A Quick Note of Confession

Hello faithful readers (yes, all four of you),

You may have noticed that I have not posted anything to my blog in nearly a month.  At this point, I've already explained this to several of you, but I thought I'd put it here formally in the unlikely case that anyone else cared to know.  While I don't have homework, so I can't blame it on that like last year, I did find myself getting too busy for the blog.  Working, getting ready for work, or traveling to work accounts for between 9 and 11 hours per day, and I really like getting my 8 to 9 hours of sleep every night (or rather, I like going to bed early but then don't end up getting up early enough to do anything in the morning :P).  That leaves about 6 hours a day during the week, give or take.  Sometimes we go out to eat or do something else as a family in the evenings.  I especially enjoy playing board games with my host parents and talking to them about various subjects, both to better my German and learn more about the world.  To be honest, I also spend a lot of that tmie goofing off on the internet, whether it be Facebook or just looking at funny pictures of cats.  I even call my family and friends once in a great while (this is a lie.  This morning I Skyped with someone other than my boyfriend for the first time this summer.  And I think I may have called my parents four times in twelve weeks.  I'm actually ashamed of that record, but at least it means I don't get homesick?) A portion of that time is actually dedicated to "meaningful" Internet communication, mostly writing long and thoughtful emails to friends I don't or won't see anymore.

And then comes planning.  Of course, I want to take advantage of my time here in Germany, and that takes organization and research.  I've had some AMAZING experiences this summer, but none of them happened without me doing some logistics.  On that note, in only 3 days I begin an extremely ambitious trip across Europe, spanning 9 days and 7 countries.  I have been frantically trying to organize this for the past three weeks, getting particularly anxious as 2-week deadlines pass without tickets being bought or lodging being booked.  The good news is, I've got things mostly figured out at this point, but it's taken hours of research (and a bit more money than I would have had to spend if I had started earlier).  It should be a blast, however, and involves PLENTY of travel time.  Time during which I have little better to do than read and write.  I won't have reliable Internet access during the trip, but hopefully I can write several blog posts in TextEdit which I can upload as soon as I get to Scotland (or some WiFi in between here and there).  But, things don't always go according to plan.  So no promises, but know that I really WANT to write down all of the cool adventures that have happened to me this summer, and I PLAN to get to it sooner rather than later.  I've been faithfully keeping a journal with notes on each day, so remembering important stuff shouldn't be a problem.  Who knows, maybe I'll ONLY remember and write down the important stuff... but let's not be unreasonable ;)

Until then, keep wandering wide-eyed!

Erin