Weekend!

So I know it has been a few days since I have sat down to write on here...so this may be a fairly long blog...sorry!

Okay so I finally got some laundry done on Thursday night! I only was able to do one load though because laundry costs 3.5 eurosnand takes 3 hours for one load to finish, and the clothes still come out a little damp. Plus, the washer and dryer are super tiny so you can't even fit a lot into a load. So that's just great. I just finished my second load today and still have another load to do, but I need some change because the machines won't take paper money, nor do they give change back.

Friday at school I worked on my own with some year 7 students. During class I would take 4 students at a time to a different room to practice speaking English. One of the questions I asked each group was what they were doing this weekend. I had two boys in the first or second group telling me they were going to a friend's house to play poker Friday night. Later, I had in a group the boy who was having the poker tournament. I just feel like 7th grade is kind of young to be having poker tournaments, but I guess they do start drinking earlier here so they might as well gamble earlier too. Anyway, I did that all class and then went to my year 6 class. For the second lesson in that class we had an assembly that we took them too, so it was a pretty easy day at school.

After class, I just came back to my room and hung out for like the rest of the afternoon before meeting up with some people to go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food was pretty good, and not too expensive so that was nice. After dinner we went somewhere else to have a few drinks, so the night was pretty calm and really nice.

I woke up at like 11:30 this morning and went and got some currywurst, which is super popular and very German, with Sophie and that was actually really good. Once I got back from lunch, I just hung around the dorm for a couple of hours before heading out to the Reissdorf Kolsch Brewery for dinner with a couple of people. That place was really good, but they actually didn't have a big selection for food which was kind of surprising to me. After dinner we went to Vicky's house for a couple hours and then out in Cologne.

Sunday, Evelin and her husband invited Kyle and I over to their house for brunch. We left the dorm around 10:30 and got to their house around 11:15. They had made us a very German-style brunch which was really good. It was a beautiful day out yesterday so Evelin took all of us to this castle that was about 30-45 minutes away from Cologne. The castle was really cool (pictures are up on facebook). What was most fascinating about the castle was everything it was used for in history. It started out as a rich banker's home in 1883, he built it to show off his money. Throughout history it became a boy's school, a Catholic school, and Adolph Hitler school, a hippy hang out, and more. It was just fascinating. The inside was set up how it would have been when the banker had originally built it. The outside of it was beautiful and the view was AMAZING! We had to hike up this huge mountain/hill to get to the castle, and I am for sure feeling it in my legs today, but the view and everything else was definitely worth it.

I was so worn out yesterday, we didn't get back to the dorm until about 5:30 and then I went and got some dinner with Kyle and Sophie and just came back to my room for the night. I had class this morning from 8-9:35, then came home and took a nap because I didn't sleep very well last night. I think here shortly I might go to a cafe and read for a bit.

Wednesday and Thursday

So yesterday I was supposed to have class from 8-935 but they were just taking a test so my teacher told me I didn't need to come...so I didn't. Instead, I woke up about 10 and just kind of hung around in my room for a while, then I grabbed a book and headed to Starbucks to sit and read before I went in for my 225 class. I was at Starbucks for about 2 hours, and I started reading the newest Nicholas Sparks book, Safe Haven. I got about 100 pages in and it is pretty good so far, the main character's name is Katie so thats fun. My 225 class was pointless, it was 9th grade social studies and they were supposed to be presenting their business plans that they just finished up, but we coudn't get the projector to work so we just sat there for like 45 minutes doing nothing before the teacher finally just gave up and let us go.

Once I got back from class, Kyle and I booked our trip to Munich! We are leaving next Saturday morning at 645 am, which puts us in Munich by 8 am. Then we are going to go on the Dachau Concentration Camp tour, which I think will be really interesting. The tour takes like 5 hours so once we're done with that I think we're just going to roam around the city a bit before we go to the original Hofbrauhaus Saturday night. We booked a pretty nice hostel for Saturday night and then Sunday we are going to do some more tourism stuff in the city and then our flight leaves to come back to Cologne at like 530 Sunday afternoon. That time works perfect because that will give us some time to get home and unpack and rest and stuff before we head to Joe Champs (the American bar) to watch the Superbowl! There is a group of like 8 of us going to watch the game which should be fun, it starts at midnight here but we don't have school that Monday so that's perfect!

