Four months ago, I sat in an airplane at John F. Kennedy airport in New York, waiting for the plane to take off and fighting back tears. I didn't want to leave home.
It's hard to believe that today, I can be the same person, sitting in an airplane in Amsterdam trying not to cry again. I don't want to go home.
I don't feel any different than I was six months ago, or a year ago. But at the same time, I know I've grown a lot during my time here. I know they say there's no way you can come out of studying abroad unchanged, and I have to agree that being in Europe these past four months has irreversibly changed my life. It's so strange to think of all the people I've met who I probably won't see or talk to again, so really they were just there to be a part of my experience. And of course I have to come back as soon as I can, because I'm not the kind of person who can be content with just coming here and then returning home and having stories to share. I still have more growing to do, I guess.
So for tonight, I'm staying in Paris. I've had a wonderful day (please excuse the sarcasm leak, we're working on fixing that). I love traveling and I love flying but I hate airports. I particularly hate checking bags. I have three bags: my big suitcase, a medium duffel bag, and a backpack. My backpack has to be carry-on because it has my laptop in it. When I got to the airport in Amsterdam, the lady who checked my bag told me that I could take my duffel bag as carry-on too, because it was light enough. She checked my big suitcase, but it was overweight so I had to pay for that. Then, when I went to go through security, this guy stopped me and told me we had to go weigh my carry-on bags. And with my two bags combined, my carry-on was too heavy. So I had to check the duffel bag after all. Luckily, they did not charge me for having a second bag. What a pain, this business of checking bags. I'm tired of it. However, none of my flights for today or tomorrow are connecting flights, so I'm going to have to check them at least one more time. Hopefully I can talk them into checking them all the way through to my final destination tomorrow, but if not I'll have to re-check them again in New York. I've rearranged some stuff between my big suitcase and my duffel bag, so hopefully that will do to make my suitcase not be overweight. Tomorrow, we will see...
Now, I'm starving. I had breakfast this morning because I got up way too early, and then at the airport I went by Starbucks for a giant caramel mocha and this teriyaki beef sandwich. I guess I should pay more attention to labels because I didn't realize that teriyaki beef was going to come with cucumber and wasabi mayonnaise (and green onions but I don't mind those) but in the end it wasn't a problem, the beef part was good... There's a restaurant across the street called Hippopotamus and I'm debating on whether or not I should go try it. I've seen them around before and I've looked at the menu online but I'm not sure if I'm interested. But I'm very hungry... There's a restaurant in the hotel but it doesn't sound exciting.
We will see. I probably won't post again until I'm back in the US. Wow, can't believe that's tomorrow.
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