The day was February 14, 2019. Valentine’s Day. It started out like any other day, slow and steady, until I received word that a delivery had come for me! What? A package? I haven’t ordered anything… it must be a gift. A gift it was- a bouquet of red roses from my sweet boyfriend.
Feeling like an extra special girl for the rest of the day, I was so excited to get home and put my new fresh flowers in a vase. But I had one obstacle- physiology homework. I worked for hours, but it never seemed to end. When 10 pm rolled around, my brain, yearning for rest, could no longer take a single more osmolarity calculation, and I decided that it was time to head home.
I pulled out my public transportation app to determine the fastest route. It instructed me to catch tram 66, then make a connection to get on bus 636. Easy. Or so I thought.
I confidently hopped on tram 66 at 10:24, ready to make my connection at 10:47. I was making great time. I got off at my tram stop, ready to get on the bus so I could get home and put my flowers in a vase. Who knows the last time they had water? Anyways, I shimmied over to the bus stop, which happened to be close-50 meters or so from the tram platform, only to check the schedule and find that there was not a bus leaving at 10:47! I had to wait to catch the bus at 11:01. The last bus of the night.
I weighed my options- do I go back to town and catch a different bus? Or wait 14 minutes in the bitter cold for the last bus of the night? I was going to wait. It was far too cold to stand outside, so I decided that I would get back on the tram, just to pass the time. I rode the tram- 3 stops backwards, and 3 stops forward. Back to where I needed to be to catch my 11:01 bus. It was 10:58 and I was feeling good, ready to go home to a warm shower and some dinner, and most importantly to put my flowers in a vase.
11:01. No bus in sight. My mind flashed back to the line I had heard so many times before: “the bus always comes.” So I waited. By 11:15, I was feeling hopeless. This bus is my only way to get home. This bus is my lifeline. Eventually, I realized it was not coming.
My mind flashed back to another line, only this time it was from my father: “OnLy tUrN yOuR phOnE oN In eMerGeNciEs.” This was an emergency. I was on the outskirts of town, with no idea how to get home. It was late. My flowers were dying. I turned my phone off of airplane mode, ready to log into my app and find an alternate route home.
Tragedy. I had no internet connection. Of course I didn’t, I was in the middle of the countryside of Germany. What do I do know? The options were running through my brain. Do I walk home 5 miles through dark, twisty roads? Am I going to have to hitchhike? I chose the latter. The opportunity arose- I spotted a couple taking a leisurely walk. A totally normal activity to do at this time of night.
I reluctantly approached them, my bouquet in my hand, and asked them if they could give me a ride home. It would only be 5 miles, right? Easy drive. The husband replied to me, “I can’t drive, I’m drunk.” My soul was crushed. They were my last hope. As I sat at the bus stop, I couldn’t help but feel defeated.
Like a sign from the heavens, I realized that I have this baby.
What is this, you ask? It is my AIB phone. It had been at the bottom of my backpack for the past 2 weeks. I turned it on- ONE bar of battery left. Beautiful. I called my host mother. No answer. I call back again 10 minutes later, my final hope before I was planning on starting my 5 mile hike home.
She answers! Its 11:27. I tell her the name of my stop and eagerly await her arrival. It should be less than 10 minutes, right? Wrong. She got lost. I continue to call her, she’s looking for me. The world is spinning, It’s midnight and I’m walking around the countryside of Bonn, my clammy hand clenching my bouquet, looking for way I could give her directions to find me. I find an intersection. This is it. I call her and give her my final location.
She rolls up in her Volkswagen Golf. My flowers and I have been saved! And that is how an AIB phone saved my life.
What a suspenseful story! Truly, congratulations on the triumph, Masha. Your victory versus the cold and despair reminds me of a quote by Nelson Mandela. He said "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
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