I hope you enjoy the next few posts and I hope they inspire you to go visit Germany for yourself one day!
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Journey to the Heart of Germany Part 1
Have you ever had an unfortunate
event stand in the way between you and your highly anticipated trip? In
November of 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck the East coast, and my state of New
Jersey was heavily impacted. For one entire week, the town was out of power and
schools were closed for a week. While most of the district was delighted to
have a week off, the music department at my high school was worried. We were
scheduled for a music tour to Germany, where we would explore and play concerts
at Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin for a week, and nearly 200 people were worried
about whether or not the trip would be canceled due to the cancellations of
flights and our lack of contact due to the loss of internet and power
heightened our worries. To top that off, two days before we were scheduled to
fly, after the storm had passed and the town was slowly waking up from the
impacts of the storm, I played a game of basketball with my brother and a group
of boys from my church. If only I had the power to foresee the future at the
moment, because I ultimately ended up fracturing my pinky finger on my dominant
right hand, a crucial body part that I would need to play the viola.
exploring the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in our backyard
uprooted trees, scattered leaves
Grandpa & I cleaning up our backyard after the storm
nutella hot chocolate with a chopped up snickers bar...and if you can believe it, i sometimes went through two of these a day.
these two little cuties
my DIY project when I was at home, bored out of my mind without contact with my friends. my family was actually fortunate enough to have electricity & wifi (probably because we live so close to a fire station, so we're probably on the same electricity grid), but none of my friends had wifi so i couldn't talk to them
typical me before I realized how dairy & gluten negatively impacts me: croissant & hot chocolate while flipping through design magazines
Despite
the series of unfortunate events, fate had nothing against us. There would be
no way that we would allow our adventure be spoiled. The day before our
scheduled departure and the day after my injury, we performed a concert at our
other high school in our district and I left early for a late night visit to
the local urgent care center to get a brace for my pinky. In retrospect, our
levels of excitement were heightened by the fact that we would be able to escape
the chaos that the superstorm left us in; parts of our school had flooded and a
few classrooms on the second floor had collapsed ceilings due to the weight of
the rain. So as expected, the coach buses were buzzing with commotion throughout
the entire trip to JFK airport, until our orchestra conductor received a phone
call: the flight would be delayed for ten hours. We didn’t know what to expect,
but the airline decided to compensate for the delay by giving us all $10 (?)
vouchers to spend at the airport on food. Unfortunately, the 10 hours included
a 1 hour wait to check our baggage in (we looked like we were camping out in the
airport), and then a large group of us, including myself, were also held up at
the baggage check-in counter for an extra hour before heading through security
because the airline’s ticket system didn’t recognize our passports. Thankfully,
passing through security was a breeze, and I was able to join my friends who
were waiting for me at our gate.
we stretched all the way around the baggage check in area
i finally got to our gate
at the gate, with my carry-on Olsenboye messenger bag (gift from my brother <3), my viola, and a very tired face ;)
Now, ten hours in an airport seems
like a torturous ordeal, but add a group of 200 kids from your school and
suddenly, the airport has become simply an official playground. The extra time
we were allotted gave us time to bond with our friends and teachers before our
trip, strengthening our friendships before we were destined to see each other
24 hours per day for seven days. After stopping by Starbucks, my friends and I
wandered off into another section of the airport and sat at an empty gate, just
talking and doing our hair for 1.5 hours. We then wandered into an Italian
restaurant, where we played peek-a-boo from three tables away with the cutest
little boy!
scone from Starbucks
salted caramel...something from Starbucks (wouldn't recommend it :(, it was sickly sweet and I'm a sugar-addict)
my hair courtesy of my friend Soyeong (i'm not going to post any photos with anyone else out of respect for their privacy! so you'll have to live through just some photos of me ;) sorry)
our trek
After
the domino effect of chaotic events and the 8 hour plane ride (for the record,
Air Berlin does not have the best food and the entertainment choices are decent
but not the best either), we finally arrived in Berlin and embarked on a 2 hour
drive to the city of Dresden. During our ride, our weary bodies were delighted
by the sights of massive wind turbines throughout the highways and the haunting
trees that reminded us faintly of the enchanted forest where many of the
Brothers’ Grimm’s fairytales took place......
Berlin-Tegel International Airport
wind turbines all over the highways of Germany. a tour guide told us that the air was so polluted after WWII that the government decided to clean everything up by implementing clean energy.
dang they're awesome.
i was the only one awake during the rest of our ride to Dresden, and i managed to capture a decent, non-blurry photo of the sunset from the bus
come back tomorrow to find out more about my experience in Dresden :)
for now, here are some sneak peeks:
hope you're excited!!!
xoxo, Hannah
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