Hoogstede, 6:14 pm
Hallo, alle! I'm at my first host family's after a very very long flight and four trains. We visited a castle in Bad Bentheim, a small town probly 20 min. from this small town. It was very old, and pretty interesting (we got a tour from the prince) but also very cold and rainy.

It's unreal to me that I'm here. I'm more tired from concentrating on understanding German than I am from the traveling, even though I didn't get very good sleep on the plane. This is all for now...I think they're going to feed us now, and plus it takes too long to type stuff on a German keyboard. Tschuss!  ¶ 12:23 PM

  Well, here I am back in MI, getting ready to leave tomorrow morning, desperately hoping I didn't forget anything (and yes, hoping I chose the right shoes--maybe I'll be so busy trying to remember my grammar that I won't notice my feet!). I love you all and will contact you as much as possible while on my great adventure....Auf Wiedersehen!  ¶ 12:23 AM

  I've been getting emails from my host families (in German, of course) to introduce themselves and tell me how excited they are that I'm coming. One older couple doesn't speak any English. Now that I'm home I have more time to get excited for the trip. At the present the biggest issue is what shoes to take with me...there are five pairs floating around the house somewhere that I'm trying to decide on....  ¶ 4:42 PM