Guten Tag, Freunde!
If you're reading this post, congratulations! You chose to listen to the rambling thoughts of a guy waiting in an airport for twelve hours. (Yes Daniela, if you're reading this, passing the time is nearly unbearable; I should've listened). However, I did tell you all I would give you an update before I entered the country, and one will come sometime within the next week, I'm positive.
Anyway, the day began promptly at 2:30 am with a blatantly ignored alarm, and then it actually began at about 2:55 when my dad came upstairs to make sure I actually woke up. I did not. Then my family and I went to the airport, many feels were exchanged, some tears were shed (mostly by my mother and Oma (love you guys)), and I boarded my flight to Charlotte.
On said flight, I may have annoyed my two seat buddies, as I'm pretty sure that, while I was staring out the window at the sun and the tiny ants formerly known as cars, they were trying to sleep. Whoops.
After arriving at around 8:30 a.m., I recognized my flight for Frankfurt doesn't come until 8:30 p.m. or so, so I decided to kill as much time as I possibly could. I called my mother as I promised her I would, explored the airport, used the restroom, called my girlfriend, had a meal, read some of a book I brought along, and then people watched. And then it was 10:00 a.m.
It was around 10:00 I realized just how profound the words my father spoke to me yesterday were. To paraphrase, he told me that air travel is like being caught in a place not affected by time. The world moves around you, and you're just kind of...there. It's an odd feeling, and I haven't even hit a major time change yet. (I am a whole hour ahead of you Saint Louis folks, though). I can only imagine what actually leaving the country and going across the pond feels like.
What it feels like right now is honestly a little terrifying. I'm spending a day alone in Frankfurt so that I may cheaply see the city, (as opposed to having to return to it later) and I'm a little nervous and anxious...but absolutely excited! Testing my German will be a challenge, but aside from these posts and my conversations with people who don't speak German, the second I land in Frankfurt, I'll be speaking nur Deutsch! ("Only German", if context didn't give it away.)
Additionally, I have been having trouble with the WiFi in Charlotte, so I have been using mostly data while still in the states. If this persists in Frankfurt, I may be unreachable until I actually get to Heidelberg on the first, for anyone who may try to contact me. But feel free to drop me a facebook message, Viber me, or comment on this very post.
Stay clear friends.
