International Mayhem

On the plane to Amsterdam I was in a seat next to the window so I could sleep durning the night, since we took off around 7.30pm and would arrive in Am around 11am. I get into my seat and this odd man sits next to me. The plane takes off and we get to talking and hes asking me if it was my first time going to Europe and I tell him that yea, its my first time international anywhere. He asked me the usual, what I was up to back at home, etc. I told him I went to UCSD and he asked what major, and I said Bioeingineering but switching to BioInformatics with a Japanese studies minor. He was like oohhh...Im head of a biotech company in North Dakota, we'll be needing people like you in the future with protein modeling and such on the computer, and im like yeaa, wow, how small of a world. We proceeded to small chat and he told me alot about himself, and told me alot how the international travel went and such, it was like he was my adoptive father for the 10 hour flight. When time came to sleep I couldnt sleep at all so I pulled out my reader I had been working on while I was waiting in the airport and continued to read about Machiavelli and Petrarch. I definitely had extreme jet craziness because I didnt sleep the whole plane ride, while everyone else was dreaming closeby. I got through over 100 pages of the reader, which was nice because I ususally cant read on a plane and the reading was very dense, though thought provoking.

In Am. the man next to me helped me get through customs and showed me where my terminal was since Amsterdam Airport is huge!! I got my bearings and went to pull some euro out of the atm, got a bite of food, changed my shirt and brushed my teeth in the bathroom, and went to wait for my next plane. By that time the terminal got moved and I had to walk to the complete other side of the airport. Being surrounded by all these people who didnt speak english, for some reason, felt more comforting to me than all the english I hear at home. But at that point I also realized how my good understanding and capabilites to speak Japanese were completely useless to where I was traveling.

written by

Amanda on June 29, 2008 from Amsterdam, Netherlands

from the travel blog: Revelle in Rome

tagged Amsterdam and PlaneFamily

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