Journey to Germany: Chapter 1
After 21 years of living with my parents, I have finally moved out of their house. I did not move next door. I did not move to another city or another country. I moved to a whole new continent.
As a fresh graduate in Mechanical Engineering, I was excited to finally start my masters in Munich, Germany after studying for 4 years in Beirut, Lebanon. This was a huge change for me. I had never traveled anywhere outside the Arab world and I had never even lived in a dorm alone. This was unprecedented.
I was so excited and in a hurry to move away. I even scheduled my flight one month before the beginning of the semester. I was on cloud nine. I had worked so hard to get accepted into the Technical University of Munich, one of the best universities in the world. This was what I wanted.
Fast forward a little, I’m at the airport saying my goodbyes to my family. That one last I gave my mom felt much warmer than usual. I picked up my suitcase and I was off to a new chapter of my life. This was my first time traveling alone, so you can imagine how stressed and paranoid I felt about everything. I quadruple-checked my ticket and passport, and I even didn’t drink any liquids before my flight — IN CASE, I had to use the toilet and I missed my flight (Yes, I don’t know what I was thinking).
Anywho, everything went quite smoothly for the first flight, other than the guy on my left being dull and never talking about anything. Two hours later, we landed in Istanbul. I had a connection in 90 minutes I had to catch. I get off the plane and OH MY GOD. This airport is larger than the entirety of Beirut. I’m not even joking. I kept asking around where my connection was until a nice Canadian lady with two kids felt sorry for me and told me to follow her. After running to my connection with the Canadian lady, I got there with just 10 minutes to spare (Please, take into account I had 90 minutes and still had to run to catch it).
After waiting with a very shady Iranian guy and a Persian German guy who couldn’t speak any English, I went inside the plane to find my seat and to my delight, I got the window seat. Yes. These pictures people post when traveling of the wing of the plane? I did that. Felt cool for the first 2 minutes or so. Around 15 minutes later, a nice Russian girl in her mid-twenties sat next to me. We ignored each other’s existence for around 20 minutes until she got bored and struck up a conversation. She was quite nice and cool. We spent the two hours of flight chatting and I could write her autobiography now. She works in a research lab outside Munich with her husband (I know right, bummer!). She loves skiing and hiking. Her favorite meal is… Pelmeni? It’s like a Russian dumpling. Anywho, she was nice enough to let me use her mobile data to message my mom and let her know I was landing.
After we landed, we got off the plane and headed for customs. We saw two gates, one was empty and the other had a looooooong line. Guess which one was for the non-EU passport holders? Yup, we waited 40 minutes to get our passports stamped. Before leaving, we exchanged Instagrams (and I haven’t spoken to her since).
Moments later, we realized we both had to get our luggage (this was awkward because we already said goodbye…).
Done. I got my luggage and headed to the metro…sorry, train…? um, S-Bahn. Yes, it’s different here in Germany. So, you have two types of trains: an S-bahn which is on the surface, and an U-bahn which is underground (however, sometimes the U-bahn goes above ground for some reason). Anyway, after milking my last two brain cells, I managed to buy a day ticket from the ticket machine to the flat I rented.
This is where the magic began. I got into the S-bahn and it was the first time I boarded a train. It was such a magical experience that I almost fainted… or was it the smell of sweat and beer? I found a seat in the crowded train and there was an old lady with a cute dog sitting in front of me. The train started moving and I realized “Oh my god, I’m finally in Germany!” I couldn’t believe that I actually made it. I took in all the green scenery from the window. I was so enchanted that I actually missed my stop and had to figure out how to get to my flat again. A trip that was supposed to take one hour took two hours and thirty minutes…
Finally, I got to my flat. The landlord gave me a tour of the apartment with everything I needed to know — mainly, where the kitchen and bathroom are which wasn’t really necessary (it’s a two-room flat). I threw my suitcases in my room and realized I had to put some sheets on the bed since it was just a bare mattress with a pillow without a case (it feels wrong to only say the case, it’s always been a “pillowcase” ).
Thank you for reading this far! I really appreciate it. I will continue writing about my journey in Germany and I hope you enjoy it.
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