Saturday morning: Cait and I missed our train. It was like out of a movie. We walked out just as it drove past. We then had to jog to Bismarkplatz (like the center square) to try to get another bus to take us to the train station. Most buses go to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), but of course not a single one we saw that morning. We finally got a bus with literally 5 minutes to spare. We sat on the bus like nervous wrecks praying we would make it in time. We had literally 1 minute left when we got the train station. We went SPRINTING off the bus, across the street without looking (sorry mom) and through the station. People were parting like the red sea for us, it was great. It was a moment I will never forget, movie quality for sure! Our backpacks were bouncing on our backs and I had full sprint form down the platform. When we made it down the escalator our friends burst into cheers. It was great, yet also terrifying!
#28: On the 3 hour train ride down to Freiburg, we all learned how to make our own rosearies. It was pretty cool. Once we got to Freiburg, we had no clue where we were going so we just followed the crowds. Lucky enough for us, the crowd happened to be a massive group of teenage volunteers dressed in bright orange. Couldn't lose them if we wanted. We walked with them over 45 minutes from the train station to the airport (thats where the vigil and mass took place). We then waited outside the arena for a few hours until we were able to get in. Not alot of information was given, and things were surprisingly unorganized for Germans...especially for the Pope. We got an amazing spot up front and center for the Vigil, but we were hungry and wanted to see the city. We decided it would be best to split up. Half of us stayed and watched our stuff, while the rest of us went into town. I had heard so much about Freiburg from Frau Shuster so it was really important for me to explore. We walked the 45 minutes back into town and met up with my friend Becca's, friend from home. He is studying in Freiburg so he showed us around. The city was super busy, but also really beautiful. We had AMAZING Doners and then trecked back to the airport.
Once we got back from our sightseeing, we realized that might have been a bad idea to leave our area. The place was PACKED! and they were not letting people up to the front. Using my crowd snake technique I have learned at concerts, I managed to get us up to the front, but on the opposite side of where our stuff and our friends were. We were not happy, but at least we were up close.
#29: It actually was a blessing, because when Pope Benedict drove by in the Pope Mobile....we were 15 feet away! It was crazy. We all got usually emotional after that were just so happy. It meant so much to me because I know Oma and Grandma would have been so excited for me...I think for me, thats what did it.
The rest of the Vigil was beautiful. It was candle lite, and the whole group just seemed to come together when he spoke. It also meant so much to hear the Pope speak in Germany...in German. Thankfully we had all been to a German Mass before, so we knew the Our Father, as well as some other smaller prayers in German otherwise we would have for sure been lost.
After the Vigil we were pooped. Like totally exhausted. Not to mention cold. We all bundled up with our layers and made camp right where we had been sitting. We had to wait there for a few hours until the field we were allowed to sleep in opened up. So we sat in this for 2 hours. We fell asleep and even got our pictures taken and in the paper the next day for being so commited to seeing the Pope :) Super cool...except the garbage part that is...
What was supposed to be 2 hours of waiting...turned into 4. We had to change locations several times, and ended up waiting 2 hours longer outside our field because the security was not yet organized. We were tired, and cold and just not happy. This is when we experienced the true blue culture shock. We heard that Germans were always so organized and on time with everything, but this whole Papst Besuch was nothing close to organized. No one was telling us anything, and everyone around us was getting so mad. It was a youth event, and we were pretty old compared to those standing around us. It was wayyy past bedtime for most of the kids, and no one seemed to care. Everything was a mess, and unorganized and something like that would have never flew in the states. Riots would have happened or something. We were fed up, we just wanted to sleep and wanted the Germans to for once meet their stereotype. Then...we started doing the unspoke of...homeland vs. foreignland comparison and started ripping on Germany. Looking back I feel bad, but we were just so moody from the day. At this point we wanted to be home, or at least in America where things would never be this unorganized for such a huge event. Our remedy for the homesickness? To sing God Bless America of course! Over and over we sang it, along with any other American Pride song we could think of. It was hilarious, but also kinda bad of us. Although it get seem to work cause 20 minutes later, we were let into the field to sleep.
#30: We put down our tarp, snuggled up and passed out...for 1 hour that is. Then the fog rolled in. We were laying outside in a cloud when we woke up freezing at 3 am. We were covered in dew and literally so cold we were shaking. I could not stand it so I got up and ran around, but it didn't seem to help. We all shed a tear or two because we were that cold, but we had to see the Pope speak the next day so we stuck it out. We all spooned and finally fell back asleep for another hour. 2 full hours of sleep...grand, right?
It actually was. We woke up, and although we were freezing...we got great seats for mass the next day. We got to see the Pope up close again, as well as be apart of history with 100,000 other people as the Pope performed his first Mass in Baden-Wurttemberg. It was totally worth all the trouble we experienced the day before...no doubt. It was such a cool experience and one I will never forget. I was truly blessed with that opprounity and I wouldn't have had it go any other way.
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