Departure - Febraury 02,03,04

I flew out of Chicago today at 7:30ish. We had been scheduled to leave earlier, but some snow needed to be removed from the wings before we left. As we flew I had fun perusing the movie options available. I also had the seat next to me since no one was there so I turned on the map on in the empty seat and watched Fight Club in mine. Once that was done and dinner of beef stroganoff with peas and carrots was served (It actually tasted quite good) I slipped myself an Advil PM and waited for sleep to come. It didn't for quite a while. I paged a flight attendant and asked her if there were any other seats open with more leg room, intending for her to maybe move me up to first class or even business class, but she lead me to the exit row where I chose a seat by the door. It had this little bump out just big enough for me to rest my feet on. Once I was settled and the drugs were really kicking in, I drifted off to sleep listening to the Valentine's Day CD that Kelsey had slipped into my backpack before she took me to the airport. A perfect chill mix to soothe and out me to sleep.
I woke up around 6:50AM Dublin time (1:50AM at home). A little breakfast platter had been set in the vacant seat next to me. A breakfast croissant, a cup of orange juice, and a spare cup for tea or coffee. I had tea with one cream and one sugar. You could say that it was quite literally my cup of tea! As we started to descend I watched the little patchwork fields below. We landed into rainy Dublin. After checking out the food court in order to locate the bathrooms, I walked something close to a mile to find the Aer Lingus Business Lounge. Once I finally did get there I had a light breakfast and took a shower! It was wonderful to be clean again! After lounging for a while (actually a long while) I decided that I'd better figure out where I would be flying out from. I found my gate and took a seat, but not before buying myself a Galaxy bar, silky smooth all right! I found an outlet and plugged in my computer and then my iPad and phone into my computer. I wanted to make sure that I'd have enough battery on either of all three devices whenever it was that I would get to Schwaebisch Hall. 
I used my coat as a pillow and listened to the newscaster talk about today's flooding in Southeast Ireland. I whiled away the hour by checking and rechecking my Facebook and email accounts and then reading through a paper for Kels. As it got closer to boarding time a group of young people sat down near my seat. I asked one of them what it was that they were all doing. One of the guys said that they were going to visit the European Union Parliament building in Strasbourg. They weren't from a school, they were just a group of people that wanted to go see an important government building. This guy in particular was from Belfast. He asked where I was from and then what i was doing in Germany. When I told him that I would be studying German he said that he much preferred English, French, or Spanish. In his opinion, it sounded a lot easier. 
The gate attendant announced that we were beginning to board so I got up and found my seat. The flight attendant let me sit in an exit row because of the better leg room. Once again, I was very thankful! It took a while for us to get going, but I didn't really care. I was so tired that, despite me always being fascinated by taking off in a plane, I didn't even bother to look at Dublin fading away. I just kept my eyes closed. There weren't any free snacks on the flight so I didn't get anything. I slept on and off throughout the sub-2-hour flight until we landed in Frankfurt. Like the last time that I flew into Frankfurt, we got off outside and were shuttled to the airport via bus. 
I went through customs and went to the baggage claim. Thankfully I had borrowed a huge blue-green suitcase from Tom and Tracy so I was able to spot it right away. I grabbed it and made my way towards the train station. It took me a little bit, but I got to the travel information desk where I bought my train ticket from Frankfurt to Stuttgart and on to Schwaebisch Hall. I looked at my ticket and, thanks to my lack of sleep, somehow interpreted 21:20 as meaning 11:20. So I casually strolled around the station and found a Starbucks where I ordered a white chocolate mocha with skim milk and whipped cream. The guy seemed puzzled by the fact that I had ordered a "skinny" latte with cream so he asked if I knew what I was ordering. I started speaking in German, but we both quickly realized that I was not effectively communicating my point. He asked if I wanted to speak English or German. I told him that I was studying here this semester and that I had to improve my German skills. He understood, gave me a smile, and said "okay". I sat down and enjoyed the free wifi as I waited for my train. 
Ten to fifteen minutes had gone by when I realized that I had misread the train departure time. I swore to myself. I quickly gathered my things, said goodbye to the guy behind the counter, and hustled over to the information booth complete with shallow nervous breathing. I approached the booth and told the attendant what my situation was. He understood, but told me that there were no more trains going to Schwaebisch Hall tonight. There was a train going to Stuttgart, but the train to Schwaebisch Hall would be arriving at 5:43AM. Crap. So I thanked him and went to the elevator to get to the lower level where the tracks were. 
After waiting for about an hour (I still had another hour to wait) I asked someone if I was on the right platform. He said no. Despite my ticket saying that I had to be on platform 4, he was saying that I had to be on 6. Oh my goodness! So I thanked him and headed to the elevator where a young woman was exiting. I asked her the same thing, explaining that I was a confused American looking for any help I could get. She smiled and said that I probably had to go over to platform 6. So I thanked her as well and headed up the elevator and across the bridge where I asked a guy in his mid 20's the same question, using the same setup as I had with the woman. He also said platform 6. Good! Third time's the charm. So I went down the escalator and at the bottom asked a woman in her 60's the same question again. Platform 6. Whew! I waited for about 30 minutes when I saw a train pull up. I had learned in the few hours that I had already been there that trains arrive and take off very quickly. And I mean very quickly. So I ran to the nearest open door and thankfully saw the conductor and asked if the train was going to Stuttgart. Indeed it was! I said "thank you", hopped on, and found a seat as quickly as possible! I was so thankful to just be sitting again, which is ironic since that was exactly what I had been griping about in my thought earlier today. 
