Exchange Diaries… Episode 1 – Lost in Salzburg

September is the exchange month for medical students in my University. On exchange we are assigned to a department in a university in another country to enhance our clinical experience! After two whole years of schooling without anything that looks like a vacation, this seems like the perfect reward. Join me on my exciting trip to Salzburg, Austria!

 

 

Episode 1 – Lost in Salzburg!

1

 

The setting is on the streets Accra, on a hot Tuesday afternoon with impatient drivers and heavy traffic. I’m seated at the back of a Nissan Patrol with my elder brother, Yaw driving. Along with us is Baaba and her mum. The older folk – Yaw and Baaba’s mum are occupying the front seats while the two of us are at the back.  We chatter excitedly about the trip and our expectations. It has been a hectic academic year with Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology and this exchange feels like a reward for all the hard work we’ve done. When our results came out last Friday and we found we had passed, our joy knew no bounds!

 

…On that day, Kwasi called to inform me we (he and I) had passed. I was already on my way to Accra to pick up my visa then. I’m sure my scream of excitement – though with a lot of effort to muffle it, startled my immediate neighbors on the VIP bus. Right from that moment, a breeze of relief and excitement overtook me as I sailed on in my imagination of the adventures that await in the next month or so.

 

At a little past 3pm in the afternoon, we get to airport city. But before we go to the Kotoka International Airport, we need to change our cedis to euros at a forex bureau. We watch on in awe as our beloved, numerous cedis shrink into minute amounts of euros. I mean, wow! Right then, we start bracing ourselves for what’s to come in the following weeks. We have all packed up gari and other such vital condiments for the numerous ‘rainy’ days we predict.

2

We get to the airport and check in our luggage (as we’ve already checked in online). Nana Osei and Victoria are here to see us off, together with my brother and Baaba’s mum (So nice of them). We say our final goodbyes and give our last hugs and we part.

We go through immigration – with the officials having already noticed that we are students and are moving together and soon, we’re at the waiting area getting ready to board.

It’s quite a full house and we’re all to be on the same flight. There are six of us in total from our medical school class. Duut, Raymond, Baaba and Joshua are all going to Germany, Nana Akosua is going to Spain and I (De-Graft) am going to Munich, then to Austria.

After about an hour of happy moments and conversations, it is announced that we’re about to leave. We wait for our seating zone to be called (the rest of them are in different seating zones because we didn’t know we’d be on the same flight till we met here). But Baaba and I will be seated together. At this point, I am sure people are staring and wondering why we are so excited about this travel. But essentially, they just don’t know what is going on!

3

The plane takes off at 17:50 and in a moment, we’re on the clouds (both literally and figuratively). I scan through the movies they’ve got and I start with Avengers – Endgame.

At this point, we’re both hungry and tired so we wait for the food eagerly. The food comes when I’m like midway through the movie and I consume it in no time. I’m starting to get sleepy too so I plan to get some sleep when this movie ends. They keep serving stuff in the plane though – Drinks, snacks, coffee… and I have made up my mind to down every bit of the food they bring around. Little do I know that this will get me into trouble. Well, coffee comes along and I just can’t resist the temptation to have a cup of it. About thirty minutes after I am done, bam! My eyes swing open and all the sleep disappears. I am forced to stay awake after the first movie and start watching Aladdin – which also lasts about two hours. At this point, I look around sadly at the people around with most of them enjoying some very good sleep and I can do nothing but watch on helplessly.

Eventually, I am able to doze off just a little bit but soon, we arrive at Dubai Airport. This is where we all split off to the various flights that’ll take us to our final destination. I am supposed to go to A16 and the others are going to C or so (I guess). The transit period is for three hours and on paper, I’m supposed to have some time to tour the airport before jumping on my plane. But I have been advised (and yes, I’m advising you too) that it’s not the time or place for sightseeing. Especially since the airport is very large and you can get lost there. So I go straight to my terminal and await the flight. They sell food around and a part of me keeps complaining about hunger. But all need to do is to check the prices of the food sold there and my hunger is successfully quelled with immediate effect.

4

About 40 minutes to the time we’re supposed to board, the officials come around and we’re checked and move on to board. I get a seat beside the window with a pleasant young lady and her mum to my right. As the plane takes off, with my eyes fixated at the window, I catch a glimpse of the famous Palm Islands and say to myself, “wow! So you’re real!”

Immediately after the plane moves, I finally feel sleepy again and I fall into deep sleep. It is so deep, I don’t even notice when they come round to serve food. After I am awake, they serve food again and I’m sorted out.  I keep enjoying the view of the alps, lakes, and of the beautiful European landscape, along with a movie.

