Optiant sent me on my first international trip since I've been employed with them (April 2003).  I had to teach a training class in  Frankfurt , Germany for three days.   Of course I wasn't going to go there just for work, then turn around and come back to Boston without having any fun, right?!  I extended the trip to include the weekend before work along with the weekend after work so I could visit a few friends in Europe. I started off by flying into Paris to visit Melissa (Becky's friend at GE, on rotation in Paris - too bad Becky's rotation was over and she already moved back to Milwaukee) and Marianne (one of my new friends I met in Boston happened to be back in Paris visiting her family for the week), then took a train to Frankfurt Germany to work for 3 days, and finally, I flew from Frankfurt to Berlin to visit Philip Oevermann for Labor Day weekend.  Philip was an exchange student at Beck's house several years ago.  We've kept in touch over the years; so this was the first time I got to see him in over 10 years!  He and his girlfriend, Sarah, showed me all around Berlin - wow, a lot sure has changed in Berlin over the past 10 years - not Philip though, he's still the same guy - we got along GREAT!