A Luxembourg First week in review, part 1

A Luxembourg First week in review: Planes

First of All... Moien!

That's the Luxembourgish hello. Technically this isn't a week in review just yet, as I've only been in Luxembourg for 6 days so far. But, counting the day I departed from CVG, it's been a week since I've slept in my bed at home!

There's been a lot this week, both mentally and physically, but now that I think I've been fairly acclimated I'm going to begin this blog with my first entry, all about the flight!

Departure Time: 1:45 PM, January 28th

I woke up last Sunday at 8:30, got up, got dressed, came downstairs, and had a very low-key celebration with my parents as my last breakfast in Ohio. Dad made us omelets, and they tasted so good I almost felt they too were wishing me to stay at home so I could eat more. But alas! We (Mom and Dad) got all of my luggage (One checked bag, one carry-on, and my backpack) into Dad's car, and then we began to head off to CVG. By the time we got there it was around 10:30, and it was snowing to boot! I'll admit it here: I was definitely high-strung stressed and trying to play it cool.

We were waiting on Sophie's family to arrive; my Mom had gifts for them and Soaps & I were flying together... our Moms needed photos of us.😉

Mom and I (just Mom, really) had masterfully folded my beautiful ginormous winter coat into a small pillow, and I was needlessly worried about having to unpack and repack it, so as she was folding it back up in the airport her chakra-aligning bracelet broke! We could only find maybe 50% of it...

I was overwhelmed and sitting on the floor for awhile until the Palcics arrived.
The view from down here!

But then they did arrive! We got some sweet photos taken, and we all headed down to TSA check before Sophie and I departed from our parents and began on our first independent flight together! 

It was nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Me with Griff, Soaps, Linda, and Matt

Soaps with me, Mom, and Dad

 

Passing through TSA, I always like playing the game "will they pat down Kirienne's crotch?" The answer is always yes, but it's still fun to bet against myself. Sophie won that bet, and a scan down my crotch they did. Other than that, we put our shoes back on with no major issues --Sophie's bar soap did get an honorary mention on the x-ray scan for some reason--, we headed down to our gate to take the one hour plane ride to O'Hare. Sophie sat near the back and I near the middle, and though it did pain me to be apart, it was only an hour and we made it out fine.

                    Pre-flight Selfie                  ||   We tried to escape from you, Miami!    ||               The view from up here!

Departure Time: 3:55PM, January 28

With an hour and a half layover curtesy of our 15-minute early landing, we set off to find out next stop! It was in the same terminal, so at least we didn't have to go truly trekking, but it did take us a bit of navigating before we found our gate. Because we had traveled on United and were now going through Lufthansa, they happened to have a specific check before the gate seating area for United transfer boarding passes. It was then that Sophie and I realized that she hadn't received a paper boarding pass like I had, and so she had to go into a different line to obtain one. We got our boarding passes stamped and then sat at the gate for awhile, eating some Jelly beans Mom had packed in my backpack. While in the line for boarding, we also met a fellow Western program student, Elena. She was a breath of fresh air, compared to all the other Miami students we were seeing boarding the plane. She still is, she's really quite cool! More to come on friends, family, finances, and Fuhhh... Face-to-Face learning in later posts.

unceremonious ussie w/ soaps...
(Parent comment: the people in the back
 look like they're gonna get divorced)

early arrival!

Anyways, back to the flight! Just before we boarded, they went to check our new stamped and approved boarding passes, and then took a scan of our entire face! EEK! I still don't wholly know what they did that for, but it'll be important for the connecting flight. Now, this flight was 8 1/2 hours, but with the time zone changes, though we left from Chicago at ~4PM, we arrived in Frankfurt at 7AM! The first thing I noticed on this plane was that it was.... huge. It was ginormous. I had never been on such a large plane! But international planes are just like that, I guess. Soaps and I were seated in the middle section, and though there was a seat in-between us by the time we took off nobody had claimed it so we squished ourselves together and used the extra seat to hold all the pillows they gave us!

Soaps & Me, Selfie! Ft. the empty pillow seat.

At first we were steadfast in our belief that we could get to sleep on a plane. Our friend Tanaya had recently returned from visiting her family and friends in India over winter break, and she fixed her jetlag by sleeping very hard at 2PM when she got back until whenever she woke up --13, 14 hours later-- the next day. Sophie and I had it in our good minds that we were going to beat the jetlag system...

Beating the Jetlag System:

Step 1: Plan your time accordingly.

Leaving at 4PM = 10PM Luxembourg time. If we try to sleep at 6PM --Luxembourgish midnight-- we can wake back up in 5-7 hours and be well-rested enough!

 

Step 2: Relax the mind.

We decided to watch one of the in-flight movies, since they were available, and sync our screens to watch the exact same thing at the exact same time. We watched The Untouchables, the original French version with English captions. That was roughly two hours! Then we would go to sleep.

 

Step 3: Fall asleep.

Lay back in the chair, relax, close your eyes, get under the thin little blue blanket... earplugs in... and... uh... well...

 

Step 4: You're still awake.

And believe me! I tried to fall asleep harder than I think I ever have before! I put my head back on the chair! I put my head down on the tray! I pushed the armrest away and tried to lie down and sleep! None of it worked! I tried for so long, but to no avail. Sophie had similar luck. So, four hours in to this flight, we decided on a new plan: Operation POWER THROUGH. Simple execution! We just don't sleep. 100% adjust to the new European time zone and then our bodies will be right as rain!

