Catherine's Escapades: The Landing
This blog is going to tell the tale of an American girl navigating her way through her study abroad in Mayen, Germany. This girl just walked across the stage for her graduation from Michigan State University at the age of 22, has a boyfriend for the first time since she was 18 years old, if that toxic relationship that lasted for one year too many is included that is, and is spending the next six and a half weeks in that quaint city located roughly two hours northwest of Frankfurt.
After saying goodbye to her boyfriend who so generously drove her to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on May 19th, 2016, this girl easily got through security and set up shop at the PF Changs in the McNamara terminal, where she mistakenly ordered too much wine and bordered the plane a little drunk. She didn’t mind though; a seven hour flight would give her ample time to sober up before the descent into a country where her only way of communication would be a continuous game of charades, which, after a very uncomfortable two hours of sleep on a plane where shrieking children were more than welcome, was even to be a challenge.
The plane landed and the protagonist of this tale walked off the plane overly packed luggage in tow to the bus that would take her to the terminal where she would meet the rest of her group. So far so good for the young American, sluggishly following the mass of people arriving at the Frankfurt airport. Once finding the line for customs, she waited patiently, eyeing the very attractive customs officer to the booth in the very left. She was only slightly disappointed when she got the grumpy old man two booths down who looked as if he hated his job more than this girl hated the taste of beer, which for background information is very hard to do. Thankfully, this grey-haired, wrinkle-prone officer stamped her through without questions and she was able to find her group sitting in the waiting area outside of baggage claim easily. The assistant professor of the program immediately began speaking German and this American girl (let’s call her Catherine from here on out) felt like Japanese would have made more sense.
“Hast du einen guten Flug?”
“Uhh, yes. I mean, Ja,” Catherine responded groggily.
“Gut! Nun, jeder ist hier, wir können den Bus gehen!”
Now Catherine knew that she would be a little irritable after her flight, but it seemed like Carrie was a little too chipper for everyone that morning. “Where’s the coffee,” she thought bitterly, following Carrie, the grad TA Charlie, and some of her fellow classmates to the bus that would drive them the two hours to their new homes.
She slept most of the way, only waking up a few times to hear a couple verses of “We Got the World” by Icona Pop, “This is What you Came For” by Calvin Harris, and “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony. The perfect mix to rock her to sleep apparently.
She and her two roommates were the first people to be dropped off at their host’s home. The family had three kids, the eldest being 19 and the youngest being 14, and made sure each of the three American newcomers felt not only welcomed, but comfortable, especially when it came to speaking a language that none of them had very much experience speaking. Of course, it wouldn’t be as funny of a story if Catherine wasn’t the worst speaker of them all.
Formalities were exchanged and the father and son helped the three women to their rooms. Catherine had her own loft, at least for now, and each got comfortable in their new room. Unpacking the over-stuffed luggage, Catherine contemplated the next six weeks. She already felt out of place, out of her league, and scared of having to master a language in a month and a half that most people take years to learn. She picked herself up though and realized that she had to take advantage of this opportunity. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, she reminded herself and looked in the mirror. Before deciding that she looked presentable enough for lunch, she sauntered down the steps to meet the last two children of her host family.
Homemade everything. Soup, bread, jam. Catherine was thankful that the food was so good because it was a welcomed distraction from the awkward lack of conversation. Sitting at the head of the table, Catherine ate her third meal of the day, trying, and failing, to not be intimidated by her new family. By the end of the meal, she felt more comfortable, but still not enough to do anything more than nod and smile accordingly, or so she thought at least.
The next couple hours were spent wandering the city with her roommates and housemother and learning about some of the history behind Mayen. They went to the biggest church in the square, the place that would be their school for the summer, and got to see their first castle, well as big a castle as a city like Mayen can possess. Thankfully, the strain on trying to understand German came to a halt as it was time for the three Americans to meet the rest of their study abroad group for dinner.
After a glass of wine and talks of travel, Catherine and one of her roommates went home, jetlag setting in, and a short conversation with her boyfriend in the States, she quickly fell asleep at an early 9:30pm.