Only a few more days

I can't think of any 6 people whose company I enjoy more than my Germans. I have now reached the one week mark until my trip. I will be landing in Berlin on 24 August, and splitting my time between Berlin, Leipzig, and Prague for the first week. The second week I will spend in the north, in Hamburg and Hannover, and for the final week I will travel to the south to visit Stuttgart, Ulm, and Freiburg. And finally, I will travel back to Berlin, to fly to South Africa on 13 September. After all these months of preparing and counting down the days, it's hard to believe that the time has actually arrived, and that this trip is actually going to happen. There are so many things I am looking forward to in Germany. Unfortunately I haven't been able to learn as much German as I had hoped, but at least I will never be without one of my Germans, so I will always have someone to translate when necessary. And I'm a little anxious as to what my experience will be like, since I have heard so much about Germany for the past 3 years, that I'm curious how much of it actually matches the images I have in my head. There are so many little things I am looking forward to, like seeing a parking garage for bicycles, hitchhiking, eating at little bakeries, and driving drunk on a bicycle. I'm also very much looking forward to the weekend I will spend in Prague. But most of all, I am looking forward to my final weekend in Germany, where all 7 of us will be able to be together for the first time in 2 1/2 years. And we can finally have a photo taken of all of us together. So far, no such photo exists. Now that the time is quickly approaching, it's hard to believe that it's been 2 years since we lived together in Africa. It feels like no time has passed at all. I can hardly imagine how much laughter we will share and how many new memories we will make together. And I must keep reminding myself how lucky I am to have these amazing people in my life, and to have the chance to be introduced to their lives in Germany. I have been dreaming about this trip for a very long time. I can't describe how excited I am that I am almost there. It's incredible.