Die Fotos - Frankfurt (Pictures - Frankfurt)

Die Fotos - Nürnberg (Pictures - Nuremberg)

Tag Hundertundeinz – Teil 2 (Day One Hundred and One – Part 2)

The direct flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco was actually very nice. With the exception of the guy in front of me who kept moving his seat up and down every thirty minutes as though it were a see-saw, there were really no problems. I was on the aisle, which made for easy leg-stretching, and there was no one in the seat on my other side, which made for a good area to stretch my feet into as well. We got served lunch shortly after take-off, a snack several hours later, and then, because we got into San Francisco in the early afternoon, we were served another lunch. 

After the first lunch, I changed my watch to California time and tried to sleep until about eight in the morning, California time, in order to get my body to start readjusting to the time difference (the flight had left Frankfurt around three in the morning, California time). For the rest of the flight, I just relaxed and read a book.

And now I am back in California. More pictures will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

Tag Hundertundeinz – Teil 1 (Day One Hundred and One – Part 1)

I am now sitting at the gate, waiting for my flight to start boarding. Frankfurt has truly improved their international terminal area compared to how it was three years ago. It is not nearly as dirty looking, though not quite as nice as the international section in Munich. After researching bus and train times last night, I realised that there was no bus to take me from the student dorms to the train station in Marburg, so I got up extra early in order to walk there. This was obstacle number one (the walking, not the getting up early), because there are some seriously inclined hills between the dorms and the train station. A few times, I thought that my luggage was going to get away from me! With two rolling duffel bags, a small duffel bag, and my laptop bag, I was certainly feeling weighed down. Unfortunately, the shoulder strap on the small duffel bag broke (on the bag, not the strap itself) just as I reached the train station. Not good. Obstacle number two was the fact that Marburg’s train station is not only small, but also old, thus leading to a distinct lack of anything but stairs. Three flights of them…up, down, up again. I had apparently left early enough, because I made it to the platform with ten minutes to spare before the arrival of the train to Frankfurt. Thank goodness for helpful people, such as the guy who lifted one of my bags into the train for me as I was getting the other one and the train doors were closing (there were steps up into the train). Then, I had an hour of rest as the train travelled to the Frankfurt main train station. 

The Frankfurt main train station is much more modern than the one in Marburg, and the escalators were thankfully in order this morning. From there, it was a ten minute ride on the subway to the airport. There were surprisingly fewer problems than I had anticipated. Once at the airport, things were much easier. There was no one waiting in line at the United Airlines Economy Check-in, and I was able to breeze through this, get my boarding pass, check my two large duffel bags, and move on to security.

Security also went much more smoothly than anticipated. There were not long lines, and I had things pre-arranged in my carry-on luggage and jacket pockets so that I had to do nothing more than remove my shoes, belt, and jacket. After security and a long walk to my gate, I arrived where I am now. There is only one more hour until boarding.

Three immediate reflections come to mind. First, I will never again travel alone with two rolling suitcases, if at all possible. It is awkward, unwieldy, and impractical. Second, I wish I had taken more pictures. Living in Germany instead of being on vacation there made me grow quickly accustomed to things around me, and I think this caused me to be more complacent about photographing things. Thankfully, I can always get pictures from other people in my program. Yay Internet! Third, I think it may be nearly as weird being back in the United States as it was when I first arrived in Germany. Already, sitting here at the gate, hearing so many people who I do not know speak English is striking my mind as strange. And it is English without a European accent at that! For some reason, I think that going back to a different money system will also be strange. One gets used to differences such as denominations of cash very easily, but sometimes it can take about a week. 

Part 2 of today’s adventure will be written when I am back in California. Bis später!

Tag Hundert (Day One Hundred)

Having offered to help Niki get her bags to the airport, we left Studentendorf early, planning to take the bus to the train station. This was essentially the same plan that I had for tomorrow morning when I journey to Frankfurt for my flight back to the United States. Hopefully, my trip works out a bit more smoothly than this morning. After waiting at the bus stop for fifteen minutes with no sign of the bus, we finally chose to walk to the train station, which did not take much longer than if we had gone by bus. Thankfully, the train to Frankfurt was on time. I did have an ulterior motive in going along: since this was the same route that I would be taking, having rehearsed it would make Sunday morning go much smoother.

