Feuer!

Not really a whole lot of exciting to update on right now.  In 3 weeks from today, I will be waking up bright and early, getting on a train to Frankfurt, and flying back to the States.  I don't know if I'm ready for my time here to end, though.  I mean, yeah, it'll be great to see my family and all my swim club friends, and have free bathrooms, free water and free refills at restaurants, and pool access, but there is so much that I will miss. I have been so spoiled by the beautiful path along the Rhein as a running trail that running around Columbia isn't going to be nearly as fun. And I really have a lot to do when I get back to America.  My first night will be spent in the St. Louis Airport, as I will be getting on a plane to fly to North Carolina at 6:00 the next morning (I arrive in STL at around 6:30 pm). After spending some time in NC with my mom and youngest sister, we have to be in Kansas for my brother on August 2nd.  I will likely be in North Carolina for this whole duration between the 21st and then.  Once I finally get back to Missouri for good, I have to move into a new place in Columbia and start back up at work.  If there's someone I HAVEN'T missed, it's been Mother Bread.  But I only have 2 more semesters worth of time there.  Also, I have to work out my cell phone issue when I get back to Mid-MO.  And I have to find some time to swim so that I don't drown when Swim Club starts back up in September.
Anyway, in some Germany-related news, there was a fire in my Wohnung on Saturday.  Before you get all excited, it was just a small fire and stayed confined to the room where it started.  I'm still a little bit unsure on the details, but there ended up being 10-15 fire trucks outside for a fair amount of time.  I had gone for a walk so I wasn't inside when it happened and they didn't even evacuate the building.  The fire alarms are so loud that I can hear them going off in other peoples' rooms on different floors.  Normally they only go off for 30 seconds or so before they stop (somehow), but I heard this one going off longer than usual.  Being a light sleeper, I was unable to take the nap that I was about to lay down and take, so I went for the aforementioned walk.  As I was coming back and getting closer to my building, I saw a bunch of fire trucks, and they were all turning down my street.  It was kind of exciting, since the building wasn't actually burning to the ground.  So, naturally, I took some pictures of all the fire trucks to document the moment.  Then I continued walking some more until there were no more emergency vehicles outside, when I went inside to take my nap and eat lunch.

In Euro Cup news, Germany is now out.  They lost last night to Italy and, if you ask me, the Germans certainly didn't play like they wanted to win.  Mary and I had been keeping mostly up-to-date with the Euro Cup games, and I even bought a shirt to support my German team.  Oh, well.  Obviously it wasn't meant to be for Germany to win the whole thing this year.  And I still love them.  They're still my team of choice.  I'm no fair-weather fan (I may not be a soccer fan when I get back, but that doesn't mean I can't be one while I'm here).  So the Finale is on Sunday at 8:45 my time, and it's Spain vs Italy.  In their last match in the early rounds, they tied 1-1, so it should prove relatively interesting to watch.

That's about all in my life right now. Tschüss!
Maddie