I left Frankfurt this morning, but not without snapping a pic of one of the German political magazines.

I touched down in the U.S.A. and already felt the wrath of US Customs and Border Patrol.

I fessed up to having a half a banana, so my passport was locked in a plastic case, which I had to take to the inspector (?) along with my brown banana peel and banana nub.

“Ironic that this banana most definitely came from this part of the world, isn’t it?”

Travel snacks, encased passport, mocs & yoga pants.

Then, security decided to pat down the bun on the top of my head.

I wish there would be a ban on confiscating snacks and messing up people’s hairdos.

If that wasn’t a warm enough welcome, my connecting flight has been delayed going on 4 hours now.

So I’ve had plenty of time to spend all my money on expensive airport snacks: popcorn, protein bars, tea, etc.

A few things I’ve appreciated so far:

I was in one of many lines today, but Americans respect a line, whereas Germans have no concept of a line. I almost ignored the line, as people do in Germany, but I realized I was in America again.

Another time when I was waiting in line (yes, I really did buy a lot of snacks), I had 2 people offer to let me go first. This is unheard of in Germany. In fact, when I let Germans go in front of me in line if they have fewer items, they are always taken aback.

Other than hanging out in a lot of lines, I’ve been surrounded by crying children and really loud Americans (and I still can’t figure out if Americans are actually louder, or if I just perceive them as louder since I can understand them).

As I’m going on being awake for 24 hours, and still have another 3 hour flight to go, I’m sure there will be many more snacks and annoyances (and hopefully some more things to appreciate) until I reach my final destination!