Dear Grampa,

So...Grampa, I hear you're reading this every morning?? I'm sorry I haven't been updating every day!! But really, my individual days aren't that cool. I mostly get on a bus and go for half an hour and then sit in classes I don't understand, talk to some people between classes, and then get on a bus and come home. :p

I'm slowly (very, very) becoming used to my school. After standing in the hall where I though bio was for twenty minutes and not seeing anyone in my class or the teacher, I figured out that I hadn't been told that that class (like too many others) changes according to the day. After asking one of the younger kids I saw in the hall (and getting laughed at because of my German...), I went to the secretary and told her that I didn't know where my class was. We went back up to the hall where I had been, asked one of the teachers and then I followed the secretary down to a hall I had never seen before, and found my class. I felt like an idiot, walking in in the middle of a lecture. I was very, very, very happy, though, when the teacher started pulling out microscopes. Finally, something I know about!!! I was even happier (if it can be believed) when she handed out slides. I immediately started adjusting my microscope, trying to find the best focus on the leaves of Elodea that had been freshly plucked from the plant. When I found it, I will admit that I was quite taken by the beauty of something I managed to do for myself in Germany, and in a science class, too. And then, the girls sitting next to me had trouble finding theirs, so I helped them. That felt really good, too.

Today was the first day of classes that I had already experienced, so hopefully that little room-mix up won't happen again.

Yesterday, in addition to being in love with a microscope, I drew!! I drew a walnut in art class!!! Something I haven't done (drawing, not specifically a walnut) in four years!! And I didn't fail completely!! Or so I think....the teacher didn't seem to be too impressed. But I'm very proud of myself.

Today, after my double English, I went to Frohnau for a lesson, but first I did a little shopping. See, I haven't had one folder, and only two notebooks, for all of my classes, for the last week. So it was high time I got some supplies. School shopping, one of my favorite things in the world!! But things in Germany are very strange...instead of folders, there are.....I don't even know how to describe them...little document files, but with two prongs and a transparent front, with a colored back. Well, paper here is different too. It's...thinner, or so it feels to me. And there are FOUR HOLES. And then you put it in the...files, I think they call them, by putting the prong through the middle two holes. It's very strange, to me. But I needed some of these strange school supplies, so I went to Karstadt and got some. While I was there, I happened upon a shelf full of PURSES ON SALE!!!!

For those of you not here, or in regular contact with me, you need to know that here, girls bring very large handbags to school instead of backpacks. This happens in the States, too, but here it's rather rare to find a girl carrying a backpack to school. And, my purse isn't that great for day trips, either. If you are going on a trip to the city, even for a couple hours, there are a few things you need to have with you: ipod (for music on the bus/train/U-Bahn, and for the German dictionary in case of language emergencies), book (bus/train/U-Bahn), bottle of water (or juice), food, wallet (duh), hand sanitizer, and anything else you might desire. Well, my purse is wonderful and I love it, but it's a tight fit for all of the things mentioned above. A really tight fit.

All that discussed, I've been looking for a new purse since school started. Well, I came upon success today at Karstadt. :) I found a really cute, rather large, muted grey-beige bag with just enough structure to not look like a big sack and, as it developed when I got home, the PERFECT size. It takes even my fullest day at school (this one's a little tight, though), my wallet, my Kindle, my ipod, my handy (cell phone for all you Americans), my German work, my lunch and a bottle of water!!! And, even though it was a little over my budget of 20€, ringing in at just about 27€!! I'm very pleased with my purchase, especially considering the fact that I did all of my considering with one hand full of two notebooks, five files, a bottle of apple soda (yes, you Americans, apple soda. It's amazing. I don't know how I'm going to survive without it when I come back.) and a piece of bread. I was standing there like an idiot, flopping this bag around with one hand, trying to see if the notebooks would fit.

All in all, it was a good day. I didn't get lost on any transit, I caught all my buses, I managed to evade the creepy old homeless guy who sits and drinks and smokes in the bus shelter at the bus stop near my school, I drank apple soda, ate marzipan cake, only had two hours of school...yep. Good day. Oh, and did I mention that I have Drama tomorrow?? I do!!!

P.S. I'm sorry that turned into a long rant that was easily identifiable as that of a teenage girl, Grampa. :)