On Monday I went to Frankfurt for the afternoon/evening with Adriana, an exchange student from Venezuela. Adriana had to visit the Venezuelan Embassy and invited me to come along with her so after she'd finished what she needed to do at the embassy, we could explore Frankfurt and definitely check out the Weihnachtsmarkt there (Weihnachtsmakt = Christmas market). So Sunday night I asked my host parents if I could go and they said it was alright, but first I should call Uta (our AFS coordinator) to make sure that it was okay for the two of us to go alone. And so, I had my first phone call completely in German. The phone call went a well, except I was really nervous and I made Sarah stand with me while I called, just in case. Uta said that of course it was fine that we go to Frankfurt and wished us "viel Spaß!"
So Monday after school (I only had school until 1pm!), I met Adriana at the train station. We were just about to buy our train tickets when a woman asked us if we're going to Frankfurt because she had two extra tickets (in Germany you can get special discounts on tickets when you buy them in groups of five). She asked us to pay seven euros for each ticket, which is about half of their normal price.
Taking a train from Gießen to Frankfurt takes about a half an hour, and there are at least two trains per an hour going to Frankfurt. It was kind of mind boggling for me that I could be in a city the size of Boston in just a half hour; whereas from where I live in America, it takes an hour by car to get to a "city" of 42,282 people. Also, I really appreciated the freedom of being able to go Frankfurt with just one other exchange student when just three months ago I had no idea how to speak German or use the train system. And three months ago, if I'd found myself in a large city of which I could hardly speak the language and I had no idea how to navigate, I would probably have a mental break down.
After arriving in Frankfurt at about 2 o'clock, we decided that our first order of business would be to find the Venezuelan Embassy. Equipped with the address of the embassy and Google maps in my phone, we still managed to get a bit lost. We ended up asking for directions about three times. Eventually we found the embassy, spotting the Venezuelan flag from down the street and running gleefully in its direction.
Upon arriving at the embassy, much to our dismay, we discovered that it had closed at 10 o'clock that morning. After a few minutes of wallowing in our self-pity and trying to decide what we should do next, we noticed two men exiting the embassy. Adriana had a short conversation with them in Spanish, most of which I did not understand (unfortunately, it seems that as I learn German, I'm forgetting my Spanish). Then the men let us into the embassy where Adriana talked to some more people in Spanish and was able to do whatever she needed to do there.
Next, we decided to go to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt. I had already been to the Weihnachtsmarkt once with my host family, but only briefly, so I was happy to go back. We simply asked someone on the street in which direction the Weihnachtsmarkt is, and we were on our way.
Once at the Weihnachtsmarkt, we bought the obligatory Currywurst, crepe, and hot Apfelwein. When you get something to drink at a Weihnachtsmarkt, the vendors give it to you in a mug that you're required to return (or else you won't get your extra euro or two back), so there are some tables for people to stand around while they drink their Glühwein, or what have you.
We spent the rest of the evening walking around the Weihnachtsmarkt; we even took a ride on the carousel. Navigating the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt, especially at night when there are more people, can be really tricky. There are huge crowds everywhere. As a small-town girl, I'm not used to having to push my way through tons of people just to make it down the sidewalk.
When we finally decided that it was time to go home, we asked a man for directions. He told us that the Bahnhof was quite a distance away from the market and that it'd probably be best to take the U-bahn back. But we thought, whatever, we've walked this far, we can walk back. On that note, thank the Lord for smart phones with GPS!
The train ride back was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the fact that a rather large woman with a huge backpack sat next to me (practically on top of me), squishing me against the wall of the train for the whole ride. But not even that could take away from the fun night I had with Adriana in Frankfurt.
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