I'm sitting here in an internet cafe somewhere in Fürth, Germany. (I think, but I'm not sure!) We arrived after a loooong flight last night, after loosing most of our Sunday somewhere across the Atlantic ocean. I was exhausted, and so most of what I'm taking in has been done today while we walked here.
My first impression of Germany: there are a lot of trees!!!! From the airplane, from the car driving from Frankfurt to Dani's uncle's house, trees lined the roads. He says its to reduce the noise levels from the highway. But the result is that anywhere you drive you are surrounded by TREES!!!! Its so green and pretty! I love the TREES!!!!!! The only problem was that it blocked the view of the little tiny towns we passed along the way.
My second impression was of how fast everyone was driving. There are stretches of the highway where there are no speed limits, and so we would be going 140 km/h and people would be passing us at 200 clicks!! It was crazy! Apparently, if you go to slow they stop you, as Dani just now informed me. And I love European cars: they are so tiny! And so many VWs!
Danijela's family here are all so nice. Luckily, her uncle speaks really good english. Her aunt is constantly trying to feed us. Every other time she says something to me its to offer food, its so sweet of her! And her little cousins are two of the most beautiful little girls I have ever seen! They gave me a hug goodnight last night, and I can't wait until they aren't so shy around me anymore. This morning we ate fresh buns from the bakery down the street (yum) before leaving. We walked through narrow streets, past parks with children playing, and through a quaint area of town with old buildings and shops lining the streets. It felt like Germany. Exactly like I've always imagined Germany would look like and feel like from movies and books and pictures I've seen. I can't wait to see more of the town today and walk through the streets looking down into stranger's yards!! I'll write more later! Auf wiedersehen!

Alright, for those who are interested I'll be keeping a blog of my adventures (or misadventures) while away in Europe for the next two months. My hope is that I'll be able to make at least one entry per city we stay in. I'll fill you in on where we are, what we are doing, my impressions of the places we go and people we meet, and any other tidbits I feel like throwing in.
I'm going with my friend Danijela. We've known each other since I moved here in grade 9. I sat near her in all my classes; on the first day she said, "I like your pencil case", and I said, "I like your shirt," and we've been friends ever since. Over the years we've had out tiffs, our ups and downs, but we know each other well. Well enough that we can tell when the other person is getting irritated, when to back off and when to push to talk about things. We've had a lot of bad times together, and a lot of really great times together. Like the time we went to Calgary and got soaking wet while running to catch the train to see Phantom of the Opera. Or the time we got addicted to Gilmore Girls. Or the time we threw a Christmas dinner party for all our friends and did all the planning and cooking ourselves. Whatever happens in Europe, I know that we will have a blast together.
Danijela has family in Germany and Croatia that we will be staying with. She goes back every other year or so to visit, and so we've have talked about going together ever since the beginning of high school. And then we saw Under the Tuscan Sun together and fell in love with the idea of a fling with an Italian man. I know, its really silly and kind of ridiculous! But it would be a lie to say that that movie wasn't what got us thinking about Italy. Of course, we'd both always wanted to go to Italy, but that movie made us take it more seriously. So this trip has been in the making for at least 5 years, and our reasons for going (not just for Italian men) and the places we wanted to visit have changed. Along with Germany, Italy, and Croatia, we'll also be staying a few days in London, Paris, and Vienna.
I'm sitting in my room typing this on my laptop. Our flight leaves in 9.5 hours, and I'm all packed and ready to go. I spent all day yesterday and most of today getting stuff ready. I did a lot of packing, and unpacking, and minimizing! It still feels unreal. I still can't even imagine that tomorrow I'll be in Germany. This is the type of thing that people always talk about doing, or say they wish they had done when they were younger, and I can't believe that Dani and I are actually doing it. And not only are we doing it, but we are doing it on our own!! It makes me feel so grown up! But it probably still won't hit me until we step off of our plane in Frankfurt. I'll look around and realize that I'm on the other side of the world and think, "I'm actually living my dream!" How many people get to say that?
Wish me luck! And happy summer to you all!