The Train Platform

Arianna Pincay 

The Train Platform

          “Alright, we have to meet up with Lex in the lobby,” said Deborah in a whispered tone. I looked from behind her out into the hallway to check if the coast was clear. When I saw that no one was around, I urged Deborah out of our hotel room door and we ran to the sixth floor elevator which we took down to the first floor lobby. When the elevator doors opened we once again looked left and right repeatedly to see if any of our other companions or teachers were around. Once we saw our friend Lex from across the lobby, we sprinted to her, and the three of us ran out the back door of the Holiday Inn hotel. Once we hit the cool, crisp air of Heidelberg, Germany, we knew we were free. 

          The afternoon of July 7th, 2012, was the day I took off on an adventure that I would never forget. For ten days I would travel around Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with my high school principal, vice-principal, my two best friends, five other classmates, and my mother, our main chaperone. But before I go into depth about this trip, let me tell you about the road to get there. Around the time I was turning fifteen, my parents gave the choice of having a Quinceanera, or a Sweet 16 the next year. Because I never liked to be the center of attention, especially at a party of such magnitude, I chose neither. Instead, I asked my parents to give me the one thing I had always wanted for when I turned 16, a trip to Europe. So when my school announced that it was planning a trip to three countries in Central Europe, I knew that I had to do everything I could to go. And I did. I somehow managed to convince my parents to let me go, just with the condition that my mother accompany me. And since the cost was around $3,000, I felt the need to help pay my parents back. So me and my two best friends at the time, Deborah, and Lex, got together and decided to form a little fundraising committee which we named the Traveling Trio. For a whole year before the trip we sold baked goods, candy, drinks, bracelets - anything that we knew kids at our school would buy. And at the end of the endless sales, we split our earnings in three, and happily presented the money to our parents who had paid the way for our dream to be come true. 

          On the last day of our dream, we were all stuck packing in our hotel. But because we didn’t want to leave without doing something rebellious and truly adventurous, Deborah, Lex, and I snuck out of our hotel at around 8 pm. Let me tell you now, this hotel had the oddest surroundings anyone could imagine. Across the street was an empty parking lot. To the right, a long road. And to the left, a practically abandoned train station. Once we exited the vicinity of the hotel property, we were at a loss at would we should do next. We were so excited about the fact that us three goody-two-shoes were doing something considered “bad” and “rebellious”, that we didn’t make a plan for after the sneaking out. Then we saw a small ice cream/pizza shop attached to the train station. So the three of us linked arms, and headed there. Once we entered the door, the smell of stank cigarettes hit us like a freight train. What could we say, you could smoke anywhere in Germany. So after recovering our breath, we bought little mini Ben & Jerry’s containers, cause you know, that’s what the rebels do. Because we couldn’t take the smell of the multiple chemicals, we headed to the literally empty train station looking for somewhere to sit down. We walked out onto the eerie platform and sat on a bench. For about fifteen minutes, without any of us really noticing, we all sat in silence, eating our ice cream, staring out onto the train platform.

   

          To a stranger walking by, we would've looked liked three zoned out, crazy American girls. But to the three of us, this fifteen minute period was different. For me, it felt like hours. Hours reflecting on the fact that I didn't have to dream anymore, I could just relive my memories of these ten days. But what I thought of most, was the fact that I could get on any train that passed, and get lost somewhere. Not get lost in a bad sense, but in the sense that I could go on a crazy, spontaneous adventure, anywhere. That I could end up in a city where I knew no one and not know the language but still relish in the culture and the fact that I was there. I could make memories that I could tell my grandchildren and they can tell theirs. And that I had my entire life to do all these things in every country around the world if I could. 

          When I got back to school the fall after the trip, a friend had asked me what was my favorite memory of the ten days. I will never forget her face when I told her that my favorite memory was sitting in an empty train station, eating Strawberry Cheescake Ben & Jerry's, staring onto a train platform. And I will never regret telling anyone the same answer who asks me the same questions.