Separation
When I left for Germany, I tried to push the thought of David out of my head. After all, I had a boyfriend in Germany who was going to pick me up at the airport! However, David called me at the airport right before I gave my phone to my father. David sounded like he was all choked up about something... or maybe even in tears. This freaked me out because, while I did like him, we had only known each other for a couple of weeks. This was hardly enough time to get that attached.
I kinda blew him off on the phone, but as I flew to Detroit to make my connection to Amsterdam, I couldn't think about anything but him. I called him from the Detroit airport with a calling card that he had given me a couple of weeks prior so that I could call him from Applebee's.
Nevertheless, when the plane touched down in Munich, I decided that I would NOT think about him anymore and went on with my life.
David did e-mail me a couple of times, but it was nothing to speak of. I also kept a webpage so that my friends and family in the states could keep up with what I was up to. No sooner had I posted my phone number, though, than I received a call from David, of all people, while I was standing in the mall. I didn't even know who it was because the call was so unexpected.
E-mails became a little more personal then, and eventually, David started making some noise like he might come over for my spring break. I was incredibly depressed by this time, and my relationship in Germany had gone sour, so I thought to myself, "well, at least it will be someone from home, and he will help me take my mind off my own problems." David bought tickets and informed me that he would be staying for two weeks. Oh, Lord, that seemed like an eternity!
Our time in Germany
When David flew in, I gave him detailed instructions about how much luggage he should bring and how he could meet me at the train station so I didn't need to go all the way to the airport. The whole time I was riding in the train, I was worried that he wouldn't find his way to the train station, and that we would have an international crisis on our hands because David (whom I equated to Gomer Pyle) was lost and confused in a foreign country.
He was standing right there, though, waiting for me to walk down the platform and meet him... him and his two ginormous suitcases. I surpressed a smile, so he wouldn't know I was happy to see him. No use getting his hopes up, right? I berated him a little for bringing so much luggage, especially since he would now have to pay for two lockers so we could see a little bit of Munich before going back to Regensburg. This was perhaps our first money-related arguement.
Anyway, we got him settled in, and I gave him a mini-tour of the downtown Munich area, complete with a lunch stop at the Augustiner beer hall, where we had Schweinebraten, Knoedeln, and Krautsalat, along with his first official German beer. Then he tipped WAY too much (tip is included in Germany, so you normally just leave the change), and we were entertained by our waiter who felt he needed to earn the extra pay.
We went took the train back to Regensburg and got David settled into the hotel room that I had reserved for him, which was right by the train station and a LOT of construction. It was a friend of mine's half-birthday, and we went out for Chinese to celebrate. I briefly mentioned to David, "I hope you like Chinese, 'cause that's what you're getting for dinner," never imagining that David had never had Chinese before and was absolutely afraid of it! I noticed he hardly touched his food, but I figured that was due to jet lag. Only days later did I discover the truth about his fear of Chinese and how terrible it was for me to have selected something he didn't like for his first dinner in Germany!
We spent several days in Regensburg, and even took a trip out to Neuschwanstein to see the famous storybook castle David had always dreamed about. I don't think he ever dreamed that he would actually get to go see it, so he was thrilled to scratch that off of his list of "must-sees." Spring Break fell over Easter, so Brittany (a friend of mine), David, and I traveled to Rome to have mass with the pope. We took an overnight train (without a sleeping car), but I think that David thoroughly enjoyed the European experience. Unfortunately, I started realizing that David was a very nice boy, and I didn't want to date him at all.
This came out mostly the last day when we had made it back to Munich from Rome. Brittany went on back to Regensburg, so it was just me and David in the city. He kept wanting to hold my hand, but I would have none of it. I finally felt obligated to tell him about all my terrible relationships, why I just wanted to be wild and carefree, why I couldn't have a relationship with him, etc. However, as the day went on, I think I started to soften up a bit with the realization that, "hey, why would I want to be reckless when I could have something totally stable with this nice, young man?"
He cried again when he left the next day, and rather than being repulsed or annoyed, I was touched. I WAS relieved that he was gone, because it was a big responsibility keeping up with him while he was there, but as soon as I woke up the next morning, I missed him. About a week later, I had a religious experience where I decided that my life was worth living, and worth living right. David and I talked on the phone for 5+ hours every night after that, and I could NOT wait to get back home!
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