Wortschatz Panik

I have been struggling with the best way for me to refresh my German language skills, since I booked my air travel. Today, on my way to work, I went into somewhat of a panic.... I was listening to my favorite morning radio station, Q100's The Bert Show and I realized that most of the simple sentences they were saying I could not translate into German. How am I supposed to survive if I cannot translate a simple sentence?!?!?! I began to breath and really listen to what they said and was able to do a few words at first, then I was able to work on a couple of sentences. If I just take that approach to my standard vocabulary (Wortschatz) and translate my most common words, then my most common phrases, then my not-so-common words and then my not-so-common phrases, I should have a pretty decent Wortschatz in six months (im sechs Monaten)!! Viel Glück zu mir!

Munich Housing...Check! Frankfurt Housing...Check!

Yesterday, I took another step in preparing for my trip. I was finally able to book my housing for my stay in Munich and Frankfurt.
It has been taking awhile for me to have access to my Munich housing because I am staying at a hostel. I had e-mailed them a month or so ago and was told that housing for January 2008 would not be available until November. I was not too happy with having to wait that close to the day to book, but Europeans tend to be a bit more laid back than Americans. Actually, everywhere people tend to be more laid back than the US. So, something last night told me to try to book my lodging on their site.... Low and behold, I could do it!
Then, I was thinking since I am having all of this luck, let me try Salzburg and Frankfurt. Salzburg was a no go...for now. In Frankfurt, I had planned on staying in an actual hotel due to my early departure for the train station then to the airport.