

Start of the art memorial

My two favorite countries!

 

 Alice and I journeyed into Berlin and visited one of the big tourist attractions I had not yet seen: the East Side Gallery. It's a stretch of paintings that was erected in 1990 along where the wall existed. It's dubbed as a memorial for freedom, with artists' works from all over the globe creating a new wall of sorts. I included just a few paintings above.
 3. Bremen

Downtown Bremen

Bremen is a cool city of about half a million people in the north of Germany. I met Alice there and stayed with her friend from high school Franzi (the girl who saved my life during my first few days of navigating German public transportation). 

2. Reichstag 

Although we didn't make reservations to a tour inside (on my list of things to do), the German parliament building known as the "Reichstag" is pretty damn cool. 

1. Michael Jackson Balcony

I can't believe I missed this the first time I was in this part of Berlin! It's the Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson dangled his baby Blanket (no, he didn't dangle a blanket; he dangled the baby which is named Blanket) back in 2002. Clearly the most important landmark in Berlin and arguably all of Europe! 

My Five Favorite Things I'm Still Loving About Germany

5. Public Transportation: While I cursed it up and down in the beginning, I've really grown to love hopping on the tram or on a train into Berlin, and I've learned to utilize the time to study or read. If either of those fail, it's great people-watching time.

4. Bakeries: I wish we had a bakery on every corner in the US like they have here in Germany. I can't get enough of the baked goods here. But considering how healthy Americans are when it comes to food consumption, maybe now's not the time. . . 

3. Weather: I wasn't jealous of the snow Montana had in April. Nor am I jealous of all the horrible rain/flooding. It's felt like summer for over a month now, and I love it. 

2. Speaking German: Some days are better than others, but in general, I still love speaking German to my roommates, classmates, bus drivers, hair dressers, Subway sandwich-makers, etc. 

1. Marzipan: if you have no idea what I'm talking about, LOOK IT UP AND RUN TO YOUR NEAREST WORLD MARKET. 

And finally. . .

Five Things I've Learned/Observed About Myself So Far

5. I sleep way too much. I've always known I can sleep, but with an easy-going semester like the one I'm undertaking, I've learned if I don't have to get up for something, I won't. I sleep like a rock and have no self-discipline about actually getting up after my alarm goes off. I've accepted that I'm not a morning person, but I'm really going to try to be better about "sleeping my life away."

4. Patience is key, and I've got it. My mother's not patient. My father's not patient. My brother REALLY isn't patient. I'm not always patient, but for the most part, I am. I don't know if Germany has helped fuel my patience or if I'm just noticing it more.

3. Go with the flow. Along similar lines as the patience bit, with all the mishaps, missed trains, missed flights, delays, and so on, I've learned that in oder to get the most out of an experience, you have to be able to say, "This isn't what I planned, but I'll make it work."

2. I'm pretty damn good at German. Okay, it really took a lot for me to write that. I never want to boast about being good at something--especially with a foreign language. It annoys me so much when someone brags about how good they are at speaking a foreign tongue. It's annoying because 1) it's usually not that true and 2) no matter how good you are, there's always so much more you can learn. But after struggling with saying some word earlier this week, I was really beating myself up about it. But within the past few days, I got several compliments on my German. The lady who cut my hair said "You're German is so good!" and a friend of a friend said "He speaks so well--I can't hear an accent." Words of praise like that make everything I've done to learn this grammatically-challenging language worth it. Let's see where I can take my German in these last two months.

1. I want both worlds. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss home. I do. Would I call it homesickness? No. I have yet to really wish that I would just be home. In fact, hitting this halfway point of my stay abroad was bitter-sweet. I started being able to see the end of my stay here, which terrifies me. I love it here so much, and it's crazy to think about it ending. I want to learn so much more. At the same time, however, I look forward to being home with friends, and with my family. I also crave food like Olive Garden and Buffalo Wild Wings on a weekly basis, but now I'm starting to think how much I will miss my Döners and Pfannkuchens here. I want Montana and Germany at the same time. . .



Let's see what the next 59 days bring.

Osterhase und das Geburtstagskind [Easterbunny and the birthday boy]

 Wow, what a great weekend I had last week! As I've mentioned before, I have two amazing friends in Germany who were exchange students in high school during my senior year. One is Julia, who lives in Leipzig (and with whom I stayed at the beginning of my trip).

