Canada Part II: Some Wanderings

Saturday I spent wandering around the old town of Montreal. It was really a beautiful city, and I got to try poutine!

in front of the town hall

 

Saturday night, I checked in online for my first flight out of Montreal, and discovered that I was able to switch it to 2pm (instead of 7pm), which would help in avoiding any additional storms, but my second flight - my connection home - wouldn't let me check in. Hmm...

So I got to the airport early, a little after 10am, on Sunday morning, just in case there was a problem. There was. Although the United rep had told me that they booked me for the second connection, they didn't. So instead, the woman helping me on Sunday had to spend about 45 minutes trying to book me for a second flight through Charlotte (so Montreal to Dulles, Dulles to Charlotte, Charlotte to Charlottesville) and connect the two flights to make sure my bag would be checked all the way through. Finally, I got through security and customs and called my parents to let them know what the plan was. After some discussion, they decided that they'd rather just pick me up from Dulles and drive home rather than risk the two extra connections going wrong. Good thing they did! The connection from Charlotte to Charlottesville was canceled.. So I got home Sunday evening, but my bag on the other hand, did not. Luckily, it arrived today and was there when I went back to the airport to see if I could track it down.

Phew! Now my adventure is officially over! And I already want to go on another one! It had its ups and downs with a few stressful situations, but I wouldn't take back a second of it.

Je ne sais pas.... Canada say whaat? Part I

So Canada happened. Canada as in, my flight out of Montreal to the US was canceled on Friday night and I had to stay two nights in a Canadian hotel! "Je ne sais pas" is French for "I don't know," (or my favorite translation, "I have not the foggiest idea") which was pretty much my only thought all of Friday night... I have no idea what the heck I'm supposed to do..

I should have known it would be a rough trip when, on the train, I first sat in first class and had to move when the ticket lady informed me of this (I wondered why the seats all looked so nice... I blame lack of sleep!); I moved seats and was fine for a few stops until a huge crowd of chattering German high schoolers got on board and eventually communicated to me that I was sitting in a seat that they had reserved, so I moved again; two stops later, oops! Sitting in yet another reserved seat! Luckily, this woman was super nice and explained to me how to tell which seats are reserved and which aren't, and I found one that was open. Once in Frankfurt, I found one of the girls from my program - we knew we were on the same train, but didn't find each other until at the Frankfurt station - so we successfully navigated our way to the airport (although the signs there were seriously unhelpful) and our gate, since we were on the same flight. Phew, step one, complete!

Krista and me, waving goodbye from Frankfurt airport!

I only had one hour to clear US customs/security and get to my gate, so Krista and I said goodbye at the beginning of the flight and I high-tailed it off of the plane. While in line for customs, my mom texted me saying my flight was delayed an hour. Crap. I'd have only twenty minutes to clear security again and catch my second flight... this would be tricky. I got to my gate and bought some dinner (it was 4pm EST, but felt like 10pm due to jet-lag) when disaster struck. My flight was delayed another hour and intense thunderstorms were rolling in. Krista and I got in contact, since her flight was also delayed, and we found each other again, trying to figure out what we should do. Then my flight just got canceled altogether! We said goodbye yet again and I went off with my fellow passengers to reclaim our luggage and figure out what the heck to do.

After finding my checked baggage (at least I didn't lose my luggage, that's the one thing that went right!) and clearing Canadian customs, I went in search of the United Airlines desk to rebook my flight. There were two women working at the desk and dozens of stranded passengers. For 40 minutes I was on the phone with the UA helpdesk, while still waiting in line, but nothing was available. There were no flights to JFK, Dulles, Newark, LaGuardia - anything and everything to the US was booked full. Finally I got to the front desk and they found a flight for me on Sunday night at 7pm. So that left me two entire days to kill in Montreal, Canada. At this point, it was about 9:15pm EST, and felt like 3am. Luckily, there was a shuttle from the airport to two hotels - Best Western and Fairfield Marriot. On the shuttle, I found two other women, also stranded. One already had called the hotel and booked a room, but the second and I were just hoping against all hope that there would be something for us. (Everyone in the airport line had been calling hotels and everything was full.) Luckily again, the woman at the hotel desk was very friendly and sympathetic and somehow found us a room that we could share. After a quick shower, I passed out around 11pm, which felt like 5am. What a day!

