By this time tomorrow I’m going to be on a plane headed
to Frankfurt, Germany. It still doesn’t really feel real, but I imagine it will
really hit when my parents leave me at the airport with all my bags to go
through the security process. Not only will I be going on my first flight alone,
it will be the longest flight I’ve ever been on and I’m going to be in a
foreign country where I don’t know the official language. A million things
could go wrong tomorrow, I could get lost, miss my flight, have a nervous
breakdown, the possibilities are literally endless.
I still have to finish packing (or repack) since I’ve
been on “vacation” at my sister’s place in Dallas Fort Worth. How will I ever
decide which clothes I’m going to be sending home with my parents? Germany just
sounds so cold, and apparently it also has cold rains and snow. I grew up in
South Texas, living only an hour from the beach. I have no clue what a “real
winter” is. There is no winter where I am from, I even wore shorts on Christmas
Day. On top of that, I’ve seen and touched snow only three times in my life. When I moved to
College Station, I thought it was cold there. Going to Germany, I feel like I
need to bring and wear every jacket I own to stay warm. I’ve even been
imagining myself to look like Ralphie’s little brother from A Christmas Story,
all bundled up, barely able to walk or move much.
Despite being mostly of German decent I know next to no
German (along with trust issues with Google Translator). I have no idea how I’m
going to find things or anything. Although, I do know that French fries are “pomme
frites” so at least I won’t be starving. It is possible that I could mime what I
need or want, since my foreign language was American Sign Language. I’m also hopeful
that my investment in several German phrase books will actually pay off too.
Although, I know I will get a lot of laughs from my terrible pronunciation
(Hence, why I took Sign Language over Spanish).
Now that I’m thinking about food, I’m very curious what German
potato salad is like. Potato salad is a German food right? It’s always a favorite
at all of our family’s gatherings, but I’m sure its evolved a lot from its original
recipe. Now it consists of potatoes, mayonnaise, a lot of diced dill pickles
and some salt and pepper. The food is going to be so different from what we
have here, but I’m looking forward to that. It will be nice to have a
diet that is not primarily pizza and hamburgers.
Regardless, of all the things that could go wrong, I’m
very excited to be traveling to Germany. I’m going to get to see and experience
what it is like to live outside of Texas and the United States.
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