The dog days of summer

And greetings once again from the basement of the Mathematical Institute at the University of Cologne.  I hope this e-mail reaches you all in good health, good spirits and in a time that is not as hectic as the chaos during the rest of the year.

Since my last entry, I have crossed the little pond known as the Atlantic twice, on a 9 day trip to South Carolina to see my LITTLE brother Benedict's graduation and a house full of relatives, family and friends.

It was a great change of scenery for a few days and nice to see freinds and family after four months of separation.

The past few weeks have hardly seemed like "real" school at all here with the plethora of breaks and German holidays. Two weeks ago, we had the entire week off for Pfingsten, known in English as Pentacost, as the Catholic religion still dominates many aspects of life here.

This past week we had a Thurday free for Fron Leichnam, which has something in the church to do with the body of Christ.  In my first translation, the holidy became known as the "Happy Cadaver" and the name has stuck with me.

Our family has finally found a nice house in Atlanta and the planned move date is set for middle August, just before my return to the country. My father has received an awesome post at Georgia Tech's brand new research center for biology and materials sciences and will begin work there next semester.

Classes here in Germany are going well, but are seeming just a fraction of all that goes on here.  For instance, Fussball fever has struck Europe as the European Cahmpionships are currently being played in Portugal.

Germany tied their first game against Holland and also play against Latvia and The Czech Republic later in this first round. Fingers crossed!

In other news, a bomb exploded in Cologne in Little Istanbul about a week and a hlaf ago, but the international press made it out to be much more than it really was: Authorities think now that someone was mad at a Turkish barber in front of whose shop the bomb went off and devised this nail bomb as a result.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm usually not that upset over one bad haircut.

Well, time to head to the Mensa (Student Cafeteria) and grab lunch with some friends.