Day 19

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

            Today I woke up at 4:30, ate breakfast, left Pink Lake, and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 9:30. We were rushed at the airport and we had security guards yelling at us because we were supposed to arrive 90 minutes early, but we were late. I like that you board the plane from the tarmac. Both plane doors are open, so boarding is quick. The flight was surprisingly not bad. Thankfully, a girl from my class traded me her isle seat for my window seat. I cannot sit at a window seat without getting claustrophobic. I watched three movies: Beauty and the Beast, Baywatch, and La La Land. This took up the majority of the flight. The food wasn’t awful on this flight either. Usually, I absolutely hate plane food, but I ate most of the sides. The main dish was still gross.

            We landed in JFK and had to go to customs. I must have walked a mile just to get to customs. This airport is gigantic. There must have been 50 kiosk machines at customs. There were only five at Pittsburgh. Customs was painless. Then we went to baggage claim. My bag arrived, and I ran to check it onto my next flight. We were running late (as usual) so we ran to security. The security checkpoint looked like the inside of a European train station. Security was painless, but we were past boarding time by now. The flight was going to leave in twenty minutes. Myself and three other students began sprinting through the airport to get to our next gate. I bet I looked ridiculous but I didn’t care. We probably looked like the family from Home Alone, running through the airport. The distance from Gate 20 to Gate 44 must have been a mile long. I was panting and dripping sweat by the time I reached the Gate. The lady quickly scanned my boarding pass and said that we made it just in time.

            I found my seat and waited for the others to come. They came about five minutes later but four students and my professor were still missing. They moved the gate away from the plane and I thought for sure that we would leave without them. The motor of the plane broke though, so the mechanics had to work on the plane before we could take off. This gave the missing people enough time to board. We were delayed almost an hour but the flight was super quick and we landed on time. My parents were waiting at the airport with Chick-Fil-A. I was very thankful to see them and very happy to have American food. I loved being back home but I could do without the snow and cold temperatures. My trip to Africa was a great experience. There were good times and bad times. I made so many new friends and created even more memories. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to travel to Senegal and the Gambia and could not have done this trip without my advisor, Buba. Here’s to my next adventure…

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