Chicago -> Amsterdam

Ciao! I'm behind on posting, so I'll provide a quick recap of my flight from Chicago to Amsterdam on this past Thursday evening. To keep a long story short, I was fairly busy during my last few days in the States, in between finding housing for next school year, taking care of resources (Student ID cards, luggage, Italian dictionary, haircut, etc.) I needed and/or wanted before leaving for Florence, and just trying to enjoy whatever time I had left in America. So most of my packing was put off until Wednesday night, and I finished at about 5 in the morning. On Thursday, Dad and I left Hebron and arrived at about 12:30 at the airport; my flight would leave at 4:30, and Northwest Airlines recommended I arrive three hours earlier since security for an international flight may have been a little tenuous (I tacked on an extra hour just to be safe). Anyways, Dad and I decided that we'd just pull up to the proper terminal for the flight, I'd get out, we'd say our goodbyes, and he'd head on home - there would be no need for him to remain at the airport late, just to see me through security, and then have to drive home on the interstate at night.

Our plan worked well, except that the minute Dad drove off, I realized my wallet (containing all my debit/credit cards, international student id, driver's license, and a small amount of cash) was on the floor of the Ranger! To make things worse, Dad wasn't answering his cell phone. There was no way I could miss my flight, I decided - so I would just use my passport to get through my flights (I wouldn't need ID, as long as there were no problems with my passport), and then I would have my family mail my wallet to me in Firenze.

Thankfully, Dad called me a short while later on his phone to see how things were going. I frantically explained to him to turn around and drop off my wallet. It took him a while to locate the proper terminal, and for me to make my way back through security, but we were able to transfer the precious item with about thirty minutes to spare before my departure. Disaster averted!

The flight itself was a breeze - it was a 6 hour, 45 minute trip, which was actually about 1 hour, 45 minutes shorter than predicted due to a strong westerly tailwind. There wasn't really much to see; about twenty minutes after we lifted off, the sun set and heavy cloud cover resulted in city lights being completely masked. The plane traveled over Newfoundland, the Atlantic, and the middle portion of the UK - the UK was very, very dark, and we were only able to see a small city that was very dimly lit. Our approach into Amsterdam was interesting; the city looks very, very spread out from above, and very flat. The lights on the streets are much more distant from each other than, say, the streets would be in Chicago or Denver, or most modern American cities. Our landing was surprisingly smooth.

We landed in Amsterdam very early, somewhere near 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM local time. The airport had a very eerie feeling about it; the people seemed tired very tired due to the early hour, and the airport was fairly deserted. There was also a very palpable feeling of being in a foreign land, even though it was an international airport. The few people that were up spoke no English; they also had an inclination to speak very quietly. We Americans are surprisingly loud, something that is very evident abroad. I purchased a citrus drink at the airport grocery for €2,35, since the plane cabin had left my mouth dry. For the next two or three hours Britt and I relaxed at a vacant tropical-themed bar, watching the locals filter in for early morning flights until it was time for our flight to depart for the da Vinci airport in Rome.

Here's an example of some local art in Amsterdam:

See my next post for my recap of my arrival in Italy.