The train stayed at the station for about 30 minutes. A ways into the trip a woman sitting two rows ahead of me asked what the next stop was. It took me by surprise, so I stumbled with my words, then explained that I was an American. We rode until Mannheim. The woman and her husband started moving their luggage towards the exit doors. During this she spoke with me asking what I was doing in Stuttgart and when I told her that I was traveling to Schwaebisch Hall what I would be doing there. I told her about studying at the Goethe Institut and then the University of Vienna. I told her that my major was German. She was happy to hear that, but said that Austrian German wasn't real German with a smile. I passed it off. She and her husband had been in Spain on vacation and had just gotten back today. She wished me good luck and exited the train. After my friendly couple had left I started getting more and more anxious that Stuttgart would be the next stop (even though I knew it wouldn't be because I had the map in front of me) and checked the map over and over again. 
We stopped for at least 20 minutes at the Karlsruhe train station and, when we started moving again I realized that we were going backwards. I almost pooped. But just then the conductor came on the PA and said that we were heading towards Munich which was in the right direction! Whew! If I had been getting at all drowsy, I was wide awake again. I arrived in Stuttgart at 3:20AM (9:20PM at home) and walked around the mostly empty station. There was one shop that was actually open; a freaking bakery. It hasn't even been a full day in Germany and I think that I've already had enough bread! ... I had a ham and cheese croissant. Then I tried wandering around to find wifi. No luck. I settled back in the little cafe and waited for some seating to become available. There were some "stereotypical" German teens hanging around and though it's not fair to judge, I felt better when they cleared out. I listened to the latest hits that were playing, most of which were in English and most of which sucked. I don't ever think I'll be able to listen to Robin Thicke or Britney Spears at 4:00 in the morning. 
There were some sketchy-looking (I think) teenage Russian boys in the lounge. They were making me feel the same "I don't feel comfortable here" feeling. Really it's times like those when I wish that I had traveled with someone else from the program... Or it makes me wish that I could get some homestyle comfort that I can't get anywhere else like taking a bath in mom's tub. It also makes me extremely thankful for the environment that I grew up in. Very thankful! Regardless, I know that sleep would help make everything better. 
I went to the info booth once I saw that there were people their and I asked when the train to Schwaebisch Hall was departing. The lady gave me another schedule with the same time on it as my other one. I went back into the cafe just to stay warm. 
When 5:00 rolled around, I decided that I'd rather wait in the cold for the train that listen to more of Germany's top 40. Apparently all of the trains come in one after another when it's 5:00. I watched as my train pulled in. I watched the conductor get out of the engine and walk down the line of trains for inspection. When he came back he asked if he could help me. I asked if I could wait in the train until it was time to go. He said yes, but after he asked where I was going to be sure that I was headed in the right direction. Once the train started up I set the timer on my phone for 50 minutes. 
When a train says that it will arrive at 6:53AM it means that it will arrive then and you have to get off then and there. Despite my best efforts I dozed and woke up slightly panicking to the sound of the timer going off. I still had a few minutes until I arrived. When I did I hopped out of the train with my luggage and went to the street where I hopped in a taxi. I told the driver that I was going to the Goethe Institut. 
About 10 minutes and 20 euros later he dropped me off in the dark in front of the Institut. I punched the door code in that I had received in an email and went inside. A lady there told me to leave my luggage downstairs and that it would be brought to my dormitory for me. She escorted me upstairs where I was given a meal pass good for breakfast and dinner each day at the Institut. She told me that breakfast had just started and that afterwards we would have a formal welcome meeting for the students. I had a breakfast of a roll with strawberry jam, strawberry yogurt, cornflakes, and tea. I saw Jesse and said hello. He asked when I had gotten in to Schwaebisch Hall and that he had been worried. I sat down and ate. I met Jesse's roommate Remi and then, once done with the meal headed to the meeting. I saw a few people around the room and sheepishly asked if anyone there was in the Vienna program. One guy. Andrew. We talked and both said that it was nice to be speaking English again. Before the meeting started I met another Vienna participant, Charlotte from Rhode Island who was wearing cowboy boots. In the program we learned that there were participants there from 24 countries! At the end they called off names for who would be in each class. About 15 of us were not called because we had not been able to take our placement exams yet. So off we went. 
The exam consisted of two parts: a multiple choice exam on grammar and an interview with one of the proctors. I didn't do so well on the grammar section, but ended up scoring way higher in my interview. Therefore I was moved to the higher level class. Everyone else had a coffee break and then we went to our appropriate classes. I did a general introduction and then was made to promise that I would sing for the class when I was ready. Oh boy... We had another break during which I downed some coffee. Then it was back to class. I kept nodding despite my best efforts. My teacher surely noticed, but was sympathetic. When class ended I went downstairs to have lunch: chicken, broccoli, and rice. I talked with Charlotte and Andrew some more. Charlotte had to go upstairs again to get her meal card from the offices and I had to go get my dormitory key. Once we were both took care of what we needed she led me to the dormitory since I hadn't even seen the city by daylight. 
I unlocked my room and saw my things there. I started to unpack and then my roommate came in. His name is Ewen and he is from France. We talked the best we could in German while I unpacked my things. He left and then I called Kelsey via Skype. After we chatted for a while we hung up because I was going to Skype with Mother but fell asleep before I got to it. I took a nap for four hours then got up to get some internet housekeeping done which included checking emails, Facebook, and working on my journal.
I'm now officially caught up with myself. I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight so that I can have a chance at a great day tomorrow. I just have a journal entry to do for my class and a small homework assignment. Goodnight moon, goodnight my someone, and Tschüss!