I MADE IT

The trip and day 1
On Monday I left to go to the airport for round two with Mom. We got there with plenty of time to spare, by this point she was a pro at navigating through Logan. We ate at legal seafood again and had yummy crab cakes along with shrimp and avocado quesadillas. Then I said bye for the second time and proceeded through security. I guess there’s something about me that screams terrorist though because for the second day in a row I got stopped my security and this time they checked my backpack for some sort of toxic chemicals or something. Just call me Achmed.

On my first flight, from Boston to Chicago, I had a window seat in a row of 3 but there was no one sitting in the middle seat which was nice. To pass the time on the plane I discovered a new and appropriately timed hobby, photography. I thought everything was so scenic that I just kept taking pictures amounting to a grand total of 102 photos, before I left Chicago.

I arrived in Chicago on time and spent my 3 hour layover chatting with friends and family, eating and naturally on facebook. They started boarding my flight a bit early and it went by very quickly, surprisingly. The plane was a bit bigger than the one I took to Chicago but it also had only as many people or even less. I waited and waited for someone to come and sit down next to me but that never happened and I spent the flight with a whole row to myself which was awesome. The stewards were very nice and the meals were mediocre but I ate them anyways because I didn’t know when the next time I would be able to eat would be. I watched about 5 minutes of “Where the Wild Things Are” but found it disappointing compared with the book so I slept the remainder of the flight.

As we landed in Frankfurt I felt like I was back in high school at the starting line of the 200m waiting for the gun to go off, very nervous, excited and couldn’t wait to collapse at the finish line. I got off the plane and the race began. I headed straight to customs, called home to say that I had landed safely, and waited in line for what seemed to be forever. I met a girl a year younger than me who was very nice and studying abroad at a different university. After I made it through customs I was off to find my bags, key word being find since I had absolutely no clue if they had even made it to Frankfurt. As I walked by the baggage counter I heard someone say “Whitney Gauger?” I turned around and they told me “your bags are over there, they arrived yesterday.” I was somewhat relieved but somewhat disappointed since I was kind of hoping that they would lose my luggage and I wouldn’t have to carry around approximately 90 pounds of stuff.

It turns out that my luggage had gotten a bit scratched in the process so one of the women from the airport had to explain to me the procedure of how to report damaged luggage. As I waited for the woman to write down a number that I needed to call if I chose to report the claim, I chatted with a woman from states who was there to see her daughter, stationed in Germany, and her young granddaughter. As we chatted her luggage came out very damaged and man was she unhappy, understandably so. I was impressed at how quickly she pulled herself together when she took out an envelope and said she wanted to show me something. Inside was a national military magazine and on the cover was a candid shot of the woman’s daughter kissing her granddaughter in full uniform. Naturally this made me think of Siobhan, Eric, and Declan. I piled my bags on a cart and went to meet up with the other exchange student to find the train station. We walked and walked with our heavy bags only to realize we past the station because it was on the other side of the street.

I unloaded my cart and went up to the escalator to buy a ticket for the train. After I got my tickets I pulled my bags to the proper platform and waited for my train to arrive. When it got there the train personnel assisted me with my bags into the train and then we traveled for about 20 minutes to Mannheim where they helped me unload my bags and I went to the platform for my next train to Heidelberg. It was a short ride on the second train to Heidelberg. I got off the train with all my bags in tow and went to go up the escalator. The only issue was that the up escalator was broken so I would have to carry up my bags. As I came to this realization a young Greek man with a couple of suitcases asked me if I was also lost and an exchange student. Naturally I was and he was too so he helped me with my bags up the stairs and then we split a cab to “Universitätsplatz.” Then we walked about 10 minutes with our bags to the building where we had to check in.

We found the registration desk and we were given our keys, room assignments, insurance, and cell phones. We paid our deposits and first month’s rent and were told which bus to take to get to our apartments. My new Greek friend, I have no clue how to spell his actual name, and I took a breather and I ate a Danish and some water that I had stored up on when I was in Chicago. Then we found the bus stop and parted ways. It was about a 10 minute bus ride to my stop “Bunsengymnasium”, a school named after the inventor of the Bunsen burner. I got off and began to walk to where I thought my dorm was. On the way I ran into Kate, the other student from UMass. It turns out that we live in the same building and she lives in the suite directly under mine. She helped me with my bags to my room, which I quickly scoped out and checked to see if my sheets fit, which to my surprise fit perfectly, and then left with Kate to go shopping.

