I've made it!

I'd like to start this post off with a big "thank-you" to all of my friends who saw me off the night before my flight. I'll get to my airplane stories in a second. On Tuesday night, the night before my flight out to Germany, several of my friends had a going-away party for me with drinks, snacks, and music. It was the first time that I really thought back and said "Wow, two years of college are done....and I'm about to fly out to Germany for a year." I guess I hadn't really  thought about leaving for a year until I was surrounded by all of my university friends. It was good having one last hurrah. Several of my friends will be studying abroad in Europe in the springtime, so it won't be so long until I see them. Here is a picture from the party. Pictured from left, are Fasil, Miranda, Mariel, myself, and Julie. In fact, we've been friends since high school! Time seems to be going by so fast sometimes, but so slow other times.

Okay, so flight stories! After a long 22 hours of traveling, I finally made it into Hamburg, Germany!! The flights were not so bad, although I had reserved window seats for all of my flights (an 11 hour flight into Istanbul, and then a 3 hour flight into Hamburg) under the impression that I was going to want to lean my head up against something to sleep. Turns out in both of these flights I switched with somebody in the plane for their aisle seat--although I didn't know this until it happened. I guess I kind of nodded my head through it because on the flight to Istanbul these girls were speaking in Turkish to me and pointing at my seat with authority, and I had absolutely no idea what they were saying, so when this third girl came up to me (I presumed she was their friend) I guess I just left my seat and went to find the one that she vacated. Not the worst decision because I got to stretch my legs out during the flight and sit next to two Americans. Although, the majority of that flight consisted of watching 1.5 Godfather movies and a documentary about the Space Station. With the flight to Hamburg, I started off in the window seat but was then asked by a little German boy and his father if I wouldn't mind switching seats. I said "Why not, he must want to look out of the window. How cool that must be!" (that's what I wanted to do!) So I switched. Within minutes this kid was asleep and was definitely not appreciating the beauty that the window seat had to offer. Okay, maybe it isn't the worst thing if this kid sleeps the whole way there, I thought. Alas, when it was time to eat dinner the kid complained about all of the food, so he sent it back. They brought back some white rice for him, but he said he didn't like the taste! I guess you can't please everybody.

I was greeted in the Hamburg airport by Nicolas, a childhood friend from elementary school, and his dad Timo. It was really nice to be in the company of friends and be able to speak a little English for once! We drove back to the house where I was informed that Nic's brother, Elliot, was also here in Germany! Here is a picture from my first night in Germany. From left: Elliot, myself, and Nic.

You might notice the tv screen in the back. Super Smash Bros. Brawl baby! We played a good bit of video games in Hamburg. We traded first place trophies a few times, but I was definitely not the best out of the three, so Nic, I'm up for a rematch anytime dude! Anywho, Nic and Elliot showed me around Hamburg, and I've got some stories about this too, but I'll save it for the next post!