Back at Home Again
The four and half months spent in Beijing were probably some of the best months of my life. I had a very great time, but like most things in life it could not last forever. I am happy to be at home, but at the same time I am also sad that tomorrow or the next day I am not going to wake up in my apartment at Tsinghua. I will not be able to go to class with all my friends and then eat the mediocre food at school cafeteria number 10.
My flight was nice. I sat next to a girl from Canada who is studying to be a nutrionist. Neither of us really wanted to be on the plane. We were both leaving people back in Beijing. She had just finished seeing her family for the first time in four years. We both had mixed feelings of leaving the place where we wanted to stay, but knowing we had to go back to the place where we needed to be.
When we landed in Canada we said our goodbyes, she went through customs and I went for the direct transfer to the states. This is where the 'fun' began. As I walked down the skybridge I walked over customs downstairs and passed a sign telling me that anyone on Air China flights were supposed to go this direction. I met a worker at the airport who insistently told me that I was not supposed to be there. I told him that I was on Air China, but he still refused. Anyways, I went back through customs since I knew I did not have a lot of time and I did not want to argue with him. I went through customs and asked where my bags would be and they told me they would be on carousel 24. I went to the carousel, but never say my bags. I went to the nearest help desk and they said my bags were upstairs, so I headed upstairs. Right before I went upstairs I looked back at the carousel and saw one of my boxes. At this point I was asking myself whether or not anyone in this airport knew what was going on. Anyways I worked my way upstairs again by walking past the front door, up an escalator and through the food court. At this point it was 11:30 and my flight was supposed to leave at 12:00. I got in line for a boarding pass and all the while I was thinking about the the guy who told me I was going the wrong way and how he should be fired. I got to the counter at 11:45 and was promptly asked by the woman whether or not I knew my international flight was at noon. After sleeping only a few hours in the past thirty or so hours it was easy to just listen and not tell her that I really wanted to be here 15 minutes before my flight and that I expected with 15 minutes I would have enough time to get on an international flight. I was pretty fed up with this airport by this time. Anyways to make a long story short I ended up getting on my flight after watching a security yell at a man for trying to make sure his luggage was going to the right city. I was also told my luggage was on the same flight, but it arrived in Seattle on the next flight.
The whole trip back was made better when I got back to see all my friends. We went out to dinner at Red Robins to eat some burgers. Even though I was really tired I was excited to talk to everyone after four months.
If anyone is interested, here are photos from my last dinner in Beijing.
My flight was nice. I sat next to a girl from Canada who is studying to be a nutrionist. Neither of us really wanted to be on the plane. We were both leaving people back in Beijing. She had just finished seeing her family for the first time in four years. We both had mixed feelings of leaving the place where we wanted to stay, but knowing we had to go back to the place where we needed to be.
When we landed in Canada we said our goodbyes, she went through customs and I went for the direct transfer to the states. This is where the 'fun' began. As I walked down the skybridge I walked over customs downstairs and passed a sign telling me that anyone on Air China flights were supposed to go this direction. I met a worker at the airport who insistently told me that I was not supposed to be there. I told him that I was on Air China, but he still refused. Anyways, I went back through customs since I knew I did not have a lot of time and I did not want to argue with him. I went through customs and asked where my bags would be and they told me they would be on carousel 24. I went to the carousel, but never say my bags. I went to the nearest help desk and they said my bags were upstairs, so I headed upstairs. Right before I went upstairs I looked back at the carousel and saw one of my boxes. At this point I was asking myself whether or not anyone in this airport knew what was going on. Anyways I worked my way upstairs again by walking past the front door, up an escalator and through the food court. At this point it was 11:30 and my flight was supposed to leave at 12:00. I got in line for a boarding pass and all the while I was thinking about the the guy who told me I was going the wrong way and how he should be fired. I got to the counter at 11:45 and was promptly asked by the woman whether or not I knew my international flight was at noon. After sleeping only a few hours in the past thirty or so hours it was easy to just listen and not tell her that I really wanted to be here 15 minutes before my flight and that I expected with 15 minutes I would have enough time to get on an international flight. I was pretty fed up with this airport by this time. Anyways to make a long story short I ended up getting on my flight after watching a security yell at a man for trying to make sure his luggage was going to the right city. I was also told my luggage was on the same flight, but it arrived in Seattle on the next flight.
The whole trip back was made better when I got back to see all my friends. We went out to dinner at Red Robins to eat some burgers. Even though I was really tired I was excited to talk to everyone after four months.
If anyone is interested, here are photos from my last dinner in Beijing.
posted by Jon Keto at
11:15 AM
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