Today was one looong 29 hours. On the 18th, we all met at APU for a day of orientation, and learned a little more about the 55 people we would be traveling with to Africa. After the meeting was over, I made sure I was all packed and I began saying my goodbyes to the friends I was leaving behind. Since we had to meet at the trolley stop at 3:30 a.m. on the 19th, however, my friends and I decided not to sleep. We made it to LAX around 4:30, and to our gate a little less than two hours before boarding time. I am proud to say that my first college all-nighter was spent watching Pocahontas, and going through airport security.
Our first flight took us to Washington D.C. where we had just enough time to get to our new gate, have our tickets reprinted, and order some food to go. We then spent close to nine hours on the plane to a city in northern Africa, the name of which I cannot remember. This stop was to let off a few passengers, bring new ones on, and most importantly to fuel. Then, once all new passengers had boarded (we were not allowed to leave for the hour we were on the ground) everyone settled in for the second of our two eight and a half hour flights. Thankfully, after only about 5 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, I slept a large majority of the second flight.
But, after 29 hours door to door, we all made it safely to Johannesburg, as did everyone’s luggage! We have checked into the hotel we are staying in for the next two days, and most of us walked across the street for a very late dinner. As we sat and ate it began to rain; perfect fat South African drops that seemed to drop just because they had nothing better to do, not necessarily because it needed to rain. If you saw the rain you would see how lackadaisically it fell, even though it was still enough to get you sufficiently soaked in the 30-second walk across the street.
Rain or no rain, what we have seen of Jo’burg on the bus from the airport has been beautiful, and I am looking forward to touring Soweto tomorrow! For now I will just have to battle jetlag and try to stay awake for another hour, or until my roommate gets to the room since I have the only key…
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