Tag Archives: flight

Shalom!

Safe and sound in Tel Aviv at last! I got off the plane only this morning. I honestly didn’t sleep much during the trip, so right now, I’m pretty exhausted!

I did not get to write a pre-departure entry, so here I am to talk about my expectations (before the flight) and some of what I’ve experienced so far! My trip was booked on El Al Airlines with a huge group of about 100 students from schools all over. From what I understand, El Al is the world’s best airline. They use very different security tactics for their passengers. I was asked a lot of “different” questions by El Al. They were about my reasons for studying abroad in Israel, my current living situation at home, etc. They repeated a lot, I guess to make sure my story was straight. However, my flight experience didn’t stop at their first checkpoint, no siree! I was given the full, entire flight experience. No stone left unturned! For whatever reason (I was later told it was done randomly), I had to go through an even more thorough security check. (I read about this online a few weeks before – apparently, a passenger’s luggage is tagged from 1-5, by order of… suspicious-ness, I guess O_O.) I was given a whopping number 5. So absolutely *everything *in my two bags was checked, and I was taken to a room to be scanned myself. When they finished, I was personally escorted to an available seat in the waiting area, and come boarding time, almost to the plane itself. It was awkward because no one else had a cool “body guard” like me (haha), but he was very nice and answered a lot of the questions I had about the plane and about Israel. He even offered his discount when I bought myself a juice! I think it all turned out for the best in the end.

It’s a little hard to explain how I feel right now (besides sleepy). The day before the flight, I felt my first sudden pang of homesickness… but it passed, and now I feel really good here! Since the moment I stepped into the plane, and even more so when we landed at the Ben Gurion airport, I felt like I’ve been doing this all my life. I honestly feel so comfortable here, like I went back ho me instead of just left it. So, it seems Israel and I are off to a great start!

I’m feeling really tired now, so I leave you with some pretty pictures of the BEAUTIFUL weather we had today in Tel Aviv!

P.S. In the next few days, I’ll write all about ULPAN, my dorm, the university, and everything. Stay tuned! 😛

Location: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Homeward Bound

I’m heading back home tomorrow after nearly 6 months hanging out here in New Zealand. I have to say I am really excited to be going home. I can’t wait to see my family and friends.

I had so much fun here and met so many great people. I know I’m going to miss all of them, all the Kiwis and the other foreign exchange students. Its been sad seeing them all leave one by one.It has just fermented that this is all coming to a close.

Coming here, I learned so much about myself and what travelling alone really feels like. What its like to be in a foreign place with other people who just want to see the world. I formed a makeshift family here, life long friends and its been my reality for awhile. It just feels odd knowing that once I get on the plane this will just be a part of my past.

All I can say is that this has been one heck of an experience and worth every moment.

Location: Lincoln, New Zealand

Greetings from Te Whare Wanaka o Aoraki

Ladies and Gents I have survived the 25 hour flight. A little worse for wear but I’m pretty sure I’ll be alright. Nevertheless, let it be known that I’m not at all looking forward to heading back to the U.S and having to do that all over again.

Starting at Dullas International airport I was set up with problems right away when one of my bags was grossly over the weight limit of 50lbs (which by the way is way too low an allowed weight considering how far I had to go in the end.) So some shuffling around of clothes had to take place while my brother and I had to intermittedly run back to the parked car that was not allowed to be parked where it was to avoid getting a ticket. After that was solved and I was all checked in he was not allowed to go past a designation point and I was forced to say my goodbyes and begin my journey on my own.

The 5 hours to San Francisco was relatively uneventful and I was treated to an awful Justin Timberlake movie to which I can’t recall the name and read a bit. The immediate problem in this leg of the journey being that my carry on was too large to fit in the overhead compartment, most likely because more things had to be put into it so I wouldn’t be charged $200 for an overweight bag.

