@doodlyroses

The adventures, thoughts, and general scrawlings of a classical pianist


Now blogging from Salzburg

I was going to blog before I left the States, WHOOPS! Anyway I had some downtime with my computer at the Munich airport, and now that I have an internet connection at my host family’s house in Salzburg I’ll start dumping my offline blog vomit here.

I’m sitting in the Munich airport as I write this. I don’t actually have internet access (you have to pay per hour of wifi) so I’m writing in Microsoft Word with the intention of putting this on my blog later.
The reason why I’m sitting in the Munich airport is because for some reason I have to wait three hours for my van to Salzburg, where I will be studying and staying with my host family. When I booked the van through email this week, I was told that the driver would be waiting at the airport for me; when I actually got to the transfer service counter, I was told that I’d have to wait three hours. I attempted to get to the bottom of it all but the representative of the specific service I was using couldn’t understand English and another rep for another service had to translate for him. It was a messy situation.
So yes, being in a country where you don’t know the language is certainly an experience, and I’m not even out of the airport. I’ve passed the time by reading my student handbook, journaling, napping, and changing the time zone on my iPod Touch repeatedly. Yes, I forgot to bring a book. (It’s a moment of forgetfulness I’m kicking myself for; what I would give to have my copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn right now.) As of now I have more than an hour to go before the alleged magic time in which I will be graced with transport to my host family.
8:03 PM edit: A man from the Salzburg transport service just came and took my luggage; in broken English he told me that we’d leave at 9:00. I really hope that this works out and that I don’t end up in some horrible situation where my luggage ends up somewhere else.
I’d like to note that so far I’ve found myself having to be That American who doesn’t know the language and copes by just speaking in English to anyone with a nametag or behind a counter. It’s a poor situation to be in, but hopefully the German course I’m taking at the college will teach me enough to at least let me show that I’m trying.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.