Mein kopf schmerzen!

It’s technically been only twenty four hours since I left home, but it certainly feels longer than that. I can’t believe how disoriented I feel! I don’t remember feeling so out of it as soon as I got off the plane the last time I went to Europe. Well, I wasn’t exactly bombarded with as much I suppose. To use the word “bombard” seems awfully negative, but that is pretty much how I felt. Minus the negativity.
The flight was crazy. On again off again, I felt like I was in some dramatic relationship with the airplane. Luckily, I ended up being on the same flight as Elyse, another girl from KIIS, for the whole way. We didn’t sit next to each other, but we were able to find our connections together, which was a huge help! The Philly connection wasn’t so bad, and even the Frankfurt to Munich flight wasn’t either. Getting around in the Munich airport was a bit harder than I expected! Of course, it could have been because I was slightly comatose. Well, I’m getting ahead of myself! I’m leaving out the most important part. AIRFOOD!
It wasn’t that bad actually. Some kind of chicken casserole, with rice and cheese, and then some bread, a salad, and a little piece of carrot cake. But even better than the airfood was in flight movie! You’ll never guess…I was able to keep up with my Office fix, because I got to watch TWO episodes of the Office. Hey now, don’t roll your eyes. It’s probably the last I’ll see of it for a long, long time. I also tried to watch some of the new Indiana Jones movie, but we landed before I finished it. It was not so great, and it seemed like all you ever saw was Indy’s back anyway…(hmm… I wonder why?) I don’t remember the other movies as being so hokey, but then I suppose it has been a while. I was able to sleep on the plane for a bit, but I couldn’t say how long it was for. Since I left my phone at home, I was out of touch with time completely.
As I said before though, it’s a good thing Elyse and I were there together. When we got off the exit (AUSFAHRT…HAHAHAHA), we asked a man where to go next. Of course he told us in German. When we walked away Elyse said, yeah I have no idea what he just said. Which made me feel good, because I didn’t know either. We kind of thought he said something about two floors, and it turned out he must have, because that’s how many we walked up! The crazy part came once we got off this escalator, and we got to this section where you could turn left or right. Only the right was an staff only exit out onto the runway, and the left was a wall. We stood there for a minute dumbfounded until another guy walked up, into the wall, and like magic, it parted! That really was the craziest looking automatic door I’ve seen.
So luckily we were both able to collect our luggage relatively easily, and then we trollied our luggage on out and met the other members of our group. We waited a bit for someone else’s flight to get in, and then made our way to the bus stop. We all looked like a bunch of idiots, with our crazy amount of bags, struggling to get onto the “accordion bus”. Actually I don’t know if that’s what it’s called, but if it isn’t, it should be. It’s basically two busses combined, end to end, and in the center is this accordion like section so that it can go easily around turns. Well, guess who got stuck in the middle of the bus loaded down with luggage? Not to mention the fact that the walls are constantly moving, part of the inner platform of the accordion is circular and pivots around as well to make turns. Let’s just say accordion buses make for an awkward, yet interesting ride. We got off the bus and started heading for the train. We walked down a flight of steps…my bag clunk, clunk, clunking all the way down. That thing was fifty pounds, plus I had a backpack and my laptop bag, so there was no way I was lifting it! Then we turned a corner, and more stairs!!
Only this time, it was up! I felt like I had climbed a mountain once I got up those stairs. Then we had about an hour train ride from Munich to Regensburg. Our families met us at the train station. My new mom and dad met me there! It was exciting, yet slightly awkward. But I liked it. And then we got in their minivan like vehicle, which had an empty soda bottle and some paper towels in the back to keep me company. That sounds kind of harsh, but I only am adding the detail because it made me feel a little bit more like home! That’s weird.. I know. Anyhow.
So we arrived at their house, which is absolutely adorable. It’s narrow and tall; three stories tall. First floor is the kitchen, and a family room, second floor has two bedrooms, and the third floor has two bedrooms. Again, I’m not saying this to be harsh, but more as an anthropologist might do. I did take an anthropology. I was kind of surprised that it is a bit small..but you know what, I think it’s actually the perfect size! The kitchen wasn’t even as big as mine in my apartment, but it really made me sit there and think…why the heck do we need these ridiculously large houses when people get on just fine without them? All their furniture is very cute and stylish….kind of Ikea-ish. So I met the family, Renate, who is an architect, Werner, who I think is a teacher or professor, Fabian, who is 12 and likes to skateboard. However I didn’t get to meet Isabella! She is just getting over a traumatic experience! She has been on vacation in France, and aparentally the curbs are quite taller than the ones here in Regensburg, and she had a nasty blow out. She lost some of her teeth!! I feel so badly for her, she’s going to have to get plastic ones put in I think! I ALWAYS have bad dreams where I’m losing my teeth, so seriously, that would be my worst nightmare. That had to be really rough though..and I can only imagine the pain. Poor thing. I’m looking forward to meeting her, but I hope she isn’t banged up too badly. Battle wounds, I guess.
I also got to meet Willi , the bunny, and the guinea pig. I can’t remember his name. We had supper on their patio in the garden, and I had some quality bonding time with the little critters after dinner. At first they didn’t want to have anything to do with me, but I started to feed them some clover, and they changed their minds a bit. The rabbit is totally the boss. It cracked me up…and I didn’t know guinea pigs made noises! They make the funniest, cutest little grunts! So those guys WILL be my friends, whether they like it or not.
After I met the pets, Renate took me on a bike tour of a lot of the city. That was probably my favorite part of the day. It’s no wonder no one is fat in Europe..because everyone walks or rides their bikes. It’s crazy. I knew that it was going to be like that, but until you really experience it, it doesn’t really come across I guess. I don’t know if I’ll get to borrow Isabella’s bike often, (chances are I might, since she had that catastrophe. I doubt she’ll be radfahren for a while.) but I really would like to. It was a lot of fun. Renate took pity on me and spoke English. They probably all think I’m dumb and didn’t ever really take any German, but whatever. I’ll get it eventually, just not today. I did try some though! She took me to a café and we had Eis Kaffee. It was pretty tasty…and we talked for quite a while, and had a lot of fun. She took me around and showed me the downtown area. It was the most amazing thing, all cobblestone courts, and in some places you aren’t even allowed to ride a bike, much less a car. It looked like something out of a story book. We came back here and I took a shower and put away my things. Then I headed downstairs to see what Werner and Fabian were up to. (Renate had gone out for the night to visit friends) I had a light dinner and then watched a little bit of the Matrix with Werner and Fabian, and now I’m here writing my blog. I haven’t set up an internet connection yet, so I’ll post this tomorrow. Perhaps you will get two posts in one day!
Tschush!