I am not in school...

...so why is sleep such a hot commodity all of a sudden?

Seriously though, all I want to do is sleep for like two days straight. Good thing I'm getting up in about 7 and a half hours to get ready to leave for Munich, right? Haha, yay vacation! Yes, I know, I have a good way of complaining about even the most exciting things. Please forgive me, I am rather tired.

Today was my last day at Topsoe. I had everything done by about 11 (cleaning, sending/uploading files, compiling e-mail lists) so I was very ready for lunch at noon. I ate with Brandon, Burcin, Arkady and Klas and met two new people (one whose name I don't know and the other was Pablo or Paolo). Lunch was fun and very nice, though everyone kept bringing up that it was my last day. :-(

Spent the afternoon reading PhD Comics. Yes, I know, lame but they are actually pretty funny. My paper is done and I also got a recommendation letter from Esben, which is fantastic! Around 3 I headed into lab to say good bye to everyone. That was hard/awkward because, yeah, good byes are just awkward and difficult. Both Simon and Bodil told me that if I did go through with applying at Topsoe to let them all know so that they could push my application. Brandon and Burcin said the same thing. How blessed am I? Very. Beyond measure, actually.

Anyway, I went to the "pub" at 3:30 and ate beer and irish coffee flavored ice creams (I liked the Irish coffee one better). Said good bye to Lars and then Esben (he's finally getting to go on vacation and leaves for Malta tomorrow afternoon) and then Brandon and Burcin drove me and Klas to Hellerup. The four of us rode into the center of the city and met Arkady at an Indian restaurant. The food was delicious, the company wonderful. They all overpaid and I spent a grand total of like 50 kroner on the night. Then we went and had a beer at an outdoor cafe and just chatted for a while. That was nice. The beer? Langfarts beer. Yeah, two of us got it just for the name. :-) I had decided that since I hadn't paid for dinner I would try to pay for drinks. I managed to GET the check and HAND it back to the waiter with plenty of money to pay for it but Burcin made a fuss (as did the rest of them) and she proceeded to retrieve said bill and money, hand the money back to me and they all chipped in to pay. It's what you do when someone leaves, I know, I would have done the same but to be so doted upon, well, it makes me feel special. And that was a terrible sentence as far as grammar goes. Anyway, then it was slowly saying good bye. First Arkady then Klas then Brandon and Burcin. It's done. There is no going back.

I got home at 9 which was an hour earlier than I had set as a deadline so I was able to call my mom and chat for a few minutes and then I set about packing and cleaning. Since it's late I cannot really clean. Vacuuming will have to wait till right before I leave. Ah, I am nervous. My duffel and backpack will not be too stuffed, thankfully, but I am so afraid of forgetting something vital or bringing something too precious (moreso the former than the latter). Then I realized I will probably be sleeping on the couch next Friday and won't want to throw my stuff everywhere to repack. So I repacked my big suitcase as best I could. Please, this is very selfish, pray that I can ship beer from Andechs back home so that I will not have to repack the big suitcase next week. Any other breakable thing I buy can go in my backpack but beer must be checked and right now I have the porcelain and glass I'm bringing back packed well and my bag shuts.

Okay, I need to go to sleep. I do not know if I will be able to blog while in Munich. If I can the updates will have to be short (yes, rejoice, go ahead) simply because even though I type very quickly I do not want to spend tons of euros in order to update this. I'd rather spend those euros on another memory card for my camera (which will probably be necessary).

Please please PLEASE pray for Yujie while I am gone and for Lise. Pray that they will have understanding and patience with one another and that the cultural differences will not form too large a barrier. Please pray for my travels tomorrow and my time in Munich. Pray for courage, humility, and to have an overwhelming sense of God's presence too. Pray for safe travels for Esben and Burcin as he goes on vacation and she heads to DC for an ACS conference. Pray for my coworkers and all I have met while here. Thank you for praying and I hope your summer, as it comes to a close, ends well.

Have a great night/day/afternoon,
Bekah