Today is the official arrival day for all the foreign students so I guess the semester is finally getting under way. Apparently I'm the only student from the US on exchange in Potsdam this semester. Classes actually begin in about two weeks. I plan to take three courses in politics and one in economics. Two will be in German and the other two in English. I might also take part in a language class, but haven't decided as yet which to take.

This blogging stuff seems a bit narcissistic, eh?

Spring is rising up in Berlin. Today is the third beautiful day in a row. The grass is green and the trees are budding. There are a lot of willows along the canal that runs near my house and they have all leafed out. It looked almost like summer yesterday with people picnicking on the grass and some of the boats going up and down the canal. People have staked up fences around the small patches of earth around the base of the trees along the street. That's to keep the host of dogs with whom we share Berlin from depositing excessive amounts of fertilizer and toxic acid on the newly planted flowers. It's surprisingly open and green all over Berlin when Spring and Summer are in full bloom. And the dogs are mostly ok.