My Fairytale in Castle Country Comes to an End

And so (as Mom put it) my fairytale in castle country is over. There are not even words to describe how wonderful it was. I am so blessed and thankful to have had such an amazing experience. There are so many things I will take from this trip and I truly feel like I have learned so much. I have seen so many countries, made new friends and as cheesy as it sounds have grown as a person. I hope one day I can make it back to Salzburg and relive all of the amazing things I did while I was there. As for now I am so excited to be home and ready to be back at CSB in the Spring. I cannot wait to share my experience with those who will be travelling there next fall and to hang out with everyone in my group. We really did get close and that is one thing which I am so happy about. Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and coming on this journey with me! It truly was great reading all of your comments. I am sad it is over so soon but I feel like the luckiest girl in the world by being able to have this great experience.

Auf Wiedersehen!

The Long Trek Home

The train ride was absolutely horrible. I had my big suitcase right in front of me with my legs on top of it and my backpack in my lap. I was so uncomfortable and did not sleep one bit. The people in my cart were a little strange and I didn't really want to sleep in case something happened. I got to the Frankfurt airport at 6:30am and I headed to terminal 1. I got a little twisted but just asked people a bunch of times where it was. Frankfurt is a really big airport but I found where I needed to be eventually. I was really excited because my exchange student, Ola, was going to meet me there. I had emailed her the day before asking her if I could stay with her if my flight gets cancelled again. She lives really close to Frankfurt so it was comforting knowing I had a back up plan if I did need to spend Christmas in Germany. I was waiting in a really long line to check in and I saw Ola. It was so nice to see her! We talked while we waited in line, checked my bag and then got breakfast together. We were only together for one hour but we tried so hard to get together over the semester and it just didn't work out so I was so happy to see her! She walked me to security and then I said goodbye. She is planning on coming to the states again so hopefully I will be seeing her soon! I went through security and of course I got stopped. I swear that always happens to me. They had to wand me and then they had to dig through my backpack. They took out my iPod speakers and I had to go to a special room. They swiped something over the speakers and then ran it through a machine. It took about two minutes and then I could leave. It was kind of dumb but atleast I didn't have to get stripped searched like a lot of people did. They were brought behind this partition that was in the room where everyone was waiting. It seemed a little awkward and a lot of people were being checked. I got on the plane and everything after that went fine. The flight was really long though. I was in the air for 11 hours straight. The guy I sat next to was kind of strange and of course right when I fall asleep he wakes me up because he has to go to the bathroom. I never sleep on planes and of course this happens to me. I got to Dallas and found out that I had to grab my bags. I was not expecting that. I then had to wait in a line where a lot of people were complaining. There was this one crazy lady who freaked out even though the line only took about 15 minutes. It went really fast. I then rechecked my bag and went through customs which was a breeze. I always get nervous for that stuff but it was all find. I had a good hour before my plane left for Minneapolis which was nice. If I had an earlier flight I would have been nervous so it was nice that I had a good amount of time. I got on my second flight and it seemed long just because I was so anxious. I was so excited to be in the states and to be almost home. I got the Minneapolis airport and was SO excited to see Mom, Dad, Katie, Laurann and Pato there waiting for me. It was such a long journey and I was so excited that of course tears burst out of my eyes. There is no greater feeling then coming home! There truly is no place like home! We of course talked the whole way home and it was so weird walking into the house after being gone for four months. It was great! We stayed up and talked for a little while before going to bed. We had to get ready since the next day was Christmas Eve. It was so crazy getting home one day before Christmas but I was really excited to see everyone!

Finally made it home!

One Last Day in Hamburg

I woke up around 10am and checked my flight status again. I was so happy to see that the Frankfurt Airport webiste said that the runways were all clear and the airport was up and running again. That definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of the day and I could just enjoy being in Hamburg one last day. Aimee's parents then came around 1pm which was fun because it added a change to our normal routine. They are such nice people. We had soup for lunch and just talked for a bit before heading out to the Christmas market again. I didn't mind seeing that again because it is absolutely amazing. We had some drinks and then Sandra's sister, Julia, took me back home. The rest of the family was going to a professional handball game but I couldn't go because I had to catch my train to Frankfurt. It was a good thing Julia didn't want to go because she was the one who took me to the station. I had to then say goodbye to Aimee and her family which was sad but I knew it was coming. I am so glad I got to spend more time with Aimee because she is so much fun. Julia and I headed to the train station at 10pm but we were there a little early because my train didn't get there until 11pm. I was so glad Julia didn't mind staying there with me. The train was a mess. I had made a reservation because there was no way I was going to risk not getting a seat. So I had a seat on wagen 9 but when the train came there was only a wagen 7 and 10. I was so confused! It was terrible. So I got on one wagen and it was all full so everyone was standing in the hallway. It was nuts. Luckily they cleared out a cabin and let me sit because I was going all the way to Frankfurt. I had to ask one woman if I was on the right train because I just didn't know. It was a good thing she understood my broken German. Haha! The train ride was definitely the worse one I had ever been one!

Making the most of it...