Well, easier said than done, but nonetheless our determination led us to remain conscious for the second half of our flight as well. I generally had a really fun time on our plane to Frankfurt! I had expressed my excitement to my parents about the in-flight food and they had said and I quote: 

"don't get your hopes up..."  Well they couldn't stop me because my hopes were UP!

Seated-together Selfie :)

Complementary blanket!

And when it finally came time for mealtime my hopes were not crushed! Sophie and I were both on the lacto-ovo vegetarian meal, but she was one of the first ones to get a meal. Veggies and more veggies! I for one was crushed when nearly 15 minutes had gone by without food. Not to mention, if I didn't receive my food soon, how was I supposed to fall asleep before 1AM Europe time? (This was before the  BtJLS [Beat the Jet Lag System] plan had fallen to ruin.) With half an hour left to spare before my self-appointed slumber, the flight attendant rolled her tray down to my seat and asked if I wanted pasta or... something else I can't remember. I'll let you guess which one I chose 😉. I don't know why I didn't get the same thing Soaps did, but I'm definitely not complaining! The pasta was good, and they had some veggies with it and bread and butter and a little chocolate cake!

After the food had passed through my gullet and we had both determined sleep was simply not in the cards for us, I watched Don't Worry Darling with Sophie on the plane for our second in-flight movie, and we watched the screen as we flew first around the corners of England and then through Germany until we arrived at the Frankfurt airport. But, before we got off, they gave us a breakfast as well! With a second unexpected meal in my system I have to say my hopes had been returned tenfold to my meal expectations. Getting off took quite a long time, considering our position near the very back of the plane, but we arrived at perhaps the scariest large place I've seen to date:

 

Sunrise from over the clouds, Frankfurt

Frankfurt Airport

Arrival at Frankfurt Airport, departure from
Lufthansa, passing gate Z56

Departure Time: 9:25, January 29

Now, we had a two hour layover from Frankfurt until our flight to Luxembourg via Air Dolomati... but knowing what I know now for the future, I'd definitely make sure I have at least a two hour layover if I'm going through Frankfurt. Mind you, our connecting flight was at the same platform --so we at least didn't have to change that -- but it still took us a whole hour to get out of the Z gates and to the hallway with the A & B gates, make our way into the B gates, go down an elevator, pass through customs, walk through a long moving walkway, go back up an elevator, and pass all the way from gate B30-something to gate B05 and finally take a seat. Now, I hope that sounded a little scary, because it felt a little scary! Especially without my parents! But we made it! And I only felt like I would pass out a little bit from heat exhaustion and dehydration while waiting in the customs line. My temperature was a persistent problem while flying, with my veins practically erupting while we were underground in the customs line. I'm so thankful to Sophie who was helping me drink water while I slung my carry on over my aching shoulder.

Slightly veering on too much information being shared here, but it had been almost 18 hours since I first woke up at that point and I hadn't gone to the bathroom once on the planes, partially as a point of pride and partially because I really, really did not want to go to the bathroom on a plane. When we finally sat down at the gate though, I just couldn't hold it anymore and I asked Sophie to watch my stuff as I rushed to the bathroom. When I returned, Sophie followed in my stead and I watched her stuff. Then, I caved in a moment of pure hedonistic desire and took Sophie with me to go back up a little bit to purchase a coffee. I got myself an espresso macchiato! Then we sat around for awhile, until they called for our passes.

 

When we got up there, we scanned our boarding passes and their computer screen showed the snapshot they had taken of our faces (callback!)! Then they let us through, and suddenly we were going down a flight of stairs and exiting underneath the airport! There was a bus/shuttle there, which then spent a lengthy 10 or so minutes driving us to our small Air Dolomati plane. By the time Soaps and I got on the bus, we had to stand in the middle, backs and sides turned towards another group of Miami students who were quickly becoming the most infuriating part of our experience thus far. I mean, we flew to Luxembourg to get away from Americans! (Not you guys though, you're all good, you can stay.)

Sophie and I were mouthing at each other and being snarky and generally mean-spirited towards the girls to our side, as they spoke at length about the copious amounts of expensive travel they were going to take and so on and so forth. Still, I managed to persevere until the bus dropped us off at our plane. In contrast to the Frankfurt one we had just been on, this was closer to a miniature! But we still all managed to fit on it, and Sophie and I got to sit together again. Despite our ~9:30 departure time, we ended up getting onto the plane at around 9:40, and taking off at 9:45. It's a little funny... we ended up spending as much time getting ourselves to and onto the plane as we spent in the air! We landed in the Luxembourg airport at 10:10 on the dot. While in the air, I hated to admit this but the land blow us looked quite reminiscent of Ohio! It was much more green, but equally farmland-y. The plots themselves looked nice from above though, and there were many more visible hills and terrain changes than the Ohio I'm used to. 

We landed safely at the Luxembourg airport and took the far shorter moving walkway to baggage claim, where Sophie and I retrieved our bags without any issue. Then, it was only to head towards the exit and check in with our events coordinator in order to get a shuttlebus to take us to the Chateau we're taking classes in. And the rest? Well, the rest is yet to come! My rest, however, will come swiftly. It's 10:50PM here, or 22:50 in military time, and I have to make it to the bus stop tomorrow by 8:36 to arrive for my 9AM classes. So, with planes all but covered 

(at least for now, until I travel some more [?]), I will bid you adieu!

 Bon nuit, gute Nacht, gutt Nuecht, goodnight.

Shuttle bussing with Sophie

 

 

Arrival Time: 10:10, January 29th