We left at 6 am this morning- I got about 4 hours of sleep that night, so I slept at least half of the drive to Kansas city. It has been quite the very eventful day. We started off by my mom, gma gpa and I going to the atm at the bank so I could withdrawl some money. (I should have taken care of it Tuesday, I know, I just wasn’t thinking ahead that the bank wouldn’t be open on the 4th of july… my bad. So we go to the credit union at 6 am and the machine doesn’t work. So thennn we go to hy-vee to THEIR atm. But no, they had just waxed the floor on that part of the store, so couldn’t do that either. Ok, well by then I had given up and we really needed to get out of town so I could make my flight. we go to breakfast about an hour in- shortly after taking off from breakfast, we get a flat tire.
Normally this wouldn’t be such a big shock, but no, this particular car (my grandparents’) had a flat tire YESTERDAY! They had it fixed!! And so we thought we had that all taken care of beforehand…. Apparently that same tire has a mind of its own. So we pull off and my grandpas jack doesn’t work. (keep in mind we’re in the middle of southern iowa a.k.a. hickville with nothing around.) with my grandpa and mother trying to figure out how to put on this spare tire, time was counting down. Starting to freak out, low and behold our little guardian angel showed up. A semi-driver stopped right behind where we had pulled off the road, brought his jack and did the whole thing for us! In like 5 minutes! It was great stuff. So then we were on the road again. An hour and a half behind schedule (it was like 9:15 and my first flight left at 12) we drove the rest of it a straight shot, got there at about 11:00 (international flight ppl are supposed to be there at LEAST 2 hours early…and I walked in the front door an hour before my flight left, even before I had gotten my tickets or checked my luggage.. I was only slightly freaking out)
The international line was abnormally short (the U.S. line was huge) so I was fortunate to get my luggage all checked-in and get set in like 10 minutes. The customs line got super long RIGHT after I got in line… so there wasn’t much of a wait there either. I ended up making my flight (unfortunately not really getting to say goodbyes because I was in such a hurry). The flight went well- I sat by a really nice lady who kept me encouraged.
Got to Chicago at around 1:20 p.m. and didn’t have my next flight board til 3:20. It took me a long time to find terminal 5 (international terminal). By the time I found it and bought some euros and went through customs again, it was about 2:30. I got into the terminal to find that there wasn’t any food! Still hadn’t eaten lunch and was starving, so I exited the terminal to find some lunch, then had to do customs yet AGAIN!! And then made it right in time for my flight. I had no success finding a way to call my family to let them know I was still alive… they don’t even know right now (I left my phone with Marc for the year). The flight (Aer Lingus) to Dublin is what I’m on right now. It’s about 9:00 p.m. It’s about the 4.5 hour mark of the flight. I’m in the back back row, which doesn’t really bother me because the seat next to me is empty, so it’ll be more comfy to sleep (which will hopefully happen soon). It’s a big flight- most of it is filled with cheerleaders and gymnasts who are going to Dublin for a competition. Right now they’re showing ninja turtles. It’s pretty amazing. we get to Dublin at 5:50 a.m.(Ireland time) and so we’re about half-way there now. Then I have an hour long layover before my next flight leaves (to Frankfurt) hopefully I’ll make that flight!!! alright, well I’m going to try and sleep now. Farewell for now.
Next day: I made it to Frankfurt alive! I got food poisoning on the way to Dublin, so I felt incredibly sick and dizzy all the way to Frankfurt… then when I got there I spend a good 1.5 hours hanging out with my good friend the bathroom, emptying everything in my stomach. Not fun. But I’m here! And alive!
The family I’m staying with is amazing! We got back to Biedenkopf at about 3:20 p.m. time here… I have still been awake for about 24 hours straight… I’m going to sleep well tonight! Today in the half of an afternoon that I was here so far, I got a walking tour of the town (beautiful!), got some German ice cream and went swimming in the neatest outdoor public swimming pool I’ve ever seen! Attached is a pic of Biedenkopf. and the girls I was hanging out with all afternoon. They're good company. I’ll update more later.
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