Once in San Francisco I had about 4 hours to kill until my next flight and had planned on storing my bags and walking around in the fresh air until I was told that it would cost me $60 for both bags to be stored so I decided to enjoy the free wifi instead and sat around for a while surfing the net before it was announced that any ticket given not my Air New Zealand was no longer valid and it was required that I got another. This ended up being a good thing though because I ran into another girl who had been on my last flight from Washington D.C and we started to talk only to find out that we as well as about 5 others in line were all studying in New Zealand though in different places. A majority were doing a program called Australearn and were going to be in the Hamilton area. But I did chance upon a boy by the name of Brandon that was coming here so we spent a good amount of time talking and walking around the Auckland airport trying to find our gate. I really didn’t expect to meet so many people who were coming to study here.

The 13hour flight was not as painful as I thought it would be but it also wasn’t great either. It was nearly impossible to sleep comfortably and I often felt the need to walk around to stretch out my legs. But each seat did have its own television stocked with recent movies, games and music. I ended up watching “Warrior,” “Drive,” and “(500) Days of Summer. But most of the flight was dedicated to trying to sleep. I must also mention that the flight attendants were really nice.

In country, after the short flight from Auckland to Christchurch (I did take some shots of the beautiful landscape while in the air but they are on my itouch and can’t be sent without wifi so that will come later) , I was picked up with some others by a shuttle and brought to campus (ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD) and have spent the last several hours sleeping, getting unpacked, meeting my mates in my pod (there is only one guy on the floor so far but there should be another soon along with 3 girls not including me) and walking around campus.

(Recreation center/ dining hall, Library and Rugby Pitch)

Only complaints so far are that the internet in the dorms is VERY limited. We only get 5 gigs for every 2 months! The RA warned against Skyping in the dorms because it drains the gigs really fast so I will end up doing that on “hot sports” near the Library and Dining area.

(Small side note: since the last earthquake the dining area had to be moved into a gym off the recreation center. Besides that there isn’t too much damage to campus.)

Hope you enjoyed the long update. Much love to my friends and family back home <3

Until we meet again stay beautiful.

Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

I leave tomorrow!

First I have to say THON on to everyone at PSU! <3 FTK

It’s the day my flight and by now I have gone from nervous to just sheer anticipation. I just want to get there already and start meeting people and exploring the island. Many of my friends back in State College have been asking me how I feel and right about now I just want to be on that plane now! Today will be spent with my family, a classic dinner and family games farewell and I’m rather looking forward to it just so we will all be together.

Besides all that the biggest thing I’m dealing with right now is packing. I have tried really hard to get nearly everything to fit into the suggested one suitcase and ladies and gentlemen that did not happen. I ended up with 2 suitcases, 1 backpack and 1 carry on. I’d tried really hard to get everything to fit in one suitcase but then my mom reminded me of a few things I forgot and I ended up needing another. Nevertheless, I did get a few helpful tips from my family that did help save space. One is to put underthings and tank tops in zip lock bags, push the air out of them and then seal them. This makes them really flat so thus they take up less space. Like a space bag. The second helpful little tip for space saving is to roll shirts and pants (kinda like a hot dog.)

So my plane takes off around noon this Sunday and I will be there Tuesday our time but Wednesday there time (if I have that right.) What I really love is that the school sends a car to come pick me up at the airport so I won’t have to lug around my bags. I have no idea who my roommate is or when she will be getting to school so I’m pretty nervous about that too. To be honest I hope she’s a native so I can have my own guide but if she’s not then we can be lost together. Which reminds me of another really useful thing that the school does, there will be several mixers taking place for study abroad students to meet other study abroaders, advisers and natives that are willing to be our friends and help us out.

This brings me to the drinking age in New Zealand and how more relaxed the atmosphere around alcohol is in other countries. The drinking age for those who don’t know is 18 and they will actually be serving beer and wine at these school run functions. As someone who studies sociology I’m quite interested to see the dynamic of the room and how it will function with alcohol present.

I also wanted to mention how small this planet is! In doing this study abroad I have discovered that one LTC back at Penn State has a lifelong friend from the military that has lived in Christchurch for over a decade and he helped me contact him so I have someone to turn to if I need any help. I also learned that my next door neighbor’s wife was actually born and raised in Christchurch and that’s where they met. They go back there once a year and will be heading there the day after I leave. They offered to show me around a bit so that will be nice as well.

