Worldly Chatter

Living abroad, being a traveler sounds exotic, worldly and meant for the select few with either celebrity or money. Well, I learned that it isn’t exclusively for the rich and famous but it can be quite exotic. Another world onto itself and quite a shock if not prepared on some grand level. I thought I was all prepared to move to the Netherlands. The internet is fabulous when it comes to information. Use Google or Yahoo to find your way into understanding the country, its traditions and people. I saw stories, pictures and languages that I pushed into my brain so that when I landed at the airport it wouldn’t be as overwhelming as I feared it would be. I prayed that all this would be enough to get me over that initial shock while I flew over the Atlantic Ocean.
My first time landing at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was an experience I have yet to erase from my memory. So ingrained is it that I can still feel the anxiety and excitement that ripped through me as I walked through to this little sitting area you hit before going through customs and baggage claim. A little round table fit for two with stools was the first thing that caught my eye as I went from the airplane through the tunnel and into a new world. I stood beside it, resting my elbows on the table and eyed everything around me. It was six thirty in the morning and places were slowly waking for a new busy day. A woman was mopping around the little sitting area and placing ashtrays on those little tables for people like me to have a cigarette after a six hour flight. I came from JFK where you cannot smoke inside anywhere. It is pretty much set in stone you can’t have a cigarette in any public place in New York nowadays so I was surprised to see the little flimsy ashtrays inside. I looked around at first; I didn’t want to light a cigarette if I wasn’t supposed to! Yet as I looked around others like me getting off went for the little tables with the shiny flimsy ashtrays and lit up. Astonishing was all I could come out with! I hadn’t known I was going to be able to do this! I was seeing just from this small example at the table I wasn’t as prepared as I thought.
I knew what the people of the Netherlands spoke. Dutch was their native tongue and I had heard it, seen it; I didn’t speak a word of it but I knew what it was. I got past the little sitting area and the momentary shock of the ashtray and headed with my handbag and passport to customs and baggage claim. I was on my way! The gentleman stamped my passport as he looked my face over and welcomed me to the Netherlands. My first stamp! Oh the feeling was amazing. Who knew a little stamp could feel so good? I had stepped outside my homeland and was officially a traveler! I retrieved one of my suitcases and had to go to the desk to claim lost luggage. My suitcase apparently decided to stay at the airport in New York. Ok, I will have it sent to me as soon as it lands and off I went.
The language, which I thought I recognized was something I was also ill prepared for! It was everywhere and not just Dutch but German, English from British, Australians and Americans! I was used to going out in New York and hearing accents from Long Island or from New York City! This was big and scary. I met my partner and we went to Burger King to get some coffee and take all this in. I was overwhelmed by all this. I hadn’t even walked out the door and already I was realizing you can’t prepare for the culture shock that hits you like a ten foot wave! No internet search can instill in you the feelings you have as you take off for the first time as a traveler; the feeling of your first flight, the culture that hits you when you walk through its world and the notion that you will never be the same thereafter.
After your first flight outside your homeland it does get easier. The feelings become more familiar and you come accustomed to being surprised and overwhelmed by the different lives you come across. Living abroad or being that traveler you always wanted is exotic. It is overwhelming and a world you never imagined. Yet it also is for everyone who wants it. I am not a well to do; I am not wealthy beyond my dreams. I am simply a woman who traveled to and moved to a new place. I promise you this though, no matter who travels and lives abroad, once you make that leap it changes you forever and for me, it has been a great experience and still is as my journey is only just starting now!

flights, first flights, Netherlands, travel, living abroad, culture shot, Schiphol

flights, first flights, Netherlands, travel, living abroad, culture shot, Schiphol