Shopaholic Q8eya

We woke up at 6 Saturday morning, got ready and hit the road to Munich. After an hour on the train, I saw a very nice picture of a castle in the Germany guide I was reading. My friend noted that the castle is on the next stop of our way. I decided that I want to go there, so we got off the next stop. I was able to see the castle up on the mountain. The beautiful Burg Hohenzollern . I was taking some pictures when this Asian girl approached me. She hardly spoke English and did not speak German! It was very hard communicating with Mikoko. She is a Japanese girl that couldn’t speak ANY other language. It seemed like she flew all the way from Japan by herself not knowing any one at all in Germany in the love of exploring new cultures. At first, I thought she was crazy but then I thought what a brave woman. She had a dream and is achieving it. She was pointing at the castle up the mountain and she kept saying “YES YES YES”.

We took a bus up the hill. We got off. I had to look up to see the castle. Cars can’t go through anymore. We had to hike up. It has been along time since I did hiking. Was it junior year? Maybe! It was a fun 1-hr hike up the mountain. When we got there, it was amazing. Then we met Maggie, from China. She helped us communicating with Mikoko since she knew very little Japanese. Heeey, it helped a little. It took us an hour to go around the castle from the outside, and another hour to tour it from the inside. It was great. I sat on the wall up there and was looking at this amazing view. I took a lot of pictures. Fortunately, it was nice and sunny. Then it hit me, I don’t want to go Munich. I can always come back to Munich with my family. I want to go and see more of this, I thought. My friend and I decided to see this other famous castle two hours away when Maggie told us she is going to another castle in Sigmaringen. It was another castle owned by the same family. Sigmaringen was two hours away just the opposite direction to where we have been planning on going. The four of us took the same train to Schloss Sigmaringen. It wasn’t until we got to Sigmaringen when Mikoko actually understood where we’re going!! Poor girl!

I always dreamt of traveling around Europe as a backpacker. I will get to meet people who would become friends and have unplanned destinations. I have done it. I spent a whole day with Maggie and Mikoko. I hardly knew the girls but I enjoyed having them around. We went to three other cities that day. After dinner, it was over. Poor Mikoko started crying when she hugged me. We haven’t talked that much but I liked the girl. We exchanged emails. Two days ago I got a very long email from Maggie; I replied back and have been in touch since. This morning, I got an email from Mikoko. She wrote two words, “Hello” and “Thanks”. This email really made my day. I thought she had so many things to say but couldn’t write it down in English. I haven’t replied back cuz I just didn’t know what to write.

We went back to the Dorm that night. I don’t even remember what our initial plan was for Sunday. But I do remember that we didn’t follow them, as usual of course. We took a train back to Stuttgart to see the Mercedes-Benz Museum. It was great. I, then, got a phone call from a friend who was in a city not that far from Stuttgart. We took a train to Karlsruhe where I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my Kuwaiti friends. Monday was relaxing. My flight was not until later at night. My friend and I spent the day hanging out and just talking. We were sitting on the stairs of a church when it started raining. We, then, went to a café near the station and waited for my train. It was time; I hugged my friend and wondered if I will see her sometime soon. I got on the train, got to Stuttgart airport and here am I back in London.