Anchorage
I arrived distraught. After going through the airport debacle where I thought I wouldn't be able to say "good-bye" to my parents I just felt defeated. I hoped that the incident wasn't a foreshadowing of what was to come during my exchange year.
I had almost six hours to kill in Anchorage so I checked into the Military YMCA/Lounge and read while I waited for one of my closest friends to visit with me for a while. We were texting to figure out the best place to meet up. I ended up leaving my sanctuary to find her in the departures area.
She brought me the pins her mom had been able to acquire for me, and we spoke about life and caught up. The hours passed and it wasn't long until it was time for me to go through the security area and wait at my gate to board. There were more good-byes and lots more hugs, but I was so happy I was able to see her before I left on my journey.
While going through security, I met a family who had just said good-bye to an exchange student who went through another program, Youth for Understanding (YFU). They shared their laments with me and wished me luck on my travels and my year.
As I sat waiting for my plane to board, another man came up to me. He told me he saw my blazer, and wished me luck on my travels, as well. The man was a Rotarian. He wanted to give me a pin from his country, I believe he was from South America, but all his pins were checked-in with his other bags.
I knew that being a Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student would lead me to meet many people, and this was just the beginning.
Portland
Portland was my longest lay-over. It was so long I had to pick my luggage up at the carousel and recheck-in five hours later. I dragged two pieces of luggage, my backpack, and my purse around for five hours.
Well I didn't really lug them around the whole time. I only had an hour until the desks opened, so I found a coffee shop and ate breakfast. I was so glad my flight from Anchorage was at night so I accomplished sleeping on the plane. I found a nice cozy table where I was able to bring out my computer and look on Facebook. Without Facebook, I think I would have lost my sanity. I was also very glad that my flight from Anchorage to Portland was during the evening so I was able to sleep on the plane.
After checking in, I went through security and sat around at the gate. I got bored after a bit so I went and walked down to the food court, checked in on Facebook (my sanity for most of the year), and killed more hours on the internet.
As the time for my next flight loomed closer, I laid out on a bench. I knew that there I should be meeting with some other exchange students on their way to Denmark, but I didn't know when they would be arriving or if they were already there so I just waited (lots of waiting).
Two girls came up to me, as I laid their like a dope. One of them was from Canada and one from Idaho (yes, I did ask the one from Idaho if she came from potato country). We (yes) waited together and while we sat there we deduced that two more would be joining us for the journey to Denmark.
An hour before boarding, a guy from Oregon joined our waiting party (not really a party), and soon after him, another girl (also from Oregon) arrived. Together, we flew to O'Hare.
O'Hare
I thought Portland was a big airport, but it's small compared to O'Hare. It was the busiest airport I had ever seen (and I've been in a lot because I've travelled to and from the Philippines quite a few times in my life). People everywhere were rushing to get to their gates to catch their connecting flight. If I hadn't been with the group, I'm 99.9% sure I would have gotten lost and missed my flight completely. Luckily, I was in a group and we had plenty of time to get to our next gate.
Oh, we also gained a new member to our waiting party. Another member for team USA!
On the plane we were all pretty separated, except for the guy from Oregon, the girl from Idaho, and me. Oregon and I sat together and Idaho sat a couple rows back from us to the right.
Oregon kept me entertained as he tried to hit on one of the stewardesses. "Are you from Denmark?" he asked.
"No. I am Ukrainian," she retorted, appalled he would think her a Scandinavian.
She walked away so quickly he wasn't able to say the punchline, "Because I heard that Danes were the most beautiful people in the world."
Good think it was another night flight so he could sleep away that burn.
Warsaw
When we arrived in Warsaw, I assumed we would have to go through customs and declare all of our belongings, but we walked right on through (I had anxiety over all the paperwork we would have had to do for nothing!). They stamped our passports and waved us into the country.
The only thing that stopped you from misbehaving were the militaristic looking officials, kind of like the Polish version of the TSA, but G.I. Joe looking. Even the female official looked like she could take on a guy twice her size. We tried to get a picture of them, but they told us it was not allowed.
We settled on finding food and shopping around for things to remind us of our little stint in the Polish airport. When it was almost time to board the plane we were told to get on busses and we drove out to another building where we boarded our plane.
And so the journey to Denmark commenced. We were all so excited to start our year in Denmark we were relieved that the bulk of our travels were over.
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