August 8th, Moving

I’m making the exciting and spontaneous (and at the same time non-optional and pre-planned) move abroad to Germany. I’m going to be Elle Woods moving to Harvard or, at the very least, Anne Hathaway discovering herself in the Devil wears Prada.

Of course, these dreams involve American stars and legendary cities, rather than just another English year abroad student and the little-known city called Kiel where I’ll be living out my new life as a glamorous working girl (in the non-prostitute sense of the word). However, as the studious Third Year that I am, I am well informed of Germany’s underrated attractions and am therefore prepared to disregard both the weather and the national sausage obsession. You might  even say I am feeling confident about this move.

Execution:

I managed being driven to the airport like a pro. Even my packing, completed carefully in the weeks (*night) before, wasn’t a disaster and I ended up only forgetting a toothbrush – luckily it seems that Germans are big on dental hygiene and currently sell toothbrushes at the reasonable price of €1.50 which, as it happens, is just 0.2% of my €500 ‘salary’. Probably.

Having thought ahead, I also brought along my boyfriend in the capacity of Second Suitcase Holder. (I have since been informed that is in fact possible to bring only one suitcase for the year but luckily, I was unaware of this at the time.) The combined brain power of myself and said Suitcase Holder (also known as Dave) landed us at Hamburg central station before finally failing us.

At this point, I attempted an impressively stunted conversation in German, all the while fully convinced that the German  would eventually whip out his famed English fluency and actually help us. Everyone speaks English, right? This German however had clearly taken a disliking to me and continued plaguing me with what may have been directions. Nodding throughout and walking confidently off when the break in the conversation suggested it was over, I managed to maintain my dignity and left Dave to his original suggestion of Google Maps.

One way or another (mostly by train and foot), we made it to our Airbnb where our host made the whole journey worth it with his friendly greeting and wagging tail. The people who also happened to live there gave us a short tour and Dave and I retired to our room to plot a dognapping.

Arrival:

Two mostly sleep and partly tourist filled days later, we stepped onto the bus from Hamburg to Kiel. Departing at one minute to 15:00, I felt a mix of emotions. Happy that this German [bus driver] at least, was living up to his stereotype, sympathetic over the woman running desperately after the bus, and at the same time secretly pleased that it was not me running. I may also have felt some excitement about finally beginning the last leg of the journey and starting my year long stay in Germany.