On Thursday at 5:30am I left my house for the biggest adventure of my life. I had absolutely no idea that what was supposed to be a smooth 21 hour journey would become a very stressful 26 hour journey. My flight to Seattle from Anchorage went very smoothly. The lady who sat next to me was very nice and that was a relief. Once I got to Seattle I had a 2 hour layover. During that layover, I met Morgan (I have previously met Morgan, he is from my same district in Alaska) and Gordon, from Canada. We formed a "posse" and hunted around the airport for icecream. We ended up getting frozen yogurt. As we were boarding our flight, we saw the flash of another blazer. The girl saw us at the same moment and raised her arm and shouted "I see you!" Then we all boarded the plane. Once on the plane, we learned that all of our seats were super far apart from each other. We kept waiting for the plane to fill up with people, but hardly anyone else boarded! There wear probably only 20-30 people on that flight. So I ended up asking if I could move seats to be next to the other exchange student girl. The flight attendant said yes and Morgan and I picked up all of our stuff and scrambled around the plane to get to Gordon and the other girl (we didn't know her yet). I sat next to the girl and Morgan sat next to Gordon. Once the flight took off, I learned that the girls name was Kierstin. We talked the whole flight(4 hours) and became friends. Once our flight landed in Detroit, we realized we only had 30 minutes before our next flight took off. We hurried and got to our gate and met a whole bunch of other exchange students. We then asked them to watch our stuff as we ran through the airport to Mcdonalds to get some lunch, seeing as this was the big flight across the Atlantic to Amsterdam. The "posse" ended up ordering 20 chicken nuggets for us all to share. Once we got our food, we sprinted back to our gate just as they were about to close the doors (the other exchange students were freaking out). We made it on without a second to spare. Once on the plane, Kiersrin and I asked the men who we're sitting next to is if they could switch seats with us so we could sit together. They said yes and we thought we were in the clear. Wrong. The other delightful people on the flight had used up every single overhead bin. All the other exchange students were able to make theirs fit but mine wouldn't. So I was frantically asking the people on the flight if they could move their purses (why they needed to be in an overhead bin I will never know) under their seats that way I wouldn't have to pay $100 to check my bag. The people on the flight seemed insulted that I would even ask them that! I was extremely appalled at how snobby, difficult, and selfish the people were. It was a tiny purse! If I moved it over my bag would fit in the bin! There I was. Running around the plane practically begging people to make a little extra room and I was nearly in tears and it was so stressful and awful. Then an angel appeared in the form of a flight attendant. A kind man in the first class had seen me panicking and had volunteered his overhead bin that was completely empty. The flight attendant took my bag away, and with it my stress. Until another thing happened. We spilled all 20 chicken nuggets on the floor. The lady flight attendants were 100% done with us. That flight seemed to last forever. But at least I had Kierstin! All the other exchange students had to sit with other people that they didn't know. A poor boy from Wisconsin sat in the last row of the flight with an Asian woman who didn't say a word the entire time. I was only able to sleep for an hour during the 7 hour flight. As we flew over the Atlantic Ocean there was a lightning storm and there was lightning all around us and really bad turbulence. It was really cool but really scary at the same time. Once we reached Amsterdam, (it was beautiful by the way) the two other exchange students and I realized that we only had 20 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off. We booked it all the way through the airport to where we went through customs and then another security check. After that we only had 7 minutes until take off. Still hopeful we would make it, we ran to our gate and walked up to the counter only to hear the 4 most hated words in exchange student history: "Your flight has left." Immediately the stress sweating kicked in and it was extra bad because we were all in our heavy blazers running around. We were 4 teenagers, stranded in a Amsterdam. I asked the lady at the desk what're should do and she directed us to the transfer station to transfer our tickets to a different flight. That went smoothly. I went to text my host parents, then I realized: I lost my phone. The panic began again. I had Gordon (he was still waiting for his flight to board) watch my stuff and I ran back to security in hopes that they had my phone. I saw another angel on disguise that day. In the form of a Dutch airport security lady. She handed me my phone saying "I hoped you would come back." If we had made the flight I would have left my iPhone in Amsterdam. Exhausted from 21 hours of travel and immense stress, I sat on a couch in the transfer area with the 2 other exchange students headed to Stuttgart. We then waited for 3 hours for our flight out of Amsterdam to Stuttgart. We got to our gate an hour early just to be sure that we wouldn't miss our flight. I went and tried to buy some water, only to discover that my card was declined. I ended up paying with USD. I then took advantage of the free wifi and texted my dad asking him to call the bank and ask why my card was declined. He called them and apparently the shut off my card because they thought my 3 in flight wifi purchases during my flights across the US (worth it) looked "suspicious." Who are they to judge what I buy! After I got the whole debit card thing figured out, I opened my water to take a drink, only to notice that it was carbonated. It was absolutely disgusting. It tastes so wrong on so many different levels! All I wanted was regular old normal bottled water and I ended up with some crazy fizzy water. Finally our plane to Stuttgart started boarding. I was asleep before the plane even took off. That's how exhausted I was. I didn't wake up until I heard "In 10 minutes we will arrive in Stuttgart." I was so confused because it went by so quickly! One minute I was awake in Amsterdam and the next I was about to land in Stuttgart. Germany was amazing from above. There were so many farms and cute villages. Once we landed, we all went as fast as we could to get to baggage, that way we could collect our luggage and meet our families. I got my bag and I said goodbye to the other 2 exchange students and walked out and was immediately greeted by my host family. They made me a sign and everything! It was so great. They asked me if I was hungry and I said yes. I hadn't eaten since we flew over Canada. They took me up through the hills (there was a castle on top of one of the hills!!!) to a restaurant that served traditional German food. I had my little brother, Till, order for me since I had no idea what anything was. I also ordered water and it was brought to me in a big glass bottle with what looked like a mini wine glass. I was so confused! My sister, Isabel, and Till ordered sprite and it came without ice. Till ended up ordering me some schnitzel. It was soooo good. It's kind of like fried chicken except its pork and everyone judges you if you eat it with your hands. I also tried German potato salad. It's a far cry from American potato salad. It tasted so bitter! I must say, their food will definitely take some getting used to. After dinner we drove along a winding road leading through various villages. My host family has a big green Volkswagen van and it is the cutest thing ever. We finally reached my house and it is also super cute. They had a big American flag hanging up and it was so nice. My bedroom is AWESOME. It's on the top floor and has a skylight and a balcony. The balcony is next to an apple tree and there are fresh apples hanging from it. I love how the church bells ring to mark every hour. It is so beautiful. I think I will enjoy living here very much. Today my host parents took me to a plane show. It was very entertaining. Please enjoy these pictures and thank you for reading!
Making my way to the plane
Last mother daughter selfie; in line to board
My view once we took off in Alaska
Morgan and I found Shamoo in Seattle
Kierstin and I
Flying over the Atlantic, towards day light
My first meal in Germany, schnitzel
My water in a glass bottle
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