Joe here, writing to you on the one year anniversary of my leaving Germany to come back to the U.S.  What a crazy year!  With four days left before Amber returns home (!!), I found myself needing to tell a quick story.

Our dear friend Terra asked me a few weeks ago if she and some friends could stay here at the house in Chicago.  Her friends were a guy she meet at camp who happens to be from (of course!) Germany, and his family.  

Collin is from Chemnitz, which is where Karen (featured in a few posts with her boyfriend Markus) is from.  Markus went to university in Chemnitz as well.  So while Amber hangs out with these folks and says goodbye to them, I welcome a whole Chemnitz family into the community here.

Collin’s family was meeting him in Chicago and seeing the city.  They brought copious amounts of Milka.  This pleased me.  

They ran poor Terra ragged, staying out super late and, with typical German gusto, trying to see just about everything.

Their eagerness did not end in Chicago, though.  They left Saturday afternoon and drove a small rental car to the Indiana Dunes, and then to Cleveland to deposit Terra on her parents’ doorstep.  They then plan to head east to Niagara Falls.  

Okay, that’s reasonable.  

Next stop: New York City.  My hometown!  A must-see!

From New York, they’re heading to Philadelphia and D.C.  Wow, an ambitious trip, but they might as well see as much as possible while –

Wait, there’s more!

From D.C. they head to Atlanta!  (11+ hours), and then from Atlanta they head to…

Miami?  

Wow.  That’s just insane.  Atlanta and Miami are another 11-ish hours apart.  

According to Google Maps, their total car time for this trip is over 43 hours.  

I know Germans love to drive.

But I also know that Germans — well, Europeans — don’t get how large the U.S. really is.   And that’s because in 43 hours, you can drive from Lisbon to Krakow and then down to Milan, and still have time for a few cappuccinos.  


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