The Adventure Begins

The long first day finally comes to an end for my traveling companion Emma and I.

The flight was something neither of us had experienced before. My longest flight I had ever been on before this was 4 hours. Many anticipations we had about the flight were also very incorrect. The flight itself was long, and a little rough since the cool air was shut off and the heat was cranked up to high! It made for an uncomfortable ride over. The up side was that we had unlimited movies, television, and games. Come half way through the flight it was dinner time. “Chicken or pasta?” Asked the flight attendant. I chose the chicken and Emma chose the pasta. Both were probably the best food I have ever received on a plane. 8 hours later we landed in Dusseldorf. 

 

We had our passports stamped and continued on to the next terminal for a short hour and a half trip to Munich.

We safely arrived in Munich and the confusion and struggle begins. We found baggage claim and picked up our suitcases and then headed towards the sign that merely had a photo of a train. Luckily we were right and found the desk to purchase tickets. We got two tickets to Göppingen which includes two train switches before we actually arrive at the correct city. We start at Muchen flaghaufen, first 20 minute train to Munich haupbanhouf. This was a gigantic train terminal with about 20 different rails that run away from it. With a little confusion of where our Gleis is, we find the train and sit for another 45 minute ride to Ulm Haupbanhouf. Now through this entire journey we are lugging around our 24KG suitcases, purses, backpacks, and 2 jackets each. From Ulm we got onto one more train to Göppingen. As we were sitting watching the stops pass us by, the overhead announcer says, “Nachster halt: Salach.” We had not passed Goppingen yet and it was two stops further. So we made the decision to get off in Salach instead of Goppingen. First impression of the town, it’s small! It was Saturday so every store was closed in the city center, except for one place called Mayer’s Café. It just about saved us! We were incredibly hungry and had not eaten all day except for the plane trip. We rolled our suitcases up and ordered a couple of pastries and Kasebrot.

A precaution that Mom had taken for me was to buy me a phone and a Sim card that works in Germany. Except every time we tried to call the Burg to come pick us up, it said my number was incorrect. Nearby the café was a yellow telephone booth. First call was to an operator, who only spoke german, second call was to the English speaking operator, and the third to the Burg. The reason our phone was not working is because we did not realize the amount of undistinguished zeros that apparently must be in the telephone number. The number we were told was 49 7162 93344. The number we needed was 0049 7162 933440. Never would have guessed. Anyway, we called the Burg and they sent someone over right away to bring us to the staff house.

House, another word we slowly learned does not mean the same thing, was not what we were described to. It is an apartment building. The owners live on the bottom level. First and second floor have about 25 rooms and each has one Burg Staufeneck employee residing in it. Emma and I get one room with two beds, a sink, and a wardrobe. For those of you who are my JWU friends, it is about half the size of Flamingo dorm with the same two beds. There are two bathrooms and two showers per floor. Emma and I are the only ones who are sharing a room, but we don’t mind one bit. 

It was dinner time so we were picked up and brought to the Burg for a small family meal with our future co-workers. It was a quiet.. awkward meal since no one said hello, introduced themselves, or spoke to us at all. So we ate our meal and left to go take photos of the Burg.

Back at the staff house, we settled in, and slept for 17 hours straight. We were extremely exhausted from the trip, especially Emma who did not sleep on the plane.