Stupid Americans

We have been very fortunate with the airports up to this point, because check-in and security took only about ten minutes again. The flight from Paris to Düsseldorf was a quick one hour flight, and coming into Düsseldorf we were able to see a lot of the sights, including the Gehry buildings. After grabbing our bags a little before 8 we were about to embark on an unplanned journey. For some reason we were under the impression that someone was going to meet us at the airport, but there was no one there for us, because we flew in a day early. We made a few calls, which was rather difficult (I had to ask for help), and my host family said that I could move in early, but Charlotte had not heard from her family, and I did not want to leave her alone. So we saw a sign in the airport for a hotel at the airport, and we thought, ok we can just stay there and meet up with the group tomorrow like we are supposed to. We went over to the Hotel, which turned out to be a four star hotel, and the cheapest room was 203 euros a night, with no breakfast! Ouch! We elected not to empty our pockets, and rather to take a taxi to the closest Jungedherberge (city hostel).

When we arrived at the jugendherberge they were full, except for one dormitory room that charlotte could stay in. At this point I was about to just let charlotte take the room while I stayed up all night in the lobby. Luckily the lady at the front desk of the jungendherberge was extremely helpful and went out of her way to help us find accommodations. She first recommended another jugnedherberge, and we asked her to call ahead to see if they had any vacancy. They did not. Good thing we called! Thankfully God is good, and she then found that Hotel Ibis, which is directly behind the Hauptbahnhoff and it had vacancies… and they were cheap!! She told us how to get there by street car and we were off. At the street car stop a man was there with his wife and two little girls. I asked him how to get a ticket for the streetcar, and I guess he could tell we were somewhat distraught, and he from that point he literally became our chaperone. He got us a ticket, took us took our stop, and then to an information desk. When we were walking to the information desk one of his little girls asked who we were, and he simply replied “They are English”. I am very glad that the Germans are so hospitable…the French would never do such a thing. We finally arrived at the hotel around 11.

Just about every man that was staying in the hotel was in the Lobby watching Bayern vs. Chelsea. In the morning we got breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of meat, cheese, pickles, fresh fruit and yoghurt.  At first Charlotte was like “I don’t get it” haha. Hooray for German breakfast-meat! After breakfast we checked out and headed over to the hauptbahnhof. When we were getting our tickets to the airport we ran into two other guys in the LBAT program and we rode on the train to the airport with them. We all had a good time swapping our traveling stories on the ride. At the Airport we met up with Dr. Cothran and picked up our information packets. We then got in Taxis and were off to each of our respective host-families’ houses.

My host family lives on a very cozy little street, and all of the houses are very nice. The house is a relatively new three story house with wood floors, and actually feels similar to my house inside. I was greeted at the door by the Host mother, who is very nice, and I was then introduced to her daughters, her son, and her husband. Everybody is very friendly and approachable. They also have a dog!! We sat and talked for a little while (auf Deutsch) and they showed me how to get to school on the map and around the house. They said that I spoke good german! For now I am staying downstairs, but I will soon be moving upstairs once the other hostee from Romania leaves. Apparently they have been continuously hosting students for 10 or so years. After getting situated we all went out to a little market to look around, and then came back to the house for a very good dinner. We had lasagna with salmon and Weisse Spargel (white asparagus) in it.