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!
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