And the countdown begins...

Dear reader(s):

Tomorrow morning I leave my Chicago apartment and begin a day of horrible airline food in order to reach Europe by the following morning. When I think about how much waiting and sitting is in store for me, I am vaguely horrified, but I suppose it's a modern marvel that I can actually get from America to Germany in slightly less than a day and that I should be grateful.

I'll be grateful if I can sleep on the plane. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I should probably explain what's going on, for those who don't know.

So here's the plan: I'm heading to Berlin for ten days via a class I'm taking in grad school. No, I'm not a history or German Studies major. I'm actually getting a masters in writing, I just heard about this class and it sounded like fun and I've never been abroad before and how many chances am I gonna get while I'm in grad school? Right? So here I am. Also contained in this plan is a post-class, week-long excursion to Munich, London, and Dublin. I partly chose those locations so I wouldn't have to learn another language, and partly because my boyfriend will be joining me for that part of the trip and he only likes places that are cold and rainy.

The school portion begins on Saturday morning, when I arrive at 8:05 am (hopefully) in Berlin (hopefully) in one piece (knock on wood).  After months of planning and saving up money (all those months of hard work are now just a stack of odd-looking bills hidden in a secret pocket in my backpack) I'm pretty sure I've packed and re-packed and double checked and thought of everything. But knowing myself, I'm sure I'll forget something major anyway. (Yes, mom, I have my toothbrush.)

I'm going to try to post every day if I can...we have a journal assignment for class so I'll be writing daily anyway and hopefully I can just lump this in as well. After Berlin it might be harder; my boyfriend likes to sit around and poke/flick me when he gets bored and it's pretty hard to type when someone's doing that so we'll see.

I also promised many people that I would take and share TONS OF PICTURES so I will. Probably most will go on Facebook but some here too.

Also I have Skype, so anyone wanting to set up a Skype date while I am abroad should send me a message and we can do so.

But please, everyone DO NOT CALL MY PHONE WHILE I AM ABROAD. It'll cost me $1.30 a minute to talk and I think if I even turn my phone on it'll start international roaming which is probably worth my firstborn child so just...let's just not. The internet is beautiful and all my hotels have it. Problem solved. :)

And now I must sleep so I'm well rested for all that sitting. Wish me bon voyage! (and safety too)

Auf Wiedersehen,

Anna