Amy Green

The jet lag was not much fun but it wore off fairly quickly. We started by applying for our german visa's. It was fairly quick, just filling out some paperwork and handing it to the AIB staff. The next thing was a lecture about how to behave with our host families. A few important points about how German culture may differ from American. That afternoon Professor Wasser took us to the House of History which is a museum of german history covering 1945 to 2000. On Wednesday we went on a hike up the Drachenfells. This is one of the hills in the  Siebengebirge, the seven hills outside Bonn. The dragon reference comes from an old legend of a warrior that killed the dragon living in the hills and bathed in it's blood. Similarly to the Achilles myth, this made him invulnerable except for one weak point that eventually killed him. After the hike a group of us went to lunch and then met up with another group at a bar. This was my first taste of german beer. On Thursday we started classes...

Anyone at all experienced in traveling will tell you to arrive at the airport two or three hours before your flight. This is an excellent idea because if anything goes wrong you have plenty of time to sort it out. However, if everything goes smoothly and it takes you about half an hour to check in and go through security, then you have a lot of time to kill. You could eat overpriced food at a loud and cramped food-joint, shop for duty free merchandise, or just wander around until your flight is boarding.  I have chosen to spend my time writing this and watching the Hobbit (part 1). I did walk all the way around the airport, at Austin that doesn't take very long, but I didn't bother buying food since I'll get dinner on the flight. The only point of concern is that I can't seem to find my flight on the departures board. There is a flight to London listed at the correct time but incorrect flight number and airline. I did find the gate that shows the right information so I...