I'M IN LONDON BABY!

I can't believe it took me the entire day to get to London. I got to the Hbf at around 11am and it wasn't until like 6:30 or so that I finally got to the hostel. I haven't really done anything since I got here because I wasn't really sure what was open on Sundays after 7pm. :\ I've basically been surfing the web since I got here. There's movie night at the hostel and there's like 20 something people just hanging out at the lounge and I just joined in. I find it quite weird how most of them weren't talking to each other though. People were just concentrating on the movies or just staring at their own laptops. Anyways, I'll explore London tomorrow. The Space Odyssey is playing right now and.....it doesn't look that interesting. I mean, these people have to talk more or something. If I was watching this thing by myself, I would definitely fall asleep.

My RyanAir Experience

Dude, budget airlines in Europe or maybe just Ryanair is super strict on how big your baggage can be. I packed all the lighter stuff in my suitcase because I knew that would definitely be weighed. So this meant that my carry-on was massively heavy and I had to stuff everything in my duffel bag. It was such a workout just carrying my stuff to the main station. I attempted to walk to the main station from my flat but that only lasted until I got to Pariser Strasse. It was around 11am and I wasn't sure if I would make it to the airport shuttle on time, so I had to ditch my walking plan and take a tram :( There goes 2.40 Euros. Anyways, I was going through security and I was forced to throw away from liquids because I couldn't fit it into the 1L bag they forced me to buy (0.5 euros! that's freakin expensive...but I guess they can do that because there is a demand with limited amount of time since Hahn is literally in the middle of nowhere. Where else can you get the bag right?). I originally packed extra shampoo and conditioner but I had to throw away some of it because it didn't fit in the bag :( I hope I have enough for 3 weeks. I'll have to use it sparingly! Anyways, I was forced to throw away from liquids and I tried to make it look like my bag was not heavy at all.

Then came the hard part. I was supposed to force my stuffed bag into this 50cm x 44cm x 20cm thing to make sure my bag was the correct size. -___- Since my bag was quite overstuffed, it was a bit tricky. I squished my bag as much as I could and when I tried to put it in the thing that tests for size....it didn't make it. The lady asked me for my boarding pass so she could check my bag for THIRTY-FIVE FREAKIN EUROS?!!? WHO THE HELL WOULD PAY THAT MUCH!! So I ran away from here and huddled in a corner to reorganize my bag. After much efforts, I got it to fit into the thing, but....it kinda got stuck when I tried to take it out. And the freaking lady told me "see, it doesn't fit. If it fits, it would go in easily and come out easily". I'm like thinking, dude, it's in the thing, it freakin fits. Don't freaking argue with me what the definition of "fit" is >:O Point is, I was worried that I would be forced to pay the fee to check it in. Phew! I made it!

During the take off, I have to say I was kinda worried for the plane. There was an intense humming sound as we were trying to get through the clouds. It was like an old lady wheezing! When it finally landed, it had a slight hop and it took like 10-15 seconds to decelerate to a normal speed. I was pretty worried -__- Anyways, I'm kinda worried for my second Ryanair flight from Paris to Venice. Hope it will be alright!

Anyways, I'm going to continue watching my Korean drama and then I'll be a crazy American tourist tomorrow :P

Germany Reflections

Sadly, I think it's about time that I close and sum up the Germany chapter in my life. Today was the last day of my internship and......(insert sob story here. I initially wrote like a 500 word essay about how sad I am about leaving, but blogspot couldn't save the entry properly and so I lost it when my computer froze -___- Anyways, the gist of it was that I'm really sad that I have to leave Germany because I've grown quite attached to the people here. When I said goodbye to them on Friday, it really didn't feel like a goodbye that would last forever but more like one where I would see them again on Monday at work. It is really a weird feeling when you know mentally that you are about to leave, but it just doesn't feel like it. Iono, I can't write as sad as before because all the tears have already been shed like an hour ago for that post. You can't just start up that emotion again for the same exact reasons--posting on a blog. Anyways, I hope that we will all stay in touch and I that I will see them again sometime in the future. I know that when I see them again, there might be slight awkwardness due to time, but stuff like this happens. Time will go on and our relationship will probably deteriorate from friends to acquaintances and so on. It's inevitable with the distance between us. The fact that things will never be the same again is really strange. I have developed a routine of sorts while I was in Germany and soon I'll be thrown into a trip around Europe and then back to reality back at home. Anyways, I can't reenact what I felt when I initially wrote this post.)

