Okay, so I realize it is Saturday, and I arrived on Tuesday, but I have been busy, and I didn't realize I could get internet on my own computer within the walls of the university. On Monday, before I left at 6 in the evening, I spent the day with two of my sisters, my mom, my niece and nephew, and my boyfriend at the zoo. We had a good time, and I didn't feel nervous about my impending departure. Matt and I noticed some adult snow something or other, that are a bigger version of the little creatures we played with back in July. Forever, I will look at these and brag about having played with them that one time, that one place.
We arrived at the MPLS international airport at 3:00 PM, because they always say if you are flying internationally, that you have to get there three hours early. Not really necessary in this case, but on the bright side, we had time to eat some lunch at Applebee's after our trip to the zoo, before our trip to the airport. I checked my baggage as soon as I got there, and sat around with my family, minus the panda, just waiting, really.
After a while, I finally went through security (they didn't asked me who packed my bags, so things have relaxed in the past few years since I was last in Germany). Let me tell you, that is the nicest airport in the world. It's a shame that you have to leave after a while, but next to every terminal is a bathroom, and there are places to eat, and shop, and it's just a beautiful thing that airport. . . The Chicago airport, on the other hand. . . is not. No reminder necessary for me to never go back there, that one is ingrained in my memory forever. My ticket failed to mention that I would not be flying into a terminal near the next one I had to go into. The signs are awful, and hard to understand and I had to ask about 5 and a half people about how to get to the correct terminal. I ended up having to take a sky train to the next terminal, and by the time I get there, I was sweating and crabby. Then I had to wait another hour and a half to get onto my plane, where I had requested an aisle seat, thinking that meant I would be on the aisle, but, ooop, I was in the center row between two people, who smelled as if they had been sweating too. Chicago. . .! When I got to Copenhagen, I didn't have many problems, but there was no relief in knowing that I was almost done. My plane got in at 3:25 and I had to grab my luggage, find the train station (which was another sky train away) and I got there and bought a ticket to Bielefeld right at 3:55. Cutting it close, yeah? Okay, so the trip wasn't so great, and the first two days, I spent looking for a grocery store, and then I found one after two hours the second day. And I really didn't have any human contact until Thursday. Here I am, Saturday, already scouting out people to call my friends, and I'm feeling a little less homesick. We've been doing a lot of orientation things, and they finally got me to take public transportation again today, which I've been dreading since my trip. Being squished in like sardines for upward of 14 hours does not a public transporter make. I saw a castle today and the city center, or something. I know how to get there by train, not much else. And the castle, well, we went around the castle, we went up to the castle, we came back down from the castle. . . We did not, however go INTO the castle, so maybe that is a trip for another day.
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