Apartment and Commute in Haar

 So this time as Coach Alex was moving to a different place, his old room in Haar was available. With only a ten-minute walk to the field it was in a perfect location for me. I didn't have to spend any money on transportation. I stored my big gear bag in the coaches office next to the field as I was a part of the Academy coaching staff so I was allowed to store my own items in there. So I traveled lightly with a backpack that contained my glove, water, snacks, clothing and whatever else necessary.  

The room was owned by a family that lived upstairs. It was actually previously in their daughters use, but she had since moved away. So the room actually belonged to the family as part of the whole house, but it had a separate entrance and the door to the rest of the house was blocked so the downstairs worked as it's own apartment.

The rent was 550€ a month. In the room I had a bed, couch, a desk, a couple chairs and a closet. There was another room for another tenant in the apartment, but I only saw him two times as he was only there for the weekdays for studying and we were both busy with our own things and at different times. We had a shared kitchenette with a hotplate and not much else. Also a bathroom with a bathtub and a separate shower. The bathroom also had a dishwasher and a washing machine.

Academy Summer

This time around practices were held outside on the baseball field as the weather was mostly great and field ready.  The Young Guns practiced Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm to 6pm. Old Boys on Tuesdays had extra early work from 3:50pm to 4:20pm and 4:30pm to 6:30pm team practice. For Thursday  they had the same hours, this time with main work for pitchers pitching and position players fielding and hitting. The Old Boys would also have an extra day of practice for Friday from 4pm to 6pm and this time hitting on the field. So there was some overlap with the times, but as the field was so big and we had another area of grass next to the baseball field so it was all possible.

Gear was my responsibility. I had to get shopping carts with gear ready to use for both of the groups. The players would take the gear by themselves to the field once I had it ready for them. We also used a pitching machine that I usually set up either in the batting cage or on the field. While it was heavy, it was made easy-to-use with wheels. 

I also setup the golf cart pretty much every time on the field. Then I would move whatever gear with it that was needed. Mostly it was used for field maintenance work, like dragging the dirt areas. It was pretty fun to drive around, as I didn't have any other motorized vehicle in my use during the trip. That's why I called it "my German car".  

For upcoming gamedays I had to setup banners on the fence surrounding the field. The banners had to be setup each day before a game and then taken out either after a gameday or straight after the games were completed. The sportspark didn't allow us to have them up all the time since it was paid advertising.

First Day

 I left on the first of August from my apartment in Lohja. My sleep schedule was not very good and the previous couple days was spent scrambling for all the necessary things for my trip and cleaning my apartment. I managed to get about two hours of sleep before I had to start heading towards Helsinki airport. I ate the same breakfast at the airport as with the first trip. I tried to get more sleep in the plane but I managed to get only about an hour and a half of sleep so that would have to do for the rest of the long day ahead. 

A couple of the 3rd teamers picked me up from the airport after I had something to eat after the landing. We had a 7-inning doubleheader that day and right next to the airport no less. I had to discard my hoodie straight away as it was way warmer there than in Finland. At the field I greeted everyone and was pleased to see the team again.

First game I helped coach as the first base coach. 

Second game I got the start at my usual spot at shortstop. The game didn't start too well for us, but towards the end we started scoring runs and we were threatening the home teams lead. In the end we managed to overcome a big deficit and came back to win the game. I played okay in that game, I was happy to get a hit in the first game. The conditions on the field were pretty brutal. It was about +30 degrees Celsius with no cloud cover and the dugout had a close resemblance to a metal container, so it was even worse in there. It also didn't offer any shade later on in the day. And since the game was a high scoring one, pitchers were changed regularly and innings were drawn out. When we would get out from the field to play offense, I would go behind the play area in the shade to try and recover if I wasn't up to bat. The less than 4 hour sleep and stress of travelling clearly didn't help matters. So blood sugar and hydration was low during the whole day. Fortunately we all managed to pull through and get a nice win out of it!

After the game we headed towards Haar. I linked up with Coach Alex for the keys to my apartment. After that I needed to get something to eat, so I headed over to the closest kebab shop, the only thing still open at that hour and bought a couple döners, one for the morning as I had nothing else to eat. The next day was spent recovering and I had to order food a couple times as shops weren't open on a Sunday.

Trip number 2

 So as the previous trip to Munich was abrubtly stopped by the Covid pandemic, I decided I would go back during the summer as I had nothing else going on. 

I wanted to go back to Munich as soon as we would be cleared to play. I played about half the season in the Finnish Championship League. I told the school about my intentions and they promised to try to be helpful in case I would go back. When the time came for the all clear to start the seasons in Germany, I contacted the school again, but everyone had gone on vacation without any contact with me. So I decided to go anyway without help from school.  Shortly after arrived in Munich school staff came back from vacation and we were able to get the contracts and funding with Erasmus done very quickly. So I was set on being in Munich another two months furthering my studies with the Academy and also playing a baseball season with the 3rd team in the Bayern League and with the 2nd team in the 2nd Bundesliga

End

 I would absolutely recommend going to Germany for a exchange program. The Academy was a great place for learning and the enviroment was awesome. The whole Disciples family in Haar was incredible and I don't have the words to give them enough credit for their generosity and kindness and how they treated me. Also my roommates were incredible, even without taking into account what happened to me and how they were able to support and help me through it, but even in normal everyday actions.

I would say to keep in mind your work as a student, which I didn't do very well, but also enjoy all the rest of the things you will experience during your trip wherever it may be. 

