Getting to Germany

"Everything worth doing starts with being scared"

Well, I started my day watching thee episodes of Boy Meets World (now you know it's going to be a good day)

The drive to Milwaukee was good, hardly any traffic. Got a little mixed up trying to find the airport. During the drive I kept on receiving calls from United (best perk so far) telling me that my plane was going to be delayed for an hour, and then later only 30 minutes, then back to an hour again when I arrived at the airport.

Went to check my baggage and the nice guy at the register said that he was going to have to change my flight because I would not make my connecting flight out of Newark to Munich. So we had to change my airlines to US Airways--very nice and friendly people--so that I would fly to Philly and then leave there later that night for Munich.

Flight to Philly was alright. I was "lucky" enough to sit on the wing of the plane, which meant that I had the emergency exit door. The southern flight attendant asked if I would assist her in the event that there was a need to exit the plane. "Suuuurree" I said, "Why not?" In my head I was thinking that with my luck, my services would be needed--luckily, they weren't. There were a lot of little antsy and wiggly kids surrounding me who were coming back from the holidays. Behind me sat a husband and wife with their little 1 1/2 year old daughter. The wife and daughter were decked out head to toe in Juicy Couture sweat gear (eye roll) to top it off the mom was constantly swearing (F this and F that) and yelling at her daughter to sleep or quiet down or that she was driving her nuts. It was a long flight.... However, when we "blasted off" the little kids did a count down and were celebrating as we got into the air. Pretty cute!

Landed in Philly, cancelled my previous train ticket for a later time, and waited three hours in the airport biding my time. The plane to Munich boarded on time and as soon as I get to my section on the plane, the power goes out!  Greeeeaattt I thought. Well, we spent 3 1/2 hours waiting at the gate because of oil/tail/back-up power problems. Some people decided to leave the plane and board a different one tomorrow. I didn't feel any uneasiness and the pilot assured us that if he didn't think it was safe to fly, we wouldn't be. I trusted him, stayed, and read a little bit. So I cancelled my train ticket and decided to wait until I arrived to buy it. Finally, we took off. Because of some air pressure, it was a little bumpy of a flight. The perk of this whole plane trip: it was a very light flight and we all got to move around. I even got a whole 4 person row to myself! This came in handy for sleeping purposes later. I watched How I Met Your Mother, a little bit of The Watch, and all of Premium Rush.

Finally, I get to Munich at 11:15am (4:15am Wisconsin time). I get my baggage and find the desk to buy my train ticket (again... again...) The trains here look exactly like the ones in London!! I felt very comfortable there!

The train ride was long… about 3 hours by the time I got to Ansbach. I’m in a VERY rural part of Germany; lots of farms, fields, and trees. But I’m okay with that, it makes it seem more familiar. My Cooperating teacher was there waiting at the station for me with a little sign saying “Welcome Casey” it was really cute. She is a very nice woman and reminds me a lot of my friend Leah. She gave me a quick tour of the city and a brief overview about where things are located. For example, the elementary school that I will be student teaching at is in the city and not the base. She also showed me around the base and let me know all of the things located there: a Wing Street, Burger King, Popeye’s, a bowling alley, Movie Theater, fitness center, grocery store, banks, etc. This place has almost everything you could think of—except Wifi in my apartment. But, hey, it’s free living so I’ll take it! So I won’t be on the internet very often, I’m still trying to figure out where there is Wifi; so mom (and others) don’t worry if you don’t hear from me, I’m fine.

Went to bed around 7pm and slept until 8am