Last Wednesday I went to Strausberg, a small town about an hour north of Berlin, for one of the seminars for the German-American clubs. All of the trains leaving Frankfurt were delayed about an hour because George Bush arriving in Frankfurt and going to speak in Mainz. When I finally got to Berlin I met up with a couple other American students and we ate Mexican food at a restaurant near Checkpoint Charlie. I can’t say it was the best I’ve ever had, or anywhere near that, but I’ve been wanting Mexican food for so long that it was well worth being two hours late showing up in Strausberg. The topic of the seminar was Transatlantic relations in the 21st century and though it had high and low points, overall it was a pretty awful 3 days. I don’t mind listening to or reading about politics, provided it’s in a language I can understand, but I really hate talking about politics. Several weeks ago I told the conference coordinator I had to leave Friday night because I was flying home on Saturday. A lie I know, but there were a number of reasons for doing it, and I think had I stayed there two more days I would have gone insane. Yesterday was spent taking care of things that needed to be done before I leave, and spending time with Dave before he leaves. Today I finally did some much needed research on a paper topic for one of my classes so that I’ll sound somewhat knowledgeable when I have a meeting with the professor tomorrow. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day of more errands and saying goodbye. I’m guessing I won’t be sleeping much until I get back home, but that’s not too unusual. I think a group of us are going to the Irish pub tomorrow night for Jesse’s last night so that should be a good distraction. I’m still trying to get used to the idea of going home.