Du bist Isabelle

Viktoria has decided that my new name is Isabelle. It's cute.

One week down, five more to go. However, I don't like to think of it that way because I am enjoying my time here and I don't feel homesick or bored or anything. I think I see it as a, "one week has gone by, what have I learned?" kind of thing. The homework is getting a bit more difficult and I'm trying not to get too stressed about it. I know it's all part of the experience and I know I can do it.

You can steadily see our SST group getting to know each other more and realizing that there's so much we don't know about each other. Majority of us got to hang out last night for the first time other than the times we spend together for scheduled things during the week. There's a carnival going on downtown Jena right now so last night there was a fireworks show and a concert. We were celebrating Rosemary's birthday so the whole atmosphere was perfect. The band that was playing was awesome (they were Finnish and spoke like three different languages) and a couple of us went in front of the stage to dance. The fireworks show was amazing. It lasted for about ten minutes in front of the Intershop tower.

My host mother, Viktoria, David and I went to the Feergrotten (Fairy grottos) on Saturday. That was my first time in a cave. We had to wear these brown capes because the cave was constantly dripping with water and it was really cold. I got a bit scared at one point when we had a five minute walk through a very tiny space. I had to slightly duck and had to keep my arms to my sides because it was so small. Once we reached the end, the tour guide showed us the most colorful rocks in the cave with a light show to music from Lord of the Rings. After the grottos, we went to a castle that was decorated entirely in Rococo and reminded me so much of a wedding cake. David and I amused ourselves by taking pictures in mirrors and trying our best to understand the tour guide. We had to wear these big shoe things so our shoes wouldn't scratch the wood. Our tour group looked adorable because we appeared to be slowly skating over the wood trying our best not to slip. So, capes and big slider shoes.

I love biking in Jena. I got an excuse to today because I had left my backpack at Rosemary's house. Going uphill is a bit difficult but I gain satisfaction once I reach the top and I know that very soon after I will be able to go downhill. I got to bike next to the Saale River so I passed many couples doing hardcore amounts of PDA. For a moment I was shocked because children were there, but then soon realized that this is something that they're probably used to.

I hope to write letters soon because I enjoy anything that distracts me from homework. I have been getting online a lot more than I should but I like to keep it short. I miss all of my friends very much but I look forward to experiencing more while I am here and sharing my stories and pictures when I get back.