I've Arrived!

                 I am writing this post in Viernheim, Germany!  I have made it to my house, met my flat mates, and am ready to start teacher orientation!  It was quite a wonderful trip getting here, and many thanks goes to my Aunt Machushla, Uncle Paul, cousins Ian & Arras, and my friend Eric Geary whom I graduated from high school with and now lives in Germany quite the happy coincidence!

                I left Washington State on Tuesday, August 20^th after my awesome cousin Kristina woke up at the crack of dawn to buy me tea and doughnuts on the way to SeaTac airport.  She wished me farewell, and I checked into my flight.  I landed at Reagan in Washington DC where my cousin Arras collected me from the airport and drove me to Severna Park and I had a lovely dinner with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins.  Aunt Cush, Uncle Paul, and Ian had just returned from Ireland, and Ian was eager to tell me all about my Irish heritage with the help of 6 beautifully wrought pewter cups depicting several of Ireland's famous legends and lore.  Aunt Cush and I also took Angus the Westie for a walk and met a few of the neighbors. 

On Wednesday my cousin Arras and I took the subway into the city to visit the National Mall.  I am delighted that our nation’s capitol is so accessible!  We first visited the Freer Art Gallery before wandering to the visitor center in the Castle where I understand the Smithsonian collection was initially displayed.  I purchased a lovely charm bracelet which I intend to add to throughout my travels here in Europe!  We were hungry, and found some delicious and interesting fare at the Native American Museum, before boarding the hop-on/hop-off buss to take us around the capital.  We visited Madame Tesaud’s wax museum and poked around in the gift shop of Ford’s Theater before meeting a dear friend at the Navy Memorial.  We visited over tea, and then Arras and I saw the Air and Space Museum.  We boarded the subway and I fell asleep on the way back to Severna Park. 

Aunt Cush and Ian accompanied me into the city on Thursday morning.  They got a head start at the Natural History Museum while I took the opportunity to visit the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.  I joined Ian and Aunt Cush at the museum in time for lunch, and then Ian was my tour guide through the geology, insect, mammal, fossil, and ocean exhibits.  The photo gallery was spectacular!  I now have three new dream destinations based upon the breath taking photos I observed.  Sadly, we had to head back to Severna Park as my flight was that evening.  I wish I had more time – there is SO much to see and do in DC!  It was Uncle Paul’s birthday, so after a delicious meal of Chinese take-out, Arras presented the lovely cake she had baked for her father completely from scratch.  My cousin is a very talented woman!  Then Uncle Paul drove me to the airport in plenty of time for the next leg of my journey.

I landed at Frankfurt International around 10am Friday morning, cleared customs, collected my baggage, visited the USO, and made my way to the train station.  It is awkward taking trains with large and bulky luggage – I will be traveling much lighter for the rest of my stay, but considering I was packing for a year, I can’t really complain.  I made it to Stuttgart around 2pm and managed to find a Starbucks with free wifi (one of my favorite things about starbucks!), ordered a Chai Latte, then worked on my German flashcards while people watching until my friend Eric arrived.  It is truly excellent that I have friends and family here already! We took the train to a parking lot where he drove the rest of the way to his place – a 3 story town house just outside the city.  We walked to dinner and had a grand time catching up.  The next day we went shopping in Stuttgart, where I purchased a cardigan (I may need to purchase more cold weather clothes sooner than I planned!) and two books in German to help facilitate my learning.  Luckily, there was an Irish festival in another suburb of Stuttgart, and after a hearty lunch of spatzle, we watched an Irish band rock out while drinking a few pints of ale and cider.  I met some of Eric’s co-workers and then called it a night.  After a quick and much appreciated breakfast of waffles and sausage (I find that jet-lag is most profound for my appetite – I wake up ravenous!), Eric drove me to Viernheim.  Sadly, I slept almost the entire way, so I didn’t see much of the country side, but we found my house and my flat mates are wonderful.  They like playing board games as much as I do, and even have Settlers of Catan!  We had a lovely evening with their German friends, discussing different pronunciations and differences between phonetics of the English and German languages.  All in all, it has been an excellent adventure getting here.  Next up: Teacher Orientation starts this week.  Wish me luck!