My First: Day in Gießen

Roman managed to pick me out coming off the train without using “one of those embarrassing signs,” as he puts it. I threw my bags in the back seat of his little Korean-made car and we drove around Gießen while he pointed out bits of the city and campus that I would soon become familiar with.

We eventually drove to my Studentenwohnheim (for those not familiar with German: yes, that long thing is one word). I have a single bedroom in a Wohngemeinschaft. Not really sure how to describe it, but I might compare it to a suite-style dorm even though I’ve never actually seen one. There are 6 other single rooms in the place, each coming off of the large common space or a fairly short hallway coming off either side. In the common space is our living room and kitchen that sort of makes a very thick L shape around out entrance way. Roman says our bathroom looks very nice compared to some of the other buildings’. It houses 2 showers, 2 toilet stalls (one each designated for guys and girls), and a urinal in its own stall as well.

Roman reviewed some of the paperwork and errands we would have to accomplish in the days to come. Afterwards, we set out to get me some groceries. Since Roman didn’t even know my building existed before he picked up my keys, he had to ask someone in the stairwell on our way out where the nearest grocery store was. This prompted a response of “Seit ihr neu hier?” (are you new here?), which Roman later got a kick out of. (If I wasn’t new to this area, I would know the nearest grocery store).

We found the Aldi, where I picked up the college student’s bare essentials just to get me started: pasta, bread, butter, cereal, milk, and juice. Then it was back to my new home.

Roman left somewhere around 4:30pm. I called home, unpacked a little, and managed to keep myself busy, alone in my apartment, until 9pm. Then I got ready for bed and slept for the next 16 hours. I went 6 hours from 930p-330a. Woke up, looked at the clock, and then out again from 330-930. Up. Looked at the clock. Out from 930-1130. Up. Clock. Out: 1130a-130p.

My First: Sleeping on a Public Bench

My flight went smoothly. I fell asleep fairly quickly. I had a window seat, and there was nobody in the aisle seat next to me, so I got a little extra leg room as well. Before take-off, I heard a comment from a German woman a few rows back: “This is the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. My knees touch the seat in front of me!” I was happy to have the extra space.

I dunno how long I slept for, but I woke up as they were serving dinner. I ate my mediocre meal and then couldn’t fall back to sleep.

- - - My US Airways experience was much better last time. The food was better, I slept better, …even the people at the check-in desk were friendlier. - - -

So I sprawled out across my two seats and watched the Academy’s choice last year for best foreign film: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) on my iPod. It’s one of several movies I rented a few days before I left. I’d been looking for it at the local video rental store for several months now and I guess they finally got it in. Two hours later, I was still wide awake, so I turned on some music and finally fell asleep.

- - - You’d think after a night of just 3.5 hours of sleep, that it’d be easier to doze off. - - -

After taking off about half an hour late, the plane managed to land more than half an hour early, which meant instead of arriving at 6am local time, I arrived at 5:25am, with a lot of time to kill.

There’d been small misverständnis. Roman, who had been contacting me from Germany prior to my departure, had to student-teach in a town near Gießen from 8:30 – 12:30 on the day of my arrival. So he gave me two choices: either he could meet me at the airport when I got thru customs and then go straight to his teaching gig, or I could hangout somewhere and met him at the Gießen train station at 2:00p. Sitting in a school with my luggage for several hours with nothing to do didn’t seem too exciting. So I opted for the second option, thinking I’m familiar with the trains and the S-Bahns and how to buy tickets, so I’ll stash my luggage in a locker in the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and explore Frankfurt or something. ..plus, in the event that it took me a while to get thru customs or if my plane was late, I wouldn’t want Roman to be late for his job.

It took me a whopping 5 minutes (if that) to get thru the passport line, just 5-7 minutes more to get my luggage at baggage claim, and a whole two seconds to walk past the un-manned post and thru the doors under the “nothing to claim” sign. The longest part of the post-arrival sequence was probably the walk from the plane to the passport line.

Found the S-Bahn I needed. Bought a ticket. Skipped the first one that came; it looked fairly crowded and I wasn’t in a hurry. I knew I was way ahead of schedule by this point. Took the next one and was in the Hauptbahnhof by twenty after six.

I probably circled the train station two and a half times, pulling my two suitcases behind me, before I finally found the luggage lockers. In Munich’s station, you can’t get very far without seeing a sign for lockers. They’re all over. As far as I know, Frankfurt only had them in one spot, right near the main entrance. I managed to fit my two suitcases and my backpack inside one locker. Paid my €4 and went on my way. I grabbed a small breakfast in the station before heading outside. I walked several blocks before realizing it was just after 7am, that hardly anything was open, I didn’t buy a map, I didn’t even know what there is to see in Frankfurt, and I really didn’t feel like exploring the city anyway.