Having said goodbye to Niki at the airport, I took the train back to Marburg. My tandem partner, Florian, and I had planned to meet up one last time before I left Germany. I walked around Oberstadt for a bit before going to meet him. It actually started to snow for a short while, though the snow was melting as it hit the ground. We had lunch, and I passed on to him a book on California, in German, that I had bought to take on my last trip to Europe back in 2008. After saying goodbye to Florian, I finished off some last-minute shopping before heading back home to finish packing my carry-on bag. Tomorrow morning is going to come very early.

Tag Neunundneunzig (Day Ninety-Nine)

Wow, I am realising that the day before I return to the United States will be day one hundred! Today was very busy. After getting up this morning, I made sure that everything was in nice order, before the landlady’s assistant came to inspect my room. Then I worked on updating my blog. 

I apologise for not yet posting pictures from Frankfurt (or anything recent). I hope to remedy this on Saturday.

The next order of the morning was to go into town and turn in some paperwork to the University regarding my room. Then, it was a quick run up to Oberstadt in order to attend the “going away lunch” that the study abroad program. The lunch was delicious. A full spread of more brunch food than anything, complete with eggs (they were amazingly delicious), bread, cold cuts, sliced cheeses, lochs, fruit, cake, juice, tea, and coffee.

Goodbyes were said, though not enjoyed, as nearly four months had succeeded in creating closer friendships for some than had been expected. For myself, I had not thought to meet as many different people and create as many varied contacts as I did. Having acquaintances all over North America (both the United States and Canada) could be advantageous, and fun, for future travel. Many hopes were expressed of seeing each other sooner or later. In one case, I think it will be sooner, as Marie and I are looking into meeting around Christmas time, as we will be in the same area for about a week. (We have already looked into what traditional German restaurants are around that location.)

After the luncheon, Niki and I set out on an epic shopping adventure, both of us trying to complete Christmas purchases so that they could be packed away. Around town, through Oberstadt and the main street, we foraged. Several hours later, having gotten our last mug of glühwein, we headed back to Studentendorf for pizza and a movie, as we are some of the few who were still around the dorms, and Niki is leaving in the morning.

 
Davi stopped by this evening to say goodbye. She and Marie have plans to leave early tomorrow morning for Dresden and Leipzig.

Vielleicht…Abwechslungen (Maybe…Changes)

During my time in Germany, I have seen many differences between the United States and Germany. I have also come to realise that not all of these differences are good and not all are bad. Additionally, some are merely differences that work in their country either way. However, there are a few things that I would like to see the United States, or, at least, San Luis Obispo, implement.

First is the concept of bike ramps built into stairs. This is easier to describe with a picture than with words, so I have found one. This allows people to walk their bikes/baby carriages/suitcases up and down the stairs with much greater ease.

As I previously mentioned, Marburg has a lot of features built into buildings and on the street to help with the handicapped population. The second thing that I would recommend places in the United States incorporating into their city design is guidance arrows on top of the crosswalk-request-buttons. These arrows point the visually-impaired in the correct direction, as well as vibrate with the signal changes to “walk,” in case they are hearing impaired as well and cannot hear the auditory tone.

The third recommendation that I have apparently already exists in some grocery stores in the United States. To this, I would say that Ralph’s in San Luis Obispo needs to get on their game, so to speak! This improvement is to list per measure-unit (ounce, gram, pound, etc.) prices on the shelf-price labels along with the item price. While I know that this can be calculated mentally or on a calculator, having it listed saves a great deal of time in comparison shopping.

My last change deals with traffic signals. While the United States’ system of Green-Yellow-Red-Green is good, I have often sat at a traffic light and wished that human reaction time was better or that the car in front was paying more attention to the light or both! Germany has attempted to solve this problem by implementing a sort of warning system to alert drivers that the light is about to turn green. Just before the light changes from red to green, the yellow signal flashes briefly in conjunction with the red. This very brief double-light does an excellent job of letting drivers know that it is almost time to go.