I have finally arrived in Berlin! I definitely left my house in University Place at 4am and departed seattle at 6:30am, flew for 5 hours with a 4 hour layover before another 8 hr flight. After all of that...it was only 9:30 am!!! A whole day still in front of me... it should be exciting but i am EXHAUSTED.

So you probably want fun, interesting stories...

My layover in New York was pretty fun. I got on the subway to explore. Looking at the map, Manhattan was only 4 stops away so I hopped on only to find that there were little dots in between the big dots! There were a LOT more than 4 stops so I decided to head back and I SAW A RAT RUNNING AROUND!!! you don't understand how much I wanted to see that rat! lol~ weird, i know, but i always wanted to ride the new york subway and see the rats that lived down there...

Now when I arrived in Germany I had to refresh myself so I asked a a cashier, "Wo ist eine toilette?" expecting a one-word answer and a finger pointing in the right direction. I don't understand why it took her PARAGRAPHS to explain where the bathroom was...in GERMAN! Was my German really that good? haha~ then I laughed and asked again in English which she replied with a giggle and "downstairs." Much better.

. . .

I need to head back to the apartment now so I will finish this later :) Sorry for my lack of eloquence, I'm a little sleep-deprived at the moment. Can't wait to hear from everyone!