Last night I was supposed to go see Black Swan with some people but I wasn't able to get a ticket because it was sold out, Emilie assured me this morning though that I probably wouldn't have liked it so it's okay. Instead I just came back and graded some papers and just hung out in my room.

This morning I didn't have class until 1145, so I was able to sleep in until 1030. I had year 7 English double lesson today and for the first lesson the teacher handed them back their class tests they took last class. One little boy started to cry and it was the sadest thing...he was just so pitiful! Some of the other boys were like giving him a hug and stuff and being really sweet which was kind of touching, but that was just super sad for me to watch! For the second lesson, I took 4 girls into a different classroom to practice the speaking aspect of English so I was just basically having a conversation with them and asking them questions and stuff.

I finally made it to the store after class and restocked my food supply...yay! I also bought laundry detergent and softener so I might have Emilie teach me how to do laundry tonight. Although I had a hell of a time trying to find the detergent because it was right in there with the dish soap and softener so I had no idea which was actually detergent and I asked like 3 people before this nice man heard me asking and helped me out. O well...I got some now and can start laundry hopefully tonight!

I think thats about all I have planned so far for the day...maybe read some more.

Eventful Day

So today was the longest day I have had a school yet. I started the day with a 9th grade social studies class, with the focus being on business...great; then I went to an 8th grade English class and had about a 2 hour break then ended the day with a 5th grade English class. In the 5th grade class today they were listening to another dialogue from the book and it was an email exchange between someone in England and someone in New York. When the email from the dude in New York was being read, it took all that I had in me to not bust out laughing becuase it was a TERRIBLE American accent. It was clearly a British dude trying to sound like an American and it was comical, no one else seemed to notice though, which I guess is understandable. I actually don't have class tomorrow until 2:25 which is nice, because I am supposed to have 8th English from 8-935, but they are just taking a test so the teacher told me I didn't have to come. I'll take it.

After class today, I just came back and hung out in the dorm for a little while before Emilie, Kyle, and I went to the Cathedral. It has been pretty cloudy here recently but today was actually really nice so we decided to get our workout in by going to the very top of the Cathedral, where we could see all of Cologne. It was 509 steps...my legs were already sore from Yoga last night and I had run out of water early today...needless to say, I was dying. It was definitely a workout getting to the top but the view was awesome so it was worth it. The walk down wasn't nearly as bad, except that is is one lone spiral staircase so we were pretty dizzy when we got to the bottom. The first thing I did was buy a liter still water and chug it...never was as refreshing as it was today.

We had a couple hours just to do whatever when we got back, before we went to the Opera. The school had gotten tickets to "Aida" tonight so we went. I did not understand a majority of what happened...the opera was in Italian but it had German subtitles...neither of which helped me to understand what was going on. It was interesting though and I got the main jist of it.

I think tomorrow night I am going to see Black Swan, so that should be interesting. And I REALLY need to go to the grocery...maybe that will happen too.

Yoga

Okay, so about an hour ago I got back from my first yoga class ever. It was an interesting experience. I definitely feel more relaxed after, so I will probably keep going with Emilie. Now the issue with this class is the language barrier...I don't speak German. Everyone else does. I really liked the instructor but I could never really fully relax when we were supposed to because she would talk while we were relaxing and I had to keep an eye out to make sure she wasn't telling us to do something else. A couple times she had to come over and help me with my positioning and I could see Emilie out of the corner of my eye laughing because this lady just kept telling me all this stuff and I had NO IDEA what she was wanting me to do. O well...she seemed nice all the same. Anyway, it was just really relaxing and then I came home and drank some water and graded some papers...pretty good night.

Long Day

So yesterday I had another day where I slept until noon, and it was of course great. Once I got ready, Kyle and I met Vicky and Tori for some coffee. They kept talking about this really nice cafe so we just went along with it, turns out they were talking about McCafe, which we thought was weird. I mean their caffe latte and free cupcake were delicious but it was weird that it was considered really nice here. Although, the inside of the McDonalds did look really nice, not like the crappy ones we have at home. We were there for a couple of hours before coming home.

