Nous sommes arrivés! (We have arrived!)

We're here! Our flight was smooth (thanks for dropping us off, David) and we arrived in Frankfurt's international airport on time. We had to wait a very long time for the buses to find us. Apparently the drivers were told to go to the McDonald's and they went to the wrong one. Rocky did excellent work straightening it all out so that 120 students made it safely into France (can't wait to see THAT phone bill!). The buses were silent on the drive into Metz because all the kids were fast asleep.

We arrived at GTL around 3pm local time and saw Satya and Sarah! We saw Dr. B who had also arrived that morning, but had somehow already settled in, showered, and was looking spiffy in his suit. Nicolas took us to the Hertz rental agency and we got our car for the summer. By European standards it's quite large.

Our little Peugeot

Stay tuned for a video of all the things that the Peugeot can do.

Our apartment, in a building called Residhome, is similar to a long-stay hotel room. It's much nicer than the dorm we had last year. You will soon get a video tour of that as well.

After freshening up, we returned to GTL for a welcome dinner where we were introduced to Kyle (master's student) and Leah (Kyle's wife, who speaks French). We also met Allen (PhD student). Rocky caught up with several friends, including Peter! (Click this link and scroll down on the page to see Satya, Sarah and Peter) We are still excited to see Janice & Jeramy and Rajasree & Satya with their new baby girls!

Our buddy, Benoit, in the white shirt

On Wednesday we had breakfast at GTL, followed by faculty orientation, and then went to lunch at the Cora cafeteria with Christophe Ippolito the French professor. I will be sitting in on his beginner's class. Class starts tomorrow!

Rocky is preparing lesson plans and we'll make another trip to the store for food and supplies before crashing this evening. We're glad to be settling in and think it's going to be a fantastic summer!