Yeahaaw!

Hey everybody,

most of you who read this know me and are only waiting for me to write about my experiences far far away from home. For those of you who don't know me: my name's Jessica and I am from Germany. Originally. I have been in Texas for a little more than a week now and I am starting to feel American again. I guess that's always been part of my personality since I have spent a year abroad and went to High School near Seattle. And now this: Texas! Total contrast to Seattle, I can tell you.
For one thing, there's the heat. It is hot!!! I've been told that before I came it hasn't rained for about 60 days and it has been close to 40°C every day. That is a big change. I'm from Germany. In the summer, we get rain there. :)

But let me start from the beginning. I came here on August 17th, the birthday of my Mom. (That really wasn't a way to celebrate it, I know, Mom. Sorry! But we'll celebrate twice next year, okay?) So the airport already was a big deal. I flew before and I knew the drill. But I guess I really only understood I was leaving home for almost a year when I was at the airport. So let's play a little game called "What would Jessi do?". I actually have a friend playing this game once in a while (thinking of you dearly, over here!) because sometimes I really have good ideas and I can be very reasonable and logical. Well, that doesn't always work. So I am at the airport and supposed to go through these metal detectors. What do they detect? Yes, right, metal. So a smart traveller would wear as little metal as possible, right? The smart traveller wouldn't want to be aggravating, right? Well, back to the game. What would Jessi do. Of course Jessi wears pretty much all the metal she has. Hmmm... Let's see. At home that morning I was smart enough and switched the shoes with the metal clasp for simple Chucks with no metal at all. And at the consulate general in Frankfurt, where I applied for my visa, I learned, that I should take off my watch. I did that at the airport, too. But I still had a metal button on my pants and rivets. They don't hold anything, are good for nothing. They're just supposed to be pretty. I like pretty. Of course it beeped when I went through the detector, but by the time I was in Houston and got checked out for the third time I got used to that. Sorry to all the passengers who missed their connecting flight because of me.

After 22 hours of spending my time in planes and at airports I arrived in Austin. Tired, but happy. I took a cab to get from the airport to the hotel where I would be spending my first night. The driver seemed nice. She told me she's originally from Switzerland and started driving. After probably 10 minutes she asked me for the hotel's phone number, called them and asked where it's located. The she turned around and drove part of the way back. Way to go!! That's the American entrepreneurial spirit!!

But still, I like Austin. And it's gonna get even better, I just know it.