So much to do, so little time!

I don't think my brain has wrapped around the fact that I will be overseas for about a month in a few days. Yes, I've made arrangements for my hedgehog to be well taken care of by one of my friends. Yes, I've bought extra batteries for my phone and have invested money into buying adapters and other useful gadgets that will make my stay comfortable, but I don't think I'm yet prepared for the language barrier that so many of my friends that have lived in Germany have warned me about.

So far, I've done my best to work through German grammar and vocabulary books every single day, and I've made some effort to learn proverbs and other cultural aspects about the country, which has actually been pretty fun to look up and research.  My hope is that my host family will be helpful into getting me into the 'mindset' of the language, so that I can enjoy my time in Germany. Because, at the end of the day, I'd really like to talk to the locals and not feel like such an outsider.

Other than that, I'm excited for the classes that the program has to offer and all the amazing places that we get to travel to while we're there. I'm still a little confused on how the school schedule will work, but I feel like that is a detail that can easily be handed out in a packet or announced when we're all together. I'm really excited to meet my host family, I've never had younger siblings, so having two in my host family will really be an interesting experience for me.

Hopefully, I can find a happy balance between school and enjoying the country. I'm in a study abroad program, so the focus is to learn, but I still want to explore because its been one of my dreams to travel and study in Germany.

But until I get on the flight to Germany, I'll just have to worry about making sure everything is washed and packed, and that my moody hedgehog doesn't try to make an escape into the unknown.
 Until then!

-Ash