Jason's Daily Notes

Kristina drove me to the Hbf to meet my mitfahrer at 11am. The snow was starting to melt. I noticed that she was studying MS and the license plate code for Münster was also MS. We sat in the car for a few minutes while waiting to figure out who the ridesharer was. Eventually we found her: Mia.

Then, after another couple minutes, the driver came: Ute. I said bye to Kristina, thanking her for her wonderful hospitality. Soon, we were off. We picked up a third ridesharer; V___ or something. I soon fell asleep. Before I knew it, we were past Bremen and headed toward Hamburg. I was following the car with my phone (I had pre-loaded the phone with the maps before we went, so that the GPS would show at least). I was speaking German the whole way, and I am getting better at explaining what I'm doing with my life at this stage.

They dropped me off in Altona, just at 2pm as I had planned. I went to the McDonalds, ordered a latte and tried to connect to wifi. It said that I needed to be a member or to buy access. Wtf?! Wifi is so hard to come by in Europe sometimes. Anyway, it didn't matter as Nicki arrived soon thereafter. We were happy to be reunited (after 5 years!).

We got me a 1-week public transit pass and headed to her place to drop off my stuff. She lives nearby, in Altona-Nord, not far from the cool and happening Sternschanze district. She had just moved in to her flat (literally the day before) so things were all over the place and a mess. I dropped off my stuff and we went out together, because she had an appointment at 4pm near the university. I went with her there and for 1 hour, I was free. I withdrew some cash and walked around, stopping by another McDonald's at the Dammtor station. I then walked, eventually making it to the Alster, but I didn't have time to walk around it because I had to be back to meet Nicki at 5pm. So I rushed back. Luckily I was wearning my green pants, making it easy for her to find me.

We then headed straight to her parents' place, taking the bus to Jungfernstieg and the U-Bahn further. I challenged myself to lead the way back to the house, seeing if I still remember it from 5 years ago. I did pretty alright.

Andreas (dad) was chopping wood in the back with some neighbors, while Anna (mom) was downstairs tutoring. Nicki sold her guitar to a guy who arrived just a couple minutes after us. We heated up some goulash and cooked some potato dumplings to go with them. Sat and watched The Simpsons.

Andreas made me some tea with rum in it - good stuff. Then, Anna offered to drive us back (because we were bringing a dust sucker [vacuum cleaner] with us). So she did. And she quickly left to pick up Nicki's sister. Nicki and I then assembled her clothes hanger thingy and got ready for bed. Her couch was spacious and comfy.