Lovely Long Lederhosen Weekend!!!

Hello Again!

THE ABRIDGED VERSION FOR CURLY:
I am doing great! Spent a nice weekend in Owingen, had awesome warm weather, saw lots of
family, and ate lots of gooood food.

THE UNABRIDGED VERSION FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW HOW TO READ:
When I last wrote I mentioned that I had pretty much figured out all the beurocratic
things but, as I found out last Tuesday, things aren't as easy as they seem. After
registering as a resident I found out that I needed to get a resident permit from the
downtown office. I was also told that it is important to get someone who speaks German
well to set up the appointment and figure out what documents I need to bring along. On
Tuesday and Wednesday I had a colleague try to set up an appointment to no avail. In the
meantime I set up a bank account and got a bus/train pass for June. Later on Tosca (my
supervisor) called the office and figured out that since I am not here for 3 months
(because I go on vacation at the end of August) I don't need the permit after all. I hope
this doesn't cause any future problems?..

On Tuesday night a friend of my roommate(who's name I still can't pronounce) took me to a
party on the uni campus and introduced me to a whole bunch of people. Everyone is super
friendly and give great advice about settling in since most of them are international
students as well. I met people from Canada (Calgary), Sweden, Italy, USA, Ireland.....

Last Wednesday I was picked up by Manfred, my father's cousin's husband, and taken to
Owingen. I saw family that I hadn't seen in 1 month and family that I hadn't seen in 15
years. I stayed at Sylvia and Manfred's and was treated soooo nicely.....it was better
than a 5 star hotel. Ariane, my cousin, took me around Owingen, Uberlingen, and
Wilhelmsdorf, where she works at a bank. It was nice catching up with everyone and eating
some great meals. On Sunday I was able to see my cousin Christopher and his new, as of 4
days ago, apartment. We had a pizza dinner with his girlfriend Julia, her Spanish dog,
and Regina. We sat out on Chris and Julia's new patio and watched the sun set over
Bodensee and the Swiss alps.

Yesterday I woke up at 4:30, had a pleasant, half-asleep breakfast with Sylvie and
Manfred, and then was driven back to Stuttgart.......Manfred had to work that morning
somewhere near Heidelberg. It was an early morning but I managed to get through another
pretty much workless day.

Take care,

Steph