Washington, D.C.

Today my journey to Germany began in Washington, D. C. at the Goethe Institut where I met Sarah and Mary and the 34 other people who will be part of this trip. We're actually split into two groups. I'm part of TOP 5, led by Mary, who is the TOP Fellow of the Year-- a very high honor indeed. I actually met up with Henry, a fellow traveller who has been to Germany with Goethe before, at the airport. This was lucky, as he knew the way to both the Institut and our hotel. We had a "getting to know you" session at the Institut, along with a much needed German lesson (See my previous post for comments on my struggles with the German language.), followed by dinner in a great little Thai restaurant in Chinatown. While I had originally planned on exploring D. C. tonight, my dying phone battery insisted that I return to the hotel instead. Tomorrow we have several sessions at the Institut, and a short bit of free time before we head to Dulles International.