Refresher: this is Julia.

The other is Edda, who studies in Kiel but is from Lüneburg, which is right outside of Hamburg. Edda's family invited me to their home for the weekend, which just happened to include Easter and my 21st birthday.

Finally reunited with Edda!

Anyway, I had an AWESOME weekend. As fun and exciting as city life is, it was so relaxing to stay in Edda's house (which is actually located in a tiny town outside of Lüneburg) with two levels, and a backyard, and a patio, etc. Edda's family was so hospitable--I really couldn't have asked for more. We spent one day touring the charming city of Lüneburg, which has population of about 70,000: so like the 120th biggest city in Germany. No really, I looked it up.  Later in the day, we stopped at a cafe and I had my second Flammkuchen [I guess we would call it a tarte flambée] in Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammkuchen Later that night, Edda and I went back into the city to meet up with two of her friends at an outdoor Kneipe overlooking the river.

 

A couple pics from the L-burg. 

 The night before Easter I drove into Hamburg with Edda to her boyfriend's house for an Osterfeuer  [Easter fire]. I would have never understood this connection between a fire and Easter if Frau Campbell had not made me do a presentation on it back in high school. Vielen Dank, Frau! I guess it's pretty common in Germany/Northern Europe to make a big bonfire on Easter. The tradition comes from the chasing off of the winter ghosts or something and welcoming warm weather. Maybe you all in Montana should have tried this a while ago?

Our Easter Fire

So Saturday night, Edda and I were at this celebration and we were up until about 1:30. Now, this wouldn't have been a big deal at all if we didn't have to attend a six a.m. church service. We slept for two hours at her boyfriend's house, got up at 3:30 (yes, I woke up on Easter Sunday at 3:30!) and drove back to Edda's house just in time to shower, get dressed and set off driving to another village for church by 5:30. I'm glad I did it though because it was really interesting to sit through a German church service that wasn't all that different from my own church back in Billings which has strong German roots itself. I did almost fall asleep though (Edda nudged me to wake me up), but I didn't feel too bad because I found out later that Edda's dad did fall asleep.

The rest of Easter Sunday was pleasant, although I did try to fit in as many cat naps as possible. We went to an Easter brunch and then drove to the Baltic Sea. Yes, the weather was warm enough to go to the beach--guess that fire worked,

With Edda's family at Easter brunch!

Soaking up the sun. BTW: See that coat? Yeah, found it for 10 Euros! Snäppchen! 

The next day was my birthday. Yep, I'm 21. Doesn't really feel any different. Edda and her dad took me into Hamburg. Hamburg is breathtakingly beautiful. I'll let these pictures I took from the top of St. Michel's church speak for themselves. 

But if I'm going to be completely honest, for most of the day it didn't really feel like my birthday. My favorite part of having a birthday is all the birthday wishes you get when you go out with friends, the calls and texts you get and the birthday cards. Facebook did a moderate job of satisfying this, but overall it just felt like another awesome day in Europe, but not my birthday. However, the evening ended splendidly because Edda's mom made my new favorite meal here: asparagus with Hollandaise sauce with a tasty raspberry-something for dessert. They even got me presents! It was nice that even if I wasn't home with my family for my birthday, I had another family to make my day extra special.

Das Einleben [settling in]

Shame on me, I know; I haven't been keeping up on my blog. But now that I'm settled in here in Potsdam, I should be able to be more active on here.

So last time I checked in, I had just spent a great weekend in Scotland. Now I write from my room at my WG in Potsdam, where it's starting to feel like home. Okay, maybe not my real home, but a home of sorts. I've had the chance to spend a lot of time with both my roommates Pit and Frederike. Some highlights include watching "Miss Congeniality" or "Miss Undercover" as it's called here, shopping at the local mall and playing a midnight game of Kniffel--the German version of Yatzee (doing math quickly in German is hard; maybe that's why I lost the game). I am so thankful everyday that I found this apartment, and I pity those international students who are living in the student dorms in Golm. I must thank the dear Martha Scheer for advising me this past fall not to live in these student dorms because they aren't really even located in Potsdam. Instead, they are on the outskirts of city in the farming community of Golm, where buses don't even run at night. It has also worked out splendidly because my room here was already furnished, and I can use all the kitchen essentials such as silverware and pans and plates that Pit and Frederike already own, which is an additional cost those students in dorms have pay.

