Getting Eric From the Airport

Today was the day! Eric came to Reutlingen and the Valpo students come tomorrow (or today, I guess!). I am so happy that there will be other people around me. With very few students on campus and my only human interaction being at work or at the grocery store, I am ready for some relaxed hanging out.

I worked today and did normal office things. I helped correct a few English things and am slowly learning more German vocabulary. But the real thing I was looking forward to was Eric's arrival.

I cleaned my room today, as Eric would be arriving and seeing my living space. It looks so much better! It was, as always, mostly clothes :)

I caught an early bus from Pestalozzistraße and ended up in town around 8 p.m. I grabbed a very unsatisfactory Doner Kebab from a place downtown and waited for me X3 bus to get me to the airport!

I ended up seeing the Reutlingen resident director at my bus stop - I think he was confused about what was happening and wanted to make sure that someone was picking Eric up! I explained that I knew Eric and that it was no trouble to pick him up from the airport. He seemed relieved and, to be honest, just overall confused. I guess Eric had not let him know about the plan until the day before.

It left at 8:30 p.m. and dropped me off about an hour later at the Stuttgart airport. Eric's plane did not get in until 10:35, so I just hung out and read a book with a cup of coffee from a place in the airport.

When it was getting closer to Eric's arrival time, I decided to put my empty cup in the return tray. Unfortunately, I did not see a small step down when I went to perform this task and ended up almost dumping my coffee cup on the ground! Despite a rather embarrassing ALMOST fall, I recovered and put my cup in its proper place.

Once Eric had arrived and gotten through customs, we made our way to the S-Bahn train to Bad Canstatt. I decided it would be a good idea for me to get in on his Baden-Württemberg Ticket, since I wasn't positive that my Naldo pass covered the trains we were taking. It only ended up being about 5€ more for me! That worked out well. We had to wait a while at the airport to catch our train, but it was nice being able to catch up and hear what my best friend's boyfriend had been doing during his time in Europe. His adventures from Denmark and Sweden make me want to go!

We had to wait a while at the Bad Canstatt train stop. I ended up learning how to play Texas Hold 'Em while we waited for our delayed train at 1:00 a.m.

It was ridiculously difficult trying to keep my eyes open on the train ride from Bad Canstatt to Reutlingen. Somehow I did it, and we began our walk (yes, you hear me, WALK) home. Eric decided he didn't want to pay for a taxi, despite the good distance that the Hochschule was from the train station. He made it with his rolling suitcase and large duffel bag, and without any of my help!

We got him set up on a cot and passed out once we got back. That ended up being about 2:30 a.m. Long day, but it was worth the struggle!