Greasy.

I think our traveling experience is a great example of the cultural difference and how we students were changed by it. We checked our extra bags in Frankfurt (after Dieter, despite my having a train ticket, drives me there for fun), said bye to our host families, were sent through the Security gate, and ... that was it. No chaperones or anything. We came to the waiting area and everyone bought a parting Bier, that they chugged before we had to get on the plane. 

Plane ride was boring and long, but I enjoyed playing with my mini-screen and watching movies. Monsters Vs. Aliens isn't one of Pixar's best, by the way. Food was pretty good.

Then we got off the plane, went through Customs ("What was the purpose of your visit? Are you bringing any alcohol home with you?"), got our bags, and then stood around ... wondering what to do next. We were reluctant to show that we are not actually as independent as AFS says we are, but the fact was, we didn't know where we were supposed to be sleeping that night! Eventually our good friend Ned showed up and proceeded to apologize for not being able to find us, give the overview of the day, give it again in case we didn't hear, give it in paper form, and then lead us to where the Hotel Shuttle was, apologizing the whole way for the inconvenience of making us walk so far and having to go in two shifts.

As opposed to what we are used to, which is being told our instructions once, then being expected to follow them and to do whatever it takes to follow them, no apologies and no 'Questions Comments Concerns' forms. Also, orders given as orders and not as suggestions.

So we all start looking at each other. Is this normal? Did we miss something? Do you feel kind of coddled? Does the air smell funny to you? 

All very legitimate questions. 

We get to the hotel and after  negotiating individual schedules for the morning, we all went to Wendy's and had to pay with either money leftover from September or with credit. We sat down with our greasy masterpieces in the empty Wendy's and then began to be astonished - the Ketchup is free.

Somehow I scored having my own hotel room, which I enjoyed to the fullest. My clock was a few (6) hours off, so I watched an awful lot of History Channel. I couldn't sleep very well anyway, because the air was an odd quality and was blowing out of this strange box under my window. So like any good German, I turned it off and went to open the ... nevermind. The window doesn't open. 

The next morning I had to take a cab from the hotel to Union Station because there was neither bus nor subway. How odd. And there were police officers everywhere. And they were chatting. In English. 

And then the kicker came - I found a bakery and walked around and couldn't find a single Brotchen in the whole place. So I had to buy a bagel.

Welcome to America.