Train Shenanigans- or How I Almost Got Deported Forever (Maybe)

Hello my friends. The last few days have been fantastic beyond any sort of belief, but for now, I leave you with just one of many stories from them.


After a relaxing day of sleeping and jet lag recovery, I was just asking for a thrill, and I got one.
It all started when Marius and I decided to visit the nearby town of Bensheim. We decided that we'd catch the 8 o'clock train to get there. I  bought myself a ticket and we headed for the platform to wait for our train. Now, at this point I should have gotten my ticket time-stamped to validate that I was going to use that ticket for this trip... but Marius decided instead that we'd play a little game called "If there's no conductor on board, you get to ride for free!". This of course was easy for him to agree to, because as a frequent traveler to Bensheim, he has a ticket that's good for as many trips to Bensheim as he wants for a year. I on the other hand, a foreigner with EVERYTHING to lose, should have probably been a little less happy-go-lucky about it.
So, we scoped the train out as it pulled up to the platform and after deciding it was safe,we boarded and found seats. It felt good to be back on the wonderful German train system again and I felt safe and comfortable. That is until about 10 seconds into the trip, when the conductor walked into the car from the other side.
 "Get up." Marius whispered to me. A little bit in disbelief I looked at him dumbfounded.
 "Get up."he whispered again. My stomach was instantly in knots. Trying not to be too obvious, I nervously rose from my seat to go and hide in the bathroom. Thoroughly panicked by the apparent absence of my one chance at a hiding place, I looked at the two teenagers next to me and managed to choke out a, "Ba... bathroom...?"
"Bathroom? Oh it should be right there, no? Then maybe its over th- OH SCHEIßE!" He'd too now seen the conductor. Instantly he and his friend bolted towards the door to the next car.
I realized that I was A: in a similar predicament, B: that the conductor now stood between me and my one idea for a hiding place, and C:  the old saying, "when in rome..." and with a shrug, sprinted after them.
"You don't have a ticket either?" one of them asked me as we ran through the isle of the first car.
"No, well, yes, but I didn't use it... or... something... I'm not sure" I responded as we opened the door to the third car. Now, assuming you've never found yourself in this particular situation...You really can't get much better than running away from trouble when it comes to adrenaline, but with strangers, in a foreign country- I don't think I'd ever ran so fast in my life.
As the train came to a stop at the one before ours, Auerbach, we hit a wall, because those who wanted to get off were now a human blockade on our path to freedom. We sat there now just waiting for our imminent doom, till we heard someone call out from behind us.
"You can stop running. We've got a group ticket with 3 free places." The voice came from a woman who was sitting several rows in front of us, and she must have heard me speak English because she too spoke in it. She was a German woman and must have been in her early 20s. With her was someone who was presumably her boyfriend. She bade us to sit down and relax so we did and shared an immense sigh of relief. Interestingly enough, I noticed a Starbucks bag among her belongings. I am sure now that it was a sign. Thank you Howard Schultz. I owe you one.
Marius caught up to us and upon seeing my shaken self he instantly burst into laughter. Within a couple of minutes, we were already at the Bensheim station. After thanking my running mates and my saviors, we continued on to the city and celebrated with a döner kebab. Needless to say, I pretty much walked away from that situation with an ego the size of a planet.
Now in reality, if I had gotten caught, the worst thing I'd probably face was a 40 euro fee for breaking the rules, and the wrath of a German train conductor. But I didn't find that out till later. Heck, in my mind I could have been deported!
Long story short, ladies and gent's, running away from train conductors in Germany, like a bause.

 Untouchable döner kebab swag.

Frankfurt Ahoy!

A lot can happen in a day, especially if it's a 36 hour day. And as much as I would have loved to make this post one of yesterday's happenings, jet lag is a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, I am here!
After one of those movie-esque goodbye scenes with my family at O'hare, and 12 hours spent in either a plane or an airport I've finally reached my primary destination. And lets just say, its been a journey already.

