Stan the opera singer

I was in a rainy Leipzig today and had lunch at Starbucks. With Stan, an opera singer from St Louis. Kristen, the waitress also joined in and had coffee with us. Very nice people, we talked about Obama, the states, travelling and working in Germany.

Stan had been living in Leipzig for 8 years and was travelling all over Europe singing. Kristen had been working as an au pair in NYC for 1,5 years and just got back two months ago.

We talked about how hard it is to get in to the states and I told them about my first trip there.

I was 16 and had never been in usa, I was going to Missouri for 3 months and had never met the people I was going to stay with. I flew in to Chicago, went to immigrations and got asked questions for what seemed like a couple of hours. The woman couldnt belive that I was going alone at that young age and kept asking if my parents knew that I was there, she asked how well I knew the people I was staying with and I lied and said I had known them for years, they were good friends to my family...She finally let me through but only after they had opened and looked in all my bags.

The whole thing was very scary but it happens a lot, I know several people that has been interwied for hours, and some has even been sent back to their home country.

Anyways, my lunch with Stan and Kristen was nice and it was fun to hear their stories.

Now Im at a hotel outside Berlin... Stan told me it was hard to drive in Berlin.. he was very right.. not easy at all. I think tomorrow morning I will take the S Bahn in to the center, Its too far to walk and I still have to fix the flat tire on my bike...