hakuna matata: what day is it?

well, i made it to germany!

i don't have any pictures from the flight (i know, im sorry mom), but i do have some thoughts.

here are some things I've learned so far:

1. get what you need from your carry on- immediately. this is mainly why i don't have any pictures, and why i didn't sleep that much.

2. sleep. i was extremely tired when we boarded, and i was waiting for dinner to take some tylenon pm.. dinner seemed so late that i was scared to take medicine, and i didn't want to get my bag down. needless to say, i only slept a total of 2 hours.

3. don't switch your seat at the last minute. so, i thought i was a pretty smart cat and decided to switch my seat because the one next to it was open, allowing me to lay down. negative. when i found my seat, i found a stinky man in it. i asked him if he was sitting in row 41 and he said yes.. i then told him that he was sitting in my seat, and his response "oh, i didn't know where you wanted to sit, i thought maybe you would enjoy the window better." mind reader, you are wrong. i made stinky man move to his seat, and i enjoyed my aisle seat. so sneaky.

4. introduce your self to the passengers in front and behind you. this might make your 9 hours somewhat peaceful. mine, not so much. see the kid (yes he was like 17) in front of me decided to recline his seat all the way back within the first 5 minutes. he left it like that the entire time. the guy behind me had a broken tray (which was connected to my chair), so he felt the need to try and fix it every 5 minutes. i don't think he knew that every time he shoved the tray up, he was shoving me into the kid who was relaxing. as my father would say, "it's all part of the trip, enjoy it!" and i did

5. take your contacts out. no need for explanation on this one.

6. embrace everything. so when we landed in frankfurt we were bused to the terminal. at that airport, arrivals do not pull up to a gate, buses come and get you and then drive you to an underground security place. then you have to go through security all over again. at this point, im sure i smelled, i had a bad headache, and i was drunk on jet lag. as i was walking around aimlessly, i just stopped and took it all in, basically i had a teacher moment. being a stranger in a city, let alone another country was just breathtaking. nobody knew me and i knew nobody. although, it was slightly terrifying, but i knew i had lyndsays number :)

7. ask questions. i normally hate asking people for help. but, that quickly disappeared. i can already tell this trip is going to change my life, and i can't wait.

8. germany is absolutely beautiful. seriously, it's the only place on earth that still looks beautiful when it's raining. speaking of weather, it was totally sleeting this morning. oh and there is a freeze warning tonight.. so glad i packed a million and one shorts.

well, that's about all i can reflect on right now. here are a few pictures from yesterday!