Firsts

This has been an incredible weekend of firsts. I decided to spend the weekend with my mom’s friend Mrs. Kranz in the small town of Mackenbach, Germany, which is near the Ramstein Air Base. Not only was it a fun and eventful weekend, but I crossed off a lot of my “firsts” throughout my trip.

The first “first” was a trip on the train. Now I know it’s just riding a train, but I have never taken a train trip by myself before, and especially not on Germany’s extensive train system. I was already pretty nervous about doing the trip from Koblenz to Kaiserslautern (the closest bigger train stations), but of course that was made worse when my original train was canceled. However, after waiting two hours, I got on the next train and was on my way. I survived the short German conversation with the conductor as she checked my ticket and then enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

My original plan once arriving was to explore Kaiserslautern on Thursday and do some base shopping on Friday. But things were a little busy so I ended up doing some school shopping on Thursday instead. These were my next two “firsts.” I ate lunch alone in a restaurant for the first time. The only reason I haven’t done that before is because I usually don’t go out to eat unless I’m with friends or family. It was an interesting experience. I felt pretty self-conscious for the first 15 or so minutes, but after I realized that no one cared or was paying any attention to me anyway, it was very pleasant. I enjoyed just being able to enjoy my meal without having to constantly chit chat. I am such an introvert. Then, I went and saw a movie alone, which I also had never done. That was less weird because no one talks during movies anyway, but still pretty fun. I might start seeing movies alone more often.

Then on Friday, it poured rain, of course, so I ended up helping Mrs. Kranz prepare her classroom for the first day of school on Monday. Let me tell you, there is so much more work that goes into being a teacher than anyone knows. Please thank all of your teachers for everything they have done for you! They are seriously heroes.

And finally, my favorite part of the weekend, Heidelberg! On Saturday, Mrs. Kranz drove me to Heidelberg so we could walk around and explore for a bit. It was so much fun. There were so many people and the main walking plaza had so much to do, see and eat. We found the building for the AJY Program and I made sure to take a picture with it. The Neckar river is gorgeous and there is a great running path along it that I will most definitely take advantage of. I am so glad I had the opportunity to do some exploring and I cannot wait for my program to start! It’s just a week away now and it is going to be incredible. I feel like I have been waiting forever and I’m so glad we are getting down to the wire.

I will be leaving for the train station soon and have a 4:03 p.m. train back to Koblenz. I’ll be spending my last week here back with my Aunt and enjoying Chinese food with her. We are making sure to go because Hermann, her husband, does not enjoy it and she’s glad that she has someone (me) who will go with her.

I am supposed to find out more information about where I will be living and about my program sometime tomorrow, which I am excited about. Everything is coming together! Hopefully this is a fun-filled and quick last week.

Write again soon!

-Meghan

P.S. The picture below is of the AJY building!