The Day has Finally Come!

So after a very stressful and unfortunate trip today (the details of which I will fill you in on a little later in the post) I have finally made it to Bonaire to start the adventure that I have been excited about since October.

So to fill you in on my flight this morning.  As you know, my first flight was supposed to be a red-eye from Phoenix to Atlanta with a three hour layover that would allow for a bit more rest.  Too bad that is not what happened.  First off, I try to place my carry-on in the overhead compartment, but it won't fit so I  try taking something out, but while I am busy doing that, a man steals the space that I cleared for my bag in the overhead bin so I am forced to check that bag because there is no place to put my bag after that.  Then about half an hour into the flight a flight attendant gets on the intercom and asks if anyone on board is a doctor.  One was promptly located and was taken to the back of the plane.  Everything was fine until halfway through the flight the pilot let us know that we were going to make an emergency medical stop in Oklahoma City.  This would have been fine and dandy, no big deal, if the plane hadn't been measured in as overweight in the landing.  This required an inspector to come and take a look at the plane.  Again, this would have been fine if the inspector hadn't taken two hours to get to the airport.  Take another hour to make the inspector do her job properly and the three hour layover became a sprint from terminal E to terminal A where the Bonaire flight is literally closing the doors.  The only possible positive thing to come out of this experience was that another girl from my program was on this flight and it provided a bonding moment for us.

Another lucky moment was that after a woman stole my window seat on the flight from Atlanta to Bonaire, I ended up sitting next to another girl that is in the CIEE program.  It was also lucky that the adrenaline from running to catch the plane knocked me out for the first hour or so of this flight.

I have started to settle in to the house where all of the members of the program are staying.  Everyone seems genuinely awesome.  I already knew that they had to have great taste simply for choosing to be in this program.  I am rooming with one other girl named Marissa in a nice room that I will take a picture of and put on this blog soon.

To be honest, I'm really ready for this entire adventure to begin.  I already know that this will be a great experience that I need to have.  Now it's time for this exhausted traveller to go get some sleep and avoid getting sick before dive bootcamp these next two weeks.