All of the while, all of the while it was you.

Quick recap of the past week:
Most days were filled with International Orientation stuff, which was a nice immersion in the German language. I met some neat people who I hope to run into tonight at our International Student party! I'm now pretty much all registered for courses at Freiburg, and I finally settled on my two german courses: one is meant for international students, and deals with Europe and Germany's relationship with the U.S. The other (get ready for it) is a beginner's Swedish course. I *just* discovered the course this morning, and dropped one of my english courses to take it. I'm SO excited, and nervous. It's an online course which I love, because there are 2 hours that are structured each week, and the other two hours are for self-paced learning. I did e-mail the professor to make sure that it was OK that I literally know ZERO Swedish, so we'll see what she says. Fingers crossed. I've already learned some Swedish in the language lab, though - Jag heter Caitlin, vad heter du? Sweeeet:) Anyway, one way or another, I'm learning Swedish. And then Norwegian, because the two are so closely linked. And THEN, when I get back home, French. Hellz yeah I'll be multilingual! And then probably Spanish because I need to get over this "everyone takes Spanish" snobbery and learn a very important language for my country. Anywho. The best day of this week, hands-down, was yesterday. Let us recap:
Friday, 18 April 08 -
I spent a lazy morning on the computer, and then got showered, for my lunch date with my tandem partner, Maike. We met up at the student cafeteria, the "Mensa," and spent an hour or so munching on salad and talking about life auf Deutsch. Then I told her that I wanted to go learn Swedish at the Sprachlabor, so she walked with me. When we got there, it was still closed and would be for an hour, so we went together to a big shop in town, Mueller, and bought school supplies. Then we went back to the Sprachlabor and said our goodbyes. Then I called dad, and spoke only in German. It was just coming so naturally, so I let it. Then, it was into the Sprachlabor to learn some Swedish. During my time in the lab, I got a call from a woman who I wanted to work for, but I missed it because my phone was on vibrate! This caused some panicking later, but we'll get to that. After almost 2 hours in the Sprachlabor, and a minute understanding of the Swedish language, I headed out. All of a sudden, I was totally drawn to the Bim-Bam music instrument store. I just couldn't help it, something was calling to me. I went in, and told the man (still in German!) that I wanted a guitar, and would also need a hard-case to transport it back to the U.S. He asked me my price range, and I said between 100 and 200 Euros. The first one he showed me was really nice, but I thought, there's no way this can be love at first sight, so after I strummed for a second, I put it back and looked around. There was another that was 30 Euro more, and I thought it was really nice and like the sound. But I just kept looking back at the first one, picked it up again, looked around the store, and realized this was it. It was my choice, and the guy had found my soulmate for me. Let me describe this guitar for everyone: it is a beautiful mahogony/blood-red color, with a deeper shading on the outside edges. Its surface is smooth and thick, and it's a Western-style acoustic, meaning it has a pick guard (that black squiggly-looking thing on some acoustics, for those unfamiliar with guitar terminology.) It is effing GORGEOUS and sounds so nice. I've already probably spent 2 or more hours strumming away, playing Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open The Door," Sondre Lerche's "John Let Me Go," and Teitur's "Louis Louis." SO much fun. My fingers on my left hand ache, but I know I'm just rebuilding my callouses so I'll get used to it with practice. I'm just so happy with my purchase, and the men were kind enough to lend me a soft-case until they get some hard-cases in. Now I'm supposed to come in every week until they get some cases in:) So I carefully took my guitar back to my room, and then strummed away happily. However, then I was really nervous about my missed call from my potential boss, because it was three hours later and she hadn't left a message or called again. Her number was one of those unlisted ones, so I felt totally screwed. HOWEVER, *right* as I was about to go retrieve a Capo from Maike, I got a call. I got the job!! I'll be spending 3-4 hours a week with a 5-year-old boy, Aaron, teaching him English words. 8 Euro an hour, thank you very much. AND, because it's only one day a week, I can even look for another job!! Mo' money, mo' fun. I need money, too. Life here is expensive, and I really am being SO good but it's just the darned exchange rate. So I'm hoping this job will help me go to both Great Britain AND Sweden/Norway/Scotland in August. Speaking of which, that's one thing that hasn't fallen into place: I still haven't heard back from the cousins in London, so I'm a little worried about things getting more expensive the longer I wait. I may just start looking into youth hostels in London, or maybe just stay with Jason the whole time and we can do some kind of excursion up into London. I'll talk to dad tomorrow and ask him what he would suggest. Then, after my wonderful guitar purchase, my learning of Swedish and my job-acquiring, I made myself some delicious dinner (stir fry!) and joined some friends at a bar. It was a really great day:) And today = super lazy, with two parties tonight to meet more people and practice my German, and then tomorrow I will clean my room and the kitchen, and make sure I'm all ready for my first day of school on Monday! I'm also taking a step aerobics class on Wednesday, which I'm SUPER psyched about, because I've missed working out. Today is a pretty nice day, so I'm considering going for a run. I'm just nervous I'll get lost:-P We'll see, we'll see. Anyway, that's all I feel like writing about for now, but Skype me or e-mail me if you want more details!!