From Paris to Germany

I am current on a train from Paris to Munich. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with my parents for two weeks leading up to our time in Bonn. We left for London the night of May 15th, and traveled to Paris on May 19th, the day of the royal wedding. Being able to travel in Europe before starting our study abroad has helped me overcome some of the anxieties I had about staying in a foreign country, especially one where the primary language is not English. My biggest anxiety about coming to Germany was that it would be hard to communicate and get around, even though many people speak English. Being in France, without knowing any French, I found that I was quickly able to learn common phrases and found it pretty easy to navigate with the help of Google maps. I am still worried about communicating in German. I think I am like most people when it comes to learning a new language, because I tend to understand words much sooner than I feel comfortable speaking them. I was anxious to speak even simple phrases in french, because I was nervous that I would pronounce them wrong. Luckily, many people appreciate the effort to learn their language even if all you can say is things like hello, goodbye, thank you and "do you speak English?".  I am most looking forward to being able to stay in Bonn long enough to learn what its like to live there. I have lived in Texas my whole life, so it will be a very new experience for me.
Only 5 more hours until I reach Munich!