When I got back to the dorm I did some school stuff for today. I graded some papers and worked on a lesson, so that was fairly productive. We were only in the dorm for a couple of hours before we headed down to the American Bar for the Packers v. Bears game. Emilie came with us and stayed for a little while. Kyle is a huge Packers fan so we were there for all of his game. The Jets game didn't start until midnight thirty here, so we stayed at the bar and watched the first quarter and a half. The Jets did not look good at all and it was like 1:45 am, so we left then. I was able to find an online station that was playing the Jets game, and watch the progessions on cbs.com. It was not worth it, we lost. Even better, after the game was over I was wide awake...so I just stayed up until class. I kept myself busy on facebook and by watching a couple Dexter episodes...but I was out of it in class this morning. All I wanted to do when I got back to the dorm was take a nap, but I was scared about it throwing off my sleep schedule and getting back on home time. I thought that if I just laid down and rested it would help...so I settled in bed and just started another Dexter but then fell asleep. So I had a nice little nap from 1030 until about 330 today. Hopefully I won't have any trouble falling asleep again tonight. I think I am going to go with Emilie to yoga later tonight, so hopefully that will help. I could honestly go to sleep right now and probably sleep the whole night through until class in the morning. But I'm not going to do that.

Lazy and good Saturday

So today I didn't wake up until noon...which was great. We had not set any exact plans Friday night, so I wasn't sure what we were going to do today. I decided to just lay in bed and watch another episode of Dexter, which was great. Around 3 we decided that we were going to go to the Chocolate Museum here in Cologne. That was really cool actually. We got to see them make Lindt chocolate right there in the museum, and got a couple of free samples which were delicious. In the museum they also have a cafe, so once we were done walking around we got a hot chocolate that was absolutely amazing! I downed mine so stinking fast...it was wonderful. Then we made our way to the gift shop that was just all chocolate. I debated on what to get for awhile, I had a Lindt caramel filled chocolate bar in my hand and a bourbon vanilla chocolate bar in had, just because it was bourbon and I figured since I'm from Kentukcy I should get that. But I decided that I could really get those anywhere, what I can't get anywhere is chocolate beer and chocolate liqour. I ended up getting those two things, I haven't tried them yet just because they scare me...but you can't get that anywhere else so I feel like I had to get them; plus their bottles are pretty cool. Once I actually try these I will let you know my verdict. (All these pictures are already posted on facebook if you wanted to look at them).

After the chocolate museum, I came back to my dorm for about an hour before heading out to find some dinner. We walked a ways to try and find an authentic German place to eat. We ended up finding this pretty sweet little place that may have been more Greek than German, but still delicious. The had the Reissdorf Kolsch, which is my favorite of the kolschs. Kolsch is a certain beer unique to Cologne because in order to be called a kolsch, the beer has to be brewed somewhere where you can see the Cologne Cathedral, so every place here has a differnet kind of kolsch on their menu. This is the kolsch that I had at Marikka's at home before I left for Germany. So I had the kolsch, and Gyros...which I think is lamb. It was delicious though, plus our waiter was pretty cute and fun, so that was nice. I took a picture of my meal so you can see it but I haven't posted it on facebook yet. Now I am back in my dorm because I am already pretty tired.

Tomorrow my plan is to wake up and grade some papers, look through one of the textbooks and see which lessons I want to teach, go to the grocery store, meet some people for coffee, and then go watch the Packers v. Bears game at the American bar, then try and stream the Jets v. Steelers game in my dorm. So I should probably get to bed early tonight since my game doesn't even start until midnight thirty here tomorrow night. Was also just now informed that UK plays South Carolina tonight in basketball starting at midnight here...so we'll see how early I get to bed.

One Week!

So it has officially been one week since I have arrived here in Cologne, although it feels like much much longer. Today in class I took over the last part and reviewed parts of the body with the year 6 students. Evelin wanted me to review the parts of the body with them and then attach verbs to what each part of the body could do. When we got to the leg, one student said that when you smoke a lot you can get smoking leg and have it cut off. Hilarious. This is why I love middle-schoolers. Class went well though, the students have a tendency to talk constantly, which is not uncommon for this age. However, in the short time I have been here, I have also noticed that teachers do not discourage talking as much. When I was teaching, there was no way I was going to stand for the students turning around and talking to their friends while I was up there. I was a little harsh on the students about this point because it just isn't respectful, and even if their teacher doesn't crack down on them for that, I am going to because it is my personal philosophy that students shouldn't be talking to each other when the teacher is trying to teach them something...I'm just saying.