 

5

Eventually, at 1:30 (GMT+2) I arrive at Munich airport.

I get through with immigration and pick up my luggage then I step out into Germany!

 

Kujo comes to meet me and gets a train for both of us to move to the main Munich Train station which is about 40 minutes away. He is so nice and helpful and we get to know we know each other a lot better than we thought we did. This is the first time we’re meeting and somehow we just knew we had found each other when I stepped out of the airport!

At the train station in Munich, he gets me a ticket to Salzburg and then we get a great meal to fill my belly. I also find out that I would not be able to move into my permanent accommodation in Austria but thankfully, a place is arranged for me to spend the night before moving on the next day.

At 17:50, I get into the train heading for Salzburg. I am so tired now with the 2 hours of sleep I got on the plane definitely not enough. I drift in and out of sleep during the almost 2-hour journey and finally after many stops, I’m in Salzburg.

In all honesty, I am totally blown away by the beauty of the train station. I ask around for where I can get a taxi and some people are kind enough to show me where I can get one.

 

6

I step out into Salzburg, and find many taxis waiting in queue to pick people up.

Kujo wrote out the address of the place I was supposed to go on a sheet for me so I show it to the taxi driver and though he doesn’t look too sure of knowing the place, we move.

 

I should say, Salzburg is a very beautiful city. Not so elaborate or extravagant but has a unique way of blending culture and old building styles with modern styles with such crispness and simplicity, I’m just awed. Right then, I know I have made the right choice to come here!

I keep my eyes on the price meter though and my heart keeps jumping as I convert the price to cedis! After about 15 minutes we find my street, but we have such a hard time finding the exact building. Ei. The taxi driver too, the more I think of it, the more I feel he was trying to cheat me. He keeps driving round and round the street… Going back and forth looking like he wants to locate the building. But I mean… How? And the price meter keeps reading. After about four minutes and like 3 extra euros of the price, I tell him to just stop wherever we have got to and I will walk to find the building myself.

 

He takes out my luggage for me and I start moving in no direction particularly, looking for clues that’ll help me find the place. I meet a middle aged man and he gives me the directions to the place. Even though it’s some distance and I am tired with my back aching and my muscles sore, the adrenaline I have left in me is enough to drive me.

 

7

After about 400 metres of walking, I meet one other guy riding a bicycle and I stop him, showing him the address written on paper. He is really nice to me and he actually takes out his phone to find the place on google maps for me. But on that day, on that occasion, google maps didn’t force for me. In fact, I was standing almost right in front of the building and the guy told me that, according to google maps, I am supposed to use one long way like that around the block before I get to my destination. Ei! Asem ben nie?

Anyway, I am so close and some extra walking definitely will not kill me. I go round that entire block – and that’s probably like 600 metres of walking and I still don’t find the building!

Then I see a bearded man in his car about to drive off. I go towards him and show him the address. He checks on the navigator in his car and tells me that, the address is a few metres away but I have to go through some bushes to reach there. Still optimistic, knowing giving up isn’t an option, I head toward the bushes with a very narrow path which in itself is overgrown. At this point, it is almost 10pm and already dark (it starts getting dark at 8pm). The walk through the bushes feels endless and though I can see a building to the side of the bushes, there is a fence that separates the bushes from the building. I am confused, and I start to feel that genuinely, I’m lost.

At this point, I feel a knot in my throat, the kind that usually precedes crying. Yes, I am lost in Salzburg, in a foreign land, with no means of communication. Worse, I am hungry, tired, weary and haven’t had any proper sleep in about 48 hours! I silently say a prayer and try to shake it off.

 

8

I walk some more and I finally find a clearing of the bushes that opens into a small street. On the right side, I can see a gate to a building and I walk towards it. When I check on the entrance, it has my destination written boldly there! In fact, I was about 50 metres away from this building when the guy on the cycle redirected me and elongated my journey! But anyway, I forgive him. Both him and google maps.

 

I am so excited and relieved, but I try to hold myself back from jubilating just yet. I find a group of four young people chatting, smoking and walking towards the building too from their car. I approach them showing them the address and asking them if I’m at the right place. They confirm and direct me to the reception.

 

I find a pleasant woman probably in her sixties and in glasses there. I introduce myself to her and she says she has been waiting for me! She hands me the keys to my room and… The rest is history!

I am finally able to connect to Wi-Fi, and I make calls and messages to inform everyone I have arrived safe and almost sound.

 

I find warm water in my room, freshen up and collapse into bed!

One of the longest days of my life, finally comes to an end!

 

 

Coming up next… Episode 2 – Hello Salzburg!