The Eagle has Landed

The flight over was pretty damn good. British Airways really knows how to run an airline. The food was decent to good, there were silent babies, and of the various bodily overs that I encountered, they were not the most oppressive. I read a few chapters of my book, 'The Philosophy of Undeath: Chicken Soup for the Soulless,' and watched a couple of movies - Next, in which Nicholas Cage has the power to see 2 minutes into the future (unless you're the main love interest, in which case his powers are nigh infinite), and is called upon by the FBI to help find a nuclear device that was stolen by...Frenchmen, I guess. Wooden acting and neat special effects ensue. Overall enjoyable experience; Hot Fuzz, which peas and rice is a good movie. Anyone who's seen it knows that it's off the funking chain! I couldn't sleep on the plane, although I tried to. Too excited/anxious to do anything relaxed, really. By the end of the leg to Heathrow I was twitching a little bit. The second leg, to Tegel, was pretty much the same, although I was hungry enough to try and brave an egg salad and bacon brioche roll. Bad choice on my part.

The cab ride was interesting. The driver asked my where I was headed:
"Freie-Universitat (umlaut missing)"
"Ah! Teacher?"
"Nein, Student."
"Wohin kommst du? London?"
"Nein, America."
"Ah, USA! Wo? Washington? New York?"
"Nein, Boston."
"Ah, Basketball! (dribbling hand motions)."
"Ja!"

Most people at the building didn't know each other, although there are a lot of people from AU (somewhere approaching a dozen?). Skill level with German varies, so I don't feel so bad about being a beginner.

A few of us went to a kiosk down the street for some food. I got schnitzel with sunflower seed bread (can't remember the name). Gunther, the owner, was wicked nice, and talked with us as we ate. He said that he'd be glad to give us help with our German, and that he's do his best to remember our names. His wife was very nice also, but we didn't get to talk with her much, since she was at the register and cooking. I'm glad that the first Germans that I've met (although the cab driver was distinctly Turkish) were nice and helpful. Good omens and all that.

Right now, I'm waiting for my host family to pick me up. I'll probably just collapse once I get home and talk with them a little bit. Tomorrow is crazy busy; everyone is meeting at 9am at the Thielplatz station on the U-Bahn (subway) for orientation day 1/3.

Until next time.

Let's see what this baby can do.

My name is Geoffrey Risque Blizard, and I am going to fly out to Berlin in little more than a day. Once there, I'll be living with a host family, the Lennerts, and taking classes at the Free University in Berlin, along with somewhere between 60 to 100 other students, not all of whom are from AU. I don't really know anyone on this trip, aside from some of the people that were in my Beginner German course freshman year, but past being in the same class, we never talked. When I land in Berlin, I could very likely be all alone as I make my way to the program building (or I could spot another American by their age and luggage).

You might be wondering about the title of this blog, so I'll explain. At an information meeting for AU students in this program, the coordinator asked each of us to say one thing that we wanted to do or accomplish while abroad. My answer was "I want to see some castles;" most other people said something to the effect of "I want to learn German" or "I want to meet new people." Unoriginal, no?

I'll be updating this blog with the goings on during my semester abroad, and my thoughts as well. Here's hoping that I can get some good pictures, stories, and musings to put in this thing.

Here's my top 5 things I want to do abroad, in no particular order:
1. See some castles.
2. Travel frequently.
3. Become a stronger individual.
4. Meet new people.
5. Learn German.