Das es Scheisse!

This was the first German that I heard on my trip that I recognized, and unfortunately it was being yelled into the phone by the man driving my shuttle from the airport. Yes, I was only in Germany for 90 minutes before I had my first breakdown on the autobahn....I guess I'm glad I got that out of the way early. :) It started with some ominous rattling, and then I realized that our driver couldn't get out of second gear without stalling the van out. We consequently were cruising at around 30mph on the autobahn!! whoosh! I mean people were passing us so fast that the van would rock in their wake. Besides that, it is not exactly legal since the minimum speed on the autobahn is around 40mph.The last straw for the driver was when our ride started belching smoke out the back. He finall pulled over and called another shuttle to pick us up. Then we had the fun of switching our luggage and ourselves on a teeny tiny shoulder with people blowing past at 100mph. It was harrowing, but in the end, I made it to the base safely (though slightly carsick from the windy roads). Once here I found the ID station and the drivers' testing classroom. Now I'm just fighting to keep my eyees open a few more hours.