August 25th, 2009, one day before my 21st birthday, I arrived at the Pittsburgh International Airport for the first time, only to find myself heading in haste to Indiana County to embark on one year of exchange study at Eberly College of Business and Information Technology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Never got a chance to explore the airport, let alone take pictures with the famous Pittsburgh Steelers player, Franco Harris, in his number 32 football gear or the founding father of the United States of America, George Washington, in his continental uniform. But subconsciously a voice was whispering to me “Lingling, you need to take a picture before you walk out of this airport. As if saying “Maybe when you return, your life will never be the same.” So I set aside my luggage, took out the Canon camera my father bought me as a gift for this trip, ignored my classmates’ nervous and urgent yell ”hurry up or we will miss the bus”, turned around and snapped this giant dinosaur: T. Rex.
At that very moment, with the late night loneliness in the airport and the soft lights and reflections, a very profound feeling vividly landed in my consciousness, “Wow, this is a nice and homey place.” I tucked away the camera, turned around and with a big smile on my face joined other Chinese fellow students walking toward the exit, heading to the bus that would later haul us to Indiana.
August 10th, 2011, I returned to the Pittsburgh International Airport. This time I was heading to the City of Pittsburgh and settled in an apartment in Oakland for the graduate school study at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University. This time I didn’t take any pictures at the airport. I guess I was too eager to start a new page of life’s adventure this trip.
August 20th, 2013: for the third time I arrived at the Pittsburgh International Airport after a month-long visit at home in China. This time, I came back to take on a year-long service position as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, to build technology capacity for the nonprofit community in Pittsburgh. I also came back to have a life here before someday eventually return to my home country, China.
In the ladies room, a lady janitor smiled and talked to me about the hot weather during the summer. I looked into the mirror and smiled to myself, “Hey, you are back here again.” While walking to pick up my luggage, I looked around as if I’d returned as a careful landlord checking on her property following a long vacation in Florida to avoid the snowy winter in Pennsylvania. I realized that I had missed Pittsburgh very much. Otherwise, why would it feel as such a thrill to be here again like it’s a homecoming?
From this Airport, I have had two departures and three arrivals. As old people around here said to me again and again “Pittsburgh is a place you always want to come back to.” Apparently, it has captured me! As famous American poet, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner, Gary Snyder once said “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.” I believe I have found my place. In the past two years, I have fallen in love with it day by day, but still there is so much to learn, experience, and create. Now a deep drive is urging me to take responsibility and be part of the voice for the City. I will listen to that inner voice, take up the torch, and share with everyone and anyone the Pittsburgh that has me kept coming back.
This blog is created for this very reason and will showcase real a Pittsburgh Experience as a self-adopted Pittsburgher continues to accumulate those experiences: day after day. Through those present experiences, hopefully, a window for this Iron City’s history and future will unfolded over time. If anyone read the blog get inspired more or less along the way to expand your horizon, that would be most fulfilling to me.
The blog will not focus on “I” but the experience. The content will include original picture(s), experience, and history/background of the objects of the experience. Keeping each blog post Original, Succinct, and Informative is the creed I will strive to follow. Since this is the first post, as well as the introduction of the entire blog, I included three ascending experiences and made it long. To prevent "bad" from getting "worse", here comes the last piece. Maybe next time when you are waiting in PIT airport for a flight, you could find something interesting to explore and read. Airport trivia is a good way to go! No more non-productive waiting in any airport. If you are not sleeping or meditating, let the airport trivia jeopardy begin.
Beer winning trivia @ Pittsburgh International Airport:
1. As you make your way to Baggage Claim from the terminals you see three signature displays: A life-sized image of George Washington in a Continental uniform, who had seized Fort Duquesne from the French; a life-sized statue of Franco Harris’ immaculate reception that was installed in 2006 by the Heinz History Center, home of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum; and a full-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex. The last is tucked between the two escalators and looks like it is purposefully hidden and ready to strike at anytime. It is from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which is well known for its dinosaur artifacts and had the first fossils of a T. Rex.
2. Upon opening of the new airport in 1992, the AirMall at PIT was the largest airport shopping complex in the United States and local shoppers were able to visit the AirMall, which is on the Airside, without a boarding pass. Following the September 11, 2011 attacks, only ticketed passengers and airport and airline employees were able to enter the AirMall.
3. The airport complex consists of two main buildings, the "Landside Terminal" and the "Airside Terminal." They are linked by the Pittsburgh airport underground people mover after the security checkpoint. It is run fully by computers with no human control aside from emergencies.
4. As of July, 2013, 10 aircraft accidents and incidents involving PIT occurred. The biggest accident occurred on September 8, 1994, when USAir flight 427 crashed on approach from Chicago O’Hare International Airport. All 132 people were killed. It resulted in the longest and most thorough National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation in history. Boeing retrofitted every 737 because of the data gathered from this crash.
5. The airport was designed by Pittsburgh architect Joseph W. Hoover. One of the features of his style is the use of simple, exposed concrete, steel, and glass materials. The terminal building was constructed in "stepped" levels, which means that the uncovered roof of the lower level could be an observation deck. Also found the rounded "Horizon Room" on the fourth floor with a commanding view of the airport. One of the memorable features of the lobby was the large compass laid in the floor made from green and yellow-orange terrazzo. A re-creation of the compass was installed in the new terminal at an exhibit dedicated to the old "Greater Pitt.”
Your ID @ Pittsburgh International Airport:
What can you throw in the T.REX display box without being stopped by a police?
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