I woke up this morning really sad. I should have been on a flight home already but sadly I was still in Hamburg. I guess it was good I had a family to stay with and wasnt just stuck in some other city but I was looking forward to being home. It was nice of the family to let me stay another night. We all got up and ate breakfast. Then we hung around the house a bit until Sandra's old neighbor Frau Herte came over for cake and coffee. She was very sweet. They were exchanging Christmas gifts and she was nice enough to bring chocolates for us. After she left it was Brady's turn to head home. He left for the train station around 5pm. He had to get to Amsterdam and then fly out the next morning. He had to spend 9 hours at the airport before his flight left which I am so glad I didn't have to do. Jake then left at 9pm and he was headed to Munich to fly out. After they both left we all decorated their Christmas tree. Michael put on Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and we decorated. It is funny because they decorate the tree the day before Christmas. This was early for them. Another thing which was funny was that they decorated the tree only in red ornaments. I thought it looked funny but it was their tradition and it was nice being a part of it. I had skyped with Mom earlier and she gave me some good advice to just make the most of it even though I was not excited about still being there. It was a nice day despite the fact that I could have been home. I was constantly checking my flight status and I was glad to see there weren't any problems yet.

Heike and Michael decorating the tree

Touring Hamburg

St. Michels Tower

Monday was nice because we toured around Hamburg with Heike. We saw the harbor and St. Michels Church. It was a beautiful church and you could go up to the top of the tower. We headed up there and there were so many stairs. I got a little creeped out because the stairs were kind of rickety and have spaces in between which I hate. We made it to the top and it had a great view of the city. It was absolutely freezing but we stayed up there for awhile because the view was great. After seeing most of the city we went and did some running. Brady needed some things and it was nice because they stopped for me to get another carry on bag for all of my stuff. For dinner we went to a Kebab place where the kebab was gigantic! It was so big but really good too. Of course Heike wouldn't let me pay again. We went home for a little bit before heading out again and going sledding. There was a huge sledding hill right by Sandra's house. It was the biggest sledding hill I had ever seen and it was pure ice which made it even scarier. Sandra had two old school sleds that were really fun. It was so great going sledding. I hadn't done that in a long time. On the way back we actually had Kevin pull the sled with his car which was funny. We got back to the house and watched another movie. Before I went to bed I got online to check the status of my flight to find out that the leg from Hamburg to London had been cancelled. It was terrible! Luckily I got to talk to Mom on Skype to get everything figured out. She was on the phone with American Airlines for two hours until we got something figured out. At one point the lady we were talking to said the only flight I could get on would be on December 26th. It was a good think Mom was persistent because the lady looked again and I got another flight out of Frankfurt on December 23rd. I was not happy about waiting two more days but it was definitely better then the 26th. I wrote Heike a note saying my flight got cancelled so I didn't have to wake up early. I was up until 4am trying to get it all straightened out. It was not a fun way to end the night.

Sunday Funday

On Sunday morning Aimee and I went to Sandra's handball game with Heike (Sandra's Mom). We left at 9:30am because we all couldnt fit into one car and we didn't mind getting up early. Handball was really fun to watch because I had never seen it before. It was basically a mix between soccer and football. It was set up like soccer but they could throw and catch the ball. Later on Emily, Brady, Jake and Michael (Sandra's Dad) came to watch Sandra's game. Michael brought noise makers for us and it was fun. One the car ride home we stopped at a little castle. It was cute and a really nice area but we were so cold so we didn't stay long. Then we got back to the house and had chicken and rice for dinner. It was delicious! At night we all went to the Hamburg Christmas market which was so great! Michael gave us all Santa hats to wear. I thought the Salzburg market was cool but this was absolutely gorgeous! They had multiple markets set up around the city with so many lights and huts. One of the spots even had a sleigh with a real Santa go across the sky. It was magical! haha! I loved the market and it was so nice because Michael and Heike paid for our drinks. I tried to pay but they just wouldn't let me. They are great people. At one point we went inside one of the malls where there are names of cities on the floor and Michael wanted to show it to us because one of the cities was Salzburg. We all got really sad and realized how much we missed it. We were getting pretty cold so we went back home and watched a movie before going to bed.

Group at Hamburg Christmas Market

Hamburg: Final Destination

We woke up Saturday morning and packed up all of our stuff. We had breakfast and then headed with Franca to the train station. It wasn't a far walk but it had just snowed so it was so annoying dragging my suitcase through the snow. It was so heavy! Luckily after awhile Jake and I switched suitcases. It was very nice of Jake to take my suitcase. We made it to the train station and bought out tickets for Hamburg. I was not looking forward to another day of lugging my suitcase around but it had to be done. Aimee, Emily, Jake, Brady and I made it to Hamburg around 6pm. The train ride took about three hours. Once we made it to the Hamburg train station I thought we would be loading in a car but no. We had to carry our stuff on to two subways and one bus. I was getting very tired of it all. We met Sandra at the train station and she seems very nice. She stayed with Aimee for a whole year so Aimee knew her pretty well. We made it to her house and hauled all of our stuff to the top level where we all stayed in one big room. Once again it was crazy to think they had a room big enough for five people. Then we ate homemade pizza for dinner. It would have been good but I think she took it out of the oven too early. It tasted raw and the cheese was barely melted. I didnt have the heart to say anything. We hung out awhile until Sandra's friends came at 8:30. We met Andy, Kevin and Yana and they were all really nice. We had some drinks and sang some classic German songs before heading out the the club. We went to the Keats which is one street full of clubs and bars. The one we went in was an Irish club which was so much fun! Downstairs had classic club music but another part of the club had a live band called the Rock House Brothers. We all wished we had listened to them earlier because they were so good! And they played really good songs. It was a really fun night and we headed back home around 3:30am. We didnt realize how tired we were until we got back to the house and went to bed. It was a nice first night in Hamburg.

Club in Hamburg