Freakishly Happy

First of all, is that even how you spell hiatus? Sorry about being incommunicado for so long! We've been without internet since we left the hotel on Friday, which means no blogs or pictures for our website! Hopefully you have not given up on us, and are still checking some what frequently. We signed up for internet yesterday, but it will take a few days for it to turn on ( they said a week to 10 days).

There is so so so much to talk about. We have met so many wonderful people (there are about 36 AYFers total from Madison, WI, 2 Michagain schools and Iowa. Everyone is so far really cool. We're starting to form our own little groups already.

We moved in to our apartment on Friday. It is more wonderflul than words! Its pretty tiny ( but bigger than our first house). We are on the third floor and have a great view of the mountains/country side. The only downside is the bathtub which is microscopic (we'll put up pictures when we get the internet) and the toilet. The toilet doesn't have water in the bowl, so when you flush a large stream of water comes and removes whatever is on the base of the bowl.... Not too pleasant. This is not typical for Germany. Don't worry if you come and visit you will surely have "civilized" tiolets.
Our apartment has wood floors and LOTS of closets space. I will tell you more later when we have our own internet.

We found an gellato place that I have been to pretty much everyday of the trip. they make their icecream out of real ingredients and it only costs .60 Euro per cone. WoW!

We've been taking care of a lot of paperwork and formalities, but have been having fun as well. We've gone to a bonfire and gone to Basel Switzerland.

Things are going really well. Culture shock isn't too bad for me yet. The only problems I have are the gross toilet and the fact that it is really hard to find water with out bubbles. I'm really beginning to hate all things carbonated, but hopefully I'll get used to it.

Most everyone here can speak a little English, so getting around won't be too bad when you all come visit. People are really friendly and eager to help. This is a University town, so most people aren't German natives anyway. Our neighbors are Croatian and Russian, and the common language seems to be English.

Wow. I'm using my friend KT's computer right now, so I should probably sign off. But please feel free to email whenever. Also, we should be getting phone service in a few days, which is free for all incoming calls and we'll be able to talk to you over the internet with SKYPE. If you don't know what this is, you should definitely check it out.

We love you all, and miss you!
j