So It Begins...

This is the first of my posts chronicling my semester abroad. Rather than just a stream of conscience blog of my day to day life, many of these are more of creative vignettes about my experiences. They might be a bit embellished or altered from the truth. So read them with a little pinch of salt.

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I can never get comfortable in these chairs. There’s just something about the uniform black airport chair that is distinctly un-comfortable. I think they were purposefully designed to be just barely not wide enough, so that it always feels awkward sitting in them. Or maybe it's just the countless number of butts that have worn away at them. 


This chair could be in any airport, and god knows I’ve sat in hundreds of chairs just like it. Today it’s a little different though; not the chair, but the scenario. Today I’m sitting at Terminal 3 in JFK airport, waiting for a plane to Europe.

Actually, I’m waiting for the group of people I’m supposed to fly to Europe with. None of whom I know. Or have any idea what they look like.

The marker I’m looking for to tell me it’s them are big luggage tags in the somewhat audacious and gaudy combination of navy blue and vibrant orange. Syracuse’s colors. If nothing else, I can say they certainly stand out. Those same tags are on my suitcases, like a colored alarm bell announcing my presence. Till my comrades in clashing colors appear, I wait. And people watch.

People watching at airports is one of my favorite activities. LAX and JFK are particularly excellent places for people watching. From small women with 10-inch afros in business suits to men with guitar cases wearing sunglasses and snake-skin boots, there’s always someone interesting. I like imagining their stories--why they’re here, where their going, what’s waiting for them.

We’re only two days into 2012--January 2nd--so most of the people I see are headed home. But I’m doing just the opposite. I’m about to board a plane to France and not set foot in the United States again for five months. I’m starting a study abroad program run by Syracuse University in Strasbourg. If you don’t know where Strasbourg is, (which I hadn’t a year ago) it’s in northern France, in Alsace, on the German border. Which means, climate-wise, I’m headed to a place where the weather will be somewhere between that of Oberlin and D.C. all semester, and apparently about as grey as Seattle. Coincidentally, I’ve lived in all three places in the last year.

Despite all that, Strasbourg is said to be a beautiful old city, and the 9th largest in France. They speak both French and German there, but considering I have only a semester and half of French under my belt and speak about 5 phrases of German, I will probably be a bit confused for a while. On the bright side, I’ll know much more French and German when I return. 

So, what am I doing there? Why did I pick an obscure cold French city to study abroad in? And why the hell didn’t I pick a place where I can actually communicate with people?

Well, I seem to have a knack for taking interest in somewhat obscure things. Oberlin sends students on Syracuse study abroad programs every year, but I’m the first person to go on the program in Strasbourg in over five years. So, I have some semblance of an idea of what I’m getting into. But do I actually have a clear concept of what it will be like? Not so much. And that’s the exciting-but-still-kinda-scary-in-some-ways part.

Most of Strasbourg supposedly looks like the image above. But there is one very large, very new looking building. And honestly, even just from the pictures, it really sticks out like a sore thumb in that city. But I think I can say that without it, I wouldn’t be going to Strasbourg.

This is the European Parliament, which actually looks quite pretty all lit up, with its floors upon floors of wall-to-wall glass windows and that weird dome-like thing in the center, and definitely a bit incongruous. Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament. But I bet you didn’t even know that. It’s actually kind of confusing because when you think of the European Union, you think of Brussels, right? (Unless of course you don’t think of the European Union much at all and have no interest in European politics, in which case, I ask you to just bear with me a moment) 

Well, it’s not just Brussels. I had to look this up too. Turns out, the governing institutions of the European Union are spread between Brussels, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg. Brussels is the primary seat though, and every institution is based there to at least some extent. But the parliament meets and votes in Strasbourg.

And that is why the politics based Syracuse program is located there and I, as a politics major, ended up waiting in an airport to fly there for the next 4 and a half months. 

Ok, there’s a little more to it. 

I didn’t just want a politics program, I wanted a program on which I could learn French.

I decided to learn French about a year ago. Call it lack of foresight if you want. I already speak decent Spanish, and I wanted to learn French, because I figure if I can communicate in English, Spanish, and French, I can get by in more regions of the world except Asia (yes, I’m aware Asia is a very large, very important region, but learning Chinese is a way bigger time investment than French). I’ve also never been to Europe. Despite having done lots of traveling, I’ve never made it anywhere on the continent. So, all in all, Strasbourg sounded like a good idea.

As I sit in the terminal though, I’m a bit less sure than before. I’m pretty sure every apprehensive though I could possibly have has zipped through my head in the last 20 minutes. Like a bunch of those European trains that actually move really fast, unlike American ones. I’m gonna be in Europe in less than 12 hours. That’s a crazy thought. I’m definitely nervous, but there’s also a somewhat giddy feeling underneath that, looking forward to what is to come. It’s the knowledge that I’m starting a new adventure, and it’s gonna be unexpected. I think that emotion is excitement.

I’m excited, but also nervous. But I think that’s where I should be right now--halfway between scared shitless and totally ecstatic. And I think I just saw some vibrant orange luggage tags enter the terminal.

Time to go.