Goodbye Portland, Hello Mainz!

Let the European Adventure begin! I boarded my flight in Portland on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 1:30pm, and arrived on time in Frankfurt International Airport at 8:15am local German time (around 11:15pm Pacific Standard Time). Lufthansa in definitely my airline of choice when flying to/from Europe. From Portland to Mainz it is more or less door-to-door for me, since Mainz (where I studied the first year of my MA at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität) is about half an hour on the train from Frankfurt. The stewardesses take very good care of you on Lufthansa, and are continuously offering you water, orange juice, apple juice and snacks during the flight. The food is generally pretty good, and you often get to choose between two options for your first meal. They served us lunch/dinner around two hours into the 9hr 45min flight. You could choose between pasta or chicken. I chose pasta. I also got a very tasty brownie with the meal (yum!) and I was happy. The best part about the flight was when we flew over Mount St. Helens, on a beautiful sunny day. We flew almost directly over it, and could see into the bottom of the crater and see how the back side of the mountain had been completely blown off when it errupted in 1980. It was a really beautiful sight to see, and it was a fitting image for me to see before I left the Pac-NW for 10 months. We were served breakfast before getting into Frankfurt (and after I had slept not even an hour of the flight), and the best and most amazing part of the breakfast was the personal Tillamoo that was on every plate!!!! Tillamoos are one of my favorite snacks, and call me a cheese snob, but Tillamook Cheese is the best cheese, ever! This summer alone I visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory at least twice, and nothing beats the fresh ice-cream!

When I landed in Frankfurt, I was surpised to be getting off the plane into the actual terminal. To some that might sound strange, but normally this flight lets you off in the middle of the tarmack, and you get shuttled in busses to customs. So, I hiked through the airport down to customs before heading to baggage claim. I was in the front of the plane, more or less, so I was off quite quickly. I got through passport control (the agent didn't ask me a thing, nor did he look at my passport other than to stamp it), and proceeded to baggage claim. I waited for more than 40 minutes at the baggage claim before I got my bags (which were thankfully not over the weight allowance! That is good packing!).

Side note/funny story: There was a small child and his grandmother who were standing next to me at the baggage claim, and they saw their family through the sliding exit doors and were waving to each other every time the door opened. It was cute, but you can only wave so many times in 40 minutes...but I was watching none the less. Then, I saw someone else waving. I looked closer and realized it was one of my very best friends, Caitriona, who flew in on Monday from Ireland to meet me at the airport, and her boyfriend Christian, who is from Mainz. We spent a lot of time all together when we were in Mainz before, and it was so great to see them there!!!!


Also when I walked out, I saw a big "Welcome to Germany" sign from Eva, another one of my very good friends who studied in Sacramento two years ago. It was the best welcome I could have ever had!



I am thrilled to be back in Mainz, and it as if I never skipped a beat. It feels just like home- very familiar, which is such a great feeling. I am looking forward to seeing all of my friends again, and spending time in this great city before heading off to Vienna!