I also had my friend Michael who just finished up a semester in Spain come to visit. We spent an afternoon exploring Berlin, which was a lot of fun. Here a few pictures from that adventure:

Brandenburg Gate

Checkpoint Charlie

One of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall

As far as school goes (oh, yeah, almost forgot that I am studying abroad), classes finally started this week. That means with the semester just starting, I'll be in school until the end of July. But don't feel too sorry for me; I only have class two days a week. On Mondays I have a German class that focuses on grammar and vocabulary, and then on Wednesdays, I have two Russian classes back to back. One is written expression and the other one deals with oral expression. I've only been to class once, but I can tell I'm going to learn a lot. In the Russian class, we each have a computer and headset/microphone with which we have to record ourselves every class. Talk about intimidating!

Well, I think that's all I've got for you for now. I am very excited for next weekend. I'm heading to Lüneburg (near Hamburg) to stay with my friend from high school Edda and her family. It's Easter/ my birthday. That's right: Paul's turning 21! Look out, world!

Schottisches Wochenende [Scottish weekend]

Well, I'm finally settled in Potsdam. After three weeks of traveling around Europe, I'm ready to stay put--at least for a little while. But I still need to write something about the amazing weekend I had in the UK. While my transit to and from Edinburgh was far more stressful and difficult than I anticipated, the end result was definitely worth it. All I'll say about my transportation to and from Scotland is this: make sure you know where the airport you need is; sometimes it's an hour and 45 minutes out of your way.

I was so glad to meet up with my long-time friend Alyssa Small in Edinburgh. We didn't plan the whole picking me up at the airport thing, but we somehow managed to time things perfectly, as she rolled up on the bus literally two minutes after I got through customs. Of course we had to ride on the top level of the double-decker bus to her flat. Once we got to her flat, I met her lovely "flatmate" Lindsey from New York. What a breath of fresh air Miss Lindsey is! She tells it how it is, but is so kind, friendly and hysterical at the same time. Luckily, Lindsay accompanied us with all of our activities throughout the weekend. Highlights  were shopping on Princess Street, eating fish and chips (I never eat fish, but it was delicious!) and dining at a Portuguese/South African restaurant. We also toured Holyrood Palace where the queen stays when she visits Edinburgh.

Outside of Holyrood. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside; that didn't stop Lindsey, though. 

We also stopped by The Elephant House for lunch. This was the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of the early Harry Potter books. 

It was also just a lot of fun to hang out in Alyssa's flat, chatting with Lindsey and the other roomies, discussing the differences among the US, Scotland and Germany. But my favorite moment was on my last full day in Scotland when Alyssa and I climbed a hill that overlooks the whole city. As I sat alone on the hill overlooking the city and the ocean, I got chills. Absolutely breathtaking to think that I was just chilling on a hill in Scotland without a care in the world.

Hopefully I have more moments like that. Thanks, Alyssa, for the great weekend!

Toller Tag [great day]

What a great day in Germany. 

After a peaceful morning of sleeping in, I joined Julia and four of her friends for lunch in the cafeteria of the university here in Leipzig. The food was cheap, but the cordon bleu was a hundred times better than what the Food Zoo could whip up. 

Afterwards, we drove about 25 minutes to the town of Lützen, where Julia grew up and where her grandparents still live. We visited with the charming couple in their garden (which is still common here in the east: you have your apartment, and then you have a small plot of land where you have a little one-room house--same thing as "the dacha" for you Russian speakers). It was during this conversation when, for the first time, I could really feel my German's improvement. I still am not talking as much as I should be, but I understood nearly every word of the conversation, which isn't always easy when speaking with 1) East Germans and 2) elders (I could never understand my own grandpa back in the States). It was also amusing to hear that "old people" say the same things everywhere. Julia's Oma [grandma] went on and on about how kids these days have no respect, can't behave themselves on the bus and how furchtbar [horrible] their slang is (specifically, how kids say "Hey, Alter!" all the time, which is the equivalent to "Hey, Dude!"). Then there were the "back in my day" moments. Except with this couple it was all about the DDR [East Germany]. Example: We were discussing the taste of Coke in the US compared to German Coke, and Julia's Opa said something along the lines of: "Well, you should have tasted the Coke they gave us in the DDR--that stuff wasn't Coke." 

