So, this past January, I went to Europe.
It was kind of on a whim that I went. I only went because I had a ticket left over from my past study abroad efforts. I actually probably spent a lot more than I should have on the ticket. The ticket was originally about $600 and I spent around $450 more to switch the date. But I did, so oh well.
I actually didn’t start planning until about a week before I left. If I would have started planning just a wee bit earlier I would have gotten my flights to and from London a whole lot cheaper. But oh well. So after a few hours of planning I came up with a very loose itinerary. It was as follows:
- Leave LA at 8:45 a.m. on January 7th. Have 2 layovers (Chicago and London) and arrive in Stuttgart, Germany at 10-11 a.m. January 8th.
- Meet someone I contacted through Mitfahrgelegenheit at the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof for a 5€ ticket to Heidelberg.
- Find my way to a guy named Tim’s house that I met on Couchsurfing.com once I got to Heidelberg.
- Take a train at 9 a.m. from the Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof Sunday morning January 10th to München (Munich).
- Check into my hostel in München.
- Meet Sean somewhere.
- Take an Easyjet flight to London at 11 a.m. on Thursday January 14th.
- Check into my hostel.
- Take a Germanwings flight at 9:45 a.m. to Stuttgart on Sunday January 17th.
- Fly back to LA on Monday January 18th.
That was my entire itinerary. Everything in between the actual traveling details (which aren’t so complete in themselves) were entirely unplanned. It’s more exciting that way.
My trip got started on the wrong foot. My flight left from LA (which was 2 hours away from San Diego) around 8:45 a.m., so we decided to leave at around 6:30 a.m. That gave me almost no time to check in my luggage, go through security, and get on the plane. But someone rushed me to the front of the line and I made it on just in time.
I slept the whole way to Chicago, which was nice. As we flew into Chicago, I saw this mysterious white stuff covering the ground. After a few minutes of puzzlement, a remembered something that I read a long time ago about this cold white powdery stuff that fell from the sky, called snow. It was snow! Coming from San Diego, I didn’t quite know what to make of it, but it was beautiful.
When I went to get my boarding pass for the flight to London the lady at the desk told me that because of the snow, my flight to London would be delayed which consequently would cause me to miss my connecting flight to Stuttgart. This was slightly problematic because I would miss my train from Stuttgart to Heidelberg by about 2 hours. I would have to pay a lot more than 5€ for a train ticket (or so I thought). But having no other option, I rescheduled for a later flight to Stuttgart.
Eventually I got to London after 17 hours, 3 movies, and an episode of Flight of the Concords. But because of the crazy white stuff falling from the sky, we couldn’t pull into the terminal for another 2 freaking hours. I missed my rescheduled flight by about an hour. But eventually I got another flight to Stuttgart which got in at around 6 p.m. My train ticket to Heidelberg ended up being only 22€ and I got to the city at 8 p.m.
That was when I discovered how cold it was. I have been to the snow a few times, but never for any period of time. I discovered that my jeans, t-shirt, and jacket were not enough. Over my time in Europe I found out different ways to stay warm. One of the best discoveries I made about 4 or 5 days into my trip was to wear 2 pairs of socks! Who would have thought? Also, I found out that scarves are not just for fashion purposes. I loved it. I am built for cold weather.
I didn’t have any way of contacting Tim, the guy I was staying with whatsoever. All I had was an address and a name. I found my way to Klingentorstraße and located number 16. But the entire house was dark on the bottom and I couldn’t find his name on the intercom. So, after waiting outside in the snow for about 20 minutes a girl rode up to the door on her bike. I then had my first conversation in German in Germany. I asked if Tim lived there and if she knew him. She did, so she took me up to the first story flat and knocked on the door. Tim opened the door and welcomed me in. After hours of very stressful traveling, I was there, and he even had dinner ready. Tim was a sweet dude. He helped me with my German by trying not to speak English to me and showed me around the city a bit. I was tired but Tim and one of his flat mates Viktor wouldn’t let me sleep (which I am grateful for. It helped with the jet lag). We went to one of their friends houses and picked up 2 more people. The five of us went to a few bars, talked and played foosball and darts. After that we left, had a snowball fight and went back to his house.
The next morning I accidentally slept in till 2 p.m. because I didn’t hear my alarm go off.After getting ready I headed out to go find a castle, and I did. There is a huge old castle on a hill overlooking Heidelberg. I wandered around the cobblestone streets until I found a staircase (with 314 stairs) that led up to the castle. I walked around the park, saw incredible views, and took pictures.
After that I walked around the Altstadt of Heidelberg. Eventually I went back to Tim’s house and we went out to get Kebap with a friend of his. And after that we went back to his place, another friend of his came over and we watched A Clockwork Orange while eating Gummy Bears.