Anyway, after class I came back to my dorm and fixed some lunch and watched some tv. Then Kyle and I met with Evelin back at the school to go over our schedules and the grading scale they use there. We found out that we have a 4 day weekend in February, so I am definitely going to plan some kind of trip for then, not sure what yet though.

After we met with Evelin, I came back to my dorm and took a nap. For some reason, I did not sleep very well last night so that nap was nice. Kyle and I met two of our British friends for dinner and then went to an Irish Pub for drinks. I just got back to my dorm but the night was really fun. We met up with Vicky and Tori at like 6:30 and we didn't know them that well so that was really nice.

Not sure what tomorrow holds, but I'll keep you posted.

Almost one week

Well, today I met a new class of students: 7th grade English. The kids were great and the teacher was really nice, but today the class was so boring; they were literally just going through a textbook and workbook, and I didn't even have one to follow along with so I was just bored, and tired. I don't have to go to that class tomorrow though because they are just having a test so the teacher told me not to come. These kids asked me a fair amount of questions and I would catch them just turning around during class and staring at me. During their break I had three girls come up and say: "isn't Lee a Chinese name?" I thought really?...I always get the Asain thing! I just said it was spelled differently.

Nothing really interesting has happened though since yesterday. It gets kind of boring and lonely during the week just because there isn't a whole lot to do, without spending money. I'm sure once I am more active in the classroom I will have more to do, but right now I am just observing so there isn't really much to do for that. I wrote a paper last night for my student teaching class back at UK, so that was productive, other than that I caught up on a bunch of shows online last night. I also went shopping, but I think I already talked about that. I was done at class at 935 yesterday so even when I got back from shopping it was only like 2 in the afternoon. I watched: Brothers and Sisters, Modern Family, Jersey Shore, and 3 episodes from Dexter season 4. Quite a boring night, although I was really excited to Skype Elizabeth before the first student teaching seminar last night and got to see a lot of my school friends. That was super exciting, made my night for sure!

Today I didn't have class until 1145, so it was nice to be able to sleep in a little later. In an effort to not just sit in my dorm alone all night, once I got back from school I grabbed my book and went to Starbucks. I just now got back, I was there for about 3 hours just reading in my book. I finished the book and it was very good! It is called The Pact, by Jodi Picoult...I would definitely reccomend this book. I brought two other books with me, but at this rate I think I am going to need a lot more to keep me busy!

Supposedly, tonight at 7 there is supposed to be a pizza party thing on the fifth floor, so that is something to do later tonight which is nice. So I just have a little time to kill now before that happens. I haven't met anyone on the floor, so hopefully I will be able to make some new friends there tonight.

Kyle and I were talking last night about it being kind of boring during the week, so I think we are going to start doing more ike tourism things once we are done with classes next week so we have something to do. I think I remember Evelin or Emilie saying that Thursdays were free museum days for either students or teachers, either category works in our favor so that is something we are going to take advantage of because there are a lot of great museums here, and I think we are going to take some tours...so that will be good. I really enjoyed going to Starbucks today though and reading, I really like reading and haven't been able to just sit down and get lost in a book for awhile so I like that I will be able to do that more often while I am here.

Anyway, that is about all I have to say for now. I'll keep you posted! O and the weather has definitely turned into typical Cologne January weather....dropped a noticeable amount since I have arrived...but no snow!

IKEA Day

Yesterday I went to two different classes, and 8th grade English class from 850-935 and then a 5th grade English class from 1145-120. This 8th grade class is definitely the most difficult class so far, I had that class again this morning for a double lesson and the teacher and I were talking about them and he was telling me how it is his most frustrating class because they are so disobedient and disinterested in class. There are a few good students in the class, but it is definitely going to be a challenging semester with this class. The teacher wants me to take a small group of students each class into a different room and have discussion topics to start conversations so they can practice speaking English more. They have a test next Wednesday so I am assuming I would start that after the test. My 5th grade class yesterday though was awesome. They were really interested in me and throughout the class I would see kids just turn around and stare at me. The teacher let them ask me questions at the beginning of class, but since this is thier first year taking English I got questions like "What's your favorite color?", "What's your favorite movie?", etc. During the class they were working on a dialogue activity where they listened to a tape read a portion of text while they followed along in the book so they can learn how to pronounce the words. After they listened to the tape, the teacher had me read the passage for the students. The man on the tape is British, and clearly I am American so our accents were differnet. She asked the students to point out the differences in how the man on the tape and I pronounced words differently. The biggest difference and most obvious difference to them was the way I pronounced "daughter." Apparently it was very different than the tape and then they all tried to pronounce it like me, but they failed at it because I definitely do not say it the way they were saying it. Probably doesn't help that on some words I have more of a southern accent. Speaking of which, when I went out with my British friends the other night we were all trying to do different accents and I said the only one I could do was a southern one, just because that is what I am around, so I did it for them and they were amazed. They loved the southern accent and like wanted to meet someone with like a real thick one, so I just told them to come to Kentucky!

