The Eagle has Landed - Monday, August 12, 2013

It still hasn't completely hit me.

These past couple days have been pretty insane. I don't think I know what time is anymore, and I'm not entirely sure what a full night of sleep feels like. My feet are sore from my new winter boots I had to wear to make my luggage lighter. I sweat pretty much all day in my winter coat. We traveled for a good thirty hours or so. There is so many things to complain about, but I couldn't be more stoked on life.

Ironically while at the hotel in D.C., we met an exchange group from Germany that had just arrived in the U.S. and was about to part ways and travel to their host families to start their year abroad. We exchanged advice and warnings of what things would be like in our home countries. The director of their exchange group even corrected some of the incorrect phrases in my Dirty German book (and let me tell you, these things were not typically things you would say around a fifty-year-old man, however he was laughing just as much as the kids - culture shock). 

On my flight to Germany, I sat next to a girl who had been on exchange to the U.S. about ten years ago who is from around the city I am going to be staying this next year. It really is a small world. Even smaller, when we arrived in Germany we met some people from Luxembourg who were traveling to Canada for the rock climbing world championship; they happened to know my brother's wife's cousins who are going to the same championship.

When we got out of the airport it finally started feeling like we weren't in America anymore. The small town I am staying at for language camp is insane. The roads are tiny and there is cigarette vending machines on the streets. I'm living in a monastery for the next month and I don't think I have ever seen so much history in just one building. Old sewing machines, sleighs, and other contraptions on display lines the hallways. Downstairs there is even an old tombstone that is in the ground that the hardwood floor is cut around. 

We had schnitzel and french fries for dinner and then were allowed some free time after a quick overview of what would happen during language camp. We explored the small town around 9:00, and everything was closed except a small restaurant that served kebabs and other foods. The employees knew almost no English, and I pretty much know a total of three words in German. 

This is when things started actually sinking in. I am now the foreigner. No longer am I the one showing people from different countries around. I have to fend for myself (well, for now I have my fellow Americans), use hand gestures, and ultimately just have a good time. I have never been more excited to feel as helpless as I do now. 

Tomorrow we start learning the language. Wish me luck!

I'll leave you with this quote from the book I am reading that gives me non-stop chills. I highly recommend reading One Year Lived by Adam Shepard.

Whether escpaing the mundane or chasing excitement, why do some people talk about their dream to do something anomalous and others actually do it?