First we stopped into an internet café to email our parents and briefly let them know how our trip was going and naturally we both had to check our facebooks. Then we bought some groceries for breakfast the next few days and finally stopped into “Woolworth” which we have since discovered has EVERYTHING and is pretty cheap. At this point we were both exhausted from the days activity and headed back to our dorm. Before bed I called my parents and quickly unpacked before collapsing in my bed for the night.

Day 2
On WednesdayI had to wake up at 8am (2am in Boston) to get ready for the day’s events. Not only was it early but I needed to figure everything out. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to use my adaptor to dry my hair and since I didn’t bring a straigtener with me and had bought bad travel shampoo had a bad hair day. Since Kate didn’t have a blow-dryer yet I went downstairs to loan her mine and it was a good thing I did because her alarm never went off and she was still asleep.

After we finished getting ready we went to our language class placement test talking in German the whole way there to warm up. After we had a break and they served refreshment which was a nice treat. Then we had an information session about how we needed to finish our enrollment in the university. After all of this Kate and I were hungry so we headed to the Mensa (aka Cafeteria). We had Schnitzel mit pommes (basically a huge chicken finger with french-fries), which was really good. Then we went on a small adventure trying to pay our student fees which required us to visit several different offices in several different buildings located downtown. Next we went back to Woolworth and I bought some school supplies along with a straightener and a comforter that converts into a pillow, when I say this place has everything I’m not kidding. After that we stopped by the grocery store closest to our house and bought more food then we were homeward bound.

That night we had sandwiches for dinner together and chatted for hours. Kate told me some really funny stories about the last time she was in Germany. My favorite story is about when she was on a school trip when she stayed in what she describes as a hippy hostel. Apparently in her room she had a bird man painted on the walls along with a birdcage on the ceiling as a light fixture. Her friends who were staying in a different room had a lock that didn’t work very well so they awoke to a drunk homeless man curled up on the bottom of the bed and scared him away with their screaming.

Day 3
On Thursday we had to wake up even earlier, 7am, to get to our language course across town. We had to take two busses to get there and in my groggy morning state I forgot to eat breakfast. I was really bummed about this because I have class until 1 in the afternoon. I am in what they consider an intermediate class but it’s pretty much the same as an advanced German class at UMass. I have 2 female teachers which are really nice and I have 10 other students in my class of varying nationalities. At 10:30 we have a break during which time they serve a small breakfast which I was psyched about! They have juice and coffee and tea as well as donuts, pastries, and pretzels.

After class Kate and I walked across town to finalize our registration in the university and get lunch. While we were finishing our registration we received flyers describing a bunch of events held for exchange students as well as German students. After this we bought our semester bus tickets and headed home to do some homework and nap. Kate and I met up to have a bite to eat and decided to go on the “kneipentour.” For you non-german speakers this is a pub crawl.

The kneipentour was a ton of fun we met a lot of international and german students, including my new german crush he he. At the second bar we went to every Thursday night is ladies night so you get free champagne if you’re a girl. I think this may become a weekly tradition for Kate and me.

Day 4
On Friday we had class bright and early again. After class I went downtown to browse all the shops and get a bit of exercise then went back home. I finished unpacking everything in my room so it wasn’t so chaotic and then finally met my suitemate.

I had a late lunch with my suitemate and her 2 sisters which was delicious! It consisted of homemade flat bread, a seasoned thinly sliced beef, and a yogurt sauce similar to a yogurt dill sauce. They were all very nice and were patient with my german, which I really appreciated.

Later on I went out with Kate and her boyfriend Matt, who is studying at a different university in Germany, to get dönner. We ended up eating at a restaurant that I had visited last time I was in Heidelberg. Then we went to the Brass Monkey for drinks. While we were waiting for the bus to bring us back home we stopped into a starbucks. I got a piece of lemon cake which was delicious.

Day 5
By the time Saturday rolled around I needed a break! It was a good day to curl up under the covers because unlike all the previous mild days it snowed today.Not much accumulated because as they say “big snow little snow, little snow big snow” I slept in till noon then watched Gilmore Girls, I forgot I had the dvd in my computer still. Then I accidentally deleted all my music off of my ipod and since I still didn’t have internet I couldn’t put any new music back on. I had a nice talk with my mom and read a new book. In the middle of all of this I got in a bit of studying. It was a well deserved very relaxing day.