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Well, today is the day! This all still seems so unreal. Reality has been hitting me, but I don't think my mind is fully wrapped around what is going on exactly. It's almost 5:30pm as I write this, and the plane leaves around 7pm. My parentals dropped me off at the airport around 4pm. By the way, my check-in luggage weighed in at 21.6 kg aka 47.619829 lbs! Definite accomplishment! :P
The tears that I shed today were tears of sadness, nervousness, and fear. When I return to the USA, I'm sure there will be tears of joy when I get to see my families in person! As I said earlier, I am still in a state of disbelief--it'll be interesting to see what it will be like if/when the belief fully kicks in! In any case, I plan to live it up as much as possible while I am abroad. :)
After I got through security, I went to CheeburgerCheeburger and got some chicken tenders & water for dinner. Great last meal in the USA, right? :P While I ate, I sat by the window, and in my view was the Lufthansa plane that I will be on very soon! Now I'm waiting by the gate, charging my cell phone and camera battery. I still don't know what my phone/internet situation will be like over there, but I hope to figure that out (relatively) soon after I arrive in Germany.
O: GISDGALIG should've included overhead weightlifts. The overhead compartment is higher on this plane, so it took a while to get my backpack up there haha. I'm finally settled in on the plane. Each seat has a monitor!...The problem was that most of it was in a language that I didn't understand. This is how I made some friends on the plane. :) We were able to figure out how to change the language setting after taking off, which was around 7:25pm.
I am seated in an aisle seat, and the person I'm next to is really nice. :) She's from Germany, but lived for a while in a US city about 20-25 minutes away from when I live. The flight is good so far, aside from some turbulance. I watched an episode of "Modern Family" (Family Portrait) and am now watching Tower Heist...someone a couple rows ahead of me is watching one of the Twilight movies, but as I always say: hey, whatever floats your boat!
The screen says we're flying over Canada at the moment - kind of near Quebec. There are 6 hours & 17 minutes to go, we're at an altitude of 37,000 ft, and there are ~3400 miles to our destination!
I had dinner on the plane: pasta (rotini with tomato sauce, vegetables, parmesean cheese), caesar salad, bread/butter, colby cheese, tiramisu, water, Reisling (which happened to be from the same place in Germany that my new friend's husband is from), & tea.
We're at a ground speed of 570mph, at an altitude of 38,000 ft, and with 5 hours & 5 minutes left!
I just finished the movie, and we are crossing the Atlantic Ocean! It's currently 4:09am in Germany. I'm listening to the Wicked soundtrack ("Defying Gravity" & "For Good"). Then I will listen to The Lion King soundtrack & get some sleep.
I slept on/off for about 2 hours, and now, there is ~959 miles to go! We're almost flying over Dublin, and will be in Frankfurt in about 2 hours. I was also listening to classical music, including Maurizio Pollini, Staatskapelle Dresden - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (I chose this because I thought Brahms would be fitting for going to Germany and all lol).
There's a little over an hour left, and we are flying over England now. I'm watching Glee (Hairography) & having breakfast (bread with strawberry jam & butter, monterey jack cheese, fruit (1 half of a strawberry,--yes, you read that correctly lol--pineapple, mango), Nature Valley Oats n' Honey granola bar, apple juice).
39 minutes left!--just passed Amsterdam and have ~220 miles to go.
~22 minutes! It is currently 10 degrees C in Frankfurt, and we have begun our descent. (Btw, on Glee, they're singing "True Colors" <-awesome song!)
"Flight attendants prepare for landing."--when I heard this, I thought of Phoebe and the phalange haha.
I looked out the window a while ago & got a glimpse of the ground. :)
This is really happening! :)
...And touchdown! Toto, we're not in the USA anymore. It's 9:10am here in Germany, which is 6 hours ahead of the USA.
(writing around 11am): After landing, we had to take a bus to the airport building. I got there, went through customs, and went to baggage claim. I saw my plane friend again, asked for her name & introduced myself. We parted ways, and I got my luggage and headed for the exit.
