Youth Hostel Villingen-Schweningen, 19 May 2010

Finally here…not without a few hiccups, but overall, one of the best trans-continental flights ever. I say this because the flight wasn’t delayed, there were no screaming children, and I actually slept on the plane. The food was still horrible, though. But I did expect that. Though I felt a little bad, because I think the airline actually ran out of their chicken entrée, so everyone else behind me had to eat spinach lasagna.

I must have been spoiled the last time I went, because this plane didn’t have the fancy tv screens on the back of each chair. This made watching the movies a little more difficult, since it was far away, and at a bit of an odd angle. But I did watch almost all of “Leap Year” (I missed the beginning). It was good…not something I think most males would like since it’s a standard romantic comedy. The only bonus was the setting, which was Ireland.

Midway through the flight, I got to talking to my elderly neighbor, who at this point had drunken two glasses of complimentary wine. Frau Heit was flying back to Germany her home country, though she has US citizenship, to visit her family. She had recently retired from teaching master’s photography courses at a University in Oklahoma, for thirty-five years. She found Fred, my Husky Beanie-Buddy, adorable and would pause every now and then to look at him and smile. This became a little odd after awhile, because I felt I might as well have a baby with me, instead of a stuffed animal. But in her own words, she said she hadn’t really ever grown out of them. We talked about politics, history, and teaching. She said the students are worth it, but the salary isn’t (she retired making 35,000 a year at a collegiate level). She also said that the Tea Party movement is weird, and she’s been Republican all her life. She is a relative of the Hapsburg family (the old Austrian monarchy) and gets invited to a Count’s birthday party every year, which Prince Phillip also attends. Needless to say we talked for a long time, which was sometimes difficult, because she talked a little too softly for the noise of the plane. Our conversation ended when she literally nodded off with her mouth open when I was in mid-sentence.

How I managed to sleep on the plane, I’m not sure. Those seats are not very conducive to sleep. But I did, only waking up to receive and reject my breakfast (an overly large banana and a weird egg croissant thing). The wheels hitting the ground in Germany woke me up permanently.

Going through customs and finding my bag were quite easy. Then I just had an hour and a half to kill before I was supposed to meet with the lady who was to pick us up and the other two students who had a different flight. I first cleaned up in the restroom, taking, maybe unfairly, a room for diaper changes. But no one knocked on the door in need of it, so I guess I was fine. Then I bought a butter-bretzel (a pretzel with the thick end sliced with butter inside) and ate it for breakfast while I plugged through more Dostoevsky. At a few minutes before 11, I went and stood in front of the staircase in Terminal 1, which was our alleged meeting place.

I say alleged, because that’s all I remember from the email I got from the woman who picked us up. But apparently there were actual meeting points…which were literally labeled, “Meeting Point A.” So, needless to say, I stood there for about 45 minutes before being found…which, I don’t believe was my fault in the miscommunication. I will still reference that email first chance I get (the youth hostel has no internet access, damn them), but I think the instructions given were a little too general.

So, I was found, then walked the almost the other end of the airport to the other two students, who had no sleep due to crying babies on their flight. Then we rolled our luggage to the “big white bus,” which was really just an eight seater van by American standards. About an hour and a half later, we’re at the Youth Hostel in Villingen-Schwenigen. It’s pretty standard for youth hostels. No elevator…so, yes, I carried all my luggage in one trip up three flights of stairs.

Sarah, the other female student and I are sharing a room. Hopefully we won’t get roommates by the evening, because there’s no cupboard that we can lock our valuables in. I’d really hate for this computer to be stolen. We can lock our room, but if we get roommates, they’ll have a key as well. I should ask if we will before we leave this evening. Apparently we’ve been invited to a party by some German university students. I do hope we don’t get back too late and that they don’t turn off the hot water by then. Some hostels do that.

The hostel was kind enough to supply us with bed linens, but curse my narrow mindedness, I don’t have a towel. So, I guess I’ll be using my bottom sheet later tonight. And because during my packing process, Gavin strongly encouraged me to not bring my shampoo, I have none. So, luckily, Sarah’s being awesome and will lend me some for tonight. Something tells me I won’t find a store open in which I could buy my shampoo and toothpaste for that matter, by the time I get into town this evening. Stupid. And, I had the room and weight for the shampoo! My suitcase weighed in at 36 pounds, well under the 50 I was allotted. So, right now I’m blaming Gavin for my lack of shampoo (“you can just buy it there!”).

Though, I had, in his defense, forgotten that I would be staying in a youth hostel for the first two nights in Germany. I kept thinking, as I packed, “I’m staying with a host family, they’ll have linens. They can take me to buy shampoo and conditioner.” I also think I forgot my hairbrush, which is my fault. I think I just forgot to throw it in my suitcase after I used it yesterday morning. Well, luckily they not only wash their hair in Germany, but brush it, too. So I’m sure I’ll be able buy this stuff once I find an ATM and a store. Hopefully sooner than later.

Also, hopefully sooner than later, I’ll get some Internet access. Not necessarily to put up my two blogs from the past few days, but to write people to let them know my plane didn’t explode. Though if it had, they probably would have heard by now.

So far my impressions of Villingen-Schwenigen are that it’s a bit of a sleepy town. Pretty small…relatively rural. Though I think we did pass a giant shopping mall on the way in. I’m not sure how far removed the youth hostel is from the downtown area. Sadly, right now I’m quite bored (I want go out and do things, get my internship information, and meet my host family), but I believe I need to be going downstairs to meet Dan (we were going to walk around to get our bearings).