Time At Home Went By So Fast!

As you know I was travelling to Germany for my final Master’s presentation at the university. Fortunately I was able to combine it with Christmas, so I could spend the Christmas time with my family and friends. It was an awesome time and I was happy to see all my friends again before the next four months here in the U.S.!

I had planned to prepare and organize some stuff while crossing the ocean sitting on the airplane. Unfortunately dinner, several good movies, some funny games and a couple minutes of sleep crossed my plans. Nine hours passed so fast, that I didn’t have a chance to look at my thesis again. ;)

With a grinning face, thoughts about home and the thesis in my backpack plus approximately 3 Kilogram peanut butter M&M's in my luggage, I arrived in time. (We don’t have this special taste of M&M’s in Germany and I received some “orders” – that’s the reason why :D)

I was looking forward to the next day because a Handball game was taking place and I had the chance to join my Handball team as goalkeeper after such a long period of time without having a chance to do my favorite sport. For all you guys who are wondering: Handball in Europe is one of the famous sports and totally different than in the US -> just have a look.

The following days were very stressful but I finally graduated. Now I am happy and proud at the same time holding my Master’s degree in political science. :) Another reason for enjoying my remaining time in Germany.

I spent Christmas with my family and my girlfriend, had a lot of fun with my friends, hung out with them, got updated plus met previous colleagues and told them about my life in the US.

Shortly after I arrived completely in my former life, I had to leave again. On one hand I was looking forward to get back to the U.S. but on the other hand I wished to stay some more days. The day I left we had heavy snow though it has been a challenge to get to Frankfurt International Airport, but my sister managed to safely drop me off through the snowy weather.

The next challenge was the safety check – shortly after I passed without a squeak when I was going through, suddenly a security guy was standing next to me when I was getting back my stuff. “Hello Sir, your passport and your boarding ticket please!” I felt nervous – am I really looking like a dangerous person? :D “Where do you want to go?” Me: “I am travelling to Detroit” and him again: “Ok, please follow me.”

After a 15-minute check, including a body scan, checking all my electrical devices and some other questions, his mood changed and he changed into being a polite guy, wishing a good flight. As I was still irritated and nervous, I did the same to him and we laughed shortly after :D

Sitting on the plane it felt like switching into a completely different life. It was very funny thinking about it: I will have another place to live, other friends around me, other colleagues, another car (with less battery power ;) ). But bottom line it is not a big deal with all these nice people over here who are making me feel like having a second home!

After Brianna picked me up at Detroit's airport, I spent the evening with some friends dining at a nice restaurant.

Now I am back and will update you in the following weeks about my further experiences abroad with freezing temperatures around -20 degrees Celsius.