DAY 1!!!! (We made it!)

Hello everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that this is my first blog post - ever. Moreso, the fact that we made it to Germany, luggage and all. However, the flight was very hard for me, since there was a baby crying a lot, the headphones to the movie didn't work for my seat in particular, and the attendants were constantly coming by with snacks and beverages (not that that's much of a downer...). All in all, I got a little over 2 hours of sleep on the flight, with maybe an extra hour from a nap earlier on as well.
I was very nervous to meet my host family because, well, I have a boy that's hosting me. Lucky for me, he has a sister a year older and all of them are very nice. Well, except the rabbit. I was excited because I have a bunny too, so I began petting it. That' when it bit me. What a warm welcome! But the family, like the flight attendants, also constantly offer snacks and drinks for me, which I feel a little weird declining...
My family decided to take me to downtown Stutgart today, which was a very interesting experience. For one, Ive concluded something about Germans - time is money. (Well, either that, or else itäs just that they like to go REALLY fast). The fastest time I clocked was about 150 km per second, and Germany has very narrow, winding roads. Even once we got downtown (which took maybe a little over an hour) they were booking it. It was a very long day, and I was dozing off on the way there. We first stopped at a TV tower, which broadcasts to people's homes. It was extremely high, but I got some beautiful pictures of the scenery Germany has to offer. Unfortunately, it was foggy =[. But then we went downtown, and I saw tons of shops. But since it was Sunday, all of them were closed. There were some very beautiful fountains and such though, and a pond-like area that had a mama duck with her precious 10 little ducklings (I refrained from taking a picture =/. The adorable moment of the day though was seeing two little girls driving a Barbie mustang convertible around on the cobblestone walkway. We then stopped at a cafe and got some quick drinks. Then a three man band showed up: a guitar, clarinet and accordian, and they began performing. After a while, one actually began walking around with his hat tipped, basically forcing people to give them money. After we finished, we headed back home. (I slept the whole way, and then took another hour-long nap after arriving back at home).
The evening plans consisted of meeting up with another boy who is hosting my friend, Marc, and we went to a public viewing to see the World Cup tornament. I was so happy I got to see a familiar American face, and we chatted the whole way there.
The location was a really weird barn, and the game was being projected up front. Every person was covered in black, red and yellow, with fog horns, drums and whatever else could make noise. It was the loudest thing ever, yet Marc and I were fighting sleep essentially the whole time. (Germany won by the way! 4-0 against Ausralia). Yannick, the boy hosting me, wanted me to stick my hand out and put something on it. I literally thought it was a lighter and that he was going to burn my hand- oops. It was actully just a triple crayon type of thing with the German flag colors. That made me feel really stupid, and I accidentaly go some onmy pants now.
There were TONS of smokers, which really annoyed me, especially since most of them were our age and we were surrounded. I really hope I don't wind up with lung cancer 20 years from now due to this night. But I'm very tired, and I need to shower because my hair smells of smoke. I will definitely be posting pictures, but not tonight.

Good night!
Callie Sorce