As an international student, I fly back and forth between America and my country, Turkey, frequently. I enjoy flying because of all the different types of people I see on the way, all of which have a different story. However, once in a while there are sometimes types of people who I wish did not exist. Some of them are:

1) The overly suspicious security guard

            Last summer I was flying to Barcelona for a short vacation and so I had a small suitcase. I put my main luggage and my backpack on the x-ray cart. After I passed to get my luggage, just as I could see the wheels of my suitcase, the cart started moving backwards taking it back in. The security guard, took his time because no one is in a hurry, looked at it for a good two minutes and then said “There is something suspicious in your luggage but I can’t exactly tell what it is.” He made me open my suitcase and started going through everything. He looked and looked and looked, and could not find anything. When he finally reached the bottom of my bag he quietly said “Oh…” He had found the “suspicious” item, my graphing calculator. Why I am taking my graphing calculator with me on a holiday is another question.

2) The flight attendant who is too cool for everyone

I always struggle reclining my seat or finding the remote control for the television (you would think I would know by now). I don’t know why these small tasks are such a big struggle for me but I always seem to forget how the buttons work. I press the button that calls the flight attendant for help. Usually they are always nice and help me but this flight attendant, who looked around thirty years old, treated me like I was the stupidest person she has ever seen and rolled her eyes at me when I asked her to help me recline my seat. Maybe I should know how to recline my seat by myself since I am sixteen years old but that is another topic for discussion that I prefer not to address.

3) The passengers who fall asleep on me

I usually prefer to sit in the aisle seat because I have more freedom and can leave whenever I want. I am glad that I sit there because, for some reason, almost every time I am on a plane the person next to me decides to fall asleep; but not just asleep on their space, but on me. I usually get seats next to 70-year olds who fall asleep before the plane even takes off. At first, I see their eyes closing and their heads falling down but they are miserably trying to avoid falling asleep. However, most of them fail and are asleep in the next five minutes. Since the seats are quite close to each other this person’s head just awkwardly falls on my shoulder; meanwhile I slowly try to move to the side.

Despite these people, I still enjoy flying because I see all types of people from all over the world. The people who irritate me are also helpful for me to understand the world, because they are everywhere.