The great things about this rainy day.

So many things today have just made me smile in such a simple, unexpected way.

First of all, there was just watching the rain this morning from the table, looking out the window over the train tracks. I love rain. I happen to be one of those people.  And today, it seemed particularly beautiful to me. :)

Second of all, when I was at the gym, I was riding on an exercise bike that faces the main counter of the gym. On the other side of the counter there is a scale, where the gym-goers sometimes weigh themselves before or after a workout. I was at the gym in the morning today, which I know to be the time of the grizzled, gray, and surprisingly strong crowd - me and a bunch of eighty-year-olds, or so it feels like (which means we are never competing for the same equipment, and they don't smell that much of sweat like the younger sporty people! - two great things!).  I was looking over in the direction of the scale today when an older man (probably sixty) stepped on to the scale and looked down at the screen to see how much he weighed. I just happened to notice an older woman sneak up behind him and very sneakily put her foot on the bottom of the scale as well and push down. I watched the man's face go from slightly concerned to extremely worried as the numbers went up and up on the scale, until he happened to notice a third foot on the scale and turned around to nudge the woman away, laughing. I don't think they knew each other except for working out at the same time of day and seeing each other there, and it was just such a fun and playful interaction - I loved it.

Thirdly, I met with C at Starbucks today before she went off to have a camping trip with the other Germersheim folks, a sort of end-of-semester, end-of-our-studies party (even though a few of them aren't done with their bachelor's degrees yet due to spending semesters abroad, etc.).  We only saw each other for about twenty minutes after her work day before she had to get on the train to go meet everyone, but something about seeing her there felt so normal, so much of my daily routine - and every time that Mainz feels like home to me, I just can't help but smile.

Lastly, I went out tonight to dinner with three other exchange students from the same program as I am, and we just had so much fun. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had done anything with an actual group of Americans. Some of the time I was thinking about how we were seeming to the German people around us, but some of the time, I wasn't caring about it at all. We had conversations I didn't expect that went in directions I didn't predict. And some of it was just silly, which is fun, too. The food was good, the two boys ordered Daquiris and were laughing about how they had ordered girl's drinks until they tasted them and decided they were their new favorite drinks, we talked about how American tourists in Germany seem to us now that we've lived here, we talked about the pros and cons of the different university systems in the two different countries, we talked about how fast the semester has gone. I just had a fun evening. :)

And NOW:  I get to go to bed and sleep in past 6:30 for the first time in at least a month. I am thrilled. On that note, good night!