We then headed to a nearby town of Dürrenberg to visit a new phenomenon for me: a Kurbad [literally Cure Bath]. Kurbad Bad Dürrenberg is situated on the edge of town and along a river. The park consists of walking paths, playgrounds, benches; also scattered about about are some restaurants/cafes. Then it gets a little stranger. There's a building filled with tropical plants and caged birds from all over the world. Surrounding the entire area was this wall. What it was comprised of I'm still not sure. As much as I tried to figure out what it was, I never got an answer. All I know is that salt water trickles down the walls, making it smell like the ocean. I've included a picture here (I still don't have my cord to upload pictures, so I stole this from Google Image Search--yeah, it's not that green here yet).

                                  

People come to this place to heal after illness, hence the name "cure bath." There were many sick and elderly people who were enjoying the park when we were there. I'm not sure how helpful the park is for healing, but it was beautiful and relaxing. 

On the way home from Dürrenberg, I drank a "Sparkling" Peach Iced Tea, and Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" came on. Yeah, life's pretty good right now. 

Woche des Reisens [week of traveling]

First I need to apologize for my lack of pictures on this blog. I stupidly left my camera cord in Potsdam, but once I get back, I'll upload some pictures from my adventure. Anyway, it's been a while since I've blogged. I was gone for a week, traveling across three countries with my friend Julia. I'm currently staying with Julia and her mom here in Leipzig. So much has happened, and I've seen so much; I think the best way to tackle this is to recap the main stops I've made. 


Leipzig, Germany
As I mentioned before, I'm using Leipzig as my home in Germany until school starts in Potsdam in April. Julia and her mom have an amazing apartment in the city. And what a beautiful city Leipzig is. East Germany can have the reputation of being poor and dirty, but you don't see it here in Leipzig. There's so much history here, too. After reading Faust in my German literature class this fall, it was cool to visit Auerbach's Keller--the cellar where Goethe spent time writing the famous piece and also where a scene in the play takes place. I also got to see the modern side of the city, when I went to a German electronics store to buy a cellphone. Now I have a way to contact my fellow Europeans. And the price was right: less that $20 for the phone, and I pay by usage. 


It has also been exciting to meet a lot of Julia's friends. Julia and I seem to speak English when we're alone, so it's probably good for me to have her friends around to speak German. I went to a birthday party one night, we had a vegetarian picnic in the park another day and last Saturday night we went to Moritzbastai: the largest student club in Germany. 


Vienna, Austria
I always knew Vienna was beautiful, but you really have to see it in person to appreciate it. While there, Julia and I stayed with Alice and her host mom, who was so welcoming and kind. She lives  a ways from downtown, so we were able to commute every day into the city via bus, tram and subway. No, I didn't get fined this time. 


A highlight was when we went to a ballet of Don Quixote at Vienna's Staatsoper [Opera House]. Now, I'm not someone you'll normally find at the ballet, but the show was quite spectacular, and just sitting in the opera house was spectacular. It was also fun to hang out with Alice and some of the other students who are studying in Vienna from the University of Montana (Kate, Chelsea, Kelly, I'm talking about you guys, right?). The night before we left, we all got together at Kate's house and watched Germany's Next Top Model; one day in the future, I'll give my opinion on Germany's version of one of my favorite shows. Although we were only in Vienna for about four days, it felt like weeks because we did so much and saw so much of the city. I definitely must return one day.


Prague, Czech Republic
I've never heard a bad thing about Prague. That's why I was a little concerned that I would be let down because my expectations were so high. But Prague definitely lived up to its reputation. First of all, the city is breathtaking--absolutely stunning. I had to stop myself from taking pictures in order to save my camera battery. What I was also so impressed by was the Czech people. There were many times when the language barrier was steep, but not one Czech person was rude. When we were wondering whether or not we could park along a certain street, Julia got out of the car to ask a few middle-aged women, and although their English was severely broken at best, they tried so hard to help us and eventually let us know where to park. 


We only spent a couple days in Prague, but we went on a tour of the city (including a boat ride). On the way back to our hostel the first night, we walked by the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to eat dinner there. I walked in and felt like I was back in America. Although I've been gone less than two weeks, it was so much fun to sit in a booth again and get free refills of Pepsi. The waitress even greeted us with (in a thick Czech accent which made it that much better), "Hello! My name is Irena, and I'm a going to be take care of you tonight!" 
I'm at the point where I'm loving everything Europe is offering* and recognizing what I love about my home in the States. Hopefully I can keep this balance the whole time. 


