Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Travel Time


Leaving was scary and I think I thought about it maybe 100 times before I got on that plane. It wasn't just being away from my mommy, who I've never been away from for more than two weeks, it was general fear of the unknown.

When I got on that plane dragging my thirty pounds of carry-on I was terrified of what it'd be like. The closer take off got the more afraid i grew. i shut the window and closed my eyes but suddenly like out of nowhere we were in the air, and when I opened the window and saw myself go higher and higher into the clouds I was somehow filled with happiness.Not only was I relaxed now but there was no one next to me just like I had prayed to I got to put my legs up! A few worship songs and some dozing and suddenly we touched ground again, there I was in Philly.

Let me tell you, that airport was no fun! I had to drag both carry-on's all the way to a bus, that after about 15 minutes finally got me to terminal A. Problem? My terminal was A21, so about 2 miles of dragging and heaving later i finally get there only to find out that if I want food or a bathroom I'll have to drag my stuff with me. Taking a leap I asked a nice man nearby to keep an eye on my stuff while i hunted down a bathroom and got some lunch at a Japanese restaurant. A few minutes before boarding I grabbed a magazine some chocolate covered pretzels and a bottle of Ice Tea for the 7 hours ahead. I began to smile hearing all the German around me and got more and more excited. As I sat down in the plane it all sank into me, no turning back now, in 7 hours I'll be home! Again no one sat next to me, and again I got to put my feet up. For weather and such reasons, the flight kept rerouting and it took forever for us to take off.

This time I kept my window open and watched as everything below got smaller and smaller the higher we went until suddenly I couldn't see anything but clouds anymore. I leaned back and listened to every song on my Ipod dozing a little along the way but not able to sleep because of the discomfort. When I woke up I checked out the awesome touch screen T.V and watched Soul Surfer, which I greatly advise everyone to watch cause it just happened to be absolutely awesome. The next time I opened my window the sun was setting, the clouds were ablaze in color and purple and gold lines were fading across, it was so beautiful I couldn't stop staring. Dinner was pretty delicious, sun dried tomato pasta, salad, a roll, and a brownie (: After reading through my magazine I began another movie, the flight was starting to drag and I was counting the seconds, constantly checking the GPS. A few minutes before landing apple pastries were handed out and then suddenly through the dark I started to see the glittering lights of cities below me. I've never seen things so beautiful, it was like in those dreams you have of things you feel will never happen. The sunrise that followed was breathtaking, as the sky lit up and all the clouds were suddenly in color, I felt so close to God and thanked him for the beautiful things he created. Suddenly we got closer to the ground, as I saw Frankfurt tears filled my eyes, I couldn't believe that somehow after 7 long years I was back home.

It took about 5 minutes to get to customs because those with a European passport got to go first, from then on it was straight to baggage claim where I discovered my phone didn't work :( As I walked towards the exit, and out, suddenly, before me was my Tina and to my awesome surprise, Svea! After a round of hugs a bunch of joking and a text to mom we set off on a great adventures of taking the wrong turn a couple of times and dragging my crazy heavy junk through a huge airport as well as going to the bathroom in that process. By the end of all this I was sweaty and exhausted, but still had plenty of energy to sit in the car and freak out about all the wonderful "German" things in Germany.

After this ordeal a quick trip to Real for awesome breakfast stuff such as: Emmentaler cheese, Schwarzwaelder schinken, rolls, and other such amazing things. We got back, ate, and both Svea and I were half asleep, so Tina took her home. When she got back she showed me some things around the house, helped me unpack a little, and left for work. I took a quick shower and got all clean, after this I left a message for my mommy and went straight to bed for a good 5 hours. round 3 I was woken by momma on the phone and went back to sleep only to be woken again an hour later, at which I finally gave in and told my family all about it (: When Tina came home we had delicious spicy shrimp noodles and went for a walk, where she showed me the very confusing trash system (which I'm finally getting a hang of) and took me out for delicious ice cream <3 I do happen to have the best aunt ever.

I slept like a baby through the night, got up at four to read the bible and am now suffering from extreme shoulder knots and crazy joint pain in my hands, but its all worth it being home.

1 comment:

  1. Ich weiss ja SOOO wie du dich fuehlst und traeume jede Nacht davon oder jede Sekunde das selbe erleben zu duerfen. Es stimmt ja doch nicht immer wenn man sagt "home is where your heart is". Manche Laender sind einfach nicht fuer mnache Leute geschaffen. Aber ja, natuerlich macht es auch ne Menge aus wer um einen rum is, ge?

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