Yikes! Berlin Airport!

We departed Ithaca on a fairly nice Tuesday morning and set about on our journey to Berlin, Germany. The bus was pretty uneventful, except for the thrilling truck stop we stopped at for lunch. Taco Bell or McDonalds? Oh the choices... To make a long story short, the flight over there was fine, although I think the Dramamine I took made me a little loopy, so any sleep I got was a little bit strange.

We arrived in Berlin after a lay-over in Amsterdam (unfortunately not long enough to experience any of the Dutch culture outside the Schiphol Airport Walls). We were divided into two flights from Amsterdam to Berlin and I was on the second flight along with the rest of the flute section. On tours like this (at least the ones I've been on), sections usually look out for one another and usually stay fairly close. So it was a little alarming when, after we had loaded the buses to drive to our hostel, Chris got on the bus and said "Where's Rebecca?" Rebecca is a fellow floutist. Alex and I looked at eachother with panicked faces and both had the "Oh no, we just lost a section member" look on our faces. Chris assured us he had asked the other bus if she was on, and when everyone said no Chris went into a mode just shy of panic.

"All the guys, off the bus."

I must say, I took a little offense to this one gendered request, but I knew he was just trying to be protective. No sooner had the guys set off in groups of threes to search the airport, then I noticed Rebecca's head popping out of the other bus. Apparently, she had fallen asleep in the back of the bus and the string player next to her didn't know her name. The conversation that followed her waking up is slightly comical:

Rebecca: awakened in the midst of craziness "What's going on?"

String player: "We're missing the flute player named Rebecca."

Rebecca: "I'm Rebecca!"

Lesson learned - although we all dread ice breakers, they are necessary to learn names and prevent missing person reports. Luckily, the emergency turned out to be a fluke. Next time though, I think we'll have a few mandatory rounds of "The Name Game" before departing on any crazy adventures.