Does airport security confiscate knitting needles?

It's weird that as I approach this trip the above questions is one of the biggest on my mind. But I knit for a number of reasons including stress so more than anything else it indicates how nervous I am. Which I guess is probably weird, considering I've been out of the country/to Europe more than anyone except Dr. Wasser (I think) who is on this trip. The thing is though that as much as I love it, traveling outside of the U.S. scares me almost as much as librarians (who are scary as all else, seriously.)

This is all rooted in the fact that I hate being in situations where I am helpless to help myself, which pretty much sums up anytime I'm in a strange country where I don't speak the language and am doing things on my own. So my biggest goal of the whole trip is to be brave.

My original plan for weekends was to explore Germany with the friend I signed up for this trip with, but now that she's dropped the trip it looks like I'll be exploring Germany on my own. Luckily I'm starting slowly, with baby steps. The first weekend I will be traveling with a group, and the second I'll be meeting and staying with good friends. Thus in theory by the end of this trip I'll be as brave as my mother who moved to Alaska when she was 19 just for the adventure.

The second biggest concern in my mind right now is what to get my host family. I'm thinking about making a small scrapbook of A&M and Minnesota things, and perhaps also bringing a book and some wild rice with me. It's difficult thought because although I've corresponded with my host mother over email I don't know nearly enough about her to know what the perfect gift would be. I tend to put far more thought into gifts than anyone else I know.

Lastly, I'm grumpy because I cannot find my journal. Which sounds like something small but again I use my journal to de-stress and right now for a variety of reasons my stress level is sky high. I have the longest to-do list and exactly 1 week before and 4 days after Germany in which to complete it (if I delegate July 1st to packing that is.) I have exactly 13 days left with my family until my 4 months at school. Sometimes being so far out of state for school sucks.

But all of this I know will dissolve on my flight to Germany because more than anything else I'm excited, terrified and excited for this trip. I started reading through my high school European history notes again (because I think the book on German history we're supposed to have read by now is dry and boring) and I had honestly forgotten how freaking amazing Germany is, it's like almost everything important ever is tied to Germany and I'm so excited to be going somewhere with such a rich history where I can stand in Worms, Mainz, Nuremberg, Berlin, or the multitude of places I've only learned about before now.

I'm also ridiculously excited for class. I've always been a curious chld, and more than anything else my curiosity has made me pelt my mother or anyone who will listen with questions about medicine. I still have the Grey's Anatomy coloring book I learned from while homeschooled in Kindergarten because my mom said I wouldn't stop asking her weird questions like why people had noses.

Summing this up for all of you:
TL;DR: The only thing that can match my terror and worry about this trip, everything it entails and everything I still have to get done before hand, is the pure excitement I feel for all the possibility, good or bad, that this experience holds.

-Caitlin Vanasse

P.S. But seriously, I know they've never confiscated my bamboo circular needles, but they're a whole lot less threatening in appearance than my metal straight needles, so does anyone know if I need to transfer my knitting over before my flight?