Well, I made it out of my first week of class alive. I've got to say, no matter where you are on the globe, school is still school, and it's not exactly dreamy. I feel overwhelmed by the workload because classes typically meet one time a week, and when you are passive-aggressive like myself, it is tough to work with all that "free" time in the week and to accomplish one's given tasks. During my class on Friday, which teaches us more about the structure of German education in the university, Hans-Peter drew a hilarious graph representative of the highs and lows we'll experience this year. He warned us about it getting cold really soon, and becoming darker, and this low was so low that he extended his chalk line PAST the chalkboard and just kept drawing a huge line on the wall! All mouths were laughing. He makes anything and everything entertaining.

Speaking of laughter, that same Friday on the way to class, a bunch of JYMers were walking together and I was just being a little crazy and enjoying the morning. I was laughing really loudly (sort of a Karen-cackle laugh), and all these construction workers totally mocked me! The nerve. I just sort of threw my hands up in the air and, while laughing, yelled back to them, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH LAUGHING?!?" People always gotta rain on your parade, you know? What a shame!

Babysitting is going well. The family asked me to work on Friday, too (normally I just come in Thursdays), and I accepted. I always play these goofy games with the kids that they make up, which means I never understand the rules and I am forced to go with the flow. It's always confusing to me whether or not I should prove to them that I do speak german. Not "prove it"-prove it, but it kicks my self-esteem when other people I meet through them think I am this total foreigner who doesn't know a lick of german. This story probably isn't making sense to you right now. Basically, I am a little torn inside because my job--what I was hired to do--was to speak english with them while watching them. That's how I am. That's how I feel I have been raised at least; this is the job I agreed and am expected to do, therefore, this is the job I WILL do. Simple, isn't it?

Last night was awesome. I hung out with Rachel, Josh (JYM), Adam (JYM alumni), and Will (umm...soccer player). We had a great time making lasagna together from scratch in Adam's flat, playing frisbee outside in the dark, and just talking until a late hour. It was a beautiful October night; the kind where as long as you're running around a bit, you're not one bit cold in a t-shirt. The stars were GORGEOUS and I just found myself stopping, staring in awe of them over and over. We were outside of Munich, so there were fewer lights to pollute the view. Just gorgeous.

Okay, back to the homework...