Welcome!

There is nothing like hunger to drive a person to complete a task that they have been previously avoiding. Therefore, I am foregoing lunch today in order to actually communicate with all of you lovely people who are reading this- and therefore care- about my experiences in Germany (or, are at least, curious).

Since I am as scatter-brained as the next person, I will not try to organize my thoughts into any sort of chronological order, order of importance, or any other sort of organizational format, period. I am, of course, apologizing up front to those of you who may find my disregard for these methods annoying or tiresome, but I just can't seem to think long and hard enough to actually be that clear in my writing, or memories, for that matter.

So, I will launch right in. I am beginning this blog because I am unequal to the task of emailing or facebooking everyone the stories of my experiences each day here (which are many) since the time I have to communicate at the end of the day is not so much (actually, sometimes it's gone altogether). However, please feel free to comment as much as you like on my entries- and sometimes I am sure I will ask you all for advice or help- so don't leave me hanging! And, of course, I will send the occasional email to you each in particular- I mean, with someone who likes to talk as much as I do and who misses everyone stateside as much as I do- it's inevitable, right?

And, to me it is important to bring you all along with me on this journey in as much detail as possible, because I think Einstein summed up quite aptly the way I feel about the importance of friends, and continually keeping them in one's heart and mind (his most important remark, of course, being the last sentence):

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest...a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Thus, I am hereby widening my circle of compassion and appreciating the beauty of each of you and therefore, bringing you all inside the real Julia and the real Germany (at least my view of it!). Sometimes I will write more than one post per day, and sometimes I will write less (depending on travel and things which would prevent me from accessing the internet) but you can always count on the fact that I will post something new every two to three days. So, welcome and thanks for reading!!!