After I was finished with class for the day, Sophie and I went to IKEA. It only took like a 20 minute subway ride, and the stop was right in front of the store so it was pretty sweet. We went through IKEA and got stuff for our rooms, and we ate in the cafe before returing home. I bought: silverware, a candle, a pan, a placemat, a towel, 2 rugs, and 2 pillows and I think it really makes a difference in my room. I will post pictures on facebook so you can see the updates.

Once we got back from IKEA, I put everything up in my room, then went to go see Morning Glory at an English theater. The movie was much better than I thought it was going to be, I actually really liked it. Emilie, Angharad, and I met some other people at Taco Loco for a drink after the movie before we came back to the dorm.

I was thinking about it last night, and I think I am going to come home with a British accent, since I hang around with British people all the time. I think that would be awesome, so I am going to try and make it happen!

I have internet!!!!

I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET IN THE DORM!! It is a fantastic feeling. I didn't want to keep sounding like a tech-savvy American who HAS to be connected to the internet 24/7; however, being in a foreign country for 3-4 days without any connection home kinda sucks. But no fear, problem solved!

So yesterday after I had my tease of internet at Starbucks, Kyle and I walked around the city for a long time. We walked to the Cathedral and across the Rhine and on our way back to the dorm we found a really cute and authentic, traditional German part of town. When we were walking it was dusk so I got some really pretty pictures of the city of Cologne and of the Cologne Cathedral from the other side of the bridge. (Those are all on facebook, it takes forever for the pictures to upload to the blog in the dorm).

After we explored the city some more, we met Emilie and went to a German restaurant where I ordered a Bratwurst and it was freaking delicious. We then went in search of a place that was planning on showing the Superbowl. We went into an Irish bar that looked really fun (and the bartender was legit Irish, so that's awesome) but they weren't showing the game. He pointed us in the direction of an American bar that would most likely be showing it. We found it and sure enough, it was decked out in American football apparel and had the Bears v. Seahawks game playing on huge tvs everywhere. We decided to stay and watch the beginning of the Jets game, but for some reason the satelite started to freeze every other minute during the game so we left, plus we had to be at school at 8 this morning and the Jets game didn't even start until after 10:30 pm here. Don't worry though, JETS WON!


So today was the first day that we went to the school. The school is literally a 2 minute walk from my dorm. One morning I will video tape my walk just so you can see the closeness of the school. The school is also really different because I am only there for a couple of hours a day. For instance, today I was only there from 8-935. The students don't have the same classes everyday and they all have different times since the school houses grades 5-12. My schedule is kind of confusing but I like it because I am not at school from 8-4 everyday like all of my other student teaching friends and I am exposed to 5 different teachers and their teaching styles; and I get exposure in grades 5-9 which is really nice. The school is also different in that the teachers don't have their own classrooms. The students stay in the same rooms and the teachers rotate rooms, but most teachers aren't even there all day long because once they are done with their classes for the day, or they have a long break, they leave school and take care of personal stuff. Their desk consists of sharing a table with like 5 or so other teachers in the teacher's lounge. The teacher's lounge is just made up of a bunch of rows of tables with teacher's things on them. This is a pretty cool idea because it seems to create more of a community between the teachers.

After school, Emilie took Kyle and I to get our Temporary Resident Passes but by the time they called our number they were about to close, so I think I am just going to go by myself on my break tomorrow from 935-1145. After that we went and got some school supplies and some more things to decorate my room with. I also finally put the pictures I brought up so that is a nice new thing. I am going to Ikea tomorrow with Sophie, one of the girls in my dorm, to get some more things to make my room feel more like home. As soon as I am satisfied to the comfort level of my room I will definitely post pictures for you guys to see.

