Monday's Story

(Yesterday was exactly 6 months between my 21 and 22 birthdays).

I woke up at 4:40am in Germany, caught the Strassenbahn at 5:19am, and got off at the train station. The Strassenbahn tracks stop on a bridge near the train station over the train tracks. So to get to the train station, you have to go down. Of course the elevator wasn't working. So I had to haul 100 pounds of suitcase and probably at least 30 pounds of excess backpack weight down about 50 steps. That was überhaupt not cool. I definitely pulled or strained something in my shoulders. My shoulders and my arms are so completely sore today. I got on the train (with some difficulty) and two hours later, I was in Frankfurt Flughafen [airport].

My arms and shoulders were in pain from the fiasco at the train station, and I had an awful time getting my luggage from the platform to Terminal 1. It was incredibly painful. I went to 1A and found Lufthansa. Unfortunately, I then saw that all flights to the US were checked in in 1B. I was not a happy camper. So I hauled my stuff to 1B and got in line. The line was not fast. They scanned all the baggage to be checked before it was even checked in. And then I was finally at the counter. I was allowed two checked bags at 23 kilos each (for a total of 46). My large bag was 28 kilos. My small bag was 17.5. Add them together and that equals 45.5 (this number was on the scale). That number is less than 46. And yet I was charged €40 for the supposed five extra kilos. I was not happy, but I was too exhausted to care too much.

So I went to find counter 137 to pay my fine. On the way, I saw Professor Mittman (the proferssor from MSU who was with us in Freiburg) with her family. Their new daughter is adorable! I then paid the stupid fee and wen through security. No, actually I got in line to go through security. The wait was forever, and then ended up checking my backpack, though I don't know why. After security, I was nervous that there wouldn't be any more payphones because I was supposed to call Nidhal when I got to the airport. Luckily, there were two payphones and I got to call him so he wouldn't worry.

I thought, however naiively, that it was now to the gate. No, no, I was wrong. A few meters later, I had to get into another line for yet another round of security. This line lasted maybe a tiny little bit less, and they checked my blue bag again. But this time they really dug in there and pulled stuff out. I pack tight, and that was not cool. Then I thought that surely I could just walk to my gate now. No, no, wrong once again. I had to get in another line. Another line. I have no idea what the purpose of this line was. No idea. The guy looked at my passport and my boarding pass and sent me through. But apparently it wasn't as straightforward for everyone. I have no idea what they were doing.

And then I was at my gate. I had to show my boarding pass again, but that is normal for Frankfurt. They check the boarding pass before they let you in the waiting area, and then they don't check it again until you get on the plane and they direct you to your seat. By the time I finally got into the waiting area, I was exhausted. And I barely made it. Usually I wait for an hour or more to board. I was in this waiting area for maybe 10 minutes at the most.

I sat in my aisle seat, waiting to see who would be sitting next to me. The lines thinned out until no one else was boarding and the seat was still empty. I didn't want to jinx myself by being happy about it until we took off. And for good reason. The stupid stewardesses came by and asked if I was traveling with anyone, and I said 'no' of course. Then they came back with some lady and said to her, "Here is your window seat maam". I was not pleased. I don't know what was up, but she ruined my two-seat plane ride. The Lufthansa plane was not as nice as the ones I had with Northwest. There were video screens, but they were in the middle and spaced about one every ten seats. And I think there was more leg room with RyanAir. The professor and her family were a couple rows behind me.

So we took to the air, and it was a normal ride at the beginning. We flew over Amsterdam, the middle of England, Northern Ireland, and then over the North Atlantic. A couple hours into the flight, they finally put on the first in-flight movie, Shrek 3. I watched it, but somewhere in the middle, there was a bunch of turbulence. Normally, I enjoy a bit of turbulence, but this was a little extreme. Plus, I wasn't feeling overly well to begin with. So I spent part of Shrek 3 with my forehead resting on the seat in front of me. The next film was Blades of Glory, or Die Eisprinzen in German. I usually don't like such films, but I think my severe lack of sleep helped me to enjoy it. And then there were only a couple hours until we landed. I watched a little Loony Toons and played some games on my iPod.

We got to Detroit a little bit late. After we had landed and stopped moving, everyone stood up and got their stuff and started to try to get out. But no. US Customs and Immigration told everyone to sit back down. They wanted to talk to someone specific on the place. Great. Freaking great, you idiots. I just wanted out of that plane. Finally, we were allowed to get out and get in line at customs to be let into the stupid country. The stupid short lady in red directed me and some others to "go to the very end", which just happened to be the longest and slowest line in the stupid place. The professor and her family came maybe 15 minutes after I had gotten in line, got in another line, and were talking to the customs officer maybe 30 minutes before I got up there. Oh, I was wuetend [pissed off] (and it didn't help that I really, aber REALLY, had to go to the bathroom).

I finally got to talk to the guy and he asked me questions, some of them stupid. Why would he care if and when I was going back to Germany? It's Germany, not Iraq or something. I'm an American citizen and I will go from the US to Germany and back any time I want, you butt-licker. So I finally got away from that and to the luggage. I grabbed a cart, because I was not going to go through what I did in the Frankfurt airport. My luggage was already out and going around the large oval... as was everyone else's. It was so full (because they took so long getting everyone through customs) that one suitcase got caught and ripped open.

My stuff and I went and got in yet another line. Once again, I was in the slowest of the bunch. I had to explain that, no, Tunisian nut paste is not Nutella. And finally I got to leave the airport. After some searching, I located my parents in the crowd and we went towards home. I was not a very up-beat travel companion, to say the least, but I tried not to seem disappointed to be home. We met my sister, her husband, and my adorable niece in Flint and ate Mexican food (very hard to find in Germany). I ate like an American again... two huge plates of food and Coke with REFILLS! I drank all of my Coke just so I could get a free refill. Ah, USA.

And then we were home. Wonderfully redneck-hick hometown. I had to talk to the cashier in the gas station because I wanted an international phone card, and I almost screamed "take me back to Germany RIGHT THIS INSTANT".

But I'm home now, and it's ok. It's boring and I'm falling into my old habits. Everything smells the same, but everything feels really tiny. The toilets for example... it feels like I'm sitting on the floor. The sink and the shower curtain all seem miniature. But despite everything here that isn't great and everything in Germany that I'm missing, it's somehow good to be home.