The Stockholm area of Sweden

Ah my flight to Stockholm. Easily the best flight I've ever been on.  The food was great and I had an "entertainment screen" to use. Heck I even had a person behind me who was cool enough to let me actually recline my seat (a first for me)., Speaking of people on the flight, I've never been around so many other blonde haired people. I was actually told numerous times that I looked Swedish, which for me (I dressed up as a Viking at the renaissance fair, whatev's) was awesome. Oh and about halfway through my flight, over Greenland I lifted my window shutter to see the northern-freaking-lights right next to the plane. After 8 seamlessly knit hours, I watched the plane land in Stockholm via the camera they had on the front and bottom of the plane.

Oh Sweden, you so safe!

 The Stockholm airport was awesome, it felt like I was in the future because everything was shiny and expensive looking. Once again, seemingly everyone was a beautiful, blonde haired, model. And I mean hey, I felt nice and safe knowing that I wouldn't be getting pepper sprayed. The Stockholm-Frankfurt flight itself was uneventful, but the arrival was.We were let out of the plane on stairs down to the paved runway thing (you know, like a visiting foreign dignitary? Swag.) and were bused to the airport. I exited customs to find not a single familiar face. I instantly engaged the "OH GOD. No, I'm all alone in a foreign country where not everyone speaks my langguuuuuaaaaaggggeeeeeee" switch. But about 5 panic-filled minutes later I saw the familiar faces of Marius and his mother and reunion hugs were given.

A Farewell to Bux

Well, you couldn't expect THIS to be what I meant by backpacking...

I write to you, fair friends, freshly unemployed. To stand on the verge of something great, one must first take that frightening plunge from comfort and to me, leaving my job was the first step in that direction. While it is only the beginning of the tether-breaking, it's one tether that doesn't break easy. I mean on one hand, there is something rather liberating about being unemployed- I spent my first day off finally able to hang out with some friends without worrying about getting up at some ungodly hour of the morning, and I did buy a "Family-sized" bag of Doritos that's been seeing plenty of love (the kind only the unemployed can give) these last two days.

But on the other hand, I can honestly say that there are a lot of things that I am going to miss about working for Starbucks. Aside from providing me with the funding for my little adventure, it's introduced me to some pretty awesome people. For all the crap I give the "cookie cutter soccer moms ordering skinny vanilla lattes" that Menomonee Falls has to offer for a customer base, there are some real gems in the mix. And to be really, really honest, sometimes the skinny vanilla latte ordering people could be the most insightful/intelligent/interesting of all. The people who I've come to know and love seeing every day of work will all be sorely missed; if not for how much I've gotten to know them in the short windows of conversation I got to have with them, then for the meaningful things that they've told me as they waited for me to hand them off their drink. They did a great job of making an 18 year old non-college bound kid feel more like a Rockstar than a Barista.

 As great as the customers were, the people I had the privilege of calling coworkers were truly fantastic. It's one thing to love your job, but to love the people you work with? Now that's truly a great thing. Even though it seemed like we constantly had someone coming or going we always gelled together and delivered. There's just something crazily unifying about working through a customer rush, even if you're just standing there taking orders and throwing out one-liners to lighten up the mood. But the things we did, breaking cars-per-half-hour records for the district, changing people's lives by handing out a free drink or two, and of course dropping everything to have the whole store tell someone how cute their dog was... it's something I'll reminisce about when I'm at some old person home.

Yes, saying goodbye to Starbucks leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth, because while I'll miss working there, I've got the memories and friendships from working there that I can bring with me wherever I may end up.

Fear is the Mind-killer

"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time flies when you're having fun, or at least that seems to be the general consensus. I am currently two shifts away from quitting my job and a mere sixteen days away from the start of my journey through space-time, the future and the fatherland. Lately I've been catching the occasional bout of fear of what's to come, but then again I dare anyone to stand where I am and not spend a single second worried about it. 

There are a number of things to be afraid of, like running out of money, getting murdered, regret for not planning enough, regret for planning too much. Not to mention the fear of what kind of lasting effects this whole thing could leave on my life: I'll be coming home unemployed and broke with a nice big gap in my employment to forever explain. But for as bad as those things can sound, there are also some pretty spectacular things that could happen too. Who knows? Maybe when I get back I'll find a dream job where being "well traveled" makes me even more qualified. And even if I fall victim to bad planning or budgeting, it's all a part of this wonderful learning process we call life.

Maybe I'm just reading too far into it. After all, it's only three months in Europe on a budget of like $4500...

Yep. I'm screwed.