The Joys of Travel

I will have to admit, the first day of travel was exhausting and challenging.  Our journey began after a full day of helping with the NW High School honor band (hosted by PLU), and was then followed by 30 hours of buses, trains, trams, planes, and a nice long layover in the Frankfurt airport.  By the time we made it to the hostel, we were thorough wiped out, only to have our internal clock wake us up nice and "early" at 5:30 in the morning Germany time.  From what I have heard, your body can adjust its sleeping schedule about an hour per day, and with our nine hour time difference from Europe to Tacoma, we ideally hit the comfort and adjustment mark a day or two ago.

Travel can be difficult at times, such as our initial 30 hour adventure, and when we try to purchase rail tickets for our 18 person group from the ONLY kiosk on the platform before our train comes (We made it with a few seconds to spare). However, constantly being in a state of exploration and seeing new sights around every corner is exhilarating!  By this point, we are getting better at packing up our bags, knowing what to wear to concerts (and how to stay warm in sub zero temperatures), and navigating the train systems.  We are on an adventure, and boy is it fun!

Yesterday, we packed up camp at the Pfefferbet Hostel in Berlin, and caught the train to Prague.  It is still a bit of a challenge to get 18 people and 18 people's worth of stuff onto a train before the doors close, and our hustle and bustle must be quite a sight.  Thus far, I can report success, and we have not left anyone behind on the train platform.  During the longer train trips between cities, we ride "first class" which is a six person seated cabin.  On our first train from Leipzig to Berlin, we were able to find three empty cars to house or entire group, but this time, we had to split up and hop in any seat that was available.

After pacing up and down the isle a few times in search of an available seat, Jenifer, Austin and I found a car to sit in with a couple from Canada.  We talked with them until they got of at the Dresden stop an hour and a half after we boarded the train, and learned about the education system in Canada, (and how college is approximately 1/50th of PLU's sticker price), and learned about the international toy convention that the women was attending in Germany as the owner of a toy business in Montreal.  They were both tri-lingual, and spoke French, Italian, and English, which sparked a conversation about our shared frustration by not speaking German. They asked us about our trip and what we were studying, and made our train ride awesome!  Every day is new and an adventure, and this trip is exciting many of us to come back soon (maybe for some of that free tuition grad school in Germany!)