Next stop: GERMANY!Sometimes I laugh because I am always going to some new city, new COUNTRY every weekend and I wonder how the heck I am going to be able to go back to the USA and be satisfied with staying in Salida, Denver, or Colorado for any long amount of time!
The week after my mom left, I spent a few days in Rome doing school (ha) and then packed up to head off to Germany to visit my frie
nd Joel Puls. Joel was an exchange student while we were in high school and he lived with my family's good friends, the Dobsons (they are like a second family to me).
For starters....I paid for a shuttle to the airport that picks you up right at your
flat and takes you to the airport. Sounds great, right? Well I got picked up and then we had to pick up other people (it's a shared shuttle). We went to the first stop and the people that were supposed to be picked up weren't at the hotel so we had to wait. We waited for about 25 minutes before they finally
showed up. That puts the time at about...5:30 (my flight was at 7:45). Luckily the driver arranged it for some other driver to pick up the other customers since we had to wait so long for the one couple. Well we head towards Ciampino airport (the out of the way, small, low cost airport where Ryanair, WizzAir, and all the low cost airlines fly in/out of). We had to try like 4 different routes to get to the airport because traffic was so awful. We finally get on a road that will take us to the airport but it has a traffic light like every 100 meters and traffic is still pretty bad. Time: 6:10. Well....until you experience being in Roman traffic, you have never experienced insanity. Much to my luck, we were driving along, the driver stops suddenly, annnnd the car behind us rear-ends us. Great. Car accident! Everyone was fine but I started freaking out because I was certain I was going to miss my flight. And there wasn't another flight into Germany until Saturday morning! After the driver and the guy who hit us finally finished everything they had to do we got on the road again. Time: 6:45 (I had until 7:15 until my gate closed). So we slowly chug along and FINALLY make it to the airport. I jump out of the shuttle, run inside, frantically find my desk, and get my boarding pass. Then on to security...it was a long line and I am freaking out asking everyone if they speak English. Finally this nice gentleman looks at my boarding pass, understands I have to be at my gate, and tells me to cut everyone. Ha! So...I cut everyone in line and wizz through security! I run to my gate and thankfully see that everyone is still lined up waiting to board. MADE IT! Just in time. However, at this point I have to pee beyond belief but I am so terrified of missing my flight that I wait until like 45 minutes after my flight has left. It. Was. Awful. But the good news! I made it to Germany!!
Once my flight finally landed in Weeze, I had to wait for another shuttle that would take me to Essen (where Joel lives). I made a 1-minute friend with an older man, Klous, who used to be a teacher and his daughter is studying in Rome too! After
the drive to Essen, I have never been so happy to see someone I knew! I almost cried when I saw Joel and his parents! :)
The rest of time in Germany was great! No flaws at all :) Joel and I explored Cologne, Essen, and Bonn during the weekend and I was able to see a lot of the cool things in these towns. Joel's parents were absolutely incredible! His dad is learning English so he tried to speak English to me! I felt awful because I speak no German whatsoever. However, Joel did try to teach me some basic phrases. It's a lot cause..I will never learn German!
Friday night was the best night because Joel and I met up with my friend Vincent who I met in Mykonos and his friend, Robert, from Norway! We met up in Cologne and spent the evening bar hopping, catching up, laughing, and dancing on tables (well that was only Robert..hahaha). When we met up with Vincent and Robert at the train station I tried to tell Vincent "Schon dich zu sehen" which means "nice to see
you again"...but I guess I failed because Vincent couldn't understand me at first. Ha! But at least I tried! Joel and I didn't get back home until about 4:30 Am because we had to take a later, extremely slow train. But it was a great night :)
It was so great to catch up with Joel and we even looked at all the pictures and scrapbooks he had from his time in Salida! It was so hilarious to look at them since they were from like 5 years ago! Good times!
Much love,
~K
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