Nerves

Hello,

Lately I've been harnessing some feelings about this trip thing.

First of all, I need to be armed and dangerous to battle Satan while I'm over there, or I'm dead meat. Well, I know I'll never be "dead meat" per se', especially if God is on my side, but you know what I mean.

I know I am supposed to do this. It could not have come at a better time in my life. Lately I've been thinking about how I have been here for so long and that what I need is to get out, which may be true. While it is dangerous to get "out there", I think it's just as dangerous to me spiritually to stay here and mope around the same place I've been almost my entire life. While some of my friends have moved out for college and gotten to experience getting used to a new place, I have never done that. I have NEVER been to a new place longer than three weeks of my entire life. To me, that is unacceptable.

I feel this longing to learn German, and I always have. From my studies I know the best way to attain fluency is to live in the country. For some reason, I have to do this. So I'm going to live in Germany. Wild, isn't it?

The thought, though, of getting out of Orlando thrills, yet terrifies me just as much. I need to spread my wings, learn how to catch trains and buses, live in a studio apartment, brave a cold winter, and run along side a river! I can't do those things here in Orlando.

Anyway... my life has been recently a little "blah". I have this theory that God is stripping my normal life from me without me noticing, and refusing to give me what I think I want at the moment. Which is fine, He's totally allowed to do that, well, because He's God and all. What I mean is, while I'm sitting here lamenting over the uneventfulness of my life at the moment, God is sitting there saying "Just you wait, you'll see!" And He is going to show me a new life, something I was meant to live. That's not to say I don't love my family and friends here. But my parents would be the first to tell you that they don't like it here much anymore either. So it's not just me.

Billy got a gig over in Germany for two months playing the keyboard, I think. I wonder if we'll be there at the same time, and we can visit each other.

Wrote back to Gabrielle today... can't wait for her and Tobias and Maxi und Maria to come!!

Tomorrow, Kerstin and I are meeting at Timber Creek to hang out with Frau Gildner. Joy is going to be teaching at TC next school year! How cool is that?

Well that's it for German news... I'll catch up later.

~Caiti~

Excited for Beauty

I had lunch with a new friend on Friday, Kerstin. She lives in Koblenz but is getting her degree here. I'll say this was my first full-on conversation with someone in German, and it went just great. She got me all excited about the city... there seems to be every beautiful thing there...castles, rivers, forests, mountains! Loveliness all over! So NOT Orlando. I'm pretty sick of being here.

Kerstin said her parents have some items at home I can use while I'm in Koblenz, like bedclothes and towels and such. Things I'll definitely need!! That would be great.

Mom and I need to get a hotel room in Fort Myers for the Münster trip... need to get on that...

My hanging cosmetic bag came in the mail the other day! It is WUNDERBAR... coolest gadget ever, next to my new cell!

Another thing Kerstin said was that no one goes to church in Germany... it is also very boring. Only old people go. So I probably won't go. I need to figure something else out though... it will take MAJOR discipline but I NEED to guard my heart while I am there!!

That's all for now, its almost 1am and I have to get up in 6 hours!

Caiti

Scammed!

Well I tried to sell my Dell Laptop for money for the trip, but it didn't work out so well. Some loser on Ebay tried to scam me by sending me a fake PayPal notice. What a moron. I caught on of course, but only after I'd sent the package. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve the package. I'm not sure if I can get my money back for shipping, though... I'll fight for it, lame if I can't but at least I still have my computer...

Win Some, Lose Some...

Well...

I didn't get the DAAD Scholarship. Ooohhh well. I'm sure someone else is happy, that may not have gotten to go if I had gotten the scholarship, ya know?

Today I received my packing cubes in the mail! Still waiting on some stuff...

I gotta find out how much luggage I can bring...

I'll be back!

Caiti-cait

A Few Steps Closer...

Hi everyone!!

Got my surge protector in the mail yesterday, and the laptop converter too... its very heavy, but oh well.

UCF is giving me $500 for study abroad. I'm still waiting on the DAAD scholarship, I'm really on the edge of my seat with that one, for sure!! That would be WONDERFUL if I could get that.

I'm not going to be working between Münster and Koblenz. Since I'll only be available 3 sporadic weeks in the time I'm here, I'm just going to be unemployed for a while.

I finally wrote back to my cousins in Ingolstadt. I hadn't had time to do that recently because of school.

I made a new friend on Facebook from Koblenz... Kerstin.

I have to say that the part about moving to Germany that excites me most is that I'll get to walk and ride my bike places instead of driving. I am so sick of driving and paying $35 to fill up my Honda Civic it's not even funny. Hmph. It'll be great to get my exercise that way, too!

Mom's going to drive down to Miami with me in August to get my Visa. Since I won't be working and she only works Mondays, we'll drive down on a Thursday, spend the night, and get up early to go to the Consulate for my Visa.

That's all for now, I'll update more as things occur...

-Caiti

Getting Ready...

Well a lot of new stuff has happened recently...

1. Mom wants to go to Fort Myers the night before my flight since its such a long trip. We'll be staying at a hotel near the airport overnight. Hannah wants to come with, yay!

2. Got my new phone, its pretty sweet.

3. Got the scholarship I applied for, the UCF one. I am going Friday to sign papers and hopefully find out the amount--hopefully its the full $1000.00. I won't find out about the DAAD one for at least another week or two, but I'm crossing my fingers...

4. Purchased a few items for the trip yesterday and today...

• a LOT of face wash and peroxide gel, save on shipping!!
• 6-outlet european surge protector
• laptop voltage converter
• two sets of packing cubes
• one over-door hanging cosmetic case
• two canvas tote bags

I'm trying to save money by ordering all this stuff online, and so far it's working. I've found promotional codes for a ton of the stuff, it is GREAT...

Cheaptotes.com offers canvas tote bags (you have to buy your own paper or plastic at grocery stores in Germany...) for as low as .79!! NOT KIDDING... I just got a tan one for 99 cents and a navy blue on for $1.49... Amazon was selling ONE bag for $7 + shipping! Crraaaazy.

I also signed up for Google CheckOut today... what will Google come up with next?? I LOVE the internet, it is so much cheaper to buy stuff online than it is to buy in the store. The only thing I prefer to buy in the store is clothing and makeup (but once I know the product I can buy that online, too, really...). When I signed up (free!) I got $10 off my purchase AND free shipping, the savings ended up equalling the price I paid for the item, $17. Crraaaaazy.

I'm just trying to be as prepared as possible for this going-away thing...I'd like to make a smooth transition... how excited I am becoming, the more I think about it, the more real it becomes to me... this is not some small, every day endeavor...

I'll post again as soon as something else happens!!

Caiti-cait

Cool New Gadget

Well I got a super cool new phone, I'm currently waiting for it to come in the mail...its a Smart Phone with all kinds of cool things including:

• slide-out keyboard
• touchscreen
• 1.3 MP camera
• video camera
• handwriting recognition
• Wi-Fi

I got it as an upgrade for $50 on Cingular's website. I thought it'd be cool to have while I'm traveling.I am really not sure if I'll be able to use this thing...

Mach's gut!

Caiti-cait