*Okay, not everything. I really miss my dryer. Hanging your clothes out to dry on the balcony just doesn't do it for me--even if it is saving energy. I'll never complain again about my jeans taking too long to dry. 

Schwarzfahrer ["free rider"]

Before today, I had never been in a train station. Laugh at me all you want, Germans, but my experience with public transportation is nonexistent. Aside from school and charter buses, I've been on a bus in the city probably 5 to 10 times. Even in Missoula, where public transportation is a huge step-up from Billings, I've lived on campus all three semesters, so I've never actually taken the bus. So this morning I had to make it from my WG in Potsdam to Leipzig--100 miles away. Thankfully, my Facebook German friend Franzi helped me research where exactly I needed to go: from the tram station right by my apartment building to the Potsdam Main Station to the Berlin Main Station and then the train to Leipzig. I even watched a "Navigating Berlin" video online about what type of ticket to buy (on April 1st, I'll be able to buy a pass for 6 months, and I won't have to worry about this). I made sure to buy an ABC ticket when I got on the tram because, as the video instructed, if you're traveling in Potsdam (or other outlying areas of Berlin) you're in the C zone. 

I made it to the Potsdam Station and then hopped on the train to Berlin. It was quite a long ride, but I didn't mind because I got to see a lot of the city. I was about 1 minute away from the station when the Kontrolleur came around (the Kontrolleurs are inspectors on the trains who ask to see your ticket to make sure that you in fact have one and that you aren't a Schwarzfahrer [black rider]--someone who rides the train without paying. So I held up my ticket, but the Kontrolleur grabbed it and yelled, "Nee, diese Ticket passt nicht!" [No, this ticket doesn't work!]. He then told me to get off at the next stop. Luckily for me it was the Berlin Main Station--where I needed to catch my train in a matter of minutes. After I got off he started berating me, but I told him in English that I didn't understand him, hoping to get some sympathy for being a foreigner. I really wasn't trying to cheat anyone--I just bought the wrong type of ticket, I guess. Or maybe I needed to buy one at the train station. I'm still not sure. I kept saying that I was sorry and I thought that the ABC ticket was what I needed, but he just barked back, "Now it cost you 40 Euro!" I I didn't have that much cash on me, so I had to run down to the ATM to get money to pay him. I probably would have been more upset by the whole ordeal, but all I could think of was the train that was leaving to Leipzig anytime. I gave him his damn money, and I ran to the train. 

So in short, it cost me as much money to get from Potsdam to Berlin as it's costing me to fly from Germany to Scotland. Aber so ist das Leben [Such is life]! I'm having an amazing time in Leipzig, which I'll recap later. It's too early in my trip abroad to sulk. 

P.S. The first thing I did when I got on the train to Leipzig was frantically ask a female passenger where I can buy a ticket. She smiled and calmly said in German, "You can simply sit down, and someone will come around to collect your money." Phew. 

Das Abenteur fängt an [the adventure begins]

I'm going to survive!! I found Diet Coke (or Coca Cola Light, as it's named here) at the grocery store for a reasonable price just a couple minutes away from my WG [apartment, if you haven't read my other posts].

Now that I got that out of my system, I MADE IT! The transit from Billings to Potsdam was probably as painless as it could have been. I left in the afternoon (Billings time) and arrived in the afternoon (Berlin time). I made all my flights and got a lot of sleep in (and a lot of food in thanks to Delta! Seriously, I was expecting nothing, but I couldn't eat all the food they were giving out). The only obstacle I encountered was the transport of the my microphone that I use to record my podcast/ do voiceovers for my reality shows. It kind of looks like a mini spaceship, with a large sphere supported by a tripod of sorts. I didn't even realize how suspicious it looked in my carry-on bag, all wrapped up in clothing at the bottom of the bag. The security team at the Billings airport took a good five minutes and several scannings to identify the object. Once I told the lady what it was, she got quite a kick out of it and made the others guess what they thought it was. I encountered this problem again going through customs in Amsterdam--although it was much funnier. The security man dude (what's the proper name for those workers?) opened my bag, picked it up and started singing into it in Dutch. Then yelled his coworker's name and yelled "Microfoon! Microfoon!" No worries, though; my mic made it to Germany, too. 

