My arrival in Switzerland

I’m here! I’ve made it and am finally in Switzerland. Wednesday, August 8 was the big leaving day, but I’m only just getting internet to post this. Prepare yourself for a lengthy entry. It was crazy, as it always is, getting ready to leave. I always have the best intentions to have everything ready early, preferably the night before, but it never works out that way. Oops. There are always too many goodbyes and too many things I have to do before I leave. A year is a long time to be gone for; there are a lot of little loose ends to tie up before leaving. Anyway, so on Wednesday, I got up early and packed a bit more and then got my nails done with my mom (it was my thank-you to her for helping me so much, especially with moving from Grand Rapids to Waterford). After that, I visited my great-grandma in the hospital (she’s okay, don’t worry!), which I was really glad to be able to do, because I love visiting with my grandma, hospital or not. Then, I went home and frantically finished packing, which actually only took me another hour. I managed to fit everything in two suitcases and my carry-on bag. It felt like a lot when I looked at the finished bags, but I have to remind myself—I’m here for a year! A year with four seasons to pack for. A year with no trips home to grab something I forgot, although there will never be something I didn’t forget, no matter how many last walk-throughs of my room or the house I do—that’s always the way it is. And then I was off.

I drove to the airport with Mom and Edward. We stopped at the Bob Evans right by the airport and ate lunch together. I ordered the last Grilled Cheese I will probably have for a long time. Most people over here have no idea what you’re talking about when you say that you really like to eat Grilled Cheese (although I really don’t eat it that often anymore). I wonder if they’re picturing a chunk of cheese being grilled. That would be a weird food option. So, I made to the airport with about two hours before takeoff. Apparently they recommend three hours, but I also saw somewhere two hours, and at least for this time, two hours was plenty of time. We checked my bags, and after a family prayer and tearful hugs, I went through security. Security was a breeze, although I nearly fudged up the new x-ray scan machine thing. I moved too early so they had to redo mine. Luckily that just looked stupid and not suspicious. After that, I made my way to my gate. I stopped at a shop to buy chocolate-covered dried cherries (think Raisinets, but with cherries) as a present for my host family, since in my hustle and bustle I had completely forgotten to get something for them. I thought the chocolate covered cherries would be nice because they’re not only delicious, but also something very Michigan for them. They’ve been to Michigan before, seeing as I met them for the first time in Michigan, but I thought something especially Michigan would be appropriate. I made it to my gate with about 30-45 minutes before boarding and sent my last text messages and called a couple of people. For those that don’t already know, I’m getting a new phone number next year when I get back to the States, so my old one will be no longer. If you have my number, don’t delete it yet, since you never know what will happen, but in a year I will be getting a new one.

Boarding the plane was a little late, but not enough to be irritating. I got on the plane and found my seat. My seat partner arrived shortly after I did, and luckily was not my usual seat partner. I, for some reason, have tended to get stuck next to a very tall man whose legs cannot help but stray onto my side because they are just so long. Being stuck on a plane for 8 hours is not fun, and having less space than you’re supposed to is worse. This time, however, I was seated next to a very nice woman who was also traveling to Switzerland (we were all headed for Amsterdam, so this was not obvious). She was married to a Swiss man and was going back to visit his family with her family (they were already there, I don’t know/remember why). We chatted briefly but she mostly slept for the whole plane ride. I was pretty tired, as I’d only gotten about five hours of sleep the night before and haven’t been sleeping well for the past week or two, but I did not sleep on the plane. I just couldn’t fall asleep—typical. Luckily we had personal video screens in the seat-backs, so I watched The Hunger Games, which I hadn’t seen since it was in theaters. I had a glass of wine (free for the whole ride! but I only had one), which I had hoped would induce sleep. No luck. I listened to Mumford and Sons (a favorite) and the Civil Wars (love them) and managed a 20-minute nap. For an 8-hour plane ride, that really stinks. I tried, but sleep just wasn’t there. So, then I watched The Dilemma, which stars Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, and Channing Tatum. It was a pretty funny movie. When that was over, there was less than an hour until arrival in Amsterdam, so I opted to listen to the Civil Wars again. At this point, I was pretty bored and tired of sitting on a plane.

Once in Amsterdam, I had to check in again. My instructions that printed with my boarding ticket in Detroit said that I needed to get my bags to go through customs and recheck them in Amsterdam, but according to the ticket counter lady, I did not need to recheck my bags. That was great because I really didn’t want to pick up and carry around two more bags. I mean, they both had wheels, but I just didn’t want to. I went through the passport control, where all they asked was, “Where are you headed?” to which I replied, “Zürich.” and they waved me through. Easy peasy. I tried to call my Mom but the payphone wouldn’t let me dial the phone card number I had. I don’t know why. I asked the operator for help and he told me to do what the card said (dial the access number and go from there), but the access number was not allowed, for some reason, so I abandoned the pay phone and found my gate with about thirty minutes before boarding time. The airport had free internet for an hour, so I used my iPod touch to send my mom a text through Google Voice to say that I had made it to Amsterdam and my gate. Thank God for modern technology! And then I waited. And waited. And waited. The plane was supposed to board at 9:05am, local time, and take off at 9:35am. We didn’t board until 10:00 or so. The network was down, or something like that, so they couldn’t get the flight plan up. I don’t really know what any of this means, but they said no flight plan=no flight. So we waited and waited and waited. Once we finally boarded, we were told it would be another fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, they told us the plane needed fuel (seriously guys? who is supposed to be on top of these things??) and it would be another fifteen minutes. At this point I was tired and cranky and just wanted to be in Switzerland! We finally took off and I managed to sleep for most of this flight, although it was not more than an hour and a half. Once to Switzerland, I made my way to baggage claim and walked through the “nothing to declare” side of customs, where I was waved through by an official-looking man and found myself in the arrival waiting area. I guess there weren’t any questions for me, aside from “where are you going?”, which is honestly fine by me.

After a couple of minutes, I found Lukas, the man picking me up from the airport, and he drove me to the elementary school of SalZH, where I met up with Vreni, my host mom. I was introduced to a few people and chatted a bit with some, but was mostly in a tired daze so it’s all a bit of a blur. Eventually we transported my things from Lukas’ van to Vreni’s car and she drove me to the house. She showed me around and we brought my things to my room. I called my mom to let her know I had made it and to pass the word around that I am here safe and sound, since I didn’t yet have the password to the internet. After that, I talked with Vreni a bit, she gave me some more information, and I headed downstairs, to my room, to unpack. I unpacked my all of my bags (yes, Mom, all of them!), which felt great to be all settled in. Vreni told me she was heading back to the school and told me I could sleep as much as I wanted to. I didn’t really think I would end up sleeping for that long, but I thanked her and she left and I headed back downstairs. I showered and crawled into bed, planning to watch a movie or two to relax before napping. I made it about three minutes into Inception and decided I needed to nap. So I went to sleep. And I slept and slept and slept and slept. I woke up every five hours or so and checked the time on my computer (I changed the time zone, so it was accurate), but would then go back to sleep almost immediately. Believe it or not, but I slept from 4pm to 9am, which totals 17 hours. I don’t think I’ve slept that long ever before, aside from maybe when I’ve been sick, but I am not sick at all! Just exhausted, apparently. Boy, do I feel great now! I think I am officially used to this time zone, although after nearly a full day of sleeping, how can you tell? Here’s hoping to no more jet lag. I am a bit hungry though (naturally), so I am going to get something to eat, then get ready for the day and maybe explore outside a bit with my camera.