I have been putting off posting for a time I could really write all that I have wanted to, but instead I have waited untill I can't remember everything I wanted to write. Haha. Oh well.

I have been incredibly lucky here. I have made some wonderful friends, my room mates included, as well as a student from Peru, with whom I speak a mix of Spanish, German and English. Other friends come from China, Italy, Poland, and Canada making my time here more international than I even expected.

I was starting to go crazy not having any poetry here. Fortunately, someone sent me Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Wow. I read a little bit of it about a year ago and aparently was not in the right mood. I definitely am now. I look forward to reading it over the next weeks.

It is curious. I have rather little that I must do here. I am taking a few courses: Italian, foundations of speech, Feldenkrais, a theatre games course, vocal technique, voice lessons and coachings. Still, I only have about 10 hours of class a week.

Fortunately, that means I am able to read and spend time along the neckar or practicing.

Lessons are going well, but I am changing a lot to take artificial darkness and tension out of my voice, so I have a few holes in my voice.

This picture is from the top of the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg. I rode my bike there a few days ago and returned to hike the philosophenweg with my peruvian friend. Heidelberg is beautiful in Herbst. This pic makes me think of a picture frame filler.

It is funny. One minute here I will be following everything in a conversation and the next I am completely lost. It is frustrating, but keeps me motivated to continue studying German.