First off, my parents take me to the airport Friday morning...we stop to see Gramps and my aunt Cindy then have a great family breakfast out in Spanaway and realize we are going to be way early to the airport so make a random stop at the Verizon store to set up skype on my mom'sphone. We still got to the airport early but come to find out Jessica Edwards another classmate did the same thing and was there before me even :)lol. It was actually good because there were no lines to check in...can I just say that the internationalsection of the airport is sweet :) Anyways we weighed my bags and all cleared, besides taking afew things out ofmy carry on...who knew there was a weight for that! lol. Oh and lets not forget that a third bag, which we thought would only be $50 was $250!!!! Sorry mom and dad :/ and thanks! Once I was checked in and ready Shan and Teri showed up to see me off which was really great!
I just realized how blessed I am to have amazing family and friends that really care and will miss me.
Once checked in it was off to Germany...
10 HOURS LATER we finally hit land again :) I watched 3 movies, talked and slept a totally of 30 min (yeah I know not much at all...I tried a lot but I just couldn't get comfortable). Now the lack of sleep really didn't help in Germany, but we still headed to the train and added to our many adventures...
it was obvious we were tourists when: first, we couldn't figure out how to get tickets, second we got off on the wrong stop and ended up walking down this really sketchy underground walkway
and past a Harley store to find a Eurocar shop where we asked for directions (thankfully we had Katy, who majored in German! Life Saver!). So we headed back through the sketchy walkway and back onto the train...
I have to say though the highlight of that part was MJ coming off the train with her rolling bag just as the doors closed and her bag was stuck...hahahaha... Steve Paula's husband came to the rescue and tried to pry the doors open enough for MJ to pull it out, but she pulled and pulled and I thought for sure her bag was going to the next stop without her, but we all yelled turn the bag and she finally got it out...haha we had a good laugh about that one!
...Anyways back on the train and went to the right stop which took us into a German city that was beautiful. There were giant old cathedrals
and markets, mom there was even a Starbucks haha. We walked around a lot looking for a great German restaurant and just exploring, and finally found a great little place. Now this was a whole nother experience. My professor and I ordered the same thing, a clod cut sandwich that had an assortment of cold cuts...well we get our plate and it is a dish full of cheese with no bread and no meat...we just thought it was theGerman way of making an opencoldcutsandwich...thankfully she came back and told us she had given us the wrong dish (after we had ate several bites haha). The sandwich was still very different with one small slice of bread and a LOT of cold cut meats.It was actually fairly good, although traveling really messes up my tummy.
After eating we headed back to the airport to relax for a while..we were all EXHAUSTED and TIRED!! Paula told us not to sleep yet though because we would be flying through the night and needed to sleep then to get on Namibia time! So I tried SOOOO hard to stay awake and was pretty successful minus the fact that I was nodding of the whole train ride back to the airport. I was definitely sleep deprived. Finally after waiting several hours at the airport we boarded our final leg of the trip...Namibia Air flight that took us another 10 hours to our final destination! I SLEPT LIKE A ROCK! Passed out right when we sat down haha!
So FINALLY, we made our descent into Namibia, Africa!! After 36 hours of traveling we finally made it! The coolest part...when we were flying in I sat by a window and it was beautiful! I actually got to see a Giraffe and lots of gazelles and other deer like animals (don't know the names) running in their natural habit!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! But don't worry the adventures don't stop here...
We landed and walked our way into the airport (VERY SMALL) where we went through customs...well we got stuck. They held us at customs because they thought we were working and said we needed a work permit! Crazy, but after Paula worked her magicand we explained further what we were doing in Namibia, they let us go! GOOD THING :) lol.
So then we loaded all our baggage (MOUNDS!!) and met our cab drivers that we will have for the next 2 months: Grant and Shane. They are great people! They then drove us to our "home", Casa Blanca. Another highlight...WE SAW A BABOON CROSS THE ROAD IN FRONT OF US!!! lol. A baboon I said...a real one!!! haha..crazy! It was a beautiful drive and as we pull up to Casa, it is AMAZING!
Just completely beautiful! The people here are amazing and our rooms are fantastic! The rest of the day I went on a walk with Katy, visited the grocery store down the road, went on a second walk, laid by the pool, hung out and waited for the Internet to start working (there was a big storm last night that completely wiped it out for a while). We are having a braai tonight, which is a big barbecue! We are all trying to still stay awake so that we can get a GOOD nights rest tonight!
So for now that's all, but I know there will be much more to come. It is beautiful here and I can't wait to meet kids and more people from the area! I also cant wait to see more animals roaming around!! :) Tomorrow we will eat breakfast and head into Windhoek to explore the mall and other great things as well as have a mini orientation to the town! That's all I know....I really have been missing everyone, but its been amazing here. I love you all and can't wait to share more adventures as I experience them. I'll post pics and videos soon.
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