7/08 Unsured departure

After I got accepted in graduate school, my few years ahead in the future are kinda settled. Mom and Dad had planned for me to go backpacking in Europe for 40 days during summer vacation, since I would be spending the first semester of grad school in Karlsruhe, Germany. 

I was really thrilled. I mean, Europe, Germany and France! Sweet! A relaxing, comfortable trip instead of rushing, tight schedule like it was back in the South East Asia. 

I planned to go round around Germany, visiting all of their big cities and famous sights. However, my schedule was forced to alter due to the application date of my German long term visa (for study), in the end, my trip length was cut in half from 40 to 20. Departing on 7/8 from Taiwan to Changsha, where I will be waiting for the transfer flight to Frankfurt the next day morning.

And after a 3-day stay in Frankfurt, I will be going on to Heidelberg, then Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and finally the last stop in German, Munich. I planned on staying 3 nights in each of the Deutsch cities, 4 in Paris before taking the return-home flight on 7/28 to Guangdong and coming home on 7/29. Though my trip to Europe sounds simple as hell, my inside was full of uncertainty. I acted like: I got this, I had it all under control, but the truth was I didn't really put in much time and effort into scheduling. And it felt so feeble comparing to the preparation before South East Asia. 

My big backpack only weighs about 9kilos, which should be near 20 and it jUST felt empty. Have I gotten everything I need, I was a little bit unsure. The only advantage of the preparation for the trip was that I had settled down my accommodation in Frankfurt, bought an unlimited 3G card for Germany, and booked all of the train tickets. By booking the tickets beforehand, it really saved lot of bucks.
Feeling unsure, I boarded the plane, had some nice chicken rice, celery salad and made it to Changsha in one piece.

The airport was quite alright, smaller than Taiwan's. I was surrounded by the Main_Landers and they were cutting into each others' lines. I overheard some complaining about China's efficiency and praising those of the Taiwanese haha.

I sat in one of the lounges, reading my novel and listening to the music, it's going to be a long night before taking off. Eventually I got a little bit hungry, but most of the restaurants had closed and I didn't even bring any RMBs, craving for some snack at the moment. People around me were speaking all kinds of dialects and it was like an experience into the United Nations, and they were still rumbling about all the gossip deep into the night.

Finally it was boarding time from Changsha to Frankfurt. It was a bit cold on the plane and fortunately I've got my jacket and the plane blanket to keep me comfy. It will be a 6-hour flight, arriving at destination 6 o'clock in the morning. Hope that the first thing in the morning would be a sunshine Frankfurt.