I saw a "Welcome to Frankfurt" station/kiosk and stopped to talk to the guy that worked there. He told me how to get to the hostel, about transporation options, museums, etc.
I used euro (which still reminds me of Monolopy money!) for the first time & got a day pass for transportation. Day passes are good for all train, bus, & underground transporation in Frankfurt. I waited for the train, got on, and then wasn't sure about how many stops there were before the main station, which was my stop. On the way there, I looked out the window, and it was awesome--the architecture & the lake/river/source of water. It finally started to sink in a little, but as we go to the main station, I realized that it kind of feels like I'm in New York...
The Welcome to Frankfurt guy told me to go to the south exit after I got off the train...all the signs say "exit"...definitely not specified. So I went into a small convenience store that mainly sold magazines & tried asking where the south exit is...the lady at the counter did not understand me. Language barrier #1 has been encountered. Improvising and thinking of another way to ask, I drew out a compass with N, E, S, W and pointed at the S. It took her a while to understand, but she eventually got it. Also, I thanked her in German as I left: "Danke!"
I went out the way she said, and the Welcome to Frankfurt guy said that the bus would be right there. I went to the closest bus stop, but it was the wrong one. I went back to the station and went to Tourist Information to find out where the bus stop was. The lady directed me & told me to take a train different from the one that I was originally directed to by someone that works at the hostel. I decided to listen to the hostel worker. While I waited for the bus, I checked my phone & had messages from 2 friends. It was nice to see them! There were many stops along the way & again, I was nervous that I'd miss it. I noticed that one of the stops that we passed said something that looked like Frankensteiner Platz (my stop), but I wasn't sure if that was it, so I asked the bus driver how many more stops there were until FP...he said that was it. Luckily, we were at a red light or stop sign, so he pointed me in the right direction & let me off.
I walked a couple meters (so European, right? lol) & finally found the youth hostel! I checked to make sure I was at the right place & went in. I arrived around 11am, but check-in isn't until 1pm. They let me put my stuff in the luggage room, so that was nice after lugging all of that around. Especially after I brought that up the stairs from the station, I thought to myself, how will I bring 2 luggages back??--plus my carry on backpack & purse. Shipping things to the USA seems like a really good option right now! When I got to the hostel, I texted my brother & mom to let them know I'm here--I'm not sure where a phone is at the moment.
Random observations/statements:
1) It's a gorgeous day here! The sun is shining and it's not too hot/cold.
2) It really doesn't feel like I'm in Germany--aside from people speaking German.
3) They have a lot of Smart cars here, and I haven't noticed/found a Ford yet.
4) I feel like this time change is going to catch up with me really quick...good thing my sleep schedule is basically non-existent in the first place anyway. I'm going to fight the urge to take a nap once I check-in.
5) I wish I could've taken more pics at the airport/train station, but I was more concerned with finding my way to the hostel.
1) It's a gorgeous day here! The sun is shining and it's not too hot/cold.
2) It really doesn't feel like I'm in Germany--aside from people speaking German.
3) They have a lot of Smart cars here, and I haven't noticed/found a Ford yet.
4) I feel like this time change is going to catch up with me really quick...good thing my sleep schedule is basically non-existent in the first place anyway. I'm going to fight the urge to take a nap once I check-in.
5) I wish I could've taken more pics at the airport/train station, but I was more concerned with finding my way to the hostel.
"Turn Me On" by David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj <- When I was in the USA, I would sometimes change the station if this song played. I could faintly hear it playing at the hostel (as I'm waiting to check-in) & it was actually nice to hear something familiar...& in English!
It's now about 2:15pm. I checked in at 1pm and paid for the 2 nights I'll be here (breakfast is included & I have to check out before 9:30am on Friday), and it turns out I am in a 4 bed room...and I'm not too sure who else will be here. One person just came & we said hi as I was brushing my teeth...awkward. lol.
