No Washing Machine? No Problem!

Studying abroad means many things. It means experiencing a new atmosphere, new friends, and a month in a different country with minimal amounts of personal belongings. As the E3ers approached the end of our first week in Germany, my suitcase began running low on clean clothes. When I say running low, I mean I would be wearing a swimsuit for our city tour tomorrow if laundry does not get done tonight. After a long day full of adventures and laughs, we arrived at our hostel around 9:30 at night. I immediately began my search for a washing machine, only to find out the only one in our hostel was broken. Yikes! Even worse, the closest place to wash clothes was a fifteen-minute bus ride away, and it closed in less than an hour. I took in one more smell of my clothes just to verify that I could not make it one more day, and I could not. I knew I needed to find a solution. After all, we are engineers! I looked around at my options, and made a rash decision before my roommate, Scottie, could stop me. My decision was to fill the shower with the doors closed, while simultaneously mixing my clothes around in the water with the little detergent I had.

I grabbed my Ziploc bag for my toiletries, and created a plug for the bottom of the shower. Before I knew it the bottom of the shower began to fill up. My plan was working! I immediately grabbed my clothes, and tossed them over the top of the shower. I ran down the hall and grabbed some tide pods from Connor, then sprinted back to my experimental washing machine. I jumped in the shower and slammed the doors shut, creating a perfect seal. The water level began to rise, so I dropped my two tide pods into the water and began my washing process. My aggressive kicking acted as the turning of the washing machine. Many people came running in to laugh at the stupidity of my idea, but I was convinced it was going to work. After 10 minutes of mixing and scrubbing, the process was complete. I drained the shower and began ringing my clothes free of water. I hung each item up across our room, and then went to sleep with my fingers crossed that they would be dry for the next day.

Low and behold, they weren’t. I woke up to shirts with clear lines indicating where there was still a presence of water. My socks and shorts had a damp feel to them, but I had no choice but to wear them for our excursion that began in 10 minutes. I threw on the clothes and shivered out the door. Even though those clothes may have been damp for the first 30 minutes of the day, I am proud to say that they smelled fantastic and if you are ever in a pinch for clean clothes, the shower is a very viable option.