It was the last day on Friday so I was required to present my results in a talk. I wasn't too nervous before my presentation, I mean I could have been a lot worse :P However, right before my presentation (like 10 minutes before, or the part where I waited 15 minutes till everyone was present as I was all alone at the front of the room), I was pretty nervous. I could feel that my heart rate was accelerated and my hand was shaking. I was pretty worried that when I was using the pointer that it would totally go all over the place due to my shaky hands. Good thing it went well even though I spoke a bit too fast. I mean, I naturally speak kinda fast and I tried to slow it down or at least keep at normal, but it was still too fast. Sorry guys. Also, Sven prepared some pre-made questions for me but I was super obvious that they were premade. He asked me a question and I answered in like 2 words or so. It's kinda like....it's an essay response question but you answered in fill-in-the-blank format :P Sorry Sven. Well, hopefully I'll get more experience with these presentations and it will come out more naturally next time :)

After the presentation we went to Tina's flat to have lunch. I tried some Bavarian sausage which I thought was alright even after it was lathered in this special mustard. Part of the reason why I didn't like it as much as I should is probably cause I am not the hugest fan of mustard. Nonetheless, it was pretty good. Afterwards we had a gift exchange. The lab gave me a pizza made of gummies (it was presented in a pizza box and each component of the pizza was an individual gummy. For example....bacon was a sour belt, there was some chili pepper gummies, etc.) and a mug that was very representative of Mainz. It is decorated with the mascots of a broadcasting company here in Mainz (or was it Germany?...no...I think it was Mainz) and every time I use it, I'll think of my internship. As for what I got for the members in the lab, I got Tina a box of chocolates from Hussel. Initially I was planning to get some sort of jewelry or something, but I knew that could go horribly wrong and could be tossed to the side forever. So I went for something safe like chocolate. For Florian I got him the Playbook and Bro code book from How I Met Your Mother (in German). I was probing Florian pretty much the entire week and he shot down every one of my ideas. I thought, maybe a Nike+ product, but he doesn't like running and what's the use of a pedometer like thing if you're running on a treadmill in the gym. It already tells you everything you need to know. Weightlifting gloves? Nope, too fugly apparently. Something gaming related? He probably had everything he needed and he shares games with Benjamin...so it was very likely that I would give Florian a repeat. Sooo....I strolled around after work for a couple of days and finally got him these books from the bookstore. When I saw them, I knew he would appreciate them :) For Sven....I got him something online like two weeks ago but it hasn't arrived yet :( I was checking the mail diligently for the past week hoping to finally see it in the mail, but sadly....there was no sign of it. It was not until Thursday, the day before the gift exchange, that I received an email telling me that the address didn't work. So I had to provide the clinic's address to ensure that Sven would receive it somehow. So on Friday, Sven was pretty much present-less except for a bar of 82% chocolate (the darker the better!) and he will just have to wait to see what it is. For safety precautions, I will not mention what it was yet just in case he finds this blog :P Anyways, by the end of the day we said our goodbyes and I ended up crying a little bit :( Oh wells.

At Tina's after my presenation

These past few days I haven't really done much because my friends aren't really around in Mainz anymore and I couldn't get into contact with David, sooo...I spent it watching Heartstrings, the Korean drama. Darn you Wen! Now I'm sucked in!

Whelp it's almost time to catch my flight to London and this time I'm definitely going to the right airport :) I'm really going to miss the people here in Germany and I really hope that I will see them again. I will miss the cafe culture here where I can just lounge around outside a cafe and sit there for hours without the waitress/waiter rushing for me to leave. I'll miss all the breweries and many other things. I will definitely miss my lab the most and I hope that I will see them again. Overall, Germany was a good learning experience. I can now do multiple laboratory techniques with some level of confidence :P and I guess I am slightly more independent now. It was the first time I was in a foreign country truly alone with no knowledge about the language here, but I must say, it went quite well. Although I had Sven for help and support whenever I needed it, so maybe I'm not as independent as I think :P Anyways, it's time for me to head over to London and the rest of Europe! Good bye Germany! I hope I'll be back soon!

