Auf Wiedersehen Erie!

Why is it with travel that you never feel like you are really going until long after you’ve started your trip. I’ve already made it to the airport in Berlin, and I feel like I am just realizing that I am actually moving to Europe – hopefully for a year or more. On the plane today I was also hit with the realization that I could have used with a little more knowledge of German before I got here. And I really have no excuse as I have a book, Rosetta Stone, and a German boyfriend. I suppose now is the time to learn! Luckily Rosetta Stone has taught me really helpful phrases such as, “Der Junge isst Brot” and “Die frau farhet.” and “Nein. Der Pfert schwimt nicht.” Meaning “The boy eats bread.” “The woman drives.” and “No. The horse isn’t swimming.” Very helpful I’m sure. However I am really excited to throw myself into learning German.

Travel to get this far has been hectic to say the least. Supposed to go to my cousins wedding in New Jersey on Saturday and just have my family drop me off at JFK, however all the flooding the eastern part of PA and Jersey caused all the roads to be closed so we had to miss the wedding. Therefore I also had to book a flight to JFK. I ended up getting a ticket to fly out of Buffalo Sunday morning, but that plane was delayed because it broke. This resulted in my missing my flight to Dusseldorf and I had to reschedule the next flight, which came with a nice price tag – and it was 24 hours later. Luckily the lovely Rosemary let me stay with her in Manhattan and we had a nice late night snack of Thai food and a long chat.

My next flight went off without a hitch, and I even made a friend on the flight. Her name was Brittney and she is 19 and going to Greece to study abroad. We had some nice long chats to pass the time and the seven hours flew by. Now here I am in Berlin, waiting for my connection to Vienna. I can’t wait to get there and see what is in store!