I am very grateful for having been able to stay with Tim. I got to meet real Germans, make friends, and see real Germany. I decided to go to Heidelberg at the last minute because I had a few days to kill before Sean got to Europe. I went to Heidelberg because it is where I was going to be living for a year before God changed my heart. The city was absolutely beautiful. The question I have gotten the most is, “So, after having been there, do you regret not studying abroad?” The answer is no, I do not regret it. It would have been an amazing experience and I love Europe (and may still live there) but God told me not to and had other plans for me that are much better and much more valuable than any experience I could have had there.
Sunday morning Tim and me had breakfast and went out to catch the bus to the Hauptbahnhof. But we found out that the bus had already come and that I might miss my train. So, we pretty much ran to the city center and caught the bus there just in time.I ended up getting to my train about 2 minutes before it left.
On the train I met another American named Trevor. We talked most of the way to München and at the end decided to meet up for lunch the next day. I found my hostel without any problems. It was just around the corner from the München Hauptbahnhof.
After about an hour and a half Sean showed up, very cold. We put our stuff away and went walking around towards Marienplatz. We saw a cathedral and some other old stuff. He was tired so we went back and he went to bed. I got to spend a fair amount of time in the Word while in Europe. A lot of it was when Sean was sleeping.
The next day we went sight seeing and eventually met Trevor at around 2 p.m. in front of the Hofbrauhaus. But the Hofbrauhaus is ridiculously touristy so we decided to go to a place called Hoxenbrau. Expensive, but so worth it. And then we went to a Bierhalle and a couple liters of beer. So good. After that we went to get coffee and I had my gloves stolen by some Italians (I now have a prejudice against Italians because of several experiences on this trip). Around 8 p.m. Sean was pretty much falling asleep while standing. So, we went back to the hostel and I went to a Cathedral and spent some time in the Word.
The next day we went to a park called the Englischer Garten. It was beautiful. It was covered in fresh snow and it was the only time I saw the sun in Germany. And me and Sean walked on a lake for the very first time! There was a frozen lake in the north part of the park where people were ice skating and playing a game that looked a bit like shuffleboard. I felt like Jesus.
After that we went back to Marienplatz and I had my very first Weißwurst.
The next day we went out to Dachau. If you don’t know, the city of Dachau had one of the very first concentration camps. That was a very sobering experience. It was terrible standing in the “shower rooms” where so many were murdered. Then walking into the room over where their bodies were burned in ovens. The city was beautiful, but so many terrible things happened there that it didn’t matter. It was so strange being in a place where atrocities of the holocaust happened.
After that, we walked around Dachau and got lost. By the time we found our way to the train station, we were super tired. That evening was our last evening in München, so we went to Augustiner Bierhalle for a Maß of beer. I had a conversation with an old German dude at our table about how he wanted to learn how to use a computer, but he was so old that it was hard. It was all in German too, so Sean just sat there looking into the distance.
The next morning we took our flight to London. We made our way to the hostel and then went out to see the slights. We saw Big Ben (which wasn’t too big), the London Eye (which was egregiously expensive), and Buckingham Palace (which was not that impressive). We then went to a pub next to our hostel for a few pints. I kinda felt like CS Lewis, drinking and ale, reading Romans, and writing in my journal.
By the way, the hostel room we were in was interesting. It was nice and clean, but it was tiny and could fit 9 people. If you know old AGO, it was about as big as the quad but with higher ceilings and 3 bunks high. The beds did have curtains that you could pull over the front for some privacy, which was nice.
The next day we went to Westminster Abby and saw a whole bunch of dead people. We saw the graves of tons of kings and queens of England, Charles Dickens, Darwin, David Livingston, Handel, Isaac Newton, etc. After that we went to Kings Cross station and saw platform 9 3/4! I kinda geeked out when I saw that.
Then the next day we went to the British Museum and saw things like the Rosetta Stone, ancient Egyptian, Persian, and Greek things, mummies, and a whole lot of other old stuff. Sean then went off to see Les Miserables so I went to the Apple store, used the internet, and then walked around Hyde Park.
When I went back to the hostel, a group of Australians moved into the room. Sean was feeling sick so I went out with them that night. We tried to find a place to go dancing, but to no avail. We did find a couple sweet pubs, found an outdoor urinal, and I got kissed by a Copper. The Underground closed by the time we were ready to go home, so we tried to find a bus. But after that not working, we took a taxi back to our hostel.
When Sean and me woke up we set out to go to the Tower of London. On the way there we discovered that our hostel was right across from where Sir James Barrie wrote Peter Pan. The Tower was pretty cool. By then, Sean and me were both pretty tired so we just walked around and “oooed” and “awwwed” and things and went back to the hostel. He still wasn’t feeling well, so he went to bed and I packed up my stuff and headed out to the airport.
I got back to Stuttgart without a problem. I had to wait in the airport over night. I got there at 11 p.m. and my flight left at around 9 a.m. the next day. So I just wandered around a deserted airport in the wee hours of the night. It was kinda terrible being in Germany for 9 hours but not being able to go anywhere. Oh well. I did find an internet kiosk which saved my life.
I got home without any problems and my parents picked me up at the airport.
That’s my story.
