The Flight

January 1^st and 2^nd, 2010

Day 1-2

Today I said my final goodbyes and began my long trek to Norway. Pictured to the left is Mom, Dad, Matty and Jessica seeing me off in Omaha AND above are 2 pictures of my dorm in Norway; my new home for the next 5 months.

My first connection flight took me from Omaha to Minneapolis; a brief minute compared to the crappy 9 hour flight to Amsterdam that followed. Nonetheless, if the trip were any shorter at all, it might hinder that great feeling of adventure that seems to follow me through each new airport gate, through each new city that I must visit along the way. All things considered, the long journey is a good thing.

My original plan was to venture out into Amsterdam for a few hours, but the drizzling weather and uncertainty of my good sense (as the result of jet lag) caused me to opt out of that plan quickly. I will explore the city in the warmth of June, when I am better prepared and the weather is more welcoming. Yet I will say, although I decided against leaving the confines of the airport, the stark differences I experienced were very notable.

I’m writing this first entry as I sit in the Amsterdam airport and await my last flight to Norway.

The airport itself is like a roofed city. There are jewelry stores and European clothing outlets, there are casinos and fancy restaurants everywhere. There is even a small museum with colorful oil paintings from the 1700’s. It is definitely the most elaborate airport I have ever seen.

But Europe is a strange and confusing place to me. When I look around the airport, everything about it has lost its familiarity. Pay phones have become strange looking blue digital boxes that eat up your money like rigged slot machines. Money has become stiff blue paper and nickel-sized coins worth bizarrely more than my American dollar. English dialogue has become nearly nonexistent, being replaced by the almost crude, but indescribably appealing dialect of the Dutch. I found myself tuning into their conversations, amazed by how a language can be so heavily saturated in sharp constanents, but still posses a certain underlying friendliness.

I look forward very much to coming back and exploring the actual city of Amsterdam, but first, I must reach my ultimate destination; Norway.