Life as an illegal Alien- Day 26

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So as my title suggests, I found out this morning at the Einwohnermeldeamt that apparently we needed visas for stays longer than 3 months and we didn't know it; hence, as of May 1st, we were illegally living in the country. Bryan and I got our visas and everything is now straightened out. We find it weird that Mike never got this letter in the mail, so we are still confused on that.

Last week was kind of a blur- Joe's family got here on Tuesday and I've been hanging out with them for a few days.. they are all great! I was only with them for 2 days as I had school on the other days, but on wednesday we walked around the Jungfernstieg area and went to St. Petri Kirche.. which was rough, as we decided to climb it to the top. I did not make it, but I think Joe, Frank, and Catherine did. In all I think there were 544 stairs, many of them old stone spiral staircases.. not cool. It was a great view, even though I didn't make it all the way to the top. On Saturday went to check out Planten un Blomen (a huge botanical garden) which was really nice. They had a live band playing 50's and 60's American (and the occasional Beatles) pop music and it was fun, they were pretty good. Afterwards Joe, Frank, and I went back to my house, ordered a pizza and watched some movies. Joe's grandparents, parents, and sister went to dinner and then back to the hotel I believe.

Finance term paper continues to be a battle, one which I need to be done with soon. It is due on June 10th, but we need time to get it together, revise it, usw. The page requirement is what's getting to me- we need 15-20 pages and I only have 8 1/2 so far.. and can't find much more to write about. I am ready for URI again, believe me. I also have a presentation for my culture & management class which was supposed to be on the 19th, but keeps getting delayed. I really want it over with, but the classes keep getting canceled. So now we have 3 or 4 classes left and I have no idea when I'm presenting. I still have some revisions to make on the powerpoint slides but am lacking motivation to do much of anything.

Other than that, I am just ready to be home. I still love Hamburg, but I am so homesick for my life. I want to work again, go to a normal school, just everything. Well, 43 days left!!! More to come, as always.

Love, J

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Photos

Pretty flowers
Joe got i my way

Purple flowers!
And in the background is Catherine, Mom, and Dad LiVolsi

Welcome
in the entrance of Planten un Blomen

kids game
I have no idea what the point of it was...

Photo 15
and as soon as the kids left, Joe sprinted over to it to have his shot.. but Catherine is blocking him in this one

Joe was chasing me with the camera so it was payback
and oh, there's Catherine too

Hair length progression
Shortest to longest: Catherine, mom LiVolsi, Joe.... haha

Bust a Move Granny
She was up there dancing like a crazy person the entire concert, so we called her bust a move granny

Bust a Move Granny
There she is again! center, with the red and black blouse