AMS > SFO > NYC. Or perhaps AMS > LAX > ORD > PHL? After days of spending all my free time checking plane ticket websites, I have memorized pretty much every airport code in the United States. In Nijmegen, I always have to laugh when international students secretly book cheap Ryanair tickets during classes. A weekend to Rome, or perhaps a day trip to Berlin. As if it is the most natural thing in the world to zip around all of Europe in a few weekends. Now I’m planning on doing the exact same thing in the US next semester when I will be studying at the University of Albany in upstate New York.

My room is starting to look like the hideout of a conspiracy theorist. Pieces of paper with cryptic messages like “UA1699 17:45 IAH > 19:50 SFO 985,10” scribbled on them are scattered across my desk. I open my laptop and enter the most promising routes into a ticketing website. Damn. The price of the cheapest ticket just rose 200 euros.

Not unlike a conspiracy theorist, I’m trying to cover my tracks. To outsmart the clever minds of Expedia and Skyscanner. I use the incognito mode of my web browser, and check the prices on multiple computers. Nothing helps: the same price keeps popping up. It truly is a conspiracy. Or maybe I’m just getting addicted to the excitement of planning a journey.

A new email pops up in my inbox. From the UAlbany Office of Education Abroad. Eagerly I open the message. Status of Application for Admission changed: from Unreceived to Received. Decision Deadline in two weeks. I might already see myself flying from sea to shining sea, but the university sure knows how to bring me back down to earth. For the time being, I’m not going anywhere quite yet.

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