Day One in Gaming

At 3 PM Saturday my plane took off from Detroit and my trip to Gaming, Austria began. It was the smallest plane I'd ever been in, seating around 50 passengers. As the earth shrank away below me an ever expanding landscape became visible until we were engulfed by Michigan's overcast sky. Moments later we emerged to a crisp blue sky and bright sun complimenting the haphazard terrain of the clouds below.

After an uncomfortable flight on that cramped plane we landed in Washington D.C. little over an hour before my next flight was to take off. Approaching the gate I recognized the crowd of FUS students already waiting to board. After just enough time elapsed for me to exchange hellos with everyone I knew the plane began boarding and I went from experiencing flying in a plane smaller than any I'd been in before to the largest. After finding my seat I was immediately traded spots with another student so my neighbor could sit next to her friend. /the flight attendant explained that our flight from D.C. to Vienna was over 4,400 miles and soon after we were in the air.

My new neighbor, Sarah, a junior education major, and I talked awhile before dinner. Then, after eating I tried to sleep. No luck. Playing music, watching TV, and adjusting to every position imaginable didn't help either. Giving up on sleep, I decided I would accept a friend's challenge and thus ensued two-and-a-half hours of trying to beat Greg Hurst's record accomplishment of reaching level 49 on Gobbling Snake. However, my controller was on the fritz and time and time again my snake would spontaneously go in all sorts of directions I never told it to go in - this almost always resulted in the death of my snake. It was over two hours of pure insanity. But, let it be known, that despite a whacked controller I beat level 49 and made it all the way to level 50. Greg, I saw, I came, and I succeeded; your challenge has been beaten. However, I must say that, in order to make it all the way to level 49 on the horrible, horrible game, you must have the patience of a Carthusian monk, the skills of a ninja, and the good looks of Brad Pitt.

Sick of Gobbling Snake and with nothing else to do I spent the final hour of my flight in a sort of tortured daze, staring into the back of Matt's head. However, we finally landed and I somehow made if off the plane alive . . . only to be knocked senseless by Steve Eddleson's tackling hug at the baggage claim. After those first few very exciting moments where Steve practically yelled "HEY MAN! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU!" and I checked to make sure all my appendages were still attached I waited to claim my luggage. And waited. "I bet United Airlines lost my luggage," I said jokingly as we all waited for our bags. An hour later I could be found in Lost & Found filling out paperwork for my missing bags. Yes, United did in fact lose my luggage. Right now all I know is that one bag is still in D.C. while the other is still unaccounted for. Meanwhile I was left with only the clothes on my back, 100 Euros, and my carry-on consisting of a couple textbooks, my computer, and my camera. Bring it Austria!

After taking the bus to Gaming it was time to clean up before Mass, and of course the most logical way to do just that when you have no clothes, no soap, and no towel is to jump in the river outside the Kartause - which is exactly what I did. It was cold. That evening the FUS staff hosted a social with free beer, and thus did I get to try my first alcoholic beverage. Now, I'm back in my dorm room hoping that by the time I wake up tomorrow I'll be over the jet lag - I haven't slept in 32 hours.

UPDATE:

I apologize if this post is incomprehensible. I was essentially in an exhausted stupor when I wrote it, posting it the next day without evening proofreading it; so it's pretty rough.