The First Ten Days in Europe

DAY ONE – ARRIVAL IN VIENNA

Whew…I made it to Europe! Took 22 years (including a ten-hour flight from Chicago to Vienna), but I'm finally here. And boy, are things off to a good start: Vienna is gorgeous, Austrians are friendly, and my grumbling stomach has just been satisfied by probably the tastiest lasagna I've ever had. (Besides yours, Mom!) Thank goodness I found that quaint Italian eatery when I did.

How do I feel on my first night in Europe? Well, I guess you could say I feel a lot like that lasagna I was just talking about. Lasagna is a mix of pasta, cheese, spinach, meat, onions, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, and garlic. Right now, I'm a mix of excitement, awe, anxiousness, isolation, exhilaration, wonder, trepidation, and loneliness. You can't have a lasagna without pasta, cheese, spinach, meat, onions, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, and garlic, and you can't be an American arriving in Europe for the first time ever without feeling excitement, awe, anxiousness, isolation, exhilaration, wonder, trepidation, and loneliness.

Today marks the start of a nine-month journey. Throughout this journey, I'm certain I'll experience more excitement, awe, anxiousness, isolation, exhilaration, wonder, trepidation, and loneliness – each to varying degrees and at different times. But just as I greedily inhaled the lasagna earlier tonight, so do I resolve to consume every morsel of the metaphoric pasta, cheese, spinach, meat, onions, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, and garlic that comes my way in the next nine months.

DAY FIVE – SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SALZBURG AND MUNICH

Looking out the train window, this lifelong Chicago boy gets a special treat: mountains. Not just any mountain either. It's the Alps. Chicago skyscrapers are great, but it's something else to see this long row of mountain peaks crammed together like helpings of rocky lasagna.

Not bad scenery for the trip to my first ever Oktoberfest!

DAY FIVE – MUNICH

Lederhosen, lederhosen, lederhosen: everybody's wearing lederhosen. (Except of course for the Fraulines, who are looking pretty good in their dimdis.) All the Germans are jolly, despite that fact it's a cloudy day. Well, not exactly "cloudy". In Germany, when the sky is blue, it is entirely blue – literally, not a cloud in the sky. But when the sky turns grey like it is today, it's all grey – good luck trying to find even a hint of blue. It's as though God is spreading a giant sheet of aluminum foil over a tray of leftover lasagna, in hopes of sealing in its freshness so that it may be enjoyed on another night. (Or possibly for a future lunch if there is not enough for another whole meal.)

Needless to say, I look forward to going to the festival later tonight. I have never been in a beer tent or a lasagna tent before. Can't wait for either.

DAY TEN – MUNICH

Oktoberfest has been a blast, but I had an embarrassing moment at lunch today. When I was ready for the bill, I called out to the waiter and said, "Zählen, bitte." What I should have said was "Zahlen, bitte," because instead of asking him if I could pay, I asked him to count for me. And he did! "Eins, zwei, drei, vier," he said, "ja, ich kann zählen!"

How embarrassing. This has been happening a lot, all because my German at the moment is not very good. Every once in a while when I speak, it is as if a stream of golden lasagna flows from my mouth. But for as often as that happens, there'll be nine other times when I open my mouth and nothing comes out but globs of lasagna.

Also, today is my last day in Munich – work starts next week. After all, life can't be all games and lasagna – somebody's gotta put lasagna on the table.