Last night Rabea, Chelsea, Mimi, and I went to Hinkelstein (the dungeon-looking bar) to watch the Ukraine vs. Sweden game (Euro cup 2012 is going on right now for those of you who do not know). I'm usually not a big football fan, but I like to get into the games and it's an excuse to yell and be belligerent.
Mimi and I cheered for Ukraine while Rabea and Chelsea cheered for Sweden, and I can't deny that the slow motion shots were... wonderful. They have some beautiful men on this side of the planet. After UKRAINE WON (muahaha), we all went back home and I went back to cleaning out my room. I went to bed at 3 a.m. and then woke up at 9 a.m. to finish cleaning before my terrifying Haus Frau came to check me out of my room. After I was checked out I picked up my backpack and- no... that's an understatement... I had to FORKLIFT my backpack onto my back and then use a crane to get my suitcase down the hill and onto the bus. I didn't realize just how many books I had gotten while here and how difficult it would be to get everything back to the US.
I now had my Laufzettel and could make my way down to the Studentenwerk where I would get my €150,00 deposit. My Haus Frau told me that she took off €30,00 for cleaning (which they usually always do with everyone), so I was looking forward to having at least €100,00. This is where I had my last brush with German bureaucracy. I had to take my Laufzettel to an office in the Studentenwerk and get it notarized or something, take that form and another to the accounting department and let them figure out the rest.
When I walked into the first office I didn't exactly know where I was going, this lady at the front desk (who was missing an arm) looked up and saw that I was a bit lost. There in that space where her other arm should be was a little finger-looking appendage that she used to point at a door next to me and say, "um die Ecke!" A little taken aback at what happened, I stumbled over to the door around the corner and went into the other office where I awkwardly announced what I was there for. A plump rosy-cheeked woman motioned over to me and without a word snatched my form and began typing, writing, and calculating and then had me sign a couple forms (which could very well have said that I would give them my first born child) and then told me to go to the accounting office. I walked around the corner and the appendage lady motioned to the exit. I walked into the accounting office and this tall regal blonde german lady came rushing over to me and offered me a seat and a candy (I took five, I was very nervous). She grabbed my form and started stamping things, writing things down, typing something on her computer, and brought out a giant accounting calculator and started plucking away on the keys like a lady with a mission. She then turned to me and said (in German), "You owe us €23,63." i was so taken aback by the fact that I walked in with the expectations of receiving over €100 and instead OWEING them money I said (in English), "WHAT?" And she proceeded to say it again, but in english and I said (in German), "No no no... I understand what you said, I just don't see how that could have happened." She looked down at the form and then back at her calculator and realized she had made a mistake... she reworked everything and turns out I only get €12,00 back. I didn't care as long as I didn't owe them money, I still got worked by the German Accounting Dep. though.
I walked out of that office and down to the second floor where Rabea's brother was watching my awfully heavy suitcase for me. Rabea went and turned my uCard in and I got at least €15,00 for that.
Now it was Goodbye Time. A few months ago Chelsea and I decided not to tell each other when we were leaving to go back to the US. I was able to keep it a secret, but somehow she had discovered that I was on the top floor of Studentenwerk and the only reason anybody goes up there is to get their room deposits back. So, she came up and waited while I went through that mess I had just described. When we rejoined Rabea's brother and Mimi downstairs, Chelsea took one look at my bags and the emotions started flooding, so she and I went outside and sat on a bench. I faced that castle and looked up at it thinking of all the times I had sat on this one particular bench just taking it all in. Chelsea and I sat there in almost complete silence, neither of us knowing what to say or how to even deal with this kind of situation. It was strange because she and I usually can't shut up when we are together, but this time it was just silence, and that's when you can tell when things are bad. We went back up to join the others where there was another 20 minutes of just awkward silence. Then I decided that I just had to go. I was feeling nauseous again from this whole farewell thing and I just needed to get moving. So, I said goodbye to Mimi and then Rabea plowed into me giving me a good old fashioned german bear hug. It was definitely really sweet. Chelsea and I just kind of stood there staring at each other.
She said, "I can feel my heartbeat in my fingers."
To which I replied, "Yeah... I think i'm going to puke."
"Yeah, me too."
Then she asked if we could have one of those awkward side-hugs and we did, but it was really painful. I took one last look at everyone and just turned right on my heel and headed for the Hauptbahnhof. As I walked out the doors I thought I could hear that little group laughing. Whether they were laughing about me or at me, I didn't care because that's exactly how I want to remember them: laughing.
As I was on the train watching the castle I loved so dearly slowly disappear into the distance, I didn't really feel nauseous anymore. I felt that weird bitter-sweet feeling when you leave somewhere that has so many wonderful things tied to it. In reality it was kind of like a strange sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, like I came, I saw, and I conquered. Though I still would have liked more time, it wasn't quite as painful as I had thought. I think it's the people I left that is really getting to me.
I wish someone had filmed me trying to get onto the train with my suitcase... at one point I was wedged in the door way with really know way out until by some miracle from the gods, I squeezed onto the train. Getting off the train in Frankfurt was a bit easier, I just kind of flopped down onto the platform like a whale, flopped around a bit, gasped for air, and then continued on like nothing had happened. I found my way to my hostel which is in the heart of Frankfurt's Red Light District. The hostel really isn't bad at all, it's situated between a couple really fine family-friendly places called, "American Pussy" and "Turkish Delight." Across the street is a lovely looking place with a creative name. It's called, "SEX SEX SEX." After a dropped all my stuff off in my room, I ran off to the spring market outside the Hauptbahnhof and got a Wurst and some Apfelwein, then I went into the Hauptbahnhof and sat down on a bench at Gleis 15 (the platform that usually goes in the direction of Marburg). An RE train was leaving to go to Marburg and I saw a few people I knew and played with the club-footed pigeons that were scuttling around on the floor. After another nice little walk I came back to my room to find another person in there snoring away. This kid is out like a rock. The hostel is having a BBQ and watching more Euro Cup games, so i'm going to go down there and join them. Not a bad way to spend my last night in Deutschland.
Now I just have to figure out how my book-laden back is going to survive tomorrow.
Tschüß!
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