Day 1

Yesterday, I boarded a plane from Grand Rapids to Chicago, my first step to leaving everything I know behind for a year. I arrived in Chicago around 11:30 am their time and found some other exchange students at the gate to my flight which would take me to Philly! Little did I know that these other 4 students would be my little family and best friends for the next day. Our flight to Philly was cancelled and so alone we would have all had no idea what to do and cried but together, we figured everything out and ended up having a great time together even though unfortunatley ended up having to recheck our luggage (and yes, that means the dreadful security for the second time that day) and we were all put on a new flight non-stop to Frankfurt (our first stop in... GERMANY!) and this morning, we arrived in Frankfurt. The excitement is undescribable. We had made it! We had made it to Germany! We got through immigrations (yay, they let me in!) and customs which was very simple. Everyone at the Frankfurt airport was so nice and almost everyone spoke English and that was very helpful. We met up with some of the other exchange students that were on the flight from Philly at the gate to Hannover. The flight to Hannover was the longest and shortest flight ever. Luckily, there was a wonderful German woman who sat next to me and talked to me the whole time, letting me ask questions and telling me a bit more about Germany. Then, we finally arrived and the nerves kicked in a bit. This was it, this was where we met our host families! I stuck with the other students and we all crossed the "gate' together, all greeted with signs and plenty of love on the other side. All nervousness completely went away when I saw my host mother, my sister, my second host family, Julius (who was an exchange student in Rockford) and a few other people. I looked like I had been traveling for two days but I didn't care. We got some pictures in front of the banners and they had bought me flowers as well. There was another boy who is staying in my host club that took some pictures with us too. He and a girl from Mexico will go to the same school as me! I was so happy and felt like I was home. My host mom, Corinna, and my host sister, Consti, drove me (in their VW golf by the way) to my new home in EHMEN! :D The drive was about 40 minutes or maybe less and I couldn't stop looking at EVERYTHING! Germany is quite a bit like Michigam only everything is in German and the toilets, the light swiches, the door handles, and how fast you can go are different. But I love it. I was so tired when I got here but I fought all day not to sleep because I didn't want to miss anything! And I wanted to spend time with my already wonderful family. Later today, Fred came home from work and I got to meet him and then later on whle my parents were out running, my older sister and her boyfriend came over. They're both such nice people! I watched Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Consti and fell asleep on the couch. I tried so hard not to fall asleep! But I woke up a little later and they thought it was funny I fell asleep because they knew I must be exhausted. We talked about some things, kind of like the first night questions. Right now, it's 4:18 Michigan time so about 10 pm here. I haven't slept since yesterday at 7 am Michigan time so I'm going to go to bed. I love Germany!! Tomorrow, I tour the city with Consti! Gute Nacht! :)