This is my first official entry (Housekeeping doesn't count) as well as my first posting about my Bonn study abroad. Getting here started at 4am on Tuesday the 11th of January, 2011 (date is important for when I'm an old guy so I can look back and know exactly when it was). Got to the airport and checked my bags smoothly, said my goodbye to mom and headed off through security. First flight was from San Francisco to Newark and took about 5 or 6 hours, don't remember because I slept a bunch and played cards with the people sitting on either side of me (they were very nice which was fortunate). Once in Newark, I stopped for a sandwich for lunch/dinner (it was lunch on my biological clock but 4pm local time). I then hustled around to make sure my bags made it and get through security, by the time I got to my gate they had just started boarding so I didn't have to wait for very long before getting on the plane. Sat next to a Dutch guy, who was very friendly and had a few tips about traveling and where to go etc. Overall I liked the transcontinental flight, it was quite comfortable and I got to watch Lord of the Rings (Fellowship) and Big then play Tetris and Sudoku for about 30 minutes before we landed in Copenhagen. Getting from my gate to the next one in Copenhagen was a breeze, security was much more lax than TSA without being too easy-going. I arrived in Dusseldorf at 9am local time (though I hadn't slept since the SFO plane) so I was fairly tired. Our group didn't meet until 2:15pm so I had some time to kill, I roamed a bit but not too far because carrying all three of my bags was heavy, listened to some music, paid the 3 euros to go on the internet for 30 min and caught up on my internet comics and Reddit. At 1:45 other people in the program started showing up and we all got on the bus and drove to AIB (the school).
I was only there for about 5 minutes before my host dad showed up and picked me up in a car that looked like the new Mercedes trucks but it was an older car. It was pretty cool. When we got home he showed me to my room (I get my own bathroom *score!*) and I unpacked everything before going downstairs to hang out and wait for dinner. Had a delicious plate of lasagna and salad then went into the family room to watch Futurama, Family Guy and Desperate Housewives all in German. The first two were still pretty funny (I'd already seen both episodes) and the third was just as confusing as always (though more interesting because it was amusing to hear what voices they did for each character). After the first episode my host mom got home so I presented the gifts I bought for them (which they loved) and headed off to bed. I fell asleep almost immediately (it was about 9:30 local time but it felt like 2 am).
So this entry turned out to be way longer than I expected and if you don't read all the way through I totally understand, I certainly wouldn't. Quickly summarizing today though: got up and had a bowl of German cereal (tasted like sweet granola) which was great then took the bus to school. Once there we had the welcome meeting followed by going with a couple of the student workers over to the student cafeteria for lunch. Then we went back and went on a tour of the local area and midtown, took about an hour because Bonn is a small, compact city which is nice. We all got phones and exchanged numbers then walked over to the store to buy time cards for them. Later tonight, after dinner, we're all meeting up again to go to a pub (though I intend to break a smaller group off the main one because I don't want to storm a pub as 20 american students, I'd rather go in as a small group of friends who happen to have no idea how to speak German). If I don't have one already I'll make a pictures section where I can post all the great shots I get. Already been to the Bonn Cathedral in the center of town but I didn't have my camera =( so I get to go back to take some pictures of it for the rest of you (it was beautiful).
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