Flight and Arrival in EUROPE!

I was freaking out a bit on the drive to the Detroit airport.  This was a new experience and I was excited but not sure what to expect, that and I have mild anxiety so being about to leave the country for 40 days gives an unsettling feeling.  I met Sarah at the airport, said goodbye to my parents and boyfriend, Joe, and after I printed my boarding passes got in line for security.  This was the third time I had flown in15 months so I knew what to expect and since it was a weekday morning the lines weren’t too bad.  Going through the scanner thing an area around my boob came up yellow so a TSA officer explained that she would have to use her hands to inspect the air and that I could choice to go into a private room if I liked; I really didn’t care so I said there was fine.  Right before she was about to start she stopped and asked how old I was.  Apparently when I’m wearing glasses and have on little make up I look younger than 18.  I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. 

We then flew from Detroit to La Gaurdia airport in New York.  The plane was small, only 3 seats and an aisle across, and the lady sitting next to me had a 4ish month old child sitting on her lap.  Luckily the baby was pretty good and also very cute so even though he woke up when I was about to fall asleep (and therefore I was too distracted to fall back asleep) he didn’t fuss very much and only started crying briefly a few times.  After that flight we took a shuttle to JFK airport and then waited for 5 hours til we could board our plane to Zurich. 

Surprisingly I was not very anxious while waiting to get on the plane and only started to get anxious once we had boarded.  Naturally as I started to freak out the pilot announced we would be another 45 minutes or so.  Every time we moved and the engine roared my heart-rate skyrocketed.  It didn’t help that the monitors on the plane displayed how far we were going (4034 miles) and the arrival time which kept getting moved back.  It also showed the local time in New York and in Zurich.  I had already set my watch for the time change so I checked it every single time the time was displayed.  Once we took off my anxiety eased and all I wanted to do was sleep.

This flight had people from all walks of life.  For example, the guy sitting next to me had on white skinny jeans, a yellow shirt with pink flowers, and a bleached denim jacket; to top it off he had a really thin mustache.  Oh well, he seemed nice enough for the whole 5 words I probably spoke to him.  I got to experience airline dinner and breakfast as well on the flight; definitely not good but not terrible.  The worst part was that all the distributing of food kept interrupting my attempts at a nap.  I also experience turbulence for the first time on a flight.  I always thought the slight bumpiness you occasionally felt was turbulence.  Wrong.  Turbulence is half the tea of the guy sitting next to me splashing out of the cup and flight attendants being asked to take their seats.  Other than that it was an uneventful flight.  I slept from the sun setting below the clouds to the sun rising above the clouds.  Unfortunately when you are flying East that’s only about 3 hours. 

Getting through customs in Switzerland was easier than getting into Canada (and also easier than finding your way through the Zurich airport).  I told them I was studying abroad for 5 and a half weeks and they scanned and stamped my passport.  Being in Zurich we wanted to see more than just the airport so after collecting our luggage, finding the lockers to store it, activating our railpass, etc. we took a train to the main Zurich station.  This was my first time on a train and it really wasn’t bad at all (so one less thing I have to worry about).  We only spent about 2 hours walking around Zurich but we were exhausted from having slept 8 hours or less over what was supposed to be a 2 day time frame.  Getting a 47 pound suitcase onto a train was interesting on the way to Bregenz but we managed ok and made it to Bregenz without any further issues. 

Did you know there was a river in Zurich?  I didn't.  Shows you how much I looked at a map before I came.  

We had seen one of our professors on the train so we knew we could look for him at the Bregenz station and some mysterious guy named Willi that coordinated the homestays and those aspects of the trip.  We were told we would recognize him by his clothes and handlebar mustache and upon getting off the train we saw our professor standing next to a tall guy with a yellow suit, mohair tie, and handlebar mustache.  Willi.  Willi was also with the dad of our host family and their 2 small girls.  I’ll write more on the homestay later. 

After a 3-4 hour nap (which could have been 12 hours for how hard I slept) we went down to the Harbor (of Lake Constance) for the local harborfest.  We had dinner and beer with most of the other MSU students there so all was good. 

Today (which will be yesterday when I get a chance to post this) we had a 2 hour Orientation with our professors and then a 3 hour German lesson.  I still know next to none; maybe 3 more hours tomorrow will help (but probably not, especially since that is our last lesson).  It has been cold (sub 60’s) and raining all day and I do not do well with wet feet so after getting dinner at harborfest a few of us walked around for a bit but I went back earlyish.  I had had enough of rain but apparently everyone else hasn’t, the other 3 MSU girls at our homestay are still out even though it is downpouring.  I will join them on some other night when it isn’t quite so cold and wet and when I feel like drinking a beer.  Instead I spent time putting pictures on my computer and writing this ridiculously long blog post which I will post tomorrow when I have internet.  Even though this post is long I still have a lot of experiences to share.  They will have to wait for another time as I should sleep.  For now…Gute Nacht.