The trip home

Ta da! I am now in America! As you can see by the very patriotic background.

This is the story of my journey home (warning: it’s long and may be slightly boring but I want it in my blog book so you can read it if you want but know that questions asked may be diverted to the reading of this post.)

Athens:

Today I woke up early, more like I never went to sleep because I was too excited, and met the sisters one last time at the metro to give them the last of our stuff. As I was walking into my apartment building Hanna, Rebecca, and Kosta were walking out. They were helping Hanna get her luggage to the bus so she could start her journey to Germany for a few days then home. We all walked to the bus together and waited until the bus got there and she got on. Then we walked back I finished packing and waited with Andrea for the taxi to take us to the airport. I was sad to say goodbye to the rest of the group that was still there but excited to start my journey back to America. I am glad that Rebecca and I live close so we can see each other next semester and you better believe we have already planed an epic weekend trip of national parks. Well I need to go board my plane next update from London. Oh also they only checked me in for the flight to London so when I get to London I’m gonna have to figure out how to get on my next flight. At least they’ll speak English. I totally forgot to mention going through passport control; I walked up handed the guy my passport and he scanned it then looked at my visa then scanned it then type on his computer then looked at the stamps then scanned it then handed it back and never said a word! I was like what is going on just please let me leave!

Somewhere over Europe:

I changed my seat when I checked in to a window seat where the whole row was empty and was like ya wishful thinking Brittney but then I got on the flight and I really was the only one in my row! The people sitting behind me have the most annoying little boy, he screams for no reason at all then just stops like ok I’m done. His voice is really annoying too it sounds like he has water in his lungs, is raspy and it’s kinda whiney too. I decided that sleeping through this flight would be the best choice especially since I got a whole row to myself. Oh and did I mention I carried on my pillow and blankie so that I could sleep on the long flight easier. I only slept for like 2 hours of the 4 hour plane ride to London. I think that they served some kind of food on the flight at the beginning but I was so extremely tired and could not keep my eyes open so I just slept. Hopefully the next flight will serve food really fast cause I’m gonna be hungry by then.

Leaving London:

The flight into London was alright until we tried to land. We circled the airport for like 20 minutes and then when we landed the plane was moving all around and getting caught up in the wind, it didn’t look like we were going to land it felt more like we were going to crash into the airport. We landed alright and I hurried to figure out where I needed to be since I didn’t have a ticket for this flight. The London airport has got it figured out, or maybe it just seemed that way since I’ve been trying to read stuff and figure out where to go in Greek. There was a huge sign that said connections and I just kept following the arrows then when you get to the place all the arrows are pointing to there was this really nice lady who looked up my flight for me and walked with me to get me to the right terminal and told me how to get my boarding pass and to tell the person at the next line that my flight leaves in an hour so I could get through faster. Well they said that there were 3 flights leaving in the next hour to America and that I would just have to wait in line and as they got closer to boarding time certain flights got priority. I finally made it to the front of the line and gave my passport, luggage tickets, and flight info to the guy and he started asking questions about why I was in Greece how long I was there, if I packed my own bags, how many bags I checked then he put a green sticker on my passport with the date on it and told me to wait in another line to get my boarding pass. I was kinda freaking out cause I had 45 min until my plane was supposed to take off and I had to wait in another line and when I reached the front of this line the lady was like oh you need to hurry to your gate its way down there. Great I needed to use the bathroom so bad and was just told to hurry to my gate. I couldn’t find a bathroom along the way and the gates here are not like gates in Utah. You have to go through passport control yet again to get to the gate then they announce that the flight is delayed because of weather and cleaning the plane is taking longer than they thought and there’s NO bathroom, no seats, and the vending machines only take pounds in the little tiny space they have you in. Then they finally let you board the plane and once your seated and all ready to go they’re like well because of weather we’re getting delayed. Um didn’t we already get delayed? So now we sit in the airplane halfway taxied out and wait for the weather to clear. Then we go wait in line at the runway. Then we finally get to take off. This is a completely full flight, I’m pretty sad about that but the guy I’m sitting next to is pretty cool. He’s in the army and he’s based in Germany and he’s on leave so he’s going to visit some friends in Chicago. Lucky him his ride is almost over.

Chicago:

So we got in an hour late then as we were getting off the plane they said that since there was lightning that they couldn’t unload our bags so we would have to wait until it stopped to get our luggage. And yes even though I just have a transfer here I still had to get my luggage and take it to the right counter and recheck it in and luckily I didn’t have to pay for it again. At least on the flight here I sat by a normal easy to talk to person and not that awkward guy who takes up too much space and smells funny. So we stood in line at customs together and talked which was good because they announced that people on like three different flights had priority to get through first to make their connections. I didn’t have to go through customs when I went to Greece, I went through Spain and they don’t do customs I guess so customs was a new experience to me. I walked up to the guy and handed him my paper and my passport and he read the paper and looked up at me and said “Where are you coming from?”

“Greece”

“300 dollars worth of goods to claim?” he said it like how on earth does one person have that much to claim from Greece

“Ya”

“Why were you there” Scans passport and writes on my customs paper

“Semester Abroad”

“Well welcome back” Hands me back my passport and a paper then I go and wait for my luggage. I swear I got through faster than some other people and I haven’t been in America for 4 months. You would think they would ask more questions to people who had been gone that long rather than to the people just on vacation. They had free luggage carts, which was awesome, since both of my bags weighed 50 lbs or more and I had my backpack and pillow and blanket. I went through the last customs checkpoint handed them my papers and they let me back into America! YES! I was so happy to understand what was going on around me. I did discover that I got distracted easy because I hadn’t eavesdropped in like 4 months. The few times we happened upon people speaking English we always listened in but there were never so many conversations going on at once. I found out where to recheck in my bags and went to figure out how to get my last boarding pass. I then, once again, went through security. Let’s take a quick minute and count how many times I showed my passport to passport control and how many times I went through security: 1. Passport out to check in in Athens 2. Passport out again to pay for extra checked bag  3. Passport control area of the Athens airport 4. Security at Athens airport 5. To board plane to London 6. To get out of the terminal to catch transfer 7. To get next boarding pass 8. To get pass security 9. To enter the little holding gate area before boarding the plane in London 9. To get through customs 10. To exit international terminal 11. To get final boarding pass 12.To get back into domestic terminal 13. Security checkpoint again. Totals: Passport out-13 times  took off my watch and belt and took out my computer and tablet for security checkpoints- 3 times  number of times I stared in amazement at people who clearly don’t know how security works- countless

I also noticed that when in a crowed I would say συγνώμη (signome) to get past someone, even when I was in London and I knew that the language was English that’s just what came to mind first when I wanted to walk past someone. I still think that I need to brace myself to try to understand someone’s crazy accent or lack of English when I want to ask a question and find myself trying to think of exactly how to phrase it so that it will be easy to understand and answer. I have to remind myself that I do not need to do this because I am in America and they speak English and will understand all the words I’m saying.   

Flying to Utah:

I found a nice little corner where no one would bother me and slept in the airport. I’ve never slept in an airport before, or in a public place really it was kinda weird. The terminal started to get busy again around 4 in the morning so I decided to go wander around the airport. I saw a replica of the Abraham Lincoln statue, an airplane, a dinosaur and I people watched. This was the most fun because I could actually understand what they were saying. I figured I would fit right back in with the social norms but discovered that you can’t get rid of new norms in 10 hours. I found that I was frustrated when people stood on the left side of escalators because in Greece you stand on the right and people who want to walk walk up them on the left, this is an ingenious idea and I think we should adopt it in America. Also I figured that my bubble would gratefully go back to being its huge self since people in America seem to have much larger bubbles but when standing in line for something I realized I was standing really close to the person in front of me and had to tell myself that people here actually stand in lines and wait their turn. In Greece if you don’t push your way to the front you may never get a chance, they don’t take turns they just jump in if there’s a seconds hesitation. I must also say that I was really sad when I walked past a Starbucks and they didn’t have chocolate croissants I am going to miss those a lot. I also found myself wondering about something and making a mental note to Google it when I got wifi then I would realize wait I have the internet in my pocket! I don’t need to wait to figure this out I can know right now. I think it’s going to take me a while to remember that one. I still have to mentally think about saying excuse me in English. Also yes comes out as nnnya or nnnyes because for the last four month yes started with a N and I got really used to saying yes as nai after the initial shock of yes sounding like a negative. I think that everyone thinks that I change my mind a lot but I don’t I really was going to say yes it’s just that no one would understand that form of yes. I don’t quite feel like I’m going home yet I still kinda feel like at the end of this trip there is going to be a lot of walking then I’ll have to go back to school but there won't be walking and I won't be going back to school. I am so awake and so tired at the same time I didn’t know you could feel those two at the same time but then again I never thought I’d spend a semester abroad.   

UTAH:

The flight from Chicago to Utah was the smoothest flight of this trip. No turbulence and no circling the airport. The flight was way early like 30 minutes early so I beat my parents to the curb since they figured my plane would land in 30 minutes then I would have to wait for my luggage so they were just going to meet me at the luggage area but I got my luggage and was at the curb before they got to the airport. I was so happy when I saw the Rockies out the window I think the person next to me thought I was crazy, I couldn’t sit still my excitement was just pouring out of me. Then on the car ride home I could read all the billboards and road signs and I knew where I was and people were driving in the lanes and no horns were honking, it was awesome.

I figured out how long it took me to get from the door of my apartment building to the door of my house and I think it was just under 48 hours door to door. This has been the longest, most interesting two day journey I’ve ever done. I can’t wait for everyone to get here tonight and try all the candies and look at all the souvenirs I got.