I was tired.

I was back at the Hauptbahnhof by 8am. The semi-open-air structure of the station meant it was pretty cold. It didn’t feel more than 40 degrees (Fahrenheit obviously), so I ducked in and out of the two (heated) book stores 20 minutes at a time for the next hour or two to stay warm. Too tired to stay on my feet, I finally bought a USA today and went inside one of the stations two McDonalds to sit down. I did the Sudoku, saw it was Thursday so the crossword was going to be too hard for me, but I took a glance anyway. Read the rest of the paper, but don’t remember much of it. It must have been a slow news day. The feature article was debating the second amendment and whether or not ordinary citizens really have the right to bear arms. Clinton doesn’t like Obama, and the guy I didn’t vote for on Super Tuesday doesn’t like Clinton either …or any of them, probably. ..Oh, and Yao Ming is out for the season.

Sometime between 1030 and 11, I left McDonalds ready for bed. So I found one. ..or, sort of made one. I found a bench, folded up my newpaper, and put it under the hood of my sweatshirt that I pulled to one side of my head. I slept off and on, 15-20 minutes at a time for the next hour or hour and a half. I woke up cold around noon. I decided if I was ever going to be homeless, I’m migrating south first. Then I went inside Burger King this time and had lunch, where I discovered BK chicken nuggets in Germany taste strangely similar to the way I remember McD’s nuggets being back home. ..although it’s been a long time since I got nuggets at McDs. I usually clog my arteries with sodium-packed protein patties there instead. After lunch, I noticed the train taking me to Gießen by 2p was already at its platform half an hour before it was supposed to leave. So I got my bags from the locker, hopped on the train and sat down.

At 1:22, I watched Frankfurt fade off into the horizon.

My First: Philly Cheese Steak

I landed in Philly at 100p local time. Turned my phone on and already had a text from Gwen saying I wasn’t meeting her, JD and Rob (names you might remember from my Italy blog) at the airport Marriot for drinks but we were instead going to Chickie’s & Pete’s for lunch. ..Fantastic! I was starving. My banana breakfast 6(? ) hours earlier had disappeared. It was an adventure waiting to be picked up by Gwen and JD. They were waiting by arrivals, naturally, but somehow, even though I followed the signs to baggage claim and walked right out the doors from baggage claim, we shortly discovered I wound up coming out at departures. So they looped around the expressway and came to departures this time. There I was, probably the only person waiting to be picked up from departures.

We drove to Chickie’s & Pete’s, no more than 5 minutes from the airport, listening to tunes we heard on one of the 5 MTV channels back in Rome (and getting ever-so-slightly lost in the process). We met Rob at the restaurant. We enjoyed Philly cheese steaks, house specialty crab fries (which sound more unique than they really are - it’s just a seasoning), and beer. We reminisced old memories and hoped for the opportunity to make new ones soon. After a little more than an hour and a half, we had to say good byes once again.

My First: Blog in a While

The highlight of my trip was definitely not waking up at 4:30 am. Finished packing the last things I could remember. Grabbed my CD of a German band out of my car. To my surprise, I found the PIN to my SIM card in the inside cover. So I didn’t have to buy a new German SIM card after all. ….at least not yet. Set out on the road, skies still very dark, at 5:30 am. Pit stop at an ATM and last minute essentials from Wal-Mart, and I was off for real this time at 5:50am.

Passed thru Oshkosh as the sun just began to rise sometime around 6:15. I remember thinking it would be the last time in four and a half months that I would be within a couple of miles of many of my friends …and they were likely all sleeping, without a clue I was passing thru.

Got to the Milwaukee airport sometime around 7:40, said good-bye to my mom, and lugged my bags to the check-in desk. I was told my flight would be delayed a few minutes but it wouldn’t affect my connection at all. …Of course my connection wouldn’t be affected. I had a 3 hour 45 minute layover in Philly. I just hoped to make it there in time for lunch. I made it to the gate where I watched, completely confused, as my flight initially read “on-time” after having been told of a delay. The monitor then went from “on time” to a 30 minute delay, to a 10 minute delay, and back to on-time again. The truth: expect the worst. It was the 30 minute delay. I made a few calls to Philly to let the city know I was arriving later than scheduled.

...Oops

So I intended to finish my blog from Italy. Like... finish Paris, my return to Munich, and my last days in Rome. I got around to all of about 10% of that. I almost finished Paris, but the adventure of the return trip has been left unfinished. ..Oh well. I might get around to it before I forget what happened. Then again, I might not.

Now I'm off to Gießen for 4.5 months. Hopefully I can finish all my remaining requirements there for my German degree.

Where is Gießen?