Making My Way

Saturday, December 31^st, 2011.  6:15am in Amsterdam airport.

                They tell me I’m in Amsterdam…!?!  I’m not convinced.  Can you really trust that little Nintendo airplane supposedly tracking your course?  But here I am, definitely in a new place.  I feel like I stand out like a sore thumb but I’m doing my best to blend in for the time being.  I’m sitting on a couch near a window, typing away on my laptop, using my converter for power (thanks, Christina!).  I look quite cozy, really.  Thankfully the Amsterdam airport is fairly deserted at 6am, but I will be here for another couple hours so hopefully I’ll get to see it gradually come to life.

                Where did everyone get those cute shopping cart things for their bags?  I want one.  Darn it, that totally gives me away.  Regular travelers know about these things.

                I find that I have a lot of intrusive thoughts to my writing.  It’s generally accepted that I’m not a great writer, and I admit that I make little effort to improve.  My mind thinks so much faster than I can type…and once I take my eyes off the screen, my mind has moved on to a new topic.  SO I’ve decided to embrace this fact instead of fight it.  At least for this post.  Feedback is welcome. J

                My travels thus far have been very smooth.  My mom and I held up during our goodbye at the Indy airport.  Considering she was already misty-eyed when she picked me up, I think we did well.  Side note-- it might be the last time I let her take me to the airport.  Sorry, Mom!  I'm not going to pretend like I don't have nerves about this trip.  They've been fluctuating for a few days now.  However, I think I was also stressed about our goodbye because my appetite promptly returned mid-flight, haha.  My Detroit layover was shorter than I thought, but I was able to stock up on snacks and order a very important dress before departing.  Unsurprisingly, I’ve already met a couple people who are helping define my experience.  One woman in the Detroit airport wanted to talk about med school, and how I could help convince her daughter that she should go, haha.  Another was my seat partner during the last 8 hours.  26B, (somehow we didn’t exchange names?), if you happen to have remembered my blog address and are reading this, it was lovely sitting next to you!  I hope you made it to Stockholm safely.  Remember, there is more to Indiana than fields and boilermakers :)

                I still have a couple hours to kill, but time is already flying by.  I should probably read up about Nairobi, but I think The Hunger Games will win out.  I started on my last flight and I love it.  For the Kindle users out there, I’m 34% through.  (Brooke—I “borrowed” the first 2 from Katie before I left, so I’m set!)  It’s also an excellent book to read when you are about to embark on an adventure of the culinary kind.  My airplane food looked gourmet after what she was describing!

Anyway, thanks for reading. Now I’m going to attempt to hook up to the internet and post this bad boy….SUCCESS!!  I hope you all appreciate that photo because it took 10 minutes to load, haha.  Next up--Nairobi!