I was lucky enough to have my super-nice roommate Pit come pick me up at the airport in Berlin, which relieved a ton of stress. My WG is really nice. I have my own room and share a bathroom, kitchen, living room and dining room with my 2.5 roommates: Pit, Frederike (whom I have not met yet, but from all our internet interactions, I can tell she's great) and Missi, who is the cutest and most well-trained little German shepherd I've ever met. 

I've been here for a little over a day now and am absolutely loving it, despite the fact that I haven't really done anything, haha. I've made it over to the grocery store a couple times, where prices are much cheaper than the stores in Montana; the store kind of reminds me of little IGA or something--quite the opposite of Walmart Supercenter. And I totally forgot to bring my own bag to the store. If you want a plastic bag, you have to pay for it. Everyone just shows up with their own bags (or even just a purse).

I've also discovered the cutest thing on earth: little kids speaking German. On my way home from the store, there were many little kids running around, (school had just been let out nearby) and this little girl wandered up to me and asked, "Ist es schon halb vier?" or "is it already 3:30?" It was so cute, I think my heart melted a little bit. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a phone, so I had to tell her I didn't know. 

Other than my outings to the store, I've been in my room adjusting to the time difference. I bought my three favorite shows on iTunes--The Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model and, of course, Survivor--and spent some time catching up. Tomorrow I head to Leipzig to stay with my friend Julia and then onward we will go to Dresden, Prague and Vienna. I won't make it back to Potsdam until the end of the month, but I am so glad I have a comfortable home to come back to. 

morgen [tomorrow]

Oh. My. God: tomorrow. Tomorrow's the day. I honestly can't believe that tomorrow I will board a plane at 1:08 in the afternoon and fly to Minneapolis and then to Amsterdam and then to Berlin. I've had this particular exchange to Potsdam all planned out since last February; and I've known I was going to study abroad in Germany for several years now. This trip abroad has always been in the future--it's always felt so far away. And now it's here, and I'm trying to absorb the concept that in less than two days I will be at my WG in Potsdam.

Some of you may wonder why I'm leaving in March to study abroad. Well, the university system in Germany runs on a summer and winter semester. Summer semester starts in April. I feel like I'm the caboose of all my friends. So many of us have chosen to study abroad for our junior year: My friend Brent spent the fall in Chile. My friends Michael, Alyssa and Caitlin left for Spain, Scotland and Ghana, respectively, in January. I also have friends in Italy (Gabrielle) and the Czech Republic (Megan) at the moment. Perhaps the most convenient of all, however, is that my girlfriend Alice is studying in Vienna with a group of student from University of Montana (shout out to Kato Potato!) I'm hoping to visit or meet up with all of my fellow European students at least once, and in the case of Alice, hopefully many times.

With school not starting until April, I already have some extensive travel plans in March: I'll be staying with my friend Julia, who was a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school) in Leipzig. We'll do some traveling, making stops in Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Then at the end of March, I'm making a stop in Scotland for a weekend (the ticket was roundtrip and $50!). Hopefully I will fit in time with my other beloved ex-foreign exchange student friend Edda and the aforementioned Michael.

I'm going to stop myself there. I could map out some other plans for the semester, but I'm going to wait to see what happens. A huge part of this trip is an attempt to break free of my regular routine and habits in an attempt to just go with the flow.

Next time you'll hear from me will be in Germany!

Hab euch Lieb [love you all]

Die Wartezeit [the waiting period]

Three weeks to go. It still hasn't really sunk in and still feels quite surreal. This post isn't going to be very long, simply because I'm still in Billings. But I wanted to warm up the blogger within (I've done many things online, but blogging is not one of them). We'll see how this project comes along. My intent is to write a weekly post once I get to Germany as a way not only to journal the adventure for myself, but, more importantly, to keep my friends, family and whoever else feels like procrastinating updated.

Like I said, I have exactly three weeks until I jet off. A huge relief accompanies this milestone: I finally found a WG [WG is short for Wohngemeinschaft, which means "shared-living community" or "flat share"; see, you'll also learn some German in this blog ;) ]. And not just any WG, but the one I wanted most--furnished, good location, great price, with German roommates. I've met my future roommates (two college students) via Skype/ Facebook, and I can't wait to share my adventure with them.

I could write a whole lot more, but I'll save that for later. For now, I'll get back to substitute teaching. Playing fourth grade teacher this week: man, fourth graders are chatty and love to tattletale!