Sunday, February 28, 2016

Finally made it!

23 hours and 40 minutes, 3 plane rides, 4 airports, and a 30 minute car ride later, I made it to my apartment in Germany. For having never been on a plane before, 3 plane rides in one day was quite a deal! The first one from Springfield, MO to Atlanta, GA wasn't bad. It was only about and hour and a half. The next one though, from Atlanta to Paris, France, now that one sucked. It was just shy of 8 HOURS. Can you imagine never riding an airplane to being stuck on one for 8 hours? Plus sitting next to a little girl that has no sense of personal space. Yeah, she was cute with her pigtails and French speech, but I wish I could have slept through the whole plane ride halfway laying on some stranger's lap (yes, her pillow was basically on my leg and took up half of my seat).... but being awake the whole time meant I got to watch 3 movies and a couple TV shows on the fancy touch screens the plane had on the backs of the seats, so I guess that's cool.

After my arrival in Paris, I learned that people weren't lying when they said Paris was kind of gross. The bathroom there was disgusting. I would compare it to the bathrooms they have at most parks. It was gross. And their water smelled bad. And the lady that I asked for help was rude. Thank goodness for the kind German guy that spoke good English or I might have missed my flight. The plane ride from Paris to Bremen was about and hour and a half too, so it was like from Springfield to Atlanta, just not as nice, and the plane was smaller.

Now I am sitting in my apartment in the downstairs of a very kind lady's apartment. Her name is Anna and she is retired from working for the city of Bremen being an architect for over 20 years. God definitely answered lots of prayers in providing me with such a nice lady to stay with. She picked me up at the airport, drove me home, helped me get settled, made me tea, took me grocery shopping, AND bought me dinner! (I felt so weird eating at an Italian restaurant in Germany, but it was really good!)

Orientation week starts tomorrow, so hopefully I will meet some other adventurous foreign exchange students who will go adventure with me! I am not so keen on the going out by myself just yet, not for the reasons I should be afraid to be alone, like being kidnapped, raped, etc. but because I am afraid to get lost. (I am sure my mom would love to hear that! Haha!)

The first two are my view from my seat on my flight from Springfield to Atlanta.

 The last two are my view from my seat on my flight from Paris to Bremen, Germany (the last picture sucks because there was ice on my window obstructing my view as well as the sun shining in.)

I'll post pictures of my apartment later this week when I have everything unpacked, it's kind of a mess right now...