Big news! I got my host family! I received an email from them yesterday and I spoke with my host sister on facebook chat today. I'll be living in Spremberg, which is in the state of Brandenburg. I'm in between Berlin and Dresden (both are about an hour and a half away) and 25 km from the Polish border. I'm really happy to be in the north and the former East Germany.

I have a host mom (Ramona) and dad (Jörg), a 22 year old host sister (Maria), a 24 year old host brother (Martin), a yellow lab (Bruno), and a cat. I'll be living with my host mom mostly since my host dad and siblings live in Berlin during the week for work and school, but everyone comes back to Spremberg on the weekends.

Maria's boyfriend lives in Leipzig, and he's in a band! Maria said that I can go with her to his gigs and other concerts there. She also likes soccer and will take me to the stadium to watch FC Energie Cottbus, her favorite team.

I'm so excited! This finally feels real. She sent me some photos of their house and yard, which I'm trying to figure out how to post. Check back for them, I suppose.