Lastly a word to travelers, I have recently learned that everything that can go wrong before the trip will and you will always feel like you have forgotten something. So far I’ve managed to have to deal with getting a flat tire and having to replace all my tires and my phone breaking last night (perfect timing.) And of course I will always feel like I’m missing something but as long as I have my passport I can get into the country and then buy whatever I’m missing.

But I digress. Hopefully I will have plenty to post about when I am finally in country and will have plenty of pictures.

Until next time my friends

Location: Fairfax Station, VA

We’re…here?!

So WE MADE IT! Really still soaking in that we’re on the other side of the Atlantic. Words probably don’t do justice to describe how displaced and time-thrown I feel. It feels like it’s at least 9 o’clock at night here while it’s only about 16:00 (as the locals – and the rest of the world – would write it).

In the airport I met Katie, a girl from Madison who’s also on my program, so we stuck together for the trip over and met Briana when she came in too. Turns out Briana and I are in different hotels, so we split a taxi to our different locations and plan to meet up later.

The flights over weren’t bad at all. Matter of fact, the one to Madrid was pretty cool. I got chills when the pilot announced preparation for takeoff to the flight attendants. It was especially neat because there was a camera on the tail that showed us on the runway and then cruising over Chicago away from the sunset and (literally) into the night.

We were fed typical airplane food on the flight there – rice and chicken or beef and a side of crab salad for dinner, which was actually pretty good, and ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I opted out of the latter meal, as I don’t eat red meat – especially not pork (and no, ham is NOT white meat!! It’s still very much a mammal). I emphasize this point because I’m pretty sure a lot of people here won’t understand this. There are lots of unsuspecting foods here made with lard and other animal products – like “polvorones,” little cake-like tapas – which I’m not so keen on, so that’s something I’ll have to look out for. Anyways, the real reason for telling this story is because there was an Arab woman sitting across the aisle from me, and she didn’t want her sandwich either because it’s not halal (the Muslim equivalent of Kosher for Jews). So we bonded over that and I shared a granola bar with her instead 🙂

When we landed, all you could see was a black silhouette of the plane and tons of lights down below, it was beautiful. It was also neat because we landed just in time to see the sun rise, and the changing light in the huge airport, which had a high, arching and curving wood-beam ceilings and steel beams each painted the next hue of a color of the rainbow. Another really cool thing about the airport was the signs and directions to gates. We had to go from our arrival gate, through customs, and to K93 in about a half hour. Along the way, signs pointing the way to K also had times for how long it would take from your current location to get to that, and other terminals. We started out with a sign that indicated we were 30 minutes away, so we made our way through without any putzing.

When we landed in Seville it was cold and overcast, and as soon as we got into the cab it started to rain, which continued through most of the afternoon. Not so nice, but made for a perfect jet-lag nap 🙂 The ride here was uneventful, but intriguing. The tall, old apartment buildings here remind me of those we saw in Chisenau, Moldova, where I went for a volunteer Spring break last year. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but it’s such an obviously European city, by it’s looks and lay-out. Oh and I was warned about this, but had to see it for myself to believe – Sevilla drivers are a little bit on the wild side. You’d think a cab driver would try not to totally freak a couple of twenty-something year old American girls upon their arrival to the country, but apparently that’s second to getting us to our destination way too fast.

Some other things I’ve noticed already were the use of commas to denote a change in units, as in the price of my room: €80,00. On a relevant note, I was lucky enough to get a discount on my room because Katie mentioned that she’d seen a promotion on line for mid-January reservations, so I asked about it and got €50 off!

The hotel is beautiful. The lobby is all shiny black and white marble, and everything down there is divided by big glass doors. All the doors in the rooms are big sliding sections of the walls, lights are motion and key-sensored (as is usually the case in nice European hotels, I’ve noticed), there are two showers (one for the tub), and a king size bed! I took a hot bath as soon as I got in because my muscles were so sore from schlepping my bags around, and then passed out for about an hour and a half. Hopefully I’ll be able to go find something to eat soon, I want to go out and walk around all the little shops and cafés around here (:

Stay tuned, lots more to come!

Location: Hotel Sol Melia. Seville, Spain.

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