06.01.2020: The journey begins

After some last-minute excitement, as always, my alarm finally rang at 6 a.m. During a quick breakfast, I realized that my planned ICE train was canceled, of course. Luckily, everyone in the household was so nervous that we had plenty of buffer time anyway. So we could even take the earlier train. At quarter to 7, my red suitcase was packed into the car and my parents accompanied me to Düsseldorf train station. When I took one last look out of the ICE window at mom and dad on the platform, saying goodbye became a bit difficult.
After a surprisingly relaxed train ride, I arrived at Frankfurt Airport on time. Of course, I had to go all the way to the other end for the Condor flights. Shortly after reaching the counters, the check-in for the flights to America started. Since my flight went through Seattle to Edmonton, I positioned myself at the front of the line. However, before I had a chance to reach the counter, I was stopped by an American who turned out to be an employee of the Homeland Security. After answering some questions (no, I don't want to commit mass suicide) and confirming through an email on my phone that I don't intend to stay in the USA but only to travel for an internship (in CANADA, mind you, not in the USA...), I was finally allowed to proceed. The rest of the stay in Frankfurt went smoothly except for another random security check. On the plane, which took off with just a few minutes of delay, I passed the time by watching one movie after another. Luckily, I invested in a vegan meal, which, although it wasn't haute cuisine, at least looked better than the undefined meat-noodle mush on the others' plates. The flight went without any incidents and we landed in Seattle as planned around 3:30 p.m. After an extensive security control including fingerprints and more questioning, and picking up and re-checking my suitcase (luckily, I had plenty of time), I then started my search for my terminal. Which turned out to be not so easy... First, I had to take a train from section S to A, from there to D, and then walk to section C. An hour later, I finally reached my destination, still 4 hours before the scheduled departure. Luckily, I had brought my e-reader and downloaded some series. Shortly before departure, there was a brief excitement: there was a bad weather front that, if it would move into Edmonton, would make landing too dangerous. In that case, the plane would fly back to Seattle and a flight would be offered the next day, but no hotel for overnight. At that point, I was fortunately too tired to panic seriously. I didn't really notice much about the flight that took off with a one-hour delay, even though it only lasted 2 hours. Luckily, we finally landed and after a final random suitcase check, I finally set foot on Canadian soil. Luckily, I was picked up at the airport by my host David, a retired librarian from the University of Alberta, who has an inexhaustible knowledge of the city and the university. During the almost one-hour drive to the house, I managed to make a little small talk. Or at least not fall asleep while David was talking. However, I don't remember much except for the long oil transport that passed by on the rails in front of us (Edmonton's (former) wealth came from the oil fields, which also gave the famous ice hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers, their name) and the bed in the warm room after our arrival. It was already 2:30 a.m. local time, which corresponds to 10:30 a.m. in Germany. So a long day came to an end...