Made it to Freiburg... the one in Germany, not Switzerland

Today really began two days ago and it hasn't really ever stopped.

Saturday evening seeing as it was my last night in Knoxville for a good while, I thought it would be more than fitting for me to at least go out for a bit.
Next thing I knew it was already 2:00 am and I hadn't finished packing. With a flight leaving at 8:00 that meant I had 3 hours to both pack half my bag and sleep.
I was able to squeeze in about an hour of shut eye and the the gauntlet to Freiburg began.

Lured in by cheap rates and the lack of a lay-over in Washington Dulles (last summer resulted in my living there for two days) my flight schedule took me from Knoxville to Miami to New York JFK to Zurich... and then a train to Freiburg but I'll touch on that later.

Miami was nice enough, flat, hot and a lot of Spanish being spoken. That's about all I have to say about that.

On my flight between Miami and JFK I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had some how managed to book a seat in Business Class! Thanks to the 120 degree reclining seat I got the best sleep (three hours) I've had since Friday. I tried to do the same trick on my flight to Zurich (rebook my seat as close to the front as possible), but I ended up two rows into coach.

The flight to Zurich was delayed for nearly 2 1/2 hours which meant we sat at the gate for about an hour and a half and taxied for the remainder (ad to think American Airlinesalmost had me sold on them after the Business Class... oh well). In the meantime I struck up a conversation with the fellow sitting next to me. Come to find out he is in a band (the name escapes me) that had just opened for Bon Jovi at the New Meadowlands Football Stadium a couple nights before and now they are touring around Europe for a couple weeks (months maybe?). Anyways I thought that was interesting and my seat mate played the Viola... in case you were wondering.

So in air they showed the "Fantastic Mr. Fox" starring George Clooney and a cast of other notable names. Based on the Roald Dahl book it was very enjoyable and if you're looking for a humorous flick I would recommend it.

So two hours late I arrive in Zurich, I was supposed to meet Will Jolly at the Airport Train Station, but I was almost certain he would have already left without me. A little down because I figured I was going to have to make the trek to Freiburg alone, as I was retrieving my bag two guys (Chris and Trent) walked up and said, "Ryan, right?" "Ya?" I responded(Strangely I have meet people in random countries before that knew me... see 2009 post from Interlaken), they continued, "Hey so we're headed to Freiburg with the UT program... you're with us right?" This was wonderful news, we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station.

Upon arrival, I showed them how to get their Eurail passed validated, I went to the self-service kiosk and we were on our way! (Jolly was no where to be found, but he met a few people from our trip as well and made it safely to Freiburg)

From the Airport we made our way to the Zurich Central station. I looked at my ticket and found the train for our next stop... Bern (or so I thought). After some thought I remembered that there was no way Bern could be on our route. Bern is in the middle of the country! I had bought a ticket to the wrong Freiburg... the Swiss one. We were literally standing on the platform and the train was arriving when I had the revelation.

After explaining my ineptness to the train ticket officer, she allowed me to change my ticket for 10 Francs ($8.50 or so). With a major mistake diverted we got on a direct train to Freiburg. Easy sailing from here.

And that was the case until we arrived at Freiburg Central Station. I got off the train, Trent got off the train, but then the door closed on Chris. There was nothing he could do. He was headed Offenburg.

So slightly panicking (I had pretty much met this guy this morning and I did not know if he even knew where we were supposed to go) Trent and I decided to wait on Chris. We took note of the train schedules and calculated which train he should arrive (back) on. First train (4 minute layover time) no show, Second Train (35 minute layover) most probable scenario... no Chirs. Well this went on for about 2 1/2 hours. We finally gave up and hailed a taxi. Upon finding out where he was to take us... the cab driver suggested we walk.

So Trent and I arrived at the IES central office at 5:15 (just in time for dinner) to find Chris sitting behind a computer in the computer lab.

So in conclusion, I should have landed at 7:30 this morning been on the 8:45 train to Zurich and on to Freiburg with an estimated arrival at about noon. Instead, I found myself delayed and lost half the time. It has been a long 2, 3, however long. I'm glad to have a room to call my own... already made my first mistake though, used the girls bathroom.

Goodnight... can't really focus on the computer screen anymore.

-J. Ryan Sowell

Shipping Out

Early Sunday Morning I will be flying to Zurich via Miami and New York. Intentionally avoiding Dulles this year. Let's hope there's no delays this year, and I figure out how to get on the train to Freiburg!

Europe 2010

Well it's that time of year again and this year I will be traveling to Europe again. This time I will be primarily based in Freiburg, Germany. We will have trips to Paris, Geneva and Strasbourg to study international trade institutions such as the WTO and the European Union Parliament. In the coming weeks I will be updating my blog and I thank you for following my adventures.

- Ryan