Well, I'm going to make a confession. Mom, are you sitting down? I...like...doing...dishes. There--I said it. Don't hold it against me. But for some reason, I thoroughly enjoy it as of late. Every day I try to make myself understand that these white walls in front of me, this little sink around the corner, and the bathroom that Lynn said looks like it should be found on an airplane, are all part of my temporarily permanent home. It is my nature to constantly look for ways to improve things. I'm always asking myself what could be more functional around here. I'm constantly rearranging. I didn't bring much with me to hang on the walls, which I'm disappointed about because I like having things to look at. Tomorrow I shall search for more things to make my stay here more of a "stay".

Tomorrow I will meet Karen, the mother of two children I will babysit for this year. My job is to speak english with them for a few hours, once or twice during the week. Hopefully I can use the money I'll make to fund my obsession/liking with mail and the post office.

I started a new module today in class; Universität. I'll be learning more about the way the university functions and already it sounds much different than our system. Lena, my teacher, asked what we're concerned about, and I am concerned about not understanding what's expected of me. Sometimes I don't even understand what I'm supposed to do in English...we'll see how that goes. But seriously--you know how professors can be. They always have accents and weird dialects, no matter where you are. We've been told the first two weeks will be quite difficult. She promises things will get better...that's what everyone likes promising, don't they?

The pic is me at the top of Alte Peter Kirche. It's 306 steps up (Grandma D., I thought of you climbing the steps!) I paid one euro to get a really good quad work out! It's so nice to see the city as the birds do. Munich is quite a lovely city. It's a place where tradition meets style. Where real butter and sugar are used in dishes. A place where if you're standing on a bike path, the biker will undoubtedly accelerate toward the place your two feet stand.