Again, I’m writing this in retrospect because I want a record.

When the plane landed, it was roughly 7:50 am in Germany (and 1:50 am in Maryland). I was exhausted because I struggled to sleep on the plane. After landing, we all went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. Immediately, I grabbed my small suitcase to check my oboe, and it was absolutely pristine. Not a crack nor a bent. It was shocking because even little bumps on the bus in elementary and middle school seemed to practically take keys off my instrument! I suppose it was well secured by the vacuum-sealed bag filled with clothes surrounding it. I’m glad it’s okay.

From there, we walked outside of the airport to wait for the bus. The first thing that struck me was how clean everything was. There was absolutely no litter on the ground. That, and all the signs being in German, were clear indicators that we were indeed in Deutschland. It’s a little funny because I kept forgetting that we were in Germany until we’d stumble upon a new sign in German. Trey (from Iowa) and Jen (from Georgia) wanted some soda, so Alex (from Pennsylvania) and I accompanied them just because we wanted to do something other than wait for the bus.

From there, we walked a half mile to the bus, where we had a heated debate about the best condiments. Midway through the discussion, everyone kept accidentally falling asleep in turn. We were very tired.

When we got to the AiB, we were given refreshments and our host families picked us up. Regina and Udo greeted me and took my suitcases for me even when I insisted (in German) that I could take them myself. They took me to Friedensplatz, which is nicht so weit from AiB, and we took bus 550 to Mondorf Beckergasse, a station only 150 feet away from their house. I tried speaking as much German as I could, but I kept stumbling. They were very patient with me and waited for me to finish my sentences before responding. Whenever I didn’t understand the meaning of a word, we had a whole conversation about it. It was very interesting to hear the definitions in German. I like finding synonyms for words. Etwa and fast both mean “nearly” or “approximately.” I would try and think of more examples but I can’t right now.

At Regina’s house, there was another exchange student on his last day there. He also speaks English of course, but much better German than me. From there, Regina’s mother, brother, and nephew visited. They speak incredibly rapid German, and the other exchange student (Liam, I believe, from Cleveland) was able to easily respond, but I couldn’t follow. I could only pick up on certain words. Sometimes, Liam would translate for me, or when questions were directed at me, they would slow down for me. I really appreciated it!

Then, we all piled in the car to visit Florian, Regina’s son. Florian has a wife Helene and a daughter Emilia. I had a gift for Emilia, but I didn’t realize she would be there so I didn’t bring it. Regina assured me that Emilia and Florian and Helene would be visited her home though. We had small slices of seven or eight small homemade pizzas. They were all delicious, even the pizza with spaghetti. Before it was brought out, Emilia cried out, “Augen zu! Augen zu!” which means close your eyes. The spaghetti was the surprise.

After two hours I could hardly stay awake, so we all piled into the car again to take me home. At Regina’s house, I thanked them all and went to bed at about 10pm.

Last modified on 2024-08-05