Summer Update

This time next week I will be in France with my family. I have stayed busy planning our European excursion from plane and train tickets to car rental to hotel reservations. I can't wait to get over there, but I'm not looking forward to the flight. Usually I love flying but I'm on a separate flight from my parents, and the only seat left for me to have was in the middle of the plane. I'm flying Lufthansa, and my parents are on Delta. To give you an idea, the row of seats looks like this: XXX XOXXX XXX, where I am the "O" stuck in the middle. I'm hoping somehow I can finagle my way to an aisle seat. I know I'm going to get stuck next to a crying baby or a 400 lbs. man. As long as I have my iPod, I'll be OK. On the way home, I have an aisle seat, so that will be much nicer. Anyway, I need to let my PC placement officer know that I will be out of the country for 16 days in case they try to contact me during this time. Other than planning this trip, the rest of my time has gone into my summer job. I went back to the restaurant I waited tables at last summer, and they gave me my job back, so that's been convenient for the time being. It's not the best job I could have but I'm just happy to have an income again. I hate watching my bank account continue to drop. When my parents return home from France, and my brother and I continue on to Madrid, I will have to pay for eveything on my own in Spain, so I've been saving some money for that leg of the trip as well. I figure I could get by on less than $300, but I may stretch the budget to $400 if I need to. I have plenty of money in my account, so I'm worried about running out. But the restaurant has been slower than usual, perhaps because of summer. I usually go in about 5PM and work till 10PM or so, so at least it gives me my days free to relax, run errands, or go to the gym. I just wish they wouldn't give me so many hours. It's not like I really need the money, heading to Africa and all. I think maybe when I get back from this trip, I'll ask them for less hours. It's definitely not a job I could see doing in the long-term, but they've always been nice to me. I don't really get a chance to use my skills or brainpower to its best advantage working as a waiter either. Oh well, hopefully I'll know soon enough when I will be able to switch jobs to something a bit more adventurous. Until next time.