Two Points Worth Noting

So for the past couple days/weeks, I have been stressing about how much traveling I would like to squeeze into the rest of this semester. I was really bothered about it, trying to figure out how much more solo traveling I could handle (it's a shame the people with whom I wouldn't mind exploring have impossibly different schedules than mine), how much time I should devote to time in Erfurt rather than traipsing the globe, how much more money I am willing to spend, and how much time I should set aside for doing that horrid stuff we all call 'homework.' I asked my friend Mia (who is a soothing comfort to my indecision), my mom (whose objective perspective helps me realign my priorities), and my brother (whose experience and opinion I highly value). All of them had rather different answers, which was helpful and infuriating, because that meant ultimately I would have to make my own decision (I know, such a travesty). But after a really nice, long, and hugely overdue conversation with a friend back home, I went to sleep, and woke up this morning with the answer suddenly very clear and unquestionable. I decided that I am going to all those trips I wanted to, regardless of who can or cannot go with me, and regardless of those papers I will eventually have to write. I will only get the chance to travel like this once, so I might as well make the most of it!

And then this afternoon I had another scare, as I discovered that my Eurail pass would not have enough days to cover all of my desired trips in the time that it is valid. This left me with only a few alternatives: 1.) pay out of pocket for one of the tickets AND skip a night train for one of the trips (which would take two days) and take two day trains instead; 2.) make one of the trips on the next Eurail pass I have to get (which would mean I would have to buy a regional pass rather than the far cheaper Germany pass); OR 3.) cut out one of the trips altogether. After half an hour of elevated blood pressure and careful figuring, I decided that I would take the first of these three options. And while my stomach is still in knots from the last 36 hours of roller-coaster-ride-decision-making, I am relieved that not only will my Eurail pass hold out, but so will my finances and my carefully scheduled homework time.

With that said, here is the line-up for the next 8 weeks:
May 3-6: Copenhagen
May 9-13: Berlin and Rothenburg (with my brother!!:D)
May 17-20: Belgium (still deciding whether just Bruges or also Brussels)
May 24-26 AU in Germany visiting Erfurt!!
May 31-June 3 OR June 14-17: Amsterdam
June 7-10: Interlaken, Switzerland

Looks like a very daunting plan, but I think by now I have proven I can do it. But I do expect to be rather exhausted by the end, in any case!

Second point:
I have gotten to the stage of my time in Europe where things that are American or non-German are starting to strike me with an odd tone. I will give you three examples:
1.) From the hostel in Prague, my friend Mia owes me some money, which she would like to pay in U.S. dollars. When I was checking in my wallet to see if I would have change, the coins looked so strange! They felt like fake money!
2.) On a similar note, in one of the Ashbrook emails, Dr. Foster mentioned the cost of admission to a play showing at AU, and I had to glance twice at the dollar sign. I have gotten so accustomed to seeing only the Euro sign, the dollar sign felt out of place!!
3.) And lastly, I was watching an episode of House online earlier today, and one of the characters had a wedding ring on his left hand. Here in Germany, the wedding band in worn on the right hand, so seeing it on the right has become automatic, while seeing it on the left requires a little extra effort in the thought process to register what it means!

These are rather trivial occurrences, but they just go to show you exactly how much I have accustomed myself to living in a foreign country. In each case, when I finally realized the mental double-take I had to do, I could not help but feel a little shocked...