Farewell

This morning marks my very last in Freiburg (this time around at least!) and it is with a heavy heart that I write this, looking around my room at my last few items to pack (hopefully they'll all fit??) and having said farewell to everyone from my program last night. It has truly been the experience of a lifetime; I have had so many wonderful moments, exciting adventures, eaten some incredible food, overcome challenges, and met some amazing people. Here is a brief look at my 23 partners in crime from these last two months abroad:

Hanna and Hurricane Jane

at Al-Jazeera

Austin and Daniel

Emily and Tall Matt - oh, the faces these two make!

Austin, me, and Brett

Chris and me (the All-Star Team at the 4th of July)

me, Krista, Susanna, and Tall Matt

me and Brett

Daniel, Hanna, Brady, and Jane

me and Jane

in the airport - off to Sarajevo!

Tall Matt and me - two of the cool kids from EngelbergerstraBe

our farewell dinner in Kosovo

me, Brett, Jane, Matt, and Robbie

me, Jane, Hanna, and Krista

Daniel and me

Daniel, Brady, Emily, Jane, me, and Hanna - we ate every last bite of food on that table

and finally... the group!

It has been a wonderful summer, and I will miss everyone so much! If you wish to keep up with my antics, at the bequest of one of my fellow Freibergers I will be keeping another blog (as of yet unstarted, though) about my fabulous life back in the States. Wish me luck on my voyage home! Until next time, Tschüß!

Munsterplatz Market

Very last day in Freiburg, but I finally remembered to snap some pictures of the munsterplatz market!

one of our favorite Wurst stands

And yes, I know I'm not in any of these, but there is more to come, I promise!

If home is where the heart is, I have about 4 homes

My heart is split between four different cities - Charlottesville, Bethlehem, Sarajevo, and Freiburg. I wish I could be everywhere at once! I'm excited to return home, but I know I'll miss Freiburg as soon as I leave, just as I already miss Sarajevo and am very much looking forward to going back to school.

Things I miss about my hometown:
- my family
- blue Gatorade. I have been craving blue Gatorade!
- free laundry
- a very large kitchen that magically refills with food (thanks Mom!)
- having a dishwasher
- homecooked meals
- work & my work families (and, you know, being able to replenish my bank account)
- Bodo's. The best bagel shop on earth.
- my familiar running trails
- my church

Things I miss about school/am excited to return to:
- my team
- the Goose!
- having my own kitchen (even though I'll have to do the work of grocery shopping and cooking and cleaning)
- a free gym
- my TEAM! I am so excited to see my running sisters again
- being able to speak English at all times (just for America in general)

Things I miss about Sarajevo:
- Cevapcici
- ice cream stands every 200m
- the copper alley
- the culture!
- cobblestone streets
- the stalls full of richly colored pashminas
- the history; as sad as it was, I like having my mind blown by how resilient these people are
- the hills; the only places to run are uphill, which is ridiculously painful, but my calves are so sculpted now!
- stone water fountains


Things I still love about Freiburg:
- being able to walk everywhere
- Doener
- the tram
- how environmentally conscious everyone is
- all of the delicious ice cream places (not as many as in Sarajevo, but still more than home!)
- the fresh strawberry stands
- Saladchen (salad and noodles!)
- the challenge of trying to hold my own in a different language, and the small triumphs when I am able to hold a full conversation in German
- everyone in my program
- roaming the town, just discovering new places every time I venture out
- the Munsterplatz & the market there
- Feierlings
- wurst
- Bächle
- not using a cellphone
- rooftop dinners
- bikes! bikes everywhere!
- Freiburger (a delicious hamburger restaurant!)
- the chocolate (Rittersport? yes please.)
- the bakeries

 

I had what was potentially my very last doener for dinner tonight. The day doener makes its way over to the U.S. will be a great day indeed. Last night a bunch of us had a cookout to celebrate the end of classes and ended up having an impromptu game of soccer, too! Naturally, my team won.

I've been reprimanded for not having enough pictures of my group, but don't worry, there will be some coming! We have our farewell dinner tomorrow night, so I'll gather up a few more group pictures for y'all.