and she's just about off

I haven't been sleeping well - this trip is driving me crazy... I keep having these strange dreams where I'm in Paris and realize I've forgotten something I don't need. The other night I got to Paris and realized I only had my 50mm lens. As much as I don't want to take that lens off my camera I will be shooting with my other lenses too (I have planned on going to specific places and taking very specific pictures - maybe a little obsessive?) I remember thinking in my dream "meh, it's okay, I'll make it work..." and then quickly moving on to something else... Sometimes it's toothpaste, or socks (that reminds me *mental note* - need to pack shower sandals and earplugs.)

Monday I finished (and passed) my class and now that I'm without Level 3 for a few months I think self-study will be in full-effect. I've finished putting the vocabulary from my book into my Anki set and will work with that while I'm away (and the endless - I really mean ENDLESS - supply of e-books I have on my laptop.) I'm still thinking of maybe taking that Mandarin course... I'm hesitating because I want to keep learning Japanese and think that another language might just confuse me. I feel like I've finally started progressing at a somewhat faster pace and understanding things more (significantly more!) I realized tonight as I quickly flipped through the course calendar that I could probably skip level 3 if I self-study and go to level 4 in the fall. Which would put me back on track! We'll see if that happens!

The rest of my week has been spent running around trying to get stuff in order.

I have to pack tonight... I hate packing... [I also hate unpacking. It's so very tedious.] Out of curiosity I just started re-reading my blog entries from my first trip to Europe (yes these exist though they're pretty sparse...) I can't wait! I'm excited. I'm nervous... all good things. I scoped out some clubs in Berlin last night. Looks like my hostel location is perfect. I seem to be in the middle of a triangle of really good techno clubs that apparently have music every night of the week. I cannot imagine what living in a place like that would do to me!? I cannot even fathom being in a city where you have more than one techno event to pick from a week!? I guess I'll have a taste of that next week! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to everything...

And hopefully, next time I write I will be in France!
See you then!