My flight to Vienna

Recently, I read from the Yahoo homepage that this professional tennis player booked a flight to the wrong Carlsbad. I thought, man was she unlucky. However, today I encountered a very similar situation. From the very beginning, I thought I was supposed to board at the budget terminal because my flight was extremely cheap. So I planned everything out: which bus I should take so that I would make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, when I would be getting back, etc. Although I had everything planned out, I almost missed my shuttle because I couldn't find the "N stop" (It was by the A, B, and Cs. I thought it was in alphabetical order by the main station!). Luckily, I got help from the information desk as to where this stop was located. I got on that shuttle JUUUUUUUST when it was about to leave. Phew! The entire bus right to the airport was a total blur since I didn't get much sleep last night, I totally just passed out. When I finally arrived and got off the bus, I realized that I was literally in the middle of nowhere as the bus drove off behind me.

The fields surrounding the airport

The budget airline terminal (that small building on the right)

I was still so out of it from my deep sleep nap that it really took me five minutes to even figure out which direction I should walk towards! I mean look at that building above, does it scream airport to you? No. Anyways, I leisurely walk towards the freeway signs that said "Terminal" because that was the best clue I had to where the airport was. Eventually, I got to see the airport above. I calmly go to the bathroom and I'm totally ready to go through the gates, except these ladies stopped me and asked me where I was heading (I think they had no more flights that day and they were wondering why someone would want to go through the gates). I told them "Wien" and they were like what? They asked for my boarding pass and then they told me the most horrid news ever. I was at the wrong airport and they told me I was not going to make my flight. My heart just dropped, I barely grasped the situation. I was thinking, my flight is at 9:45 and it's currently 7:30 or so, how is it possible that I can't make it even if I was at the wrong airport. Apparently the real airport (main Frankfurt airport) was around 110 km away and I literally stranded in the middle of no where. I asked the information center and she told me the next shuttle to the real airport would not be for another 45 minutes or so and the shuttle would arrive at the real airport just as my flight would depart (It takes 90 minutes to get from Frankfurt Hahn to Frankfurt Main). So I'm just freaking out about how to salvage the situation and I thought that maybe I could take a cab there. Apparently the 110 km cab would cost me 180 Euros or so, that's like my flight!

Of course in this situation, I had to call my emergency number. I dialed Sven for SOS and he basically talked me through what I could do. I could book another flight or take a cab and try to make it. However, when he heard that the cab would cost 180 Euros, he said that would be too expensive and you can not be for sure if you can make the flight. So he said the best thing to do was to get my ass to Frankfurt Main via shuttle and talk to the people there to maybe hold my flight or book another one. So I bought myself a ticket to go to the real airport and the entire ride there, I kept looking at road signs to see how much longer it would take me. During the entire ride, I calculated that if we went 66 miles an hour or so, we should make it to the airport in 1 hr. However, the bus driver was going so slow! It had to range from 40 mph to 60 mph and sometimes slower. It was so frustrating! I have to mention, it was pretty sad when the shuttle went past the area that I run at (it was around 9:10 at that time)

I got to the airport with 10 minutes to spare so I run into the airport to head to the A gates, but that required me to take the skytrain! GAH! Sucking time out of me! It's like 9:42 (with my flight departing in 3 minutes) and I reached the Lufthansa help desk. Gasping for air, I asked if there was anyway they could hold the flight or get me on another flight and they told me they will do their best. After 3 agonizing minutes, they told me my flight has already left and I would have to rebook :( I was just dying at this point. I have never missed a flight in my life, and this is how it happens...I GO TO THE WRONG AIRPORT. They sent me over to the ticket counter to purchase a new ticket and guess what?!?! The nice man behind the counter (Mr. Lopez) went through some back doors and GOT ME A FREE TICKET FOR THE FIRST FLIGHT TOMORROW!!!! OH YEA BABY! So now I'm prepping to camp out at the airport. Mr. Lopez told me about this nice spot that had seats without the medal in between so it was a nice place to lie down :) So now I have four cushioned seats allll to myself. I think I'm going to work on my paper though since I know I'm not going to do it when I'm in Vienna.

Anyways, today was very stupid of me to go to the wrong airport. But despite that, I was very lucky to meet the nice man behind the ticket counter to give me a free boarding pass. The situation was salvaged :)