Before she came, I got settled in the room and found out my shampoo exploded in my quart size bag. Things were okay, just lost some bandaids. After getting that dealt with, I took a shower & now I'm nice and squeaky clean...& free from airplane germs. :P Now I'm getting ready to venture out & find some food.
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| view outside the window |
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| (I didn't realize there were assigned beds :P, so I actually ended up being on the top bunk.) |
I met my new roommate after showing her how to use the key card. :) After she asked me where I got my map from, I asked her if she was doing anything, and if not, then she was welcome to join me to get food. We went to the front desk & asked for directions to Fressgass, which according to the map is a street with many eateries. She is from Romania and this is her first time in Frankfurt, as well. She's an archaeology PhD student and is in town for an archaeology conference.
Our walk was quite nice with summer-like weather. We ended up choosing a restaurant called Central Park Corner. I had an Italian club type sandwich with seltzer water...even though I asked for still. In any case, it was good. It was nice listening to one of the street performers during lunch--he played a flute and violin.
After we paid, we walked back the way we came, and decided to just look around if either of us wanted to go in a store. I noticed quite a bit of familiar stores/restaurants: H & M, Foot Locker, Timberland, Fossil, Crabtree & Evelyn, Starbucks, McDonalds. We went to the Vodafone store & a store that was kind of like Kohl's or Macy's.
On our way back, we checked out the place where she has to meet for her conference. This led us to the old part of Frankfurt, which was pretty cool! Again, there were more cool-looking buildings. After getting disoriented a little bit (a "my bad" moment for me), we found where she's supposed to meet and realized that coaches = buses...not horse & buggy carriages.
On our way back, we checked out the place where she has to meet for her conference. This led us to the old part of Frankfurt, which was pretty cool! Again, there were more cool-looking buildings. After getting disoriented a little bit (a "my bad" moment for me), we found where she's supposed to meet and realized that coaches = buses...not horse & buggy carriages.
We went inside a Protestant church, which was pretty small. We also saw Roman ruins near another church. Then we passed by a museum of modern art and decided to head back to the hostel. We bought some water--the water in the room is drinkable, but not recommended.
After we got back to our room, I gave in and took an almost 2 hour nap. Her friend is coming at 8:30pm. She has his key, so we will wait for him to come before going out to get dinner. In the meantime, I used the pay phone to call a family friend that I will be staying with this weekend.
Her friend made it to the hostel, so then she & I went out to find somewhere to eat. On the map, it said that there was a cider pub district nearby, so we aimed to check it out. We had dinner at Burger Meister (just before entering the district) and I ordered an Otto Deluxe. It's kind of difficult to order food when the menu is in German, so I definitely just chose the first thing on the menu. I typically don't eat burgers in the US, but the Otto Deluxe turned out to be pretty decent. Her friend and his hostel roommate came to meet with us there. Her friend is also from Romania, and his friend is 1/2 American (his mom is from Manhattan, NY) and 1/2 German (from Cologne). After eating, we walked around the district. We went back to the hostel since the 2 friends have to get up early & I'm jetlagged. Overall, it was a pretty good first day in Germany!
I find it comforting/funny/interesting that a lot of places play American music--I heard Black Eyed Peas at least twice tonight. :) There were also a few American restaurants that I saw in the district--Hooters and Longhorn. So far, the language barrier hasn't been too much of a problem.
I'm currently listening to my recordings of my church choir--definitely something else that is comforting! I know that my family & friends are thinking about me & love me. I definitely miss them! Luckily, homesickness hasn't really hit since I was at the airport. The reminders of America make it seem like I'm not that far away. It still feels like I'm in New York, especially since Frankfurt has skyscrapers. I like how things are in walking distance, and I wish I hadn't spent the 8 euro on an all day bus pass. Oh well, I wanted to stay on the safe side & I didn't know I'd have a pretty cool roommate!
It's still kind of weird getting over the fact that it is ~11:45pm here and it is only ~5:45pm back home. I think I am acclimating well though! Here's to seeing what adventures await tomorrow! Guten Nacht & Auf Weidersehen!
Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR
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