First Day in Germany

This is my first blog post. It's kind of exciting even though I'm not really sure how to use this thing...

So far I've decided that the scenery is beautiful. I love that I can walk around in downtown Jena and see green hills/mountains in the distance. Ben tells me that we will go hiking in one of them sometime soon. Maybe this weekend: Saturday afternoon or maybe we will go hiking Sunday, like good Germans.

Saw this at the Lisbon airport on my search
for a water fountain. Reminded
me of a certain brother of mine.

Still can't understand why water isn't free. This was especially annoying after travelling for hours and not being able to re-fill my water bottle--seems like all of the sinks are too shallow to stick a water bottle underneath. (Do they do this on purpose?) I am only willing to spend so much on bottled water. Such as waste of money and plastic. And though I haven't had any problems yet, I am dreading going on outings and having to pay to use the bathrooms. I guess the two go hand in hand. Don't drink water and don't go to the bathroom, unless absolutely necessary. I'll have to work on that.

I went into a German Language Institute this afternoon to take a placement exam. It's hard to be ok with not understanding anything. I remember feeling this way when I first got to China three years ago, but I had forgotten the feeling until I entered the German Institute for my placement exam. The lady said we had thirty minutes to complete sixty-five questions. Let's just say that I didn't need that much time....and it wasn't because I aced it.

Ben surprised me by having his friend, Michael,
pick me up at the train station. So grateful because
I would've been lost forever. (Ben made the sign)
:-)

Look at these beautiful flowers. <3