Train to Amsterdam
I am writing this on the train to Amsterdam. I had an hour-long train ride, then I switched at (insert name of town), now I am on a 3 hour train to Amsterdam. On my first train, it was very busy so I had to ask someone if I could sit next to them. It was in a four-seat configuration with a table in the middle. There was an older couple and a middle-aged man. I sat next to the lady. She started speaking to me in German. I asked her if she spoke English. They immediately identified me as American, which was a first. Most people think I am from the UK, for some reason. She told me in English that about the seat reservation system, which is what she was telling me in German. I asked a few questions about the train stuff while I was at it. They asked me questions about how long I was in Germany, what I was doing, etc. It was a great conversation. They told me about some of the history of the area we were traveling through. They told me about a major battle in Roman times about how a Germanic tribe held off three Roman Legions in the forest that we were going through. They also told me a little about them. He was very soft-spoken even though he and his wife were wearing hearing aids. He had worked in Huston. They had also been to Florida. They went to Boca on business trips. He actually knew the geography of Florida. He asked me where in the east coast of Florida I was from, I told him I was from where the rockets launch from, thinking he wouldn’t really know where I was talking about. He immediately identified it as cape Canaveral. Since he had spent time in Huston, he asked me why I wasn’t an Aggie. I told him that I didn’t have to pay to go to school, and he gave me the thumbs up. They were on their way to a family reunion. It was a really fun conversation for me. I think it was fun for them, too. Experiences like that are why I wanted to study abroad.