Katie I can't believe we've been here two weeks! Berlin feels like home. I was just thinking about how I initially felt when we first arrived and some feelings are completely opposite and others exactly the same. It's just as exciting here as it was when we first arrived! I still love all the excitement of the city I LOVE taking trains and walking everywhere. I feel so involved in my environment when I'm forced to walk everywhere and I feel so much safer here than I would in Seattle walking around at night. People are out until much later at night and all the lights are on in most stores even if they're closed so everything just seems more alive at night than anywhere else I've been.

In other ways, my feelings have changed completely. At first I was totally overwhelmed by the train system before I realized how simple it was and I distinctly remember my first day at school thinking "what in the world are you saying" everytime my teacher spole to me. Yesterday in class I understood nearly everything that was said without hardly having to translate things to english in my head. It's amazing how fast I've picked up the language just in the past two weeks. I actually managed to have a semi fluent conversation with my Host Mother the other night and I at least understand what she is saying even if I can't respond very fluently. I had so many doubts about my ability to communicate when I got here but now I feel pretty confident. I remember for the first week that no matter what I said, whether it was perfect German or not, people in stores or restaurants would always respond in English because they could just tell I was American. Today, I went to three different stores and not one worker responded in english when I spoke in German. I'm not sure if it's because my german accent has gotten better or because I look more confident when I speak, as if I if I actually look like I know how to speak German, but either way it's great!