Spontaneity is the spice of life

Well, I keep thinking that I have exciting things and thoughts to post, but I honestly cannot think of any of them right now. I write merely to say that I decided with Amy and Jonathan on Tuesday that we will travel to Liechtenstein this weekend. (to save you the time that it will take you to get out your map of Europe and magnifying glass, I'll clarify...) Liechtenstein is the only remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, it is a landlocked tiny little German-speaking principality (about 160 sq. km) with a population of about 35,000 people, whose major exports are machinery, dental products and stamps. It is bordered by Switzerland and Austria and (we hope) about a 4-5 hour journey from here. We made a reservation at a hotel in the mountain town of Steg. We plan to visit the capital city of Vaduz tomorrow when we arrive, then spend time on Saturday hiking and exploring the wonders of the Alps. We are more than just a little excited!

In truth, this trip is coming at a perfect time. Our previous professor for the "intensive German course" fell ill and is unable to complete the last two weeks of the course. Enter our new teacher: a very very kind and friendly former student of the Pedägogische Hochschule who just finished her exams to be an elementary school teacher. While she is an extraordinarily nice person, I have to say that the last 4 days of class have dragged on at an incredibly slow pace. I can only do so many practice German exercises. I can only get excited about German grammar for very short periods of time. I am so ready for real classes to start! On top of the longest 4 days of class, we had a meeting this afternoon to finally discuss our course schedules for the upcoming term. Now, being an expert on making things as hard as possible, I have to say that the Germans have made this excersize an artform in the university system. Points, classes, seminars, labs, I still have yet to make sense of this system that I'm supposed to translate into classes that will transfer to UNC. Luckily the German department at UNC is composed of rockstar professors who will somehow make everything work when I get home, I continue to be stressed out about this highly complicated system. 

In other news, I am now only waiting for my new PIN number to arrive in the mail so that I can load money onto the chip on my new bank card so that I can do wash. Luckily kind, generous, wonderful Amy allowed me to throw in some necessities with her load of wash today or else I would be slaving over the sink right now instead of writing about my woes!

Moral of the story - a spontaneous trip to Liechtenstein is just what the doctor ordered! I can't wait to see more of this beautiful continent! Stay tuned for pictures and stories! ~love~