A breath of fresh air

I've made it to Germany!  On Wednesday, after flying from Moscow to Amsterdam, we drove to Heidelberg Germany, and will be here until Monday.  The schedule looks far more relaxed than Russia, and I'm looking forward to having some free time.  Additionally, the corporate visits while we are here are pretty sweet.  Today, we toured John Deere's European headquarters, tomorrow we visit Diamler-Benz, and then next week we visit the European Central Bank and Deutsche Bank.  I'm in finance heaven.

Just to give a brief recap of what has happened since I last wrote, we finished up the Eastern European portion of our Program in Moscow and have begun in the West.  When I stepped off the plane in Amsterdam, I experienced a feeling of happiness and relief like I had never felt before.  Moscow was an amazing experience but extremely stressful and a bit shocking.  Oddly, I felt at home in the Netherlands and was so happy to be in a Western Country.  Originally, I was supposed to fly with the rest of the group from Moscow, to Coppenhagen, to Amsterdam.  However, I got bumped onto  a direct flight from Moscow to Amsterdam.  This was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me.  I got to spend 6 hours by myself.

As I mentioned before, we're now in Heidelberg.  Its a beautiful city with a lot to offer.  The weather has been unbelievable, and I'm feeling a lot less stressed.  Last night, I went out with a few members of our group, and we had a great time.  The group dynamics are still kind of stressful, but I feel well taken care of and happy.  Meeting new people is hard.

I'll try to post pictures when I have a better internet connection.  Next week, its on to Prague!