A Joyous Adventure, Joyous Beyond Words

In case you were not aware, Murphy’s Law is universal and the Europeans have adopted it.

But first, the good news. The train ride was pretty uneventful and actually fun. There was a really pretty sunset and I was in a booth thingy with 4 other really cool people (well, I only actually talked to two of them, after the other two got off) but they both live in Paris and talking was a good way to pass the time. We kind of had this weird conversation in French and English, as I started talking to this girl in French, and then there was a Lebanese guy who spoke French, but they both spoke good English, so we’d kind of randomly switch languages and it felt pretty good to be able to use both. Anyways, on to the good stuff.

So my ticket said that I had a direct route to Karlsruhe with no connections, and as on the way back my ticket shows a connection through Strasbourg I didn’t worry about any connections. So we get to the end of the train ride, and although I arrived on time, I arrived in the wrong city. I guess I was supposed to switch in Strasbourg (thanks for the heads up guys) so I was on a train that just went south for an hour and a half to some dumb French city called Mulhouse. Then, I proceeded to wait about an hour for the next train (I just thank God there was a next train) to take me back to Strasbourg (that’s another hour and a half mind you) so I could take the next train to Karlsruhe. I got to Strasbourg at about 1 o’clock, and as 1 AM isn’t exactly the prime takeoff time for trains, I had to wait around till 6:54 for the next train.

As the train man not so kindly informed me, the train station was closing, so I took my backpack and messenger bag and proceeded to embark on an excursion of Strasbourg in the middle of the night. Luckily Turkish restaurants close obscenely late, because I hadn’t eaten really anything since lunch. But alas, the Turkish restaurant wasn’t going to stay open until 6:54, so I had to leave, but the nice man working there let me know there was a Café (aka Bar) that was open till 4 AM. So I went there, grabbed some German beer, and watched the rest of Gangs of New York that I had yet to finish after starting on the train. Again, 4 AM is not 6:54 so I had to figure out what to do after they closed. It was actually a beautiful night, and feeling somewhat supercharged by the presence of my backpacking backpack, I proceeded to sleep for about an hour on the street. Well I guess I laid there for an hour, and probably slept for about half of that. I don’t really understand why it suddenly felt a lot colder when I woke up, but I felt that since the train station was open I should go there (although you can’t lay down at train stations) and try to get some warm sleep. I fell asleep kind of awkwardly on a bench (I’m extremely thankful I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere) until before I had to leave, so that helped the extreme boredom that was beginning to set in.

On the next train (where I am writing this now), the attendant lady tried to tell me that I needed to pay an extra 60 Euros because my train ticket wasn’t valid for the right connection from Karlsruhe to Goettingen (where Tyler is picking me up). Thanks so much to debate and my love of a good argument, I gently informed her (well as gently as can be after the extreme agitation I’ve been feeling about this whole ordeal) of what happened and that I didn’t feel I should have to pay since the reason I missed the right train was because of a screw up on the part of her company. My persuasion (or maybe my exceedingly good looks) succeeded, and she wrote a little note on the back of my ticket so I won’t have to pay when I switch. SCORE! Seriously, if I would have had to pay 60 extra Euros I would have freaked out. But as of right now, I’m watching the sunrise over the German country side and it is beautiful. So I’m content because of that, and also because I’ll be able to make a connection to Goettingen right after I get off this train, so that in total I’ll only be 3 hours late.


It’s Midnight and I’m here, in Hann. Meunden. I didn’t just get here, just haven’t had time yet to post this bad boy. Being reunited with one of my best friends is basically the best thing that could happen at this moment of time. I spent the last 5 minutes of the train ride barely able to control my joy and thus smiling uncontrollably without control. Today was amazing, although slightly uneventful. We walked around Hann. Meunden, which is beautiful and despite all joking, is the European garden of Eden. It’s fall so all the leaves are turning and it was actually really hot today. So Tyler showed me around and we took some pictures (those will come later, as I haven’t loaded them yet). I then took a nap which was supposed to last an hour, but ended up lasting 2 and a half, as either my alarm didn’t go off or I don’t know what. But after 19 hours of travel and maybe 3 hours of sleep, I think a little sleep was warranted. We ate some dinner and had an amazing conversation, then Phillipp (tyler’s host brother) got home from Volleyball and yet another great conversation ensued. I am loving life. More updates later.


Tchuss,

Brent


p.s sorry i tried to post this last night but blogger was down