First "Catching Up" Entry

So today I finally have internet on my computer because I brought it to the school and there is wireless here. I am going to copy and paste this first entry that I wrote in Word, on Sunday, about my flights and the process of getting to Florence.

Here it is:

Well, I have just arrived in Florence and already today (and yesterday I guess, but it just feels like one long day) it has been an adventure.

To summarize my flights overall, I really have no complaints, especially with timeliness. I believe that all 3 flights actually touched down ahead of the scheduled arrival time. So yay for that. On the first two flights, the one problem I had, sadly, was my own bladder. Yes, that’s what I said. Hindsight is 20/20, but also I should have taken the age old lesson into consideration and used the bathroom in Bradley. Or if not that, used the bathroom on board the plane during the hour or so that the fasten seatbelt sign was off. But noooo just as we started our descent toward Dulles Airport, I realize I need to pee. And this comes on quite suddenly, considering the juice and coffee I drank at home and the water I drank on the plane. So during our entire descent into Dulles, this is what was dominating my mind. It was possibly the worst I have ever had to pee. Ever. I seriously considered asking the flight attendant if she could possibly let me get up to go during our descent… even though the fasten seatbelt sign was on. But I didn’t because that was just too brazen – even at that level of desperation.

So, I stuck it out through to landing, impatiently of course. As we taxied I told the couple next to me of my decision to try to get to the back lavatory once we were parked at the gate. They said “You know, we could have let you get up during the flight” – which of course I knew, and I explained my stupid situation of figuring it out just as I could no longer get up. Figures. So, long story short, the second the sign went off, those two let me out, and I only had to skirt around a couple people to get to the bathroom. The flight attendant back there said “Restroom? Sure!” to me as I went back but I wasn’t really waiting for his permission as it was. So, that was the main issue with the first flight, and it was entirely of my own making.

Arrival in Dulles was fine. I took a shuttle thing from the domestic terminal at which we arrived to the newer, shinier, international terminal from which I’d be departing. It was the same one in which I hung out with the students from my Turkey trip earlier this summer while we waited to depart – so that was a cool full circle thing. I found my gate first, all the while scoping out lunch and ATM possibilities. I noticed that one ATM kiosk had a currency exchange place on the other side, which was notable since I didn’t have any Euros and figured it might be a good idea to get some wherever possible. I figured my priorities were to get a People magazine, eat lunch, and exchange currency before heading back to the gate. After I called my parents and Dave, I went ahead and did those things. Had a nice fresh-tasting tuna melt at a café place – felt accomplished for finding something with ingredients resembling real food. Then I exchanged money which had a really high flat rate charge. In retrospect, I should have exchanged more money to make it more worth it, but I had my mind set on the original quantity and didn’t change it. After that I went back to the gate to hang out until it was time to board the Lufthansa plane to Munich. Let’s please note here that I did take the time to use the bathroom that was across from the gate in the terminal.

A bit less than an hour before departure, I boarded the Lufthansa plane. I was almost all the way in the back, but I had a window which was good, as I stated before. However, both my troubles on the last flight and my prophecy about “some poor soul” came to light early on. I had just finished my meal of something resembling manicotti with tomato sauce and side dishes (not bad as far as airplane food goes) when it struck me again that I needed to use the restroom. That, and I wanted to take out my contacts so I could sleep more easily. So first I had to wait for them to come take my tray, which took some time. And then there was the task of waking up the young man next to me. I started with poking him and saying “excuse me sir”. Nada. I probably tried something similar to that about 5 times… just choosing to poke him either on the shoulder or forearm to see if either worked better. Nothing. It was sort of distressing. It would have been rude to shake him but… I really needed to get up. I was just sitting there in limbo! Finally one of my tries I was a bit more forceful and actually said “Excuse me sir, I need to get up,” at which point he awoke, look confused, and then understood. I guess I should mention that he was definitely not a native English speaker either. I was trying to figure out what language he was speaking to a guy he knew… not sure, but he did the menu for his Onscreen entertainment in German. *shrug*.

Anyway, I am digressing. But I guess the point is I managed to get to the bathroom – but it was an ordeal, again. By this point I was getting very tired of my bladder ruling my life. But at least I woke that guy up. Deep sleeper! Also, I hope he didn’t hate me in that moment or if he did is over it now…

To back up, before this point, I watched “What Happens in Vegas” starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. Certainly not going to win any awards, but it was good for watching on a plane. As a sidenote, I find Lufthansa’s individual screen formatting superior to AirFrance’s. Just in case you were wondering. After managing to get to the bathroom, I attempted to sleep. I did the typical airplane, trying to find a comfortable position deal. Mixed results. I did however make good use of the facemask I bought at Target last week for making things dark. I probably slept on and off for 3-4 hours… and that amounted to my night of sleep for Saturday. With the period of sleeping, the end of the flight sort of came quickly. I also ate breakfast that they gave us within the last couple hours and watched most of “21”. I will have to finish it sometime. Mom and Dad, have you seen it? It features a place you spent part of your lives… I imagine you didn’t spend your weekends going to Vegas to win thousands of dollars though…

So right. I landed in Munich. Very nice airport indeed. At times the signage was a little confusing but I found my way to passport control, where a German man was nice enough to let me into the Schengen area (after looking at my visa), and another round of security. In my preoccupation with whether I needed to take my shoes off and my liquids out (no, and yes) I didn’t take off my class ring and watch as I usually do. I think maybe the ring set off the metal detector, so I was quickly frisked by a German woman and then was good to go. I found the gate for the Florence flight with a perfect amount of time to wait. I definitely eavesdropped on some conversations to test myself on how much I understood – as it was a distinctively Italian crowd by that point. About 20 minutes before departure, we got on a bus to take us out to our plane. I knew it would be small, but it even had propellers. I wondered how it would feel to go over the Alps in it, but it was actually fine. In fact, the Alps were beautiful, and it was early morning, pretty cool. There was a mix up with where exactly my seat was (it was possibly assigned twice) but the flight attendant was really nice and accommodating.

This is more or less where I stopped on Sunday – it’s now Wednesday and I am about to post this.