Sitting in Munich!

I made it to Munich! 

Walking through the airport, I cannot even begin to describe how many people were staring at us. I think it was because we are all matching... that or because we obviously look American. 

Making our way to the gate, we had to go through customs and security again, and of course, I was the one to hold up the line. I eventually made it through, after having to send my bag through the scanner three times. 

We're all just hanging out right now though. Our next flight doesn't leave here for another two hours, so we're utilizing this time to check our facebook and email one last time until we get settled into our new place. 

I think I may try and take a nap. My long day of flying has finally caught up with me. 

I'll write again when I can. 

I love you guys and I'll see you soon! 

:) 

Philadelphia to Munich.

So much for a half hour into Philadelphia like the Captain had anticipated.

As soon as I turned off my computer, the Captain got back on the intercom and announced that due to severe thunderstorms, we were in a holding pattern until there was a break in the storm. Closing my eyes, the turbulence continued to worsen, and I was praying like crazy.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the Captain’s voice reappeared over the loud speaker. Thinking that he was going to tell us it was our time to land, he had the audacity to tell us that we had low fuel, and if need be, we would touch down somewhere else to reload.

As if I wasn’t having enough of a heart attack already.

I closed my eyes again, and I’m not sure if I fell asleep, or zoned out completely, but we soon hit the pavement and I was so thankful to be on solid ground again. As we were still taxing, I pulled out my ticket for our Philadelphia to Munich flight; I realized that they would be boarding in twenty minutes. Listening to a few conversations around me, multiple people’s flights were being delayed or completely cancelled, so for the sake of time, I was secretly hoping we would be delayed.

We weren’t.

Erica, another girl from camp that we met on our way off the plane, and I all took off RUNNING through the airport. Naturally, our gate was on the complete opposite side of where we had just arrived, so it was not easy getting all the way over there.  So imagine me, with two HEAVY carry on items, trying to run, while my shin splints were coming back in full force. Nightmare.

We finally made it to the gate, met up with about seven other people from Camp who were heading to Germany, had time to say our introductions, and then it was time for us to board.

The plane was pretty big. The row’s each had seven seats, and I thankfully got an aisle. The flight attendants made the announcement that we were missing over eighty passengers, but due to the desire to be on time, we left without them! I was able to sit next to my friend Darcey, which was great, in the beginning. By about hour 6, we were both crippled, and wishing we could spread out. I eventually moved to the ground, and was lying where our feet would normally go. Unfortunately, neither Darcey nor I got more than about a half hour of sleep. As you could guess, I’m exhausted.

I will say, that the first half of the plane ride went by pretty quickly. On each of the back of the seats, they have a built in DVD player, which provided you the option of watching roughly fifteen different movies. It also had games, online shopping, music, and a GPS so you could track how far we’ve come.

I watched three movies: Water for Elephants, Just Go With It, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I would have continued to watch them, but I moved in my seat and somehow my headphone cord snapped. (Which is super annoying because I just opened them on the beginning of this flight.)

Needless to say, I have been watching the GPS for the past hour or so. According to the screen, we have 41 minutes left until we touch down in Munich. It looks like we’re flying over Frankfurt right now, but the map is so little, who knows where we actually are. Oh. It looks like we’re somewhere over the Rheine River. That’s fun.

Well, the turbulence is starting up again so I’m going to pack up.

We have one flight left today, and thankfully it’s only forty minutes. I’ll write again on that flight, and if not, then once I get settled today.

PS. It’s not even 11:00 PM in Portland right now. According to the GPS, it is almost 8:00 AM.

Bring on the jet lag.  

Portland to Philadelphia

What a crazy morning it was. I only got about two hours of sleep last night- mostly from the heat, but nerves obviously played a big role in it as well.

When my alarm went off, I jumped straight up and started getting ready. I’m pretty sure I read over my packing list 2039481 times just to make sure I didn’t forget anything. And as I’m sitting here, I still feel like I am.

We got to the airport at a little after 6:30 or so. Checking in with the help of my mom, I was fighting back tears most of the time. After a short walk, I was already in line to go through security. I still cannot believe how big of a blur everything was.

I jumped out of line once, to take some pictures, and start saying my goodbyes. That was not fun. You would think that because I have been through this before, it would be easier. It wasn’t. The tears were unstoppable right after I gave my first hug.

I eventually got back in line, and was more than shocked when I was able to walk through security without having to be pulled aside. I’m usually that person who sets off all the alarms and gets frisked by the airport security.  

Quickly shuffling my stuff around out of the security boxes, I waved to my family one last time, blew them a kiss, said one last “I love you” and started my walk to the gate with my dad’s voice in my head saying one simple word: “Sparta!”  

Arriving at the gate, I met up with another girl, Erica, who is also apart of the Camp Adventure program. She is also stationed in Germany, although she is at a different base. I was able to talk to her and her parents for a little while, and they all seem truly wonderful.

I’m currently sitting here on my flight to Philadelphia, as the plane is going in and out of turbulence. I will be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of flying. I have gotten used to holding Jenny’s hand when we take off, and not having that was a little stressful. As soon as the plane started picking up speed, I closed my eyes, and literally started laughing out loud. Loudly. Obviously that was enough to get everyone’s attention, but I honestly fell asleep not long after we became parallel in the sky anyway, so it’s whatever.

I’m in the middle seat. Row 19, seat F. There is a family of three in the same row as me, but they are across what they consider an “aisle.” The little boy in the family has been complaining almost the entire way. “BUT I WANTED A PEPSI, SHE’S NOT SHARING. ARE WE THERE YET” etc. I realize that I will be working with little kids for the next four months of my life, but oh my word. It’s been tough not to just start staring at the child until he stops talking. Furthermore, my neighbors have been interesting. The man to my left is going into the Navy. Or something like that. He hasn’t spoken a word to me, but I saw his folder of information for Annapolis. The lady to my right has been on her iPhone the entire trip. From when I can tell, she has been playing Farmville, and her choice of music is not my idea of a good time.

The captain just got on the intercom not too long ago and announced that we are a bit ahead of schedule, but due to high traffic and the weather, it might take us another half hour to land. I will be thankful to have the luxury of being able to stand again, without having to stick my butt in other people’s face as I try and maneuver down to the restroom.

I think the majority of us Camp Adventure staff are meeting up in Philadelphia before we fly out, so I’m a little nervous to see how things will go. I believe I have a little less than two-hour layover when we land, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it through customs, and find my gate without much problem.

I am also hoping that I will be able to get a little bit more sleep than I have on this flight. My neighbor to the left had a good idea of putting your head flat on the tray. I tried doing it, taking off my sweatshirt for a pillow. In the process of trying to get my sweatshirt off, I think I pulled just about every muscle on the left side of my neck.

Anyway, I’ll write again when I can. The turbulence is starting up again, and I have to mentally prepare myself for our landing.

Hopefully this time I won’t start cackling.