Crossing “el charco” for the 1st time: Juan Hernandez’s trip to Germany

Scared of leaving, airports and airplanes.

The night just before our trip to Germany, I started preparing my baggage. Medicine, clothing, standard stuff, which I don’t recommend preparing the night before the flight. The stress of forgetting something meant a lot, but my fear of planes was the strongest factor to my insecurity. Later on my mind clarified, medication calmed my spirits just enough to be able to breathe deeply my way to the airport

First steps on Beer City.

After both flights, which were both stressful and exhausting, we arrived to our first destination Munich. The weather was extremely cold compared to Tijuana’s, and the difference between cities culture-wise did not help. In Munich, nobody spoke a word walking on streets, it was very confusing. The first thing that got my attention was the metro transportation system, everything was so modern! So, despite every circumstance, I was fascinated with my first look at Munich.

Houston: we are in Germany.

Even though this was a travel to prove my maturity and sense of independence, I sent messages every single day to my family in Tijuana to prove I was safe and sound. With some technical difficulties with our internet between hotels and my irresponsibility (not charging my phone) I got my parents preoccupied more than once. But for the most part, I did a good job communicating with my family.

Hibernating my way from Europe to school.

No one wanted to leave Germany, and I wasn’t the exception. The hardest part was adopting the idea of having to enter school right away. Also, as I said earlier, preparing baggage on the last two hours isn’t the best idea. I didn’t sleep anything before the flights, I tried to save my exhaustion to sleep all the way to Newark and then to San Diego. It worked wonderfully.

3 am Berlin flashbacks back in Tijuana.

Two words: jet lag. Three days have passed and I still wake up at 3 am. Returning to school doesn’t help at all either, so my sleepiness is amplified. But ignoring the exhaustion and the intimidating school work, I missed home. I have dreamt of the metro stations though, two nights in a row. I guess I was too impressed by the modernity and technology. One thing is for sure, I loved my stay at Munich and Berlin.