Two visas from Egypt, stamps from Morocco, and various exits and entrances to Spain Spain--my passport is constantly questioned. Here are some of the most-asked-questions at passport control between Spain and The United States:
Q: Why were you in Morocco?
A: I'm was studying at a university to learn Arabic.
Q: What are you doing in Spain?
A: Visiting a friend for a few days before I go back home.
Q: Why do you have two visas from Egypt?
A: I was there for six weeks and it expired halfway through my trip.
Q: Why do you want to learn Arabic?
A: I'm studying Journalism and Arabic, and would like to be able to speak in three languages.
....and the questions continue sometimes. At one point in Barrajas airport just visiting Spain for Spring Break in high school by myself, I was stopped in the airport twice by the same woman and given a pat-down!
Although my passport makes going through airports a hassel, the contents of my passport are more meaningful. Turning the pages over as a wait in a long airport line, I open up to the information page; the girl looking back at me is my 15-year-old self. Typically, people will look at this picture right away and wonder who is that girl and what am I doing with her passport. The next thing I notice on my cover page is that my passport expires this year in November and all these stamps and memories remain in the pages of a book with a picture of my mid-teenage self. My fingers make their way to edges of the book, feeling the back where stickers from my trip to Egypt still live and then opening it up to a page with the historic city of Philadelphia on it. Stamps from Spain cover Philadelphia and flipping further through the Rocky Moutains, Fields of Wheat, Shining Seas, and Rapid Rivers, my stamps and visas from Egypt remind me of my adventures. They will help me remember the details of my trip and a sign of hope to make it back there some day. Then my stamps in Morocco, smaller than Egypt, but just as important; Morocco was the trip to the Middle East that I finally began to feel more comfortable speaking Arabic, the trip that I made staying in Spain for a few days, and then two planes to Fez, the trip that I travelled more on my own then ever before. My passport has shown how much I've grown and changed, and in the next few months as the tiny navy blue book expires, I will begin anew with another book to make new memories and new changes to my life.
Q: Why were you in Morocco?
A: I'm was studying at a university to learn Arabic.
Q: What are you doing in Spain?
A: Visiting a friend for a few days before I go back home.
Q: Why do you have two visas from Egypt?
A: I was there for six weeks and it expired halfway through my trip.
Q: Why do you want to learn Arabic?
A: I'm studying Journalism and Arabic, and would like to be able to speak in three languages.
....and the questions continue sometimes. At one point in Barrajas airport just visiting Spain for Spring Break in high school by myself, I was stopped in the airport twice by the same woman and given a pat-down!
Although my passport makes going through airports a hassel, the contents of my passport are more meaningful. Turning the pages over as a wait in a long airport line, I open up to the information page; the girl looking back at me is my 15-year-old self. Typically, people will look at this picture right away and wonder who is that girl and what am I doing with her passport. The next thing I notice on my cover page is that my passport expires this year in November and all these stamps and memories remain in the pages of a book with a picture of my mid-teenage self. My fingers make their way to edges of the book, feeling the back where stickers from my trip to Egypt still live and then opening it up to a page with the historic city of Philadelphia on it. Stamps from Spain cover Philadelphia and flipping further through the Rocky Moutains, Fields of Wheat, Shining Seas, and Rapid Rivers, my stamps and visas from Egypt remind me of my adventures. They will help me remember the details of my trip and a sign of hope to make it back there some day. Then my stamps in Morocco, smaller than Egypt, but just as important; Morocco was the trip to the Middle East that I finally began to feel more comfortable speaking Arabic, the trip that I made staying in Spain for a few days, and then two planes to Fez, the trip that I travelled more on my own then ever before. My passport has shown how much I've grown and changed, and in the next few months as the tiny navy blue book expires, I will begin anew with another book to make new memories and new changes to my life.
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