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Don't worry, it's cool guys, I found the Starbucks!

Today's post is brought to you from a bus stop with very cold fingers. Why you ask? Well apparently as much as I complain about public transportation back home, here it runs well, but is a bit more confusing!

Today I had to take my first solo adventure into the city centre for an appointment at the immigration office to extend my visa. That meant taking the bus from our neighbourhood into town. There are two ways to this, with a direct bus that runs once an hour or a bus AND Tram that also runs once an hour. Unfortunately the direct bus meant I was an hour early to my appointment. Being too nervous to connect with the tram on my first trip alone I settled on killing time. Everything went perfect and I made my way to the office and got my bearings. With an hour to kill I wandered through the city centre for a while, trying to make a mental note of landmarks and become familiar with the area. I wandered a few streets with no particular purpose, passing bakeries and coffee shops and spotting a few places I'd seen in Mainz. I made up my mind to go one corner further before turning back and just around that corner was.. A Starbucks!! It was like it had been calling my name guiding me right to its door. With only three in all of Braunschweig I was thrilled that I managed to stumble upon one by accident when I easily could have taken a different street and missed it entirely. With a chai latte in hand I felt empowered, I mean if I can find a Starbucks in Germany without even trying what can't I do?

(apparently not read the schedule well enough to catch the fastest way home, but I'll get to that!)

With my spirits lifted I headed to extend my visa, which turned out to be much simpler than applying for it the first time around. Having accomplished that with no trouble I decided I was confident enough to take the tram and bus home. And that's where the problem began. Realizing I'd have to wait 30 min for a bus I noticed that the tram I needed was coming in 5 minutes, perfect right? Yeah as it turns out the tram runs a lot, like every 10 min. So feeling proud and accomplish I arrived at the bus stop... To find no bus.... And no mention of the bus on the electronic arrival board (which may I add is the most convenient thing ever!)

By the time I figured out from the posted schedule that I'd now have to wait just over half an hour for the bus, the direct bus from the city centre was leaving. With now deflated spirits I sat down in the most sheltered bench I could find and settled on writing my adventure. Thankfully twenty min into my wait my bus arrived and the kind bus driver let me wait the remaining fifteen on the bus sparing my numb fingers the pain. Thank goodness it wasn't at home or I'd really be frozen by now. However the lovely storm that recently hit canada has now made it's way across the Atlantic (according to the weather man) and is just beginning to reach us here, though temperatures are currently still above zero :)

Long story short. Lesson of the day - read transit schedules more carefully, trams run more frequently than buses.

But I found the Starbucks so all in all it wasn't a bad day!


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    Cedar Sutherland, Au pair for three children in Braunschweig Germany. Adventures, day to day life, rants, raves and news

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