Blogabroad
by Mary Pinckney Waters
Like Clockwork
Forty-two hours.
It's been 42 hours since I left
my home in Aiken, S.C., destined to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Forty-two hours since my study abroad trip to Bamberg, Germany,
was launched. And 42 of the richest hours in my life.
Hour three.
I am waiting at the gate for my rescheduled
flight. A man from New Orleans sits across from me. He had
evacuated to South Carolina from Hurricane Katrina, and today
he will return home to work as a taxi driver. He complains
about the chaos of the hurricane relief effort, but says
he is eager to re-enter the city and aid its reconstruction.
Hour 21.
I am riding the train from Frankfurt to
Würzburg next to a sociology professor. Dr. Orgünz
is originally from California but studied in New York and
London. He wears a beret and offers to split his six-pack
of Becks with me. We discuss our opinions on the American
family structure, the Vagina Monologues and human sexuality.
He says our conversation will help him teach his next course.
Hour 24.
I share a couch and an ashtray with a Nigerian
named Collins in an Internet cafe on Untere Königstrasse
in Bamberg. He speaks English with a British accent and listens
to Kanye West and 50 Cent. He says he came to Germany to
make a better life for himself, as many in his country have.
He says he misses friends from Africa, but that Germany is
one of the most welcoming countries he has experienced.
Hour 40.
I am above a plate of braised turkey, potatoes
and pureed spinach at the Rauchküche. Across the table
is John Allgood, a 19-year-old soldier from Utah who is stationed
at the U.S. military base in Bamberg. He was on his way to
church, but says it's too late; he's missed most of it by
now. Instead we head to a different church: St. Michael's
Cathedral, one of the city's most beautiful landmarks and
the site of Otto I's tomb.
Hour 42. I sit behind a laptop typing a column for
a journalism blog, wondering what hour 43 will bring.
Mary Pinckney Waters welcomes your comments
and feedback: marypwaters@yahoo.com |
