Leave it to me (along with a severe case of homesickness and legitimate depression) to make use of the insane amounts of free time I have by avoiding to update this thing. I've instead spent numerous hours looking into flights to get back home, places to travel to while I'm here, cars/jobs/dogs (among many other things.. Cards 2012 season passes) to purchase when I get back home, reminiscing on old pictures, checking Facebook/FourSquare every 20min to see what I'm missing out on... basically I've spent ALL my time on the computer doing EVERYTHING I shouldn't - like I said, depression has gotten the very best of me.
So let's start with getting here...
I made the wise decision to take Dublin out with a bang (hah)... Boy did I do some work. Let's say it was a successful night and one for the books. I was awoken at 4am by Dani, Christen and Mark telling me "BRITNI, it's 4! The cab is here! We have to get to the airport!" (We all had early flights... mine being at 7am.. but I couldn't risk the chances of missing YET another flight). Luckily had all my bags packed so I scrambled to get everything together and down the flight of stairs... I somehow made it down the stairs with the help of a few other comrades (I had 4 bags). 20 minutes later we made it to the Airport where Dani & Christen departed ways to a different terminal.. and I later ran into Mark who helped keep me awake until our flights!
Luckily I snagged a decent pair of headphones (since I left mine in Barcelona) and a snack to hold me over... and even luckier, I shared a whole 3 seat row of seats... to myself :) So I sprawled out and took a fat nap before landing in the motherland.
So i'm waiting in the giant line to go through customs (last thing I wanted to do), worried about how I will EVER find my family in this (what seemed to be) huge airport in which I understand none of the signs, and then I see my little blue eyed blonde haired children waving the German flag out of the corner of my eye! Though I was feeling pretty emotionless and unenthusiastic (seeing that I really didn't get ANY sleep at all), it nearly brought tears to my eyes to ACTUALLY be meeting them after almost 9 months of talking through Skype, etc! The tears to my eyes effect quickly disappeared when I was shot down from a hug and any form of "HALLO!"... and the rush of emotions quickly flooded in (homesick, terrified of meeting these people, what have I got myself into, I just want to call my mom, these kids won't talk to me.. I don't understand these kids.. etc etc etc) = one hell of an emotional rollercoaster
When we arrived to the house (in a nice little neighborhood, VERY much unlike what I pictured/expected), I met Steffan, my host dad. Still, as with the kids and Jana (the mom), it was all so awkward and at this point all of the emotions running through me (including hunger & thirst). Luckily, they had lunch waiting for me! Spaghetti, in which made me feel like a fat American because I had 3 servings... but I had no idea when I would be eating next, or what. This was also my first experience with "Apfelsaft mit wasser" (apple juice with water... who drinks water with their apple juice??).. it was okay, absolutely nothing special.. I mean, it tastes like watered down Apple juice. After refueling on nutrition and hydration I couldn't be happier to hear the magical words "nap-time". It was much needed, and thankfully I have a VERY comfy bed. I could use a bigger comforter (p.s. WHY are the comforters in Europe i.e. Ireland & Germany so far) the EXACT same size as the mattress??). But, it's purple, I have my own futon, a flat screen, bar table and chairs, a nice closet set up, and EVEN a fireplace... all in my cozy little basement room. I can admit, this is the first basement I've never been afraid of! Downside -- I share it with spiders occasionally (i'm slowly scaring them off), and I don't have a toilet. But I have a sauna and my own shower and sink... as with many of my complaints, things could be worse.
Post-nap I was informed we were going to a local festival (something to do with France/Germany... not really sure what it was all about), but I went. And to my LOVELY surprise, we were riding BIKES to this event. Now, I will inform you that this was the first experience on a bike SINCE the accident, and secondly... I was given the worlds most uncomfortable bike. Additionally, I was engaging in physical activity that required strength and stamina, which I was lacking due to lack of sleep, and full force emotional distress.
We get to this festival.. all is still a jumble of emotions... we meet another family (Benjamin's family -- he goes to school with Carolina... it's her "boyfriend"), they ALSO have an Au Pair, Alice who is from South Africa. I wasn't sure if it was my lack of eagerness to interact and socialize with others, or my legitimate instincts, but I wasn't truly a fan of Alice. Especially after she spent 10min telling me it took her 6 months to start to bond with Benjamin and the family makes her do lots of cleaning, etc... way to start out day 1 eh?
So mainly the festival was for the kids... and the parents sat and gossiped in German... they bought me a pizza like snack (which was heavenly), and then proceeded to bring me a drink. When asked what I wanted, I wasn't really sure... the college student in me wanted a beer (hell, I was in Germany!) and the responsible (yes, responsible) me wanted a non-alcoholic beverage, and the hungover me wanted a huge water... so I came up with my best reply "Surprise me!". Then I received non.of.the.above.
Steffan brought back a round of 3 drinks in wine glasses what resembled orange soda, garnished with an orange slice on the side. Turns out to be a "Spritz"... and it turns out to taste like shit. It is slowly growing on me, but it's truly never going to be my favorite. It's made with a VERY bitter orange liqueur called Aperol, Prosecco (champagne), and mineral water. Less Aperol and more Prosecco makes it tolerable, but I haven't found the desire to drink it more... it's apparently the "summer" drink here. Please, just give me a beer.
So after the festival we trekked our way back home where I experienced my first dinner... which I later discovered would be the exact same dinner I would experience EVERY night. If you were thinking earlier that it was unusual to be eating spaghetti for lunch (not dinner), I was as well. I soon discovered things are a bit backwards here. They generally consider lunch a "warm" meal, and dinner more like what we would consider lunch... cold cuts, bread, salad, etc. This would of course take some getting used to... which hasn't been TOO bad, except for the fact that we eat the exact same dinner, every night. I need something new asap.
Back to day one... to end a long story, I spent the rest of my evening VERY homesick, and crying... the way I would spend many more evenings up until recently. I know my updating is a little bass-akwards, but I am trying to give good thorough updates, without skipping over the first few weeks!
I'm heading to bed for now, but at least everyone has been thoroughly updated on my adventure TO and first day in Pullach Germany!
Please stay tuned: The kids, my Host Parents, homesickness, Attempts at meeting people, Driving/Public transportation, FOOD, society, and much more. I'm going to try my hardest to keep at this nightly until i'm caught up to date! I love and miss everyone (and everything American) more than I imagined! A HUGE thank you to everyone for supporting me... without you I wouldn't have made it past week 1!
