Gearing Up

Where it all began, Tübingen Summer 2004

I have some big things to get ready for, namely my imminent 3.5 week trip back to the States and my new job. But all my current energy and excitement is focused on what begins tonight: the long-awaited, much-anticipated, any-other-appropriate-cliche, PJS REUNION 2012!!

What is PJS, you ask? PJS stands for Priscilla, Jessica, and Sophia, or to us, Pris, Jess, and Soph. The three of us met back in summer of 2004 in an intensive language program in Tübingen, Germany. We were placed in the same level German class and were almost instantly joined at the hip(s). Quite the threesome we were that month, and we've stayed in impressively close contact over the years, visiting each other here and there in various cities and countries. 

Reunion 2006 in Lausanne, Switzerland

If you're an avid reader of my blog, as I'm sure you all are, you read about Priscilla back when she visited me in November and when I visited her in December in Düsseldorf, where she currently resides . She's a fellow American, but is also always all over the world. I spent 6 weeks with her in Buenos Aires in 2009 when she was living there and we've also met up over the years and traveled together in DC, New York, Boston, Rome, Germany, Switzerland, and probably some other places I am forgetting.

Pris visits UMD, 2005

Pris and I in Buenos Aires, 2009

Jessica is the Swiss leg of this operation. She hails from the French-speaking city of Lausanne, but has an Italian mother and German-Swiss father, so that gives you an idea of how many languages she speaks. She and I traveled together in 2006 to Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, and Holland, and in 2008 to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest, and again, other places I am probably forgetting.

Jess and I in Amsterdam, 2006

Jess visits DC, 2010

Though we've all seen each other here and there throughout the years, we've only managed to get the 3 of us together twice since that splendid summer of '04. The first was back in 2006 when I was studying abroad in Germany and Priscilla came over for Spring Break. The three of us met at Jess's in Switzerland and went skiing together. The second time was summer of 2007 after I graduated college and right before heading to France, when Jess came over to the US and we did a LA, NYC, DC trip for a few weeks.

Reunion 2007 in LA

Now for the first time ever, we all reside on the same continent, and this weekend will be our attempt at a proper 5 year catch-up. Los geht's, mädels!