Arriving in Los Angeles
"Just twenty hours ago I was standing with my fake fur jacket in the slush of the smoking area at the airport of Berlin-Tegel.
The world should stop right now. The country-girl from Germany has made it to Los Angeles.
I would like to let go of a Tarzan-worthy scream."
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/here-i-come-arriving-in-california-reading-in-german}
13 years ago I arrived in Los Angeles for my new assignment as West coast correspondent for German public radio. A dream had come true. It hit me with the force of a baseball bat when I stepped off the plane:
A challenging immigration officer 'welcoming' me, the chaos of rattling suitcases and baggage carts between taxis and limousines, the mix of mild air and exhaust, a cacophony of languages and sounds I could not identify.
Of course a lot of things did not work out as planned - like furniture and clothes being stranded between the Panama canal and the port of Los Angeles or not getting credentials to cover the Oscars. But nothing was going to prevent me from going on one of the greatest adventures of my life: discovering California.
In my book "Ein Jahr in Kalifornien" I get the chance to describe fun and challenges, frustration and enthusiasm, adventures and excursions of my first year in the Golden State. This is a reading from the first pages of the book.
I hope you join my ride to people and places on a journey that will continue for a long time.
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