My flight left London's Gatwick Airport one hour and 45 minutes late. The last time I looked over the snowy English fields, I was sad because I wasn't sure when I'd be here again. It was suspenseful as my plane climbed off the runway and into the overcast sky that was spitting flurries onto the still-frozen landscape. I wasn't sure if I was going to make my connecting flight. It felt like I was in some really good Christmas movie about trying to get home in time for a Christmas Eve dinner with my family, and I was uncertain if I would make it.
I should mention that I was flying 'Premium Economy' class on the upper deck of a Boeing 747 on account of a free upgrade. This was the only available seat to the east coast of the United States I was able to get my hands on before Christmas. The massive backlog of passengers waiting to leave London since Saturday had made it difficult to fly anywhere, even days later. I climbed upstairs on the airplane to get to my seat. The seat was set about a foot away from the window, leaving a space to keep my computer and cup of hot chocolate (purchased with my last remaining British currency) during takeoff. Before the plane even left the gate, flight attendants were offering me and the other wealthy British people sitting near me who were trying to get someplace warm for a Christmas vacation all sorts of free goodies. Wine, cookies, meals served on real china dishes, and socks were just some of the offerings to those lucky enough to fly business class. All the other passengers flying on the upstairs of the plane with me had an upper class aura. They all seemed to have paid for these seats because they liked the luxury, and did not seem to care that there were still people being kept in cheap hotels near the airport trying to get home for Christmas, or that stranded passengers were sleeping in airports, as long as these wealthy Londoners got their Bloody Marys and vacations to the Bahamas for Christmas. Nervous as I was, I savored all of the perks of Premium Economy, since I probably would never fly anything other than regular, cheap, basic economy again.
After nine hours of flying, my plane landed on the Orlando runway under a starry twilight sky. I hurried up the jetway and breezed through the 'Residents only' passport line for the first time in ages, way ahead of the British passengers who had shared the business class cabin with me. I collected my bags and quickly loaded them onto the customs scanner, where I was not asked any questions about the $40 worth of Cadbury chocolate I had brought with me to the United States. I waited for the people mover train, taking a deep breath to absorb the smell of frying grease and stale McDonald's french fries. Welcome back to America.
I re-checked my bags with Jetblue and anxiously waited in line for the metal detector, shoes in hand, belt off, ready to make this the quickest security check yet. It was 7:45 PM. My flight was due to leave at 8:15, and I still had quite a long way to go before I reached the gate. As soon as I was through the metal detector, I saw the lights flashing in the people mover station. The train was leaving. I grabbed my shoes and backpack and ran as fast as I could in socks on the dirty tile airport floor to the train, diving through the doors just before they closed. When the train pulled into my terminal, I was off again, tearing through the crowded airport and arriving at my gate just in time to hear my row called for boarding. I had made it. I slipped on my shoes and boarded the last plane on this trip. Two hours later I was watching the lights of New York City twinkle out the window of the plane, and then watching the suburban layout of Middletown and Berlin grow larger and larger below before stepping onto one last jetway and pulling my bag out from under the seat in front of me one more time. It took me five days, but I got home. The RMS Lusitania sailed across the ocean faster than that in 1907.
It has been four months since I left for London. Since then, I have visited seventeen different cities and towns in eleven different countries. I have spent $5,011.83. I have flown 16,637 miles on eleven different flights. I have visited five of the eleven countries at Epcot's World Showcase at Disney World. Incredibly, after my battle with the London airports two weeks ago, I was able to wake up in my bed in Connecticut on the morning of Christmas Eve, exhausted from four months of travel.
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Study abroad is a learning experience, but, as I tell my friends and family who are at the beginning stages of planning their own study abroad experience, it's not about the classes. I'll do my best not to say I came back a 'changed person' (because really, I think everything that happens to me changes me in a small but significant way; there are no big events that can 'change me' on their own. Or maybe I just haven't really experienced anything really powerful yet.) or dispense soundbites found in any study abroad pamphlet, but here are some of the things I learned while I was away during my time in Europe.
-I really like spending money. This trip has been by far the most expensive thing I've ever done, and it's been amazing. No, money can't buy happiness, but it certainly helps me have a good time. I've already bought ice skates since coming home and I want to buy a digital SLR camera and lights for my bike. I'm addicted. I can't stop spending.
-The British-and the rest of the world-love America for its movies and theme parks and entertainment. We live in a country that turns anything into a spectacular show, and the rest of the world is our audience.
-Conversely, the British say they don't like their own country because the weather is bad and there always seems to be some sort of strike or protest going on. They claim it's all too inefficient, and some of them even want to move out. They know their country's flaws but take pride in its pubs, football, and World War II heritage.
-I used to wonder who filled the flights going from Europe to Orlando since Europeans have their own Disneyland. I now realize that these planes are filled with British tourists who want to see something bigger and better than Disneyland Paris, and the occasional American struggling to get home after a rare London snowstorm.
-As it turns out, it's not just Americans with too much nationalism who think their country is the greatest in the world. Many of the British thought so, too. Some of the people I have met in my travels expressed envy that I was able to grow up in a place as glamorous as the United States.
-Foreigners think America is really violent and everyone carries a gun or a knife everywhere. While our violent crime and gun accident rates are far greater than anywhere in Europe, the British seem to think that the United States is a place where crime happens everywhere. One English woman told me she thought this was because of the frequent violence shown on American TV shows and movies.
-New Yorkers complain about Metrocard fares and suburbanites complain about the cost of gas, but transportation's way more expensive in Europe. Gas costs the equivalent of $8.00 a gallon in the United Kingdom, but it costs $3.25 per gallon right now in Connecticut.
-British food isn't all bad. The British know their way around the deep fryer. Meat pies are delicious. Hummingbird Cupcakes are amazing. Credit where credit's due, though, I'm really missing New York's food right now.
-NYU students all claim to "hate most other NYU students" due to their cynical nature, hipster fashion sense and negative attitudes, but they love their school's reputation and the location of their school (Greenwich Village, of course) and their knowledgeable professors. I, on the other hand, generally like most Manhattan College students because of their sense of humor, positive attitudes, and the east coast suburban upbringing I'm familiar with. I don't mind Manhattan College's reputation, and while it's not as good as NYU's, it does have some very knowledgeable professors. Being in the Bronx has made me respect and love New York's outer boroughs in a way most NYU students do not, especially since most of them think Washington Heights and Morningside Heights are in the Bronx. Even so, I really like the friends I've met this semester. I feel like I did fit in with the other NYU students, being a bit of a hipster and a cynic myself. I hope to see some of the people I've met when school starts again in New York in a few weeks.
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| Barely surviving without the nice NYU people I met while studying abroad. Dramatization. Reblogged from superpoop.com |
So that's the story about how I studied abroad in London, and in the process I fulfilled a life goal, met new friends, and explored new places. I've had a great time, but next semester it's back to New York to see my friends from Manhattan again, save money faster than I spend it, and prepare for whatever comes after graduation. I'm not sure what will become of this corner of the internet. I might leave it as it is, preserved as a memory of the time I had junior year of college traveling Europe and seeing all types of beautiful, unique places. I might keep writing about life in New York, which will probably turn into an Andy Rooney-style complaint fest about how strange certain aspects of modern college life are. Whatever happens, rest assured that at some point, after I've been home for a rest for a while, I'll continue to go out and explore more. In a word, wanderlust.
