OK, after attempting to sleep with my monster of a backpack at the foot of my bed last night and failing (who builds a sleeper train without a luggage rack? or a locker? something?) I got in to Munich this morning at 7:00 am. It doesn't get light here until close to 8:00 am. That was a shock. Dropped my bags off and slogged my ass around for a few hours until I could come back and check in to the hostel. I actually ended up going to a really cool museum that has all kinds of weird exhibits - like an entire room of printing presses, and a huge section on the history of the textile industry, and collections of musical instruments, and old foot and/or steam powered flying machines (picture a bike with wings). I didn't get out of there for almost 4 hours. Came back to the hostel and took a much-needed 3 hour nap, and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm going to be OK. When I get that tired it just feels like to whole world is going to collapse and I'm powerless to do anything about it. And that sucks. So thank you all for writing to me. Especially Jesse and Max, I don't even remember sending you my blog, but hi there!

I always heard that "everyone speaks English" in Europe, but I didn't really understand what that meant. I felt kind of bad, because I thought it was just another example of lame American hegemony or something, but now that I'm here I understand that it's actually necessary for Europeans to have a common language to interact with each other. In Berlin I would walk in to cafes and hear three people speaking to each other in English, each with a different accent. Of course, I still feel bad that I don't really know any other languages, but wow is it convenient for me that everyone knows mine. I did have fun surprising some Japanese girls in my hostel with the few sentences of Japanese that I can still string together. I can't really understand it (never could, even when I was studying), but they were so excited to hear a few words of their own language that it still made me smile. I can't imagine having to get around Europe with only the Japanese language... yikes. I think I feel out of place sometimes.

I don't really like Munich much. There are some nice buildings, but they're full of more Dolce and Gabanna and Louis Vitton than any stretch of Beverly Hills I've ever come across. Laaaaame. I think I'll stay one more night so I can see Dachau concentration camp, but after that I'm taking off. I haven't decided if I'm going to head back up to Prague or go straight to Switzerland, but I guess I'll have to get my schedule worked out one way or the other.