Once we got back we finally got out internet codes so we can be connected to home in our rooms now. I also paid my first month's rent which they knocked down to half price since I am only living here half of the month of January. Emilie and I then went out again to go get some more groceries. I got some more dinner type food so I don't have to go out to dinner ever night, because I really can't afford that.

Anyway, everyting is going good! It is nice to start to settle into a routine and to start to have my room feel more like home.

First Couple of Days

I made it alive...with all of my luggage! Sorry I am just now posting again but we won't be given the internet code for the dorm until tomorrow, so I am sitting in Starbucks. It is harder than you think being in a different country and not having the internet for 3 days to keep in touch with friends from home. What also sucks about not having internet in the dorm until tomorrow is that I will miss the Jets game tonight. Bu Some of my British friends that I have made said that some Irish bars here will show the Superbowl and they want to go watch it with us...so that's fun.

Okay so lets start with my flight from Charlotte to Munich, it was long. There were screaming chilren. I barely slept on the 8 hour flight. I watched an episode of Glee, and episode of Modern Family, Dispicable Me, and Sleepless in Seattle. All were great viewing choices. I had a three hour layover in Munich which wasn't too bad, just read in my book. The flight from Munich to Cologne was only about an hour so that wasn't bad at all. I was met at the airport by one of the teachers in the school where I will be student teaching. She was really nice and took me to the dorm where I met my overseas supervisor and the other student who is particpating in the same program as me. We also met another girl from France who is here for the entire school year working in our school. Evelin, my supervisor, took Kyle, Emilie, and me on a tour of Cologne. We walked all around the city for about three hours. The city is awesome but I was so tired and jetlagged that everything pretty much went into one ear and out the other. Later that night, Evelin and her husband took us all out to a classic Cologne beer hall. We ordered Kolsch, which is a beer that is only brewed in Cologne. I also ordered a Cologne specialty for my meal which was blood sausage. It is banned in the states I learned but it was really good still.

After dinner Emilie introduced us to some of her British friends and we ended up going out with them that night. We went to a German club that was a subway ride and quite a walk away, and ended up standing in line forever in the pouring rain before we could get in. It was strange inside because they were playing lots of music that we would hear at home like Lady Gaga, Nelly, and they even played Empire State of Mind, which was weird singing about New York in Germany.

Yesterday, when I woke up I walked around by myself a little to get more of a feel for the city and went to Butlers, which is a home goods store, and bought some things for my room to make it look less like a prison cell. Once I got back and finally unpacked, Kyle and I walked around some more and found a grocery store to buy some essential food for our dorms. I am planning on going to an Ikea on Tuesday with one of the British girls so I can make my room feel a little more home-like, then I will post some more updated pictures.

Once I get internet in my dorm I will update my blog more regularly and post more pictures on here. I have posted pictures on facebook but hopefully I will have internet tomorrow so I can talk with people a little more frequently.

On my Way

I am officially on my way to Germany! I flew out of Lexington around 1 this afternoon and landed in Charlotte around 2. I start boarding my plane to Munich in less than an hour. The day has already felt long, which I'm sure that feeling will only get worse seeing as how I'm about to board an 8-9 hour flight. There was an entire college cheerleading team on my flight to Charlotte... it was obnoxious, and they were dressed like they were about to go out to bar for the night. I was lucky enough to be the one person who sat in the back of the plane that was not on the cheerleading team...yay. I just read in my book though so it wasn't really that bad.

Once I got off the plane and found the gate for my next flight, I went in search of food. I found a place near my gate that was showing Sportcenter so I went there and ate a cheeseburger and drank a beer. It was nice. Now I am sitting in the airport and just waiting until 4:55 when they start boarding the plane. There seems to be more children than I would have expected on this flight, and a couple who keeps making out, and a dog. Should be interesting. I also spot a guy holding a Forever 21 bag...jealous.

I am super excited about the experience I have ahead of me, but I am also extremely nervous. I don't know what at all to expect when I get there, and I have no idea what my life or schedule or routine will be like for the next 3 months. It also doesn't calm my nerves any knowing that I am heading to a country where I don't know the language. My first day in the classroom is Monday, so that gives me a couple of days to get settled in and to start learning the lay of the land. It also gives me some time to get rid of my jet lag. I'm not so much thinking about that far in advance right now though, more just about this long flight I'm about to take and what I am going to do when I get into Munich and have to go through customs before flying to Cologne. I am just already ready to be there and not traveling anymore.