Worth Being Late

We arrived at the Café this morning eagerly awaiting the promise of a delicious drink. The Speicherstadt Café roasts its own coffee beans every morning, and the smell was intoxicating. I’ve never been fussy when it comes to coffee, but this was smell was special. Imagine walking into a bakery right after they pull out a fresh loaf of bread. The smell filled the room and the space outside the shop making the entire group impatient. It was incredible, but we were quickly disappointed to find out that the cafe wouldn’t open until 10:00 A.M. Class was at 10:00. We woke up early to find some of the best coffee in Hamburg and it was closed. Myers immediately called Mrs. Paige as he seemed more heartbroken than anyone else, and she graciously told him that we could wait. It was only 9:00 though so what were we going to do for an hour? We decided to walk to the river and found a bench a few blocks away that had a wonderful view of the new city. We sat, talked, listened to the morning sounds of the city, and some of us wrote in our journals about the night before. I feel like I’ve been busy since I got here, but for the first time I had absolutely nothing to do for an hour. It was the best morning I’ve had in weeks. When it was finally time to head back though we didn’t waste any time. We made it back to the café in a hurry and as soon as they opened the curtains we filed in as fast as possible. I ordered my coffee and a pastry to go with it, but because the line behind us was growing fast I had to press my own coffee. It was satisfying to pour my own coffee, and even though I was in a café half way around the world, it reminded me of being at my apartment making coffee on the weekends. The coffee itself, however, was on another level. I could actually taste the flavors that the beans were supposed to have, which was surprising considering I usually have no preference for coffee. The entire experience was new for me and it was well worth being a little late for class.