My last night of sleeping in Rome was equivalent to the amount of sleep a five year old gets Christmas Eve. I am not sure if it was the anxiety, anticipation, or