WOW!  It's October 1st!!!  How crazy is that?!

Well, we made it to Germany.  However, we only made it after a 10 1/2 hour car ride from Faistenau to Frankfurt.  UGHHHH.  The traffic on the autobahn was horrible yesterday and the weather didn't make it much better.  We had to take our rental car back to Munich airport and then ride the rest of the way with Christian's cousin, Christof.  As you know, many parts of the Autobahn do not have speed limits so we got up to about 140 mph a couple times!  However, that did not speed up our trip!  haha  We had to go to Ramstein Airforce Base to book our flight home.  We put our name down on a flight leaving Thursday morning and flies straight to Baltimore where we'll just have to rent another car to drive home (about 2 hours away).  The flight we're supposed to be on is the "Patriot Flight" which carries all the guys coming home from the middle east so that will be a treat.  I'm looking forward to being home.

We walked downtown this morning which is about 2.5 miles away so we got a pretty decent work out.  Christian and I have both lost about 5 pounds since we got here.  All the walking and not eating like we do in the states will do that to you!  The big meal over here is lunch and then you just have bread and meats for dinner (salami, bacon, ham, etc).  It's hard to get used to.  I like having the big meal for dinner b/c it gives you something to look forward to all day!

We're going to his aunts house tonight for a surprise b-day party for her husband (an American).  So, there will be a lot of English being spoken, which is nice.  :)  I actually started a small conversation with Christian's grandfather this morning in German about my car (since it's German too).  So, I used a little more of my German than what I usually do.  I just never know if I'm saying something correctly.  It all sounds so funny.  I asked what English sounds like to them and he said it sounds like we have a hot potato in our mouths!  haha

I think we're going out tomorrow night with Christian's cousin, Julia.  She's my age and so much fun.... she also speaks english!  She's the one we went to Oktoberfest with last year.

Anyway, all is going good and I'm getting antsy to be back home!  I'm ready for Halloween and for my mom & brother to come visit!!!!  I can't wait to see them!  Also, for those of you from Florida, Christian and I are driving to Pensacola the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Christian will leave to go back to Philly the weekend after Thanksgiving to get ready for his trip to Japan.   He'll be in Japan all of December (including Christmas :(  ) so I'm staying in Florida from Thanksgiving until right after Christmas.  I'm excited to be home that long but I'll definitely miss him!  But, hopefully the holidays will make the time go by quickly.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and sees some good weather and great football!  We both miss football soooo bad!  haha

Love y'all and miss y'all!

Chrissi