Atlanta Airport, 18 May 2010

My entire wait time at Lambert was spent on the phone. I would like to thank National City/PNC bank for being prompt in connecting me to not only real people, but the right people. That was one of the best experiences calling a 1-8… number, though they really haven’t got any other competition aside from Orbitz, which is like comparing Zumalt South volleyball to U-City volleyball.

Calling Orbitz actually resolved some things. I got through to a real person in very little wait time. While I believe he was not a native English speaker, he was really quite awesome. He listened to my entire story, then called British Airways and GOT THROUGH!!! Periodically he checked back in with me while I was on hold, and when I told him I might have to hang up due to the need to board a plane, he offered to continuously call BA and to go ahead and put in the request for my full refund. And guess what? He did it. At least he said he did. He told me I should get the full refund and I ought to call back next week to double check on the status of the full refund. And sent me a confirmation email with all of this information.

Now if only I could check that email. I managed to attempt connecting to the wireless network at Atlanta International Airport, where I currently am, but after finally figuring out how, I learned they want me to pay. How stupid is that? All I want to do is check the refund email and email my family to let them know. But, I guess the South is still hurting for money after all these years since the Civil War. They must not have been satisfied with Reconstruction.

The flight went quite well…I dozed through most of it, waking up to read my neighbor’s newspapers and powerpoints. And to drink some water and eat a tiny bag of peanuts provided by Delta. I am really surprised about the peanuts…I almost expected someone to freak out about their child’s allergy. For some reason I thought it was illegal to even have the option of the peanuts…by now most airlines distribute pretzels. Or gourmet poor boy sandwhiches in the case of the German airline, Niki. Niki is cool not only because they give you an entire (cold) sandwhich for an hour and a half flight, but because all their planes have lizards on the sides.

As I said earlier, I was nosy and was reading my neighbors’ newspapers and prints. The man next to me had a copy of the Post, but more interestingly, the man cata-corner and in front of me, was working on a PowerPoint presentation. Most of it was dedicated to Tyco and their business strategies. There was an entire slide dedicated to Karlowski and how people should have seen the warning signs. I also learned that under the new guy, stocks went down to a low of $7. There was no mention of Covidian, though. Since the footer on the PowerPoint said Washington University, I think this man might have been a professor there. So, congrats, Dad, your (former) employer is being used as an example of bad business practices in colleges nationwide.

One of the downsides of arriving so early to Atlanta (before the actual international flight) is that they don’t actually list the gate, plane, time or anything of flights later in the day. So, it was a little tricky for me to find information about where to go before my flight. This airport is rather large, and actually has an underground tram/train system. I really don’t feel like wandering around and then ending up too far away from my gate when it’s time to board. But I am paranoid about being lost and missing my transportation. After asking a relatively scary airport personal (she managed to immediately make me feel like I was bothering her with menial crap), I scanned my boarding pass and learned my gate was T05, but of course its subject to change. I am currently assuming, if it is changed, it won’t be moved all the way across the airport. So I’m currently sitting by myself in a lounge in the wing of all the T terminals. It’s a little isolated, but that’s fine since airports are usually hectic places. And I’m out of the way of all the other passengers who are actually going places sooner than I am.

And update about my host family. I have two, but both live in St. Georgan. The second host family sent me an email yesterday, which was very nice of them. The daughter is 29 and works at the city hall. Her family likes to hike and swim (I’m really wondering about this, since it’s cold there) and they have two cats. And a small garden. So, I’m very excited to meet them. Even though I won’t move in with them until after four weeks in, they’re still coming to meet me when the other host family picks me up in Villingen-Schwenigen.

I think that’s all I say for now, since I’m nearing dangerously long lengths for a blog. Though no one’s ever stipulated how long a blog is to me.…