And it begins:
I've been in Germany for just over 24 hours now, and I can hardly believe it. The flights were good, early even. I used my transatlantic flight to catch up on movies; I watched Juno, National Treasure 2 and The Martian Child. I arrived at Frankfurt at 5:45 a.m. local time, that should have been the first hint it was going to be a stressful day.

The latest information I had (and I may have a packet waiting in the mailbox for me back home) was that there would be someone waiting for me and there would be a bus outside. Well apparently the updated information was to meet at certain meeting points. I waited around my gate for about an hour before I started to get worried. Luckily, the German airports are much less strict than the American ones and I was free to wander in and out of the airport. I checked at some other gates (bear in mind I had all my luggage) and eventually asked a rather stern looking lady at information if she had any idea where they were meeting. She said that the meeting places would been a good place to start(Frankfurt has areas labeled "Meeting point" by each gate). I convinced myself that slapping her would be a bad idea.

I alternated between walking around a bit more and sitting by my gate. Around 9 a.m, after (trying and failing) to call the emergency contact numbers I had, I decided to page my professor that should already be at the airport. I'm not sure the last time any of you have been to a bustling international airport on a Friday morning, but P.A. systems aren't really that good. Luckily, by some stroke of fate, Eckhard Rölz, my professor, happened to be walking down the steps located right by the information area I was waiting by. He told me where the correct meeting place was (he was also at the wrong spot).

We met up with the rest of the group. This is when I realized that my passport was missing. It was by far the scariest moment of the trip. Rölz and myself retraced my steps, since I knew I had it before I went to information. Hanne Heckmann, the program director, went to check lost and found. On the way to gate C from gate B, we stopped a security guard who told us to check information. I had been standing right in front of the information desk when they paged me about my lost passport, that's how hard it was to hear the P.A. system. We then had to go back towards gate C to the USO lounge where my passport was waiting for me. Yay G.I.s! So after that we went back to the meeting area, picked up one more, took the bus to the other terminal and picked up the rest except for 2 that met us later. We took the bus the hour or so south to the Heidelberg area, got lost in a suburb trying to deliver the students that live there and then those of us in Heidelberg were dropped off at the trainstation and delivered by taxi to our houses.

My family is very nice and (thankfully) let me speak English yesterday. Being awake 30 hours and trying to speak another language is a challenge I'm not quite ready for. Today, the little bit I've been home, has been a mixture of German and English. Monday is the start of classes and all German all the time. Nothing like immersion to make it sink in.

My mind is starting to shut down again, so I think I'll call it good for this super long post. Hopefully I'll have my computer on the family's wireless soon and I can start posting pictures.

Bis Später (Until Later)!