This is my map of all the places my friend, Scott (fellow American exchange student), and I explored while in the Bavarian city of Munich. As you can see in the south-eastern corner, we lived largely on apples and butter cookies (delicious things!). We stayed at the Youth Hostel in Munich for about a week, I think, and enjoyed a good bit of bantering in half English, half German (we called it “Denglish”). (Scott, if you happen to see this, I’d love to hear from you!)

      Scott and I hitch-hiked from northern Germany (West Germany at the time) to Munich, and I recall many such hitch-hiking excursions around West Germany with Scott and another American exchange student, Thomas (who visited me at the Franklin House at Halloween about a year later). Thomas and I hitch-hiked down to Italy on a whim, and learned to speak Italian our way. I still remember some: “Dove el bano?” “Dove el trano?”, “Cuanto questa costen?”, and of course, “Buen Giorno.” Whenever we were unsure of what to say, we simply said “Grazie, grazie!” or “Bravo!”

     (Thomas, if you happen to see this, I’d love to hear from you, too!)