a list for Georgia

In 6 1/2 weeks I'll be back in the US for almost a month (remember?). Even though it's only a visit, and I'll even get to come back to Forchheim for a little bit afterwards, the more I tell people (teachers, friends, myself, etc), the more I realize/think about things I'm going to miss in Germany while I'm away. Besides this being obviously ridiculous because, in the scheme of things, 3 weeks is not all that much out of the 52 in a year, it's also incredibly irrational. Any 24 day trip is going to cause you to miss something, no matter when you go. 

So to balance things out, I've decided to make a list of things I'm excited about for my visit home:


1. Family and friends. Had to get the obvious one out of the way at the beginning. But really, it's true. 
2. Mexican food (with margaritas, of course!)
3. 24-hour shopping possibilities. Not that I'll actually take advantage of that
4. Terrapin beer. Mmm, Hopsecutioner, I know you're waiting for me
5. Customer service. Or should I be more specific? Good customer service.
6. Knowing that when someone asks "wanna go swimming?" they don't mean go swim laps for an hour, they mean, grab a drink and a float and sit in the pool gossiping all afternoon
7. Having said pool to sit in right in my back yard 

8. Hulu! 

9. wearing nike shorts and t-shirts any- and everywhere possible and not standing out like a sore thumb (now if only I had the matching ugg boots...)

10. Sweet tea!
11. catching up on a year's worth of gossip (probably in the pool). 

12. driving (maybe... mom? dad? please?!)13. unlimited texting!! (double exclamation point for that)
14. no randomly restricted youtube videos due to copyright laws. Seriously, wtf?
15. not being the one with the strongest southern accent in a 100 mile radius.
16. Choo choo, Mirko, Transmet, and all the usual food places...
17. Downtown Athens, specifically the Globe and Trapeze
18. Those flip flops and various other things I've forgotten about because they didn't make the 2010 European packing list cut. 

Of course the list would be a lot longer if I went into individual family and friends and the various things we're likely to do together... but then we'd be here all night. So there you have it, the list that is keeping me going! There will be a lot of things I'll look forward to coming back to Germany for (let's not make that list, then I just won't know how to feel!), but I think they can only be appreciated so much with the occasional break for amazing (and severely missed) family and friends, pools, and sweet tea.