Arrival to Deutschland (12/27/12)

After the long flight to Frankfurt finally came to an end, half of the group (Ari, Monica, Leo, Austin, Connor, Cassie, and I) congregated outside where we got off the plane around 9:15am. It still did not sink in to me that I am finally in Germany! All of us then headed to baggage claim to collect our compact luggage. Afterwards, we were all figuring out how to get to the meeting point where the AIB director will collect us to head to Bonn. Finding the meeting point was not too challenging considering there was a group of us, but we arrived at the meeting point with 1.5 hours to spare so we decided to walk around the airport and “explore”. Although not much to see, the feeling of anxiousness rushed in me. I was so excited I decided to go through with this program. I do not think I would have traveled to Europe under any other circumstances. It is one of the best decisions I have made. I am so glad Ari talked me into doing this program. After walking around for a while, we decided to head back to the meeting point to see if the other group members have arrived. We met up with Samantha, Kaitlyn, and Patrick at the spot and we chilled for a little until the AIB director arrived. None of us knew who was picking us up but we were all anticipating to meet him/her. Not too long later, Suzanne arrived and introduced herself to everybody. The first impression I got from her was that she was very nice and friendly. It made me very glad to know that she was very approachable. We waited for a little more until the rest of our classmates to arrive and we met Aaron, Max, and Tyler. After all 13 of us are finally together, we got on the bus around 1:00pm and headed to Bonn. The ride was about one hour and 45 minutes, but I was very sleepy already. I suppose sleeping on the plane did not help with jetlag at all. I passed out on the bus as soon as the driver took off. Although not certain, I assume that the rest of the group also knocked out because it was super quiet on the bus. The next thing I know when I opened my eyes was that we are right in front of the AIB building in Bonn. It was an abrupt awakening and I did not even have time to collect myself. I literally felt like we got kicked off the bus and our luggage were thrown out. After all of us got our luggage, we hurried over to the Mercedes hotel because it was “raining”. Although not too far of a walk but it felt like it was so long because I was still shaken from the sudden wake. When we arrived to the hotel, it turns out that Ari and I got the top floor and we had to climb our way up with our luggage. It is not as bad as it sounds though because we got our awesome backpack luggage. Everybody only had until 4:00pm to meet back downstairs so we can head to the AIB building together. It was about 3:15pm when we got to our room but right when we settled in our room, I immediately seek for Internet. I needed wifi so bad because I needed to let the people at home know that I arrived safely. Due to that, I took a little longer to get ready and cause Ari and I to get downstairs late and got called out. It was embarrassing, but I sure learned my lesson. We all headed to AIB together and met up with Dr. Wasser. Both Suzanne and Dr Wasser gave us a brief run-through of what is going to happen for the next two days or so and handed us our folder with lots of good information. In addition, Suzanne gave each of us 17 Euros to spend for lunch for two days. Afterwards, they took us downstairs to make phone calls home. I only gave a call to Mami, but she was too busy for small talk so letting her know I arrived safely was pretty much the only thing I said. When everyone was done making calls home (which was not many of us), we headed out for dinner. As of now, I really do not remember what was the name of the restaurant and I really did not take many pictures either because I was so burned out by that time. We all pretty much order the same thing, but with different toppings. I did enjoy the food but partly because I was famished. However, I believe I would have survived with skipping dinner and just going to sleep. I really think I could have slept standing. I was really and super sleepy. Dinner could not finish any faster. When everyone was done and we were free to go back to the hotel and sleep, I could almost sing hallelujah if had the energy, but I did not. Walking back to the hotel was torture itself and I would have rolled back if I could. When Ari and I got back to the room around 9:00pm, I changed into my pajamas as fast as I could and I knocked out unconscious. If I had to use one word to describe the first day in Germany, it would be exhausting. Germany really took my breath away and I was exhausted. I really cannot find a better word to describe my day 1 – EXHAUSTING.