hallo!

the begining, a very good place to start.

we left dallas to detroit via northwest airlines (not so bad after all) and had a fun, relatively short flight, complete with learning how to play the card game, hearts. we had a layover of two hours but the airport was super awesome. it was brand spakin’ new and featured a sweet high-speed monorail on the second floor. it took you back and forth in the enormously long terminal; from gate a1-a74. it was like an indoor mall with it’s starbucks, many eateries, clothes stores, and even moving sidewalks. then as a bonus, it started snowing outside! not that we could enjoy it, but it was pretty neat. when we got on the plane, they had to de-ice it for 15 minutes to get the ice off the wings. i doubt houston-hobby has a de-icer. this connecting flight to düsseldorf was quite longer, four times as much, than the previous. on both trips, it sat, barrett, aisle, savannah, me, and rachel by the window. we were served a nice hot dinner and red wine. then since it was well after 11pm, we tried to get some sleep. i think barrett and i we able to sleep about 5 hours, but i can’t say the same for savs and rachel. i woke up to a beautiful sunrise and sight of water (i can only assume the british channel). we were served a breakfast too. clouds covered my sight for a while but when we began our descent we could see the amazing landscape of germany – a patchwork quilt of farmland and fields, with treelines and small villiages. the towns became denser and we soon landed safely in düsseldorf. fortunately our luggage was not misplaced along the way and we waited in line to get our passports stamped. the first of many!

we walked out into the terminal and were met by a cheerful young woman, seline, a staff member at AIB who helped us get a taxi to the school. all of the taxi’s were cream-colored mercedes, which i found very interesting. our group of 4 + luggage filled a mercedes van and we were off through the city. already i could see this bustling city: speedy drivers, parks and gardens, nice german cars, and signs in a foreign language. it was a thrill. once we got to media harbor (the southwestern part of the city, east of the rhine and the location of AIB) we drove right past geoff and gavin (who had come to europe earlier) and met them soon. the media harbor is a fascinatingly modern area of düsseldorf.

west media harbor

all the buildngs are new or newly renovated into exciting and colorful eye candy. we entered the building, got to the second floor and were warmly greeted by the rest of the staff, lars, stephanie, and julia. the all are probably the coolest people we could have expected as they are young, hip germans who know the ropes here and about our program.

rachel, savs, and geoff

there we were given some program information and ate breakfast pastries and some “bubbly”. basically all drinks in germany and maybe europe are carbonated. and they love it that way. apple juice, water, etc. all with bubbles! my stomach hasn’t quite gotten used to it but i think i won’t have a choice in the matter soon.

we took a short walk around the harbor then waited for our host families to pick us up. my host family includes yvonne and peter eilers/nowak. she is 28 and works at a children’s orphanage and he is 35 and works at a child’s psychiatry. yvonne is actually the daughter of geoff’s host mother and is good friends with rachel’s host mother’s daughter. so we are all one big happy family. geoff’s mother took us home to yvonne’s flat on kölner landstrasse, in southeast dusseldorf. it is a stone-throw’s away from the oplanderstrasse tram station. we are on the fourth and fifth floors of a nice, yellow apartment complex. fortunately there is an elevator. their flat is very nice. you walk in, small bathroom/laundry room on the left, kitchen, then my room, and the large living/dining room. from there, there is a spiral stair to their bedroom and a larger bathroom with shower. my room is great, with a desk, dresser, wardrobe, bed and window overlooking the busy street below – exactly the city atmosphere i had wanted. it’s amazing how everything works out.

view out my bedroom window

yvonne speaks english pretty well but peter doesn’t speak any, so its going to be a fun time. the both have weird working hours so peter didn’t get home till 10pm that night. i unpacked and got settled, took a much-needed shower, and came down to a great smelling dinner. yvonne cooked a tasty pasta with chicken and broccoli. we both had seconds so i didn’t feel bad for eating a lot. it was nice to eat something after all the plane food. we talked for a while about each other’s schooling and food and then went to watch some tv. i think it was some sort of german soap opera, but wasn’t sure. anyway, i was beginning to doze off when yvonne recommended that i head to bed. it was 8:20pm. i took the advice and was asleep by 9 or so. it was so nice to be in a warm bed and sleep. i woke up wednesday morning around 8 to an exciting cityscape outside. the metro was speeding by, people walking their dog, strolling children, and shops opening. yvonne and i ate cereal. her’s however had yogurt, instead of milk, and fruit. a must try for tomorrow. i also met peter and we got ready to leave. they both are super nice and laugh at my attempts to speak german. we all walked down and over the the tram station and met savannah, who was waiting for us with her host sister. the tram is so cool. my first ever. its just like a bus on wheels, with a connection to the wires above the street. at the first stop, geoff, rachel, and rachel’s host mother joined us. it was nice that our host parents came to make sure we knew the way. from oplanderstrasse, we got off at the main station in dusseldorf (underground), immermannstrasse and changed trains to one that took us through the west city, close to media harbor. they all dropped us off at AIB and we went in to have a meeting about the program and questions. afterwards, we took lunch at a bakery not far from the center. my sandwich was 3 euros and consisted of ciabatta bread, ricotta cheese, lettuce, and tomato. it was excellent actually. then we walked down alongside the rhine river to the altstadt (old town) to begin our walking tour.

alstadt scupture

our guide was stephán and knew a lot about the city. he took us all over old-town and even to king’s street, where the fashion district is resides, complete with louis vuitton, rolex, and much more. geoff and i decided we should check out the diesel store later on and window shop. we eventually made it back to the big observation tower, close to media harbor and stephán said his goodbyes.

we rode the elevator some 700m or so to the top of the observation tower and were amazed by the view. we could see the whole city, both old and new, and stayed till dark to see it all light up. a perfect ending to a great day. but it wasn’t over yet.

we walked back to AIB to find our welcome dinner almost ready to begin. julia, bianca, and stephanie and been cooking all day for this and their work did not go unnoticed. there was so much food. our host families arrived and we began. all the food was great – soups, salads, chicken, pastries, veggies, everything. i tried my first german beer, or bier if you will. i have to say it was very quite strong and will definitely take some getting used to… our two design studio professors were also present. the woman was a registered architect who worked under zaha hadid (huge-named starchitect) in london and now owned her own studio in cologne. she mentioned that we were going to be working very hard the time we were…so whether good or bad, i think we will have some good work to show.

after the dinner, geoff, savs, rachel and i decided to go home alone to see if we could find our way. we were mostly successful, after about 90 minutes and found each of our houses/apartments. i came home, took a shower, and translated through yvonne to peter who graciously set up my wireless internet, obviously. phew. what a first few days! it has been a blast and a half. i am so happy to be here. it is so much more than i ever expected and was worth the wait and struggles. living with a host family is so great. already i have learned so much about german culture. it is also great to have several friends here to travel and have fun with.

it is 1:52am, 6:52pm houston time, so i am going to sleep, but i can’t wait for the morning!