Amsterdam-Ohio

Today I got up early together with my parents to travel to Schiphol airport. I packed my final stuff and got into the car where I enjoyed the foggy landscape of the Netherlands that I will have to miss for the upcoming 3 weeks.

After having waved my parents goodbye, we left with a group of 19 people for Athens, Ohio. First I walked through a very futuristic gateway. It scanned my passport, compared my face to the one on the passport, approved and let me pass through. Just before getting into a type of shower cabin which scanned my whole body, we were interviewed about our travel purpose by an American woman for safety reasons.

The flight was a long one. They had scattered our group over the entire Boeing 757 so we would not make too much "noise". The flight to Philadelphia took about 8,5 hours and on the clock we went back 6 hours in time. Philadelphia was hot and humid. We had some time to transfer from Terminal A to Terminal F by bus and first through American Customs and Security. No cellphones allowed there and strict rules applied to all actions in those areas.

Once in the terminal for our connection flight I briefly called my girlfriend and sent messages over Whatsapp to my parents. Things went fine there and despite half an hour delay we arrived in Columbus at a proper time. All our suitcases and bags arrived with us, so we could get to the bus. The real Ohio Bobcats team bus! Everyone was quite tired, but we still would have to check in at the hotel, find out who our roommate would be and then get some dinner somewhere.

We drove through the countryside from Columbus to Athens, Ohio. Seeing the landscape, some roadkill and lots of fast food restaurants and gas stations. The hotel is great, big rooms and a fun roommate.

We walked from the Ohio University Inn to the campus with the entire group. There we got some money from an ATM before dining at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was 22h00 local time and we had a very sweet waitress who brought us our drinks and food in record time. After having eaten and given her a tip I went out on the street with 2 other guys to have a look at some bars and pubs. But some asked entrances fees because of a live music night, so we went back to the hotel quite fast.

It had been a long day.
30 hours long to be precise.