Hello All!
All I can say is this past week has been a very emotional one. On Thursday when I said goodbye to my family, I found out my Grandpa Patnode has cancer so that was a blow, but he is a good natured guy and I am sure he will come out of it just fine. Friday I spent trying to get everything ready and packed into my suitcases, everyone says they are impressed that I managed all my belongings for seven months in one suit case plus a carry on, but you know, I am a champ so it isn’t a big deal! Then Friday night David took me to see Spring Awakening, an amazing Broadway musical, it was incredible, especially since we had great seats that were on stage. That’s right on stage! It was amazing, the actors were singing behind our heads and climbing and standing all around us, truly an experience I will never forget! Thanks again David (and Peter). After the musical Kevin, David, Briana and I attempted to do something but it was just too late and decided sleep was a better plan.
The next morning Briana came to pick Kevin and I up at Beta and bring me to the airport. Along the way we stopped at the dorms and picked up David. So we all drove down to the airport in Uncle Daryl’s huge pickup truck. It was funny and ironic that the two most city slicker grandkids ended up driving the farm truck around the cities. To make the experience complete my luggage was nestled neatly atop two bags of Sprout (substitute milk for claves), it just seemed to all come full circle.
As we entered the airport sunglasses still upon our faces and bursting into a rendition of Beyonce’s new smash hit “Diva” we finally made it to the United check in counter. Where, when my bags were weighed were three pounds over but lucky the lady said it was ok and I wouldn’t be charged. Then as she was sorting out my tickets she noticed I forgot to sign my passport, I quickly told her it was a sting operation and she had passed the inspection I was performing. After that ordeal I went back over to say goodbye to Kevin, David and Briana. It was so sad leaving behind such great people, but I am sure it will make our reunion all the better.
Then as I was going through security, my luck was still intact and a new line opened right in front of me so I was the first one to go through, when they were searching my bags they found my really cool VOSS water bottle and were a little confused and I swore it wasn’t vodka, prompting the security woman to smell it if she didn’t believe me. Then she proceeded to tell me how much she likes it and wanted to keep it for herself. I told her she couldn’t and that would be considered stealing, then she shouted out to Kevin, David and Briana who were standing behind us to buy me another one and send it to me. “No! Shipping charges are outrageous these days!” Needless to say she dumped out my water and finally I was on my way to Austria… or so I thought.
I made it to Chicago without any problem. I boarded my flight and found my seat which had so much more leg room then I knew what to do with and settled in for what I thought would be a simple trans-Atlantic flight. We taxied to the runway and found there was a mechanical error of some sort so we returned to our gate and waited for about an hour and a half, we were told it was fixed and prepared to return to the runway, then the problem popped up again so we waited another hour and a half, the whole time stuck on the plane, luckily the crew was great and fed us and gave us water and such. We were up in the air and I was a bit crabby but fine. Then somewhere over the plains of Nova Scotia our captain informed us another mechanical problem arose and he did not feel comfortable crossing an ocean so we were returning to Chicago. It was at this point I wanted to break down.
Luckily, the woman next to me who was going to meet a man she met on the internet in Istanbul, Turkey (I am really afraid she is going to be abducted into some prostitution ring, but that story is for another time) calmed me down. We made it back to Chicago just fine and received a new flight and a hotel and meal vouchers so all was well. I went back to the hotel and had a huge breakdown, something about being stuck on a grounded plane for so long and so many emotions really stressed me out. Thankfully, Hayley and my mother were able to clam me down and once I took a shower and scrubbed the tears from my cheeks I was able to get some sleep.
Today I have a much better disposition about the whole ordeal, and my upcoming flight. I cannot wait to get going and start my semester and make new friends and enjoy my time abroad like I planned. Thank you again to Kevin, David, and Briana for coming to the airport I love you guys. Thanks everyone else for the well wishes. Catch you on the other side of the Atlantic soon, I hope!
Nick
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