Hello everybody!

I am planning my trip to the States next summer right now. I will be flying over for about 5-6 weeks during my summer vacation. (Remember, I live in Germany right now)

In that time, I would like to visit UND. I'd ask you, not to turn this into an "aviation university - yes or no" thread. My decision is not final but after reading A LOT, mostly here, but other places as well, I believe UND would be the best option for me.

So my qustion would be: What would you recommend? Whats the best way to visit UND and how long would it take? Would I have any chance to speak to people in order to get to know what the requirements are for me being accepted there? As I mentioned above, I live in Germany right now so it might be different... I heard of a program called "Aerocamp" - is that recommendable? I believe I recall it being 1000$ - is that worth it? I have contact to a couple of students attending UND and they have been a great help, but I just wanted to post my questions out to the message board. I might get even more info!?

And for the second part: I would like to do my FAA PPL while I'm in the States. It is A LOT cheaper than in Europe and I would really like to make it in 3-4 weeks. Is that possible? I do fly gliders here so I might be able to learn quicker!? Of course I would study beforehand... Right now I have contact to a very small flight school in McKinney, TX (near DFW). It is just one guy who owns it and I believe I would be able to finish my PPL in the limited amount of time and in a fairly cheap way. The only problem (well, not really a problem, just something to think about) would be, that I would have to fly from Grand Forks to Dallas and then, after finishing up my PPL, I'd have to fly from Dallas to SFO from where I will fly back. I want to go to SFO 'cause that's where I originally come from and I'd like to visit old friends.

Now, it might be cheaper for me to go to a flight school in the Bay Area. That way I might be able to fly to SFO from GFK without going to TX in between. I would prefer a really small flight school though... And the price the dude in TX offers might be worth the 400$ I'd spend for the flights. So as you see, I have not decided yet and I would still have to wait for an offer from the guy in McKinney. But if anyone of you could recommend a flight school in the Bay Area (maybe with a phone number or e-mail or website so that I could contact them) I would be really happy about that.

Sorry for the long text and I am looking forward to your answers!

I really appreceate your effort - thanks a lot in advance!

Blue skies
-Jakob