My Journey Starts Here

Departure Day

I began my study abroad adventure two days ago (give or take a few hours. The time zone thing is confusing!), and I'm already beginning to understand why everyone pushes students to study abroad.  I realize this sounds like an overstatement, but just in the past two days I have done so much that stretched my comfort zone.

The initial goodbyes at the airport were hard, but when I walked down the stairs to catch my flight to Seattle and saw my plane (it was painted with the WSU Cougar logo) I knew it was going to be a good trip!  I arrived in Seattle with no problems, but my arrival gate was literally as far away from the departure gate of my next flight as you could get.  I've only been to the Sea-Tac airport one other time, and then I just had to find my way to baggage claim, not to another gate.  After taking three trains, and a lot of prayer (I kept reading signs and making turns hoping I was headed in the right direction) I made it to my departure gate in plenty of time to grab some lunch and check in with the family.

My flight to Amsterdam was rough.  Not because the flight itself was bad, but because I hate being cooped up for ten hours.  I was really hoping to sleep...no dice.  That being said, I survived and made it to Amsterdam in one piece, although pretty sleep deprived.  When we touched down at Schipol Airport (pronounced skip-ole, oddly enough) I was struck by the fact the airport looked very similar to dozens of airports I've landed in in the States.  My dad commented to me once that the rest of the world "...is just living life like everyone else."  Everything looked so normal!

Sunrise over Greenland

I was very relieved to find, as promised, that all of the signs were in English.  After hiking through the airport to my final flight, I noticed that everyone at that airport has to go through security twice.  Once, upon their initial arrival, and then again at the actual gate, just to get into the waiting area of the flight.  I was a little annoyed, since this would be the second time doing the TSA dance of removing jackets, scarves, shoes, liquids, laptops, and putting them all back on and in my bag without holding up the line.

When I sat down, I started hearing all of the British accents and conversations in Dutch and several other languages.  I looked around at my fellow travelers and began to feel very foreign myself.  Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.  It's funny how we get used to being in our own country.  I've been surrounded by fellow Americans my entire life.  It's a totally different feeling when you're one of a handful of Americans in the entire airport.  That's something I'm going to have to get used to.  When I moved to Washington I had to get used to being a Southerner in the Pacific Northwest, but at least we all shared a nationality.  I think it is going to be a very interesting experience learning to assimilate into life in the UK.

The rest of my journey to Wales can be found in the next post.  New pictures have been posted.  Check out my link on the left side bar.