Frankfurt and Beyond


Before long the program was already nearing an end – it was only 4 weeks to begin with – and I was making plans for my return trip. Earlier in the summer my dad and I had planned out a trip to take together after my class was over. He was scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt where I would meet him at the airport. From there we would visit my great uncle near Aachen (actually on the Belgian side of the border), and then travel to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo.

After my program ended I had two days free before my dad arrived, so I stayed at a hostel in Frankfurt. The first night I went out with a group of people from the hostel to a festival along the Main River in central Frankfurt. Everything was going great; I was drinking a beer and sitting on a bank by the river, and the next thing I knew I was knocked into the water along with a girl from the hostel!

I think what happened was one of the guys fell into us (either he was pushed or just was drunk), bumping me and the girl into the Main River! We got soaked, my gauze around my arm was ruined, and my phone broke. Luckily people helped pull us out, and then a rescue boat came with blankets and first aid (looking back it’s amusing now to think about us in blankets ferried across the river to a first aid stand by a rescue boat). In the end we were fine, and it turned into a great story!

I took an unexpected swim in the Main River

The following day I visited Karoline, the Brazilian I had met in Madrid who was an au pair outside of Frankfurt. She introduced me to her host family and showed me around town. I met an au pair friend of hers who happened to be from Brazil as well, and the three of us had dinner with Karoline’s German family. That evening, back in Frankfurt, I went out again with my new friends from the hostel. It wasn’t as crazy of a night, but still a late one, and the next morning I had to meet my dad at the airport.

By the time I got up, packed, and lugged my backpack to the train station I was running a little behind schedule. When I arrived at the airport I just missed my dad at his gate. I actually didn’t have the flight number, and thought that maybe I had gone to the wrong gate. After searching though most of the airport I finally ran into my dad back in the original terminal where I had looked. We were both afraid that something might have happened to one another, so it was a big relief to see him.

Frankfurt airport is huge, and I was worried
about finding my dad when he arrived

After the trip with my dad, I flew from Oslo to London. I stayed in London for two nights and then flew back to the States. I only had one full day for sightseeing, and it rained the whole time! I still made my way across most of central London by foot, soaking my entire body in the process. After arriving back home it was only a few weeks until fall quarter started! Back to classes at OSU, campus life, and football games.

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