Arrival

Wow, this place rocks. I had a lovely time in Washington D.C.. I made some great friends and saw basically everything that there is to see in the touristy part of the city. Seriously, in three days we saw: four buildings of the Smithsonian, The Library of Congress, a staff person for two different congresspersons who represent us personally (I saw people from Peter DeFazio and Ron Wyden (We didn’t see the congressmen themselves because congress is in reccess right now) ). Also toured the capital(which you can apparantly no longer just walk into(because you might be a terrorist)). During the tour of the Capital we got pulled onto the floor of the House of Representatives by a republican representative who is trying to pull a publicity stunt to get the Democrats to debate a bill about drilling for oil off the west coast and in oil shale in the western states. Basically it was just a publicity stunt, Even though it was REALLY cool that I got to sit in a seat on the floor of the house, instead of just in the gallery. Also saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetary. That was mostly just really hot and sweaty. ALL of D.C. was hot and sweaty and gross, except for the parts that were inside, which were really rather cold because of all of the airconditioning. Also had a tour of some monuments/memorials: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War. And most of this stuff was connected by us walking. On the bus before 8:30 every morning and back to the room for more socializing at 10. They weren‘t kidding when they said that we would need good walking shoes...
Our flight to Germany was fine although an hour late... I slept for maybe a couple hours, but definitly not enough, After the flight i took three different trains and a car to get to my final destination (which is really the coolest part so far). My host family is incredible, they are all so nice and friendly. Their house has four stories, and Iäm at the top, with a huge room and windows and awesome views. I also met my two area representatives(which rock) and a nice boy from Australia.
I can feel my german skillz improving rapidly, although I`m definitly not used to the wierd keyboard yet.

Und jetzt, gehe ich ins Bett, very jetlagged and ready to sleep.

Bis Dann