I don't regret my trip one bit even with the whole bad experience with Covid. No reason to live if you live in fear and don't expand your boundaries as a human and try new things.

Covid-19

 In the beginning of March I started to feel a little bit under the weather, but I missed only one day of work. I didn't attend my own practices, but on Sunday I felt good enough to start practicing again. All went well for the next day on my off-day, but during the evening I got a bad fever. I was shivering in my bed sheets. Obviously I wasn't to attend Academy Practice the next day. I informed my roommates that I was sick, as at this point there were starting to be reports of Corona, but it still was in the very early stages of the spread of the virus. We didn't really have any worries about the virus at this point. 

In the next couple days I got extremely sick. On Thursday we had to call an ambulance as I was feeling like I could pass out at any moment. My roommates tried to call for one, but they wouldn't send one because of the situation in the city. They wouldn't send anyone when there could be a risk of infecting others. After about an hour I started to feel better but I was very tired in the middle of the day, so I went to sleep. As I woke up maybe an hour later that same feeling of passing out returned. This time the emergency services sent an ambulance. The paramedic came in to the apartment and informed me that it was not Corona as I didn't have a fever at that time. I was packed ready to go with the ambulance and even with the information from the paramedic I decided to go to the hospital. He said we would go to the hospital and we would take the Corona test in the ambulance and return back to the apartment, so I only got my jacket to go with me. They provided me with a mask and we were set off towards the hospital

At the hospital I waited for a while until they decided to take me in. Then they gave me fluids and other medication and after a while I started to feel better. I had to lie in wait in the operation room until they eventually took me to a patient care room. That's when I knew for sure I was going to stay.

During the whole experience I kept my family, friends and roommates in the loop of what was going on. In the morning my phone had died so there was a little bit worry on how I was going to keep everyone up to date. Fortunately my roommates found out where I was transported and delivered my backpack to the hospital. 

While in the hospital I found out that the insurance the school had for me wasn't in use. So there was some trouble regarding that. But the school did take ownership of their mistake and promised to pay all the fees. Because of this incident the school will take extra care in confirming all the insurances for the student are in order before letting them leave for an exchange trip.

I ended up staying in the hospital for two weeks. It never got worse than that day when I went to the hospital. I still had some problems with oxygen levels and a low heart-rate along the way, but for the latter week I felt good enough to leave. 

After I got out of the hospital, I was to stay in my apartment for another two weeks or have two negative tests. After a couple days I found out that the latest test I took in the hospital was actually negative, but getting another test would have been next to impossible with testing facilities in their early stages and somebody with no symptoms having already gotten the virus trying to get tested only to be exluded as a carrier. With the quarantine lasting another week and a half, even if I had gotten a reservation for a test, getting the results would have taken at least the same amount. I also tried to contact various places to grant me to leave the country, like the Finnish embassy in Berlin and the Covid hotline, but either I got unofficial grants to leave the country or no help. And just to be clear, after two weeks of not feeling sick and with a negative test it certainly seemed as though I wouldn't have been a risk for anyone's health. But with possible legal implications for me if I were to leave the apartment, I decided to throw the towel in the ring and power through the rest of my quarantine. 

In the apartment were only left two other roommates along with the cats. Will had gone to stay with his girlfriend and another went to his girlfriend in another state, as the borders could be closed at any moment. So I stayed in my room and the smaller bathroom was left for only my use. Even the kitchen was off-limits. The roommates made me food every day and got me groceries and for that I am truly grateful for them. 

One of the best moments of my quarantine was the day I found out about the negative test. I thought I would be able to get out, because the doctor had told me that I'd need one negative test, but I found out my papers said I needed two negative tests. Nevertheless that one negative test was enough for my roommates so they invited me to dine in the kitchen dining table instead of my bed that I had been confined to for the last week. It was like being introduced, at least partly, into society. Also getting to use the bigger bathroom with the shower was just great. 

Another week later my quarantine was done and I was free to go. I booked another flight for the end of quarantine, having now stayed an extra week in Germany. I went from the front door of the apartment straight to an Uber and to the airport. In Finland I was to stay in quarantine for another two weeks, but I won't get into if I stayed or went through the county's closed border with a bogus work permit in order to see my parents and my cat...

Free time

 My free time was mostly spent at the apartment. I decided it would be best for me to sleep in most days, so I would be well rested for the Academy. Evenings would be spent on baseball practices. I would finish my work with the Academy and have some free time to eat before our own practices would start. Going back home wouldn't have been very beneficial with the time constraints so most of the time I would go to a kebap shop on my way to the practice facility. The 1st and 2nd team would practice as a group. There I got to learn a lot more about baseball and how practices were organized. My skills as a player also improved massively with proper coaching. One of the big things for my own improvement was the culture with the team. The players were also very competitive, so it created a great atmosphere within the team. Nothing like seeing a player after another hit hard-hit balls in the cage. Only response was to step-up my game and try my absolute hardest to improve and become a better player.

One day all the roommates went to see an ice hockey game to celebrate Will's birthday. The rink was pretty small, but it was completely packed with passionate fans with only a small amount of seats, rest left as standing room. The atmosphere there was incredible. The fans had their own chants for different situations and after a while you could start chanting them yourself. After the game which unfortunately ended with the home teams loss, we headed out to an Irish bar. They had a live band performing and we partied, drank, sang and danced our way through the night.