gutten tag!

Bavarian Castle
In Hainburg, Lena's town
Me, a Lamborgini, and a Prada in the same picture!
Elke, Lena, and Me
Frankfurt Skyline

Hey all!

I'm back from my amazing weekend in Germany. I am totally in love with the easy transportation here in Europe. Lena, our exchange student, was at the airport Thursday night waiting to pick me up with a white friendship rose. On Friday I awoke to an AMAZING breakfast she had made....my first sit down meal in a long time! Then it was off to Bavaria to see a castle, a bit of Oktoberfest, and to grab a latte at a tiny street cafe. In the afternoon we headed to the town where Lena's mom, Elke, was staying. She's at a spa during her time off of school so Lena and her dad were home alone for a couple weeks. The town was amazing: fall colors, cool temperatures, great hillside views, etc. We went for a hike to a Bavarian cafe and I got to try the Bavarian dumpling! We returned to Frankfurt for dinner with Andreas, Lena's dad, which was at first a bit awkward as he speaks NO English. By Sunday, though, we were best buddies! Friday night we went clubbing German style and spent the day Saturday on tour of Frankfurt. The weather was so nice we even went for a walk along the Main River and had dinner again with Andreas. I have no idea how we got so much crammed into one weekend, but it was amazing! Saying goodbye to them was almost as hard as saying goodbye to my own family since both Lena and her mom have lived with us in the states and they treated me like a queen for the weekend! In fact, I had so much fun I am thinking about going back in December for their Christmas Market as they all said Germany as Christmas is impossible to miss. We'll see...with flights as cheap as 50 bucks it might be worth it!



Last night I had my first "intercambio" or language exchange meeting with a woman from Madrid. She wanted to practice her English and I need to practice my Spanish so we went for tapas at a few different places. She wants to show me some places in the city so I'm not one to turn down Spanish friendship!



I also started teaching Lengua Inglesa II (second year English) at the university today. It was so funny to see all the Spanish kids in my shoes! I started by telling them all about my "naked milk" and "cheek kissing" stories so that they would know that I know EXACTLY how they feel. I have about 30 students in my class, most from Spain and between ages 19-27, and a few of them came up after class to ask if I wanted to hang out with them sometime. I was so pumped; I guess I'm just THAT cool!!! And then I realized that clearly they all just want A's....haha!