before miriam came, nina, maren and betti stopped by to wish me luck and gave me an »adventskalender« from all the girls. that's a german traditional thing for the christmas-season. the original ones have 24 little doors with chocolate behind each door so from december first until christmas eve you get to open one door every day. and then there are many different ways to make one yourself. like last year i took a decoration chain and attached 24 small packages with sweets or other little things for chris. and on each package i put a little wooden star with a number on it. then i hung that chain up in the hallway and chris got to open one every day ... now they put 24 little packages into a shoebox. that way i can take the last 9 packages to the states when i go and open one every day there ... yesterday i had little chocolate bars and today i got three silver star-shaped candles. i totally have the greatest friends in the world and i love them!!!

okay now, i will get back and go over my notes again. anne will be here around 4 and we're gonna pick up miriam to go for a walk (it's actually kinda nice out today) and have a coffee some place. and maybe anne and i will go to the »weihnachtsmarkt« for a little while to have a gluehwein after that. then i hope i can sleep okay tonight and write an okay exam tomorrow ...

thanx for crossing your fingers, everybody ... ;o)