the countdown is on (but i don't want it to be)!

wow. i am truly awful at blogging.

going on our last three weeks in europe. we returned yesterday from a weeklong trip to lutherland: erfurt, eisenach, wittenberg, and leipzig. somehow i managed to stay in the monastery where luther first became a monk and not see his room. and i slept within a mile of the wartburg castle and didn't get to see that either.

[sentence removed due to bullying and impediment of free speech].

i had schnitzel for the first time on tuesday in eisenach. it's amazing. i plan to eat schnitzel and drink german beer as much as possible for my last three weeks here. i think Grandpa will be proud.

the castle church in wittenberg is really cool. unfortunately wooden doors don't last very long, so there are now huge metal doors with the 95 (not 99, like alex thought) thesis on them in latin. and a painting of martin luther and phillip melanchthon kneeling at a cross with Jesus on it that is as tall as them. apparently luther was short, though. and so was bach. that kind of ruins my perception of him.

i got to see luther's living room, though. and there is a statue of käthe von bora in the garden of the lutherhaus, so i took a picture with her, too. i also got a picture of the first printed Bible of luther's translation. it has his handwriting in it. i can't wait to show tom.

turns out germany is a lot COLDER than everyone told us. between north face and under armour, i should be pretty warm and american-looking. i hope.

i went to amsterdam the weekend before our class trip to lutherland. we went to the anne frank house and the heineken experience, among other activities. this is probably wrong and the art gods will smite me, but of things i've spent 10 euros to see, including David..... the heineken experience was probably my favorite. it's definitely a museum designed for men/boys/guys because there is CONSTANT stimulation. there's a ride and everything. we made a music video singing a Dutch song and we sent it to our professor. ha. it was awesome, though. not a huge heineken fan, though. i just love german beer!

well, it's officially the middle of the night and my roommate has not yet returned from leipzig. i'm slightly concerned, but no one has cell phones here, so there's not much i can do about it, besides hope that she makes it back.

the middle of the night is also when i usually like to sleep, so i'm going to try it. i didn't sleep at all last night, but i woke up to beautiful snow! so it was ok, sort of. and mackenzie slept over. it was nice having a roommate i actually enjoyed waking up to for once...

i promise i'll write this week. about rome, and venice, and paris... oh my!