Visa

Well, I have officially applied for a German Visa. Oddly enough, having my picture taken was the most adventurous part of the whole process. Why, you might ask? Because apparently smiling isn’t really permitted in official pictures over here. We went to a local place for someone to take our pictures. Four other girls went ahead of me and talked about theirs, and I still felt unprepared for a not-smiling picture. I went in, sat down, and the directions were, “you cannot show your teeth, but you can smile a little.” I don’t even know how to do that without looking a fool. So, I sat, put some sort of smirk on my face, and she took the picture. She took two, and I laughed after each one. I’m pretty sure the girl thought I was crazy, as she didn’t laugh at all. We were able to pick between the two pictures, and both of mine looked identical. Yet another picture to have to hide from people! The good news is I’ll have it taped inside my passport. How cool is that?

German word:
jetzt--now

Here's some sweet boots Jessica and I found: