I have arrived

Welcome, everyone, to my first message from the United States.

The trip to Wisconsin was mostly smooth, without any delays or other annoying stuff. It was, of course, tiring, but such things are unavoidable. My digestive system is still a bit upset, and I'm also still tired, but I'm sure I will eventually adapt. The weather here is a nice 25 degrees, mostly sunny (though today is a bit overcast). My host family is a married couple called Betty and Ron (I won't go into last names because of privacy). They have four children who are all out of the house already, and live mostly in Arizona. Ron is a long distance truck driver, so he'll be home mostly on weekends. Betty is part-time medical transcriptionist who I believe works for a dentist.

There is a nice mountain right across from the house, with a few skyslopes and everything. I'm looking forward to winter snowboarding and everything that goes along with that.

School hasn't started yet, it will begin next monday. I met a woman from NTC (my school) at the airport, who gave me a super thick booklet which I haven't read yet, but will. I've driven around town with my host mother, and seen the college already. She seems to think of everything as small, though it is all a lot bigger than what we have in the Netherlands.

This post was written from Betty's computer, but I'll be buying my own soon for the most work I have to do. So I'll see you all soon from my own pc. I'll also be buying a camera so you can all see what my new home looks like.

I declare the blogs opened!

Alright everybody, welcome to the official (well, sort of) opening of my going USA blog. Allow me to explain a few simple things:

This august I will go to America for a full year. This is organized by an international exchange organization called the YFU (Youth for Understanding, I believe. Don't ask me were they got the name). I will live for a year in a host family, and also go to a community college.
I thought it would be fun for friends and family if I set up a blog where I can talk about my experiences as an exchange student.

That should do it for the introduction. I also have a few short yet important notes for everyone:

• As exercise, I have decided that I will always post in the English language. I believe the internet has made me fluent enough, but it can never hurt to practice some more.
• The layout is a boring default template for the moment, sorry for that. I'll color it up with nice American flags and such in due time, don't worry
• Since I will most likely take a computer science course for my college year, and I have a great interest in programming, Linux, and other things computer related, I will post about these subjects regularly. Apologies for family and friends more interested in my other experiences. My posts will be properly labeled, so sort the interesting stuff out yourself.
• Like I said, the blog is foremost for friends and family. Anyone else is of course welcome, should they find my incoherent rambling amusing, but I don't expect many of you right now.

That's all for the moment. I will follow up with some more detail about the exchange soon. Now to get the word out this blog is starting.