Our travels began on Saturday with a flight to Washington out of Pittsburgh. This is also the start of my Duolingo Greek journey. So far, I am about one lesson in, and have learned that the main differences are the pronunciation of letters, not so much completely different words such as Spanish or French (at least so far). This makes it slightly easier, but there is still a long way to go. The use of Greek letters in my math and physics classes has been a surprising help as I am learning the language.

After a short layover in Washington (IAD), we finally got to experience international travel as we arrived in Frankfort, Germany. The 8 hour flight was pretty much what you would expect, and the United Airlines dinner was decent, to my surprise. It was a huge plane, with lots of different types of people, from important looking businessmen to a family with what looked like a week old baby. (I don’t know how they did that, I am exhausted just taking care of myself!)

Upon arrival in Germany, my first observations are that it initially does not feel much different than the US. I have not traveled internationally in a while, so this is mostly all new experiences. On the shuttle from the gate, I was standing next to this family with a little girl that was speaking German. She was talking about what she saw, like little kids do, and she had a beanie baby that I recognized from my childhood. At that moment, I wished I could hold a friendly conversation with them in German. After that, I learned from Google that “Hallo” is hello in German, and “Danke” is thank you. I will definitely be coming back to Germany and hope to learn a lot more than that, but it’s a start. Just from the airport, I am very intrigued by Germany’s unique culture and it is now on my travel bucket list. The language is very cool, I weirdly like how it can sound more aggressive than it actually is.

Once in the airport, the “authentic bakery” made me even more excited to try new foods throughout this trip. Another thing I noticed is that, along with calories, the energy of food and drinks are measured in kilojoules. This is very interesting because I often forget in the US that calories are a unit of energy. Again, an unexpected flashback to my Physics classes at Pitt. 

There is also a surprising amount of English at the airport, both in written signs and in conversation. I guess that makes sense because it is an airport and there is probably less once you actually get into the country, but it is something we can all appreciate for the time we are here. Speaking of language, that is something I have thought about quite a bit today. I think that it is very stereotypically American to assume people will know English and to not try to learn the language of the country you travel to, so I am trying my best not to do that. However, that is easier said than done. I am looking forward to the Greek Crash Course that the University of Nicosia is hosting on Monday, which is going to be extremely helpful. 

Lastly, I am remembering how much I love small interactions with strangers. At the bakery, an older woman who was in front of us in line asked our group what we all got when we were sitting down. She told us how her husband was German, and how she did not know a whole lot about the country. I wished we had more time to talk to her. At our gate, I happened to sit next to a young woman who I found out is also studying abroad in Cyprus, but with Ohio State. I asked her why she was alone, and she said she missed a connection, for no fault of her own. That made me grateful that everything has gone smoothly for our Pitt Plus3 group. Knock on wood!