Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it!

What's this? What are we looking at? Man, it looks like a concert photograph...but who could have Jon possibly seen in concert last night, Monday the 10th? Who would have a stop in Cologne during their world tour? It was definitely Journey, on their 33rd year of touring, and they still had it going on. I think that my three friends and I brought down the average age of concert-goers by about twenty years...at least three quarters of the people were middle-age, bearded, and wearing faded, black Journey t-shirts. (half of them were women...Journey attracts an interesting crowd. Apparently their on their third lead singer, who is a forty-year old dude from the Philipines, but he looked like he could have been seventeen. I thought it was joke when he first came on stage, but as soon as he started singing, nobody cared anymore...he was incredible! There was a throng of little Asian women next to me who were freaking out about him, and a couple of bald Dutch dudes on the other side freaking out about how hardcore Journey still is, and there I was in the middle, not about to stop believing ; )

I've been really sapped for motivation lately...I think opart of it has to do with the either oppressivley hot or depressively gloomy we've been alternating between. Or it could have to do with my low average nightly hours of sleep...hmmm. Fortunately I don't have a whole lot I need to do, and I'm content with that. One of my friends told me today that we only have 41 days left in Germany...I can't believe it. In fact, I don't want to think about it right now. Thema Wechsel... In a little less than a week I will be travelling to Berlin with the other exchange students for a group exkursion through our International Center. I'm really, really excited...it sounds like we have a fair amount of structured stuff to see while we're there (i.e. planned tours, events, etc...) and then evenings free. That's good by me; I wan to see as much as a I can! We will be their from the 17th to the 22nd, so hopefully I'll have a lot to say after I get back. The weekend afterwards I am making plans to go to Dijon, France, to visit my friend Coraline, former language assistant at Ripon College. I haven't been to France yet, and I'm thrilled to see something new and slightly unusual (i.e.: something other than Paris, which I have no doubt is incredible, but it's fairly common).

Yesterday at work I was struck with how I have one of the coolest jobs...literally ;) Oh, work = chemistry, by the way...it's kind of the simplest way to categorize it. Anyways, I do a lot of work with liquid nitrogen. We have to use it in conjunction with the high-vacuum pump to freeze the moisture traps to prevent fluids from getting sucked into the machine. At -321 ºF, it's rather frigid, and if you're not careful it can condense oxygen out of the air in sealed containers, which will can cause explosions when it comes back to room temperature. Fantastic! Which reminds me about how dangerous chemistry can be, too. For example, I was working with elemental Bromine on Monday, and the safety data indicates that skin contact results in deep, painful wounds. *thumbs up* I wonder just how dangerous it is to be a history major...

The European Soccer Championship has started, which means that lots of Germans are really, really, really excited. It's a really cool feeling...although I didn't watch Germany's first game on sunday, I could hear it all over the place. Everybody goes out dressed in Germany colors (black, red, and yellow) and drapes themselves in Germany flags. The city just bursts out in mutual cheers and groans that give you a good idea of the progress of the game. As it stands, I can hear people cheering for the game that's running right now...I don't know who's playing, but it's not Germany...they're not on until Thursday night, and I'm not going to miss it!

I've been having really intense cravings for pie lately...I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe because summer is the time of year when I usually do most of my kitchen activities, considering I usually don't have access when I'm not at home. Maybe it's because pie doesn't really seem to be as big of a thing here...there are plenty of delicious looking baked goods, but nothing that is satisfying my desire for apple pie or rhubarb and strawberries. That's another thing...we have this amazing market here that has fresh fruit and veggies everyday. Strawberries are in season, and they're harvested only about 10 km from here. So if anyone wants to send me a pie, get in touch... ;)

All right, that's it for now. I'm going to try and go occupy myself with other things than staring at a computer screen. I send my love. -Jon