Week Number 2

Well, its week number two of my time in Germany. Already it is starting out as an interesting week, and definitely an interesting monday, but before I get into all of that, let me tell you about this past weekend.

This past Friday, my friend Tiffany came down from the Army base in Giessen where she is stationed. I met her in Middle School sometime, and we graduated together, so we've been friends for nearly 10 years now. Ironically, she came to Germany this past March w/the US Army, and I just came here for the year to study. So, since we both happen to be in the same country at the same time we decided to get together.

Well, she arrived friday evening in a nice BMW she rented (it was a 500 series, for those of you who know about cars, and it was really nice). After I showed her the apartment we went down to the All Stadts Fest (not sure about spelling). The festival is a yearly thing, w/lots of food vendors and live music for a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My boyfriend was working security, so we visited with him, and enjoyed a slice of pizza (i had hawaiian, it was good, though it tasted different than the hawaiian you get in the states). Another friend, from over here, visited us as well, so we all had tons of fun.

On Saturday we went to an area near by known as the Saarschleife. It is a gorgeous area, and there are castle ruins, so we hiked back to them. The trail was really pretty, though it was up and down the mountain a little and 4 km (about 2 or 3 miles) long just to get to the Castle, so it was sort of a tiring walk (okay, so really tiring). There is a photo of the castle ruins...

After our long, tiring walk, we headed over to an overview area, where we could look at the whole beautiful area. There is a picture of this as well. It was very gorgeous. On Sunday we merely watched a movie, while my boyfriend worked, then my friend went to her home in Giessen. We are planning on seeing each other again sometime, before she leaves for Iraq in September. It was really nice seeing her again, and spending some real time with her. We all had a blast.

Okay, now on to this week. This should be an interesting week, because starting today, I have to speak only German during the daytime hours. This will be good for me, since it will help me to learn more vocab, get more confidant in my language skills, and ultimately help me understand others better, but since i've hardly had to speak german so far, this first week of it should be interesting. ALso, today should be interesting, because very soon, I am leaving to go the University to talk to a woman about some things I need to do for them now that I am here. It will be my first time out and about in the city by myself, and my first time that I will have to completely understand someone all by myself without any help at all from a native speaker, so, i'm a bit nervous, and we'll see how it goes. It should go well, and the woman who I need to talk to will help me to make sure I understand her! But still, i'm a little nervous!

well, that's all for now. there are a few pics for you all to see. I'm off!