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.
