We boarded our first flight in Atlanta, where we kissed and hugged our parents "see you later." I cried. Not gonna lie...but the separation wasn't as bad as I thought. I'd only lived with my parents up until this point in my life and this would be the first time I wasn't a 6 hour drive away. The plane trip from Atlanta to Baltimore wasn't bad. Actually, I don't remember it. I do remember being stuck in Baltimore for 10 hours with another hour delay once we boarded the huge patriot express flight. Baltimore was ok. We waited 2 hours in line to claim our baggage. Even that was alright because we were in line behind-and in front of-a group of soldiers deploying to Afghanistan. God Bless Our Troops. All I could think was "Abby, be patient. Your flight isn't as long as theirs. Your destination is not as dangerous as theirs. You get to bring your spouse. They may not see theirs again." It's all about perspective.
We loaded the huge passenger plane on time, just for them to tell us they had done some weight calculations wrong and had to redo the paperwork. Josh was sitting next to me, being the pilot he is, saying he and his buddies always had to do it right the first time and never had this problem. I love him. lol Thankfully, they let us begin our movies. I watched Epic. (If you liked Fern Gully, Thumbelina, Pocahontas, etc, you'll like Epic. It was cute.)
We slept most of the flight. I'm glad we did because it helped with jet lag once we landed in our final destination. When we landed, we unloaded the plane, filled out the respective paperwork, grabbed our luggage, and sat some more. They told us we'd be staying in Keiserslaughten. It's a scary name, but we stayed in a quaint little guest house (hotel). It felt so good to get a shower after our 19 hour journey (thanks to the 11 hour layover in Baltimore)!! After showers, we ate our first German meal together in the restaurant in the hotel. SO. GOOD. If that was any inclination to how our food experience was going to be, man, we were going to be fat and plump in no time, you know, if we didn't work out and eat right and all.
After dinner, we went on a nice little walk in the early fall weather. Here, they actually have fall. You can see the leaves change, the air change, the temperature change. Back home, we had pseudo-winter and summer. A lot of summer. lol. Winter is quickly approaching and I still haven't gone shopping. But, we came back after 20 minutes or so and hit the hay early because we had to be up early to catch our bus to our new post.
That was another 3 hour trip. I'm so thankful they have bathrooms (or WaterClosets) on buses and trains here because I have to pee a lot. :)
Finally, we arrived on post and met two of our sponsors. Before we left we barely had one sponsor. Now? We had at least 2. They helped us load our baggage (my two bags total weighed over 100 pounds and the airline ripped the handles and wheels, making it harder to transport), then took us to a sweet, little guest house. We, again, unpacked, showered, and got ready to explore. Then, Josh got a call from our THIRD sponsor! We went out to eat with him at, our now favorite Italian restaurant, the Stern. Here in Germany, you can sit at a table for HOURS and not be bothered. And that's what we did. We asked questions and Drew answered. Drew asked us questions, we answered, he shared more insight on Germany. Such a needed experience. After dinner, 3 hours later, we walked back to the guest house, and sacked out.
Our first days in Germany were great. But, things only get better from there!
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