Bonus day:
So we’re back. I thought I was done with writing blogs, but apparently not. It’s not that big of a deal because I don’t have to write something deep and emotional. Anyways, we started off our Monday travel day with a later breakfast than usual which was great, then we headed off to the airport at around 10 am. We were originally told that our flight was at 2:30. Then they said sike it’s actually at 1:30. So we were stressed, and the security line was somewhat short, but took so ridiculously long. Then they said sike again it’s at 2:30. We grabbed something small to eat and got ready to board, but OH NO, the plane hasn’t arrived yet. The plane arrived shortly, and we got the ok to board. Once we were on they decided, wow it’s a really nice time to check the tires and the fuel of the plane. OH NO, the tires are damaged, let’s take 30 minutes to assess them. So, we sat. And waited. After their profound analysis, they decided whoopsie, the tires are not safe to fly so we had to deplane. So, on top of our short time to reach our connecting flight we now were delayed about an hour and a half. So, our hope was pretty much gone. We waited awhile and I’ll be honest, I was depressed. Chelsea was helping an old man call his wife and then she was playing with some random baby and I just wanted to die. But that was just me, I think. Everyone was all over the place emotionally wise. Sophie Latour was forced to be separated from her precious carry-on when there was more than enough space on the plane for it. That was the biggest drama that stood out to me. Let me stop yapping though, at least we flew on a safe plane. After that whole mess was over, we landed in Miami in which we had most definitely missed our connecting flight, but there was hope. All the students were singing and energized, we were so exhausted and we had adrenaline. The teachers on the other hand…. I won’t elaborate. Larry, a very nice American Airlines worker, helped us sprint through the airport to potentially get to another connecting flight departing at 9:50. (This is the fastest I’ve seen Ms. Liogas walk all year) He managed to pull a few tricks and took us through some back rooms to skip the security. We’re just that important. We got to a kiosk and the teachers tried to work their magic, but they I think their magic had worn off along with their sympathy for us young children. There were only a few seats left, so the group would have been separated. So that was a no go. We spent a very long time on the airport floor going insane. I attempted to teach my version of Rumy to some of my fellow schoolmates…it didn’t work. The teachers weren’t really telling us what was actually going to happen because nothing was confirmed so we proceeded to go insane. Turns out they were booking a flight for 5 pm the next day and attempting to get us hotel rooms booked so we wouldn’t disintegrate on the airport floor. Some were crying, some were laughing like lunatics, some were asleep and Ariana and I had reached a level of psychosis.
After several torturous hours, we were able to procure hotel rooms. We crammed into a shuttle and partied our way over to the Sinister hotel (that wasn’t the actual name of the hotel, it just sounded that way). Once we arrived, we were bewildered at the long line that wrapped around the corner of the hallway. My jaw dropped. Flabbergasted. Ms Bousser and Ms Howard then spent almost 45 minutes in that line trying to get us all some rooms. After all that chaos, we got our promised rooms. We went up and dropped off our stuff, then called back down for a ✨NUTRITIONAL✨ meal. (greasy pizza and some delishhh chicken wings) We then cleaned up and went back to try to sleep. But OH NO! We have no clothes. I hate to break it to you guys, but we ended up sleeping in our undergarments LOL. It was better than staying in our disgusting clothing, but not to worry. We wore those disgusting clothing including our drenched socks again the next day. YUMMY!
The next day (which is today, I’m writing from the future), we had a scrumptious breakfast consisting of wet eggs and some suspicious fruit. YUMMERS. We then were offered kindly by Ms. Wendy (Chelsea’s mom) to go over to their GORGEOUS apartment by the beach. We drove over and were welcomed into their beautiful home. She fed us and allowed us to see something nice before another day of travel. ‘Twas kind of funny seeing the culture shock after being in Nicaragua then in Chelsea’s clean white apartment looking over the ocean.
Anyways, after all that, we hurried our ways over to the airport to restart our travelling journey. Everything went smoothly until we landed In New York 🎶 (Concrete jungle where dreams are made of). But our dreams were crushed. We arrived to the devastating news that the flight had been overbooked despite our promised seats the preceding day. OH NO! But Ms. Liogas had her: I’m in pain with my hip” and her “I’m travelling with a group of students” ready and she got those seats. There was no way we were staying another day. At least there was no way I was staying another day. (Ariana wanted to stay and go watch a Broadway play.) And that’s about where we are at right now. Ms. Liogas is getting wheeled into the plane along with the rest of the preboards, and we are waiting for our turn to board.
I’ll see you all on the other side. For real this time.
-Ava Seirafi
