Day 1

The beginning. My flight from Chicago to New York was good. I sat next to a girl my age from Manchester, UK, who was visiting relatives. I was in the way back next to the window. I even fell asleep for a bit. On the way in, I saw the statue of Liberty. Twice. We had to circle around.

When I got to New York I made my way to the gate, and soon other SFS students were arriving. Together there were 23 of us on that flight. Everyone is really nice and we all made sure we were together when we got off the plane. On that flight, I got a window seat with a middle aged lady next to me. I watched Captain America and then slept some. A SFS student was kitty-corner to me, so we were able to talk some.

When we arrived at London, 3 people had to claim their bags, so while they were doing that the rest of us went to the terminal to check in. After a few of us got our boarding passes, the attendant told us that if we planned on going into the city, she could not give us our boarding passes because there was a high chance of us missing the flight. So, we sat in the airport for 11 hours. Long, tired hours. We did not want to sleep because we wanted to be able to sleep on the flight. Other people came and join out group there, so 28 out of 30 were on that flight.

It turns out the people who claimed their bags got to go into the city. But, oh well. The flight to Nairobi was 8.5 hours. I sat between a woman from Australia and one from Brittan. I only slept a little. When we arrived, we got to exit the plane via stairs onto the tarmac, then take a bus to the airport. Our next flight was 2 hours later and lasted for 40 minutes. Then, we arrived.

A representative for SFS met us when we got off the plane, and helped us acquire our visas. They cost $100. But now I have a stamp in my passport. Good news, everyone’s bags arrived without any problems. One guy who flew in from Nepal met us there. It turns out that the last person missed the flight in New York, so we have to pick him up tomorrow. We made our way out to the parking lot, where they did pile our bags on top of the Toyota LandCruzers. We drove for an hour to Arusha and got lunch.  I had a mini banana, and it was so sweet that it tasted like candy. Then we drove for two hours to reach camp near a village called Rhotia. Along the way we stopped to see a lake that I cannot remember the name of right now. We had dinner of mashed potatoes, green beans, beans, pork, beef, fruit, spaghetti, rice, and cake. It is really good. I am sharing a room with 3 other girls. But in conclusion, I slept 10 of the last 50 hours, so now I am saying good night.