Germany

8 years ago today as a senior in high school, I was on my way to Germany as a foreign exchange student for 2 weeks.  I was ridiculously excited for this trip.  I had never been overseas.  Our flight left at 7PM and arrived at 3AM Eastern time but 9AM Germany time.  I got half an hour of sleep on the flight and got my trip started right away off of the plane.  Needless to say, I was a little tired that night.  I was homesick the first night because we went to a club and I wasn't with any of my American friends.  Once we started taking tours with my classmates, I was fine.  We went to Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Berlin, and all over Darmstadt.  I stayed at my host parents house in Darmstadt.  I have so many amazing memories from this trip.  We walked the half mile stretch of what's left of the Berlin wall.  I went to Checkpoint Charlie museum where you could hear a pin drop.  It is a museum about the Holocaust.  We took many tours of castles and all over the beautiful Germany cities.  I even went to France for a day with a different host family.  I'm so thankful that my parents let me go to Germany.  It was the opportunity of a lifetime.  The best story by far is when we stayed in a youth hostel in Berlin.  The beds were not very good at all.  There were 5 of us in a room.  For whatever reason, they put the fat man (me) on the top bunk.  I was laying down and moving all around the first night because I am very fidgety.  I kept hearing popping noises and felt myself getting lower.  I decided not to move a muscle.  I couldn't handle it anymore and turned on my other side.  That's when it happened.  I feel right through the bed and fell in one of my roommates' lap.  I immediately got off of him and started laughing hysterically.  What a crappy bed!  I took the mattress off of the bed and slept on the mattress on the floor.  Obviously that's what I did the next night too.  My teacher fixed the bunk bed and said it was fine to sleep in.  I wasn't taking any chances.  I texted my friend this morning reminding her that today is the 8 year anniversary of our trip.  We started texting each other the endless memories we have.  I would love to go back to Germany sometime in the future.  I want to go back to Berlin and go to Munich.  I'll leave you with the best line from my friend this morning.  "Even 8 years later, the bunk bed story still holds up!" (no pun intended!)