¡Gracias Juan Pérez!

If you’re reading this post for the first time you might want to refer to the past one. This is the second half (ending) of the story of my arrival to Germany. Where were we? Oh yes…Juan Pérez. What would I have done without his help?

Frankfurt Main Central Station (where my train left from to go to Hanover)
Picture taken from: anthidote.com

As I mentioned, I sat next to him once I got inside the train and he quickly realized my first language was Spanish because I was speaking with my mom on the phone. Once he recognized this he started speaking to me in Spanish as well. Don’t ask me why but I felt so relieved to find someone who spoke my first language. I had been so tired of trying to explain the same thing over and over and still no one could understand me that it was refreshing to be able to say it all in Spanish. Although I had been speaking to my parents it had been kind of hectic so far so sitting down and talking to Juan certainly calmed me down. I told him everything that had happened and he was just looking at me in awe and he said, “I understand you completely because three years ago I was in your same position.” He started to explain his story about how he moved from Guatemala with his family to Spain to look for better academic opportunities.

He had ended up in Germany every summer for the past three years working for Volkswagen as an engineer. Pretty amazing stuff. He had to learn German and didn’t know enough English to understand some of the terminology Germans used. However, he got by and bit by bit adapted to all the changes. He started explaining a little bit about how the culture in Germany was and he even taught me a few words that would certainly be useful to know when getting off the train (like right, left, stop, etc.; this was necessary because when they announced each stop it was only in German). He helped me get wi-fi so I could contact Sarah (the student co-oping with me in Leibniz as well) and tell her I was on my way to Hanover.  Everything was in German so I would have probably never been able to get wi-fi without his help. He was getting off the train a few stops before Hanover so he showed me an online map to know when approximately I should be ready to take my bags and get off the train (it stopped only for a minute and then continued; it was very easy to miss your stop which would have been awful). Once this was settled he asked me, “Have you eaten anything today?” I responded and said, “Early in the airport but with everything that’s happened it’s been hard to think about food.” He reached for his bag and gave me his sandwich and water bottle. I couldn’t accept them but he insisted and said he was about to go to his apartment anyways. I proceeded to devour that sandwich. It felt so good to eat after the day I had had. I could only think of how lucky I was I had encountered him on the train. Not only did he help me understand what was going on and why everything had gone the way it had, but he also made me feel more calm and at peace with the situation.

 I realized there was not a whole lot I could do at that point but get on that plane to Italy and enjoy my time with Kathrin (my roommate from Northeastern University who was going to meet me in Hanover). Juan and I continued sharing stories of what we studied, our families and what we wanted to do as the train ride went on until we had to say goodbye. I gave him a big hug and said thank you. We exchanged numbers and that was that. He even texted me once he got to his apartment saying the approximate time I should be getting to Hanover (I had about another hour and a half to go). I was lucky and definitely felt grateful I met Juan.

Although I was already feeling better about the situation and the day I had had I still didn’t have any of my clothes because my bags were probably still somewhere in Frankfurt. We had to wait till the next morning to call and see where they were but my plane left at 6am for Milan so it was a little bit complicated (besides the fact that I didn’t have a German phone nor knew any German to talk to the people at the Frankfurt airport). Merlin, Sarah’s boyfriend, will be working with me at the lab. He is German and so Sarah offered me help to try to figure out where my bags where at while I was in Italy. I gave them all the information I had and promised to definitely keep them updated as I already filed claims (my parents did as well) for the missing bags. I was feeling more calm because Kathrin had a lot of clothes I could just borrow and I knew the bags had to appear at some point (I was hoping before I left for Amsterdam in a couple days).

When I finally got to Hanover around 2am in the morning Sarah and Merlin were waiting for me at the station. They took me to my new apartment and gave me a brief overview of how everything worked and where I was in Hanover. Kathrin was already waiting for me at my apartment and from there we would leave to go to the Hanover Airport. A lot of traveling, I know. I sort of questioned whether traveling back to back was a good idea after all but I hadn’t seen Kathrin in a long time and was excited to explore Italy with her. Especially because I hadn’t gone to Milan or Venice before. I got to my apartment and smiled. I had an apartment. In Germany. Crazy. I thought, “I can’t believe I’m living here now.” I am rooming with two guys and one girl. I didn’t meet them that same night but Kathrin had met them. I’m excited to get to know them once I get back. It was a pretty spacious apartment for four people and it was also decorated so it felt very cozy and nice. Sarah and Merlin had bought me a few things so I could shower and eat before my flight. I know, they are the best. They have been so helpful throughout all this process I didn’t even know how to express my gratitude. So I just hugged them a lot. Once they left, I got ready and put some of the things I did have on my bag to take with me to Italy and left my cozy apartment behind to head to the airport. In a few hours I would be arriving in ITALY! I have a few stories about that so look forward to my next post where I will be talking about what we did around Italy and even some tips in case you visit the same cities I did (you can also look forward to some funny stories about our stay in Milan). Ciao Hanover! 

Kathrin and I waiting for our taxi to go to the Hanover airport.