"- And never to have had to listen to rain so much like politicians' speeches: two hours of unrelenting oratory and then a sudden golden silence in which the traveller takes a notebook"
-Elizabeth Bishop, https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/questions-of-travel/
This morning, Josefin and I woke up early to get breakfast and get to the airport in time for our flight. We had the most frustrating experience at the airport. It took us a half hour to find someone who would tell us about a way to check in without waiting on the long bag check line. That person told us there was no other way and that we would have to wait in line. As we were waiting in line, someone else came over and told us we could check in with her. She checked us in and we went through security, but when I was buying a water bottle, the cashier noted to me that my boarding pass was not for a departure from Rhodes.
Somehow they let me get through security without a correct boarding pass. Then, we tried to get someone who would help us get the correct boarding pass, but they said they didn’t have us in their system even though we had purchased tickets. They ended up giving us random seats on the flight not next to each other. Then, we were delayed and missed our connecting flight, so we had to wait an extra few hours to board one back to Copenhagen.
Despite the flight drama, we were upgraded for free to second class (not in response to our troubles) and we got to eat a delicious dinner and stretch our legs.
During our travels, Josefin told me something really funny. Throughout the trip, whenever she made the sound “mm” with a rise in tone at the end, I would assume she couldn’t hear me and repeat myself. However, saying “mm” in that way is apparently the Swedish way of showing someone you are listening to them and acknowledging what they are saying, so I was repeating myself over and over again for no reason. I died laughing when she told me, and I tried to stop doing it, but it was very hard to remember. It’s so interesting how one small change in tone in a sound can mean something totally different—in this case opposite—in two different cultures. To me, “mm” with that tone meant she couldn’t hear me, while to her, it meant she could.
Another interesting language-related thing that Josefin pointed out to me was that my accent became more American when we arrived in Copenhagen. She said that in Greece, my accent sounded a little bit Greek. I didn’t notice this at all, but as a comp lit major, I found this fascinating.
Tomorrow, I depart for NYC, I’m sad to leave, but I have been traveling for three weeks now, and I miss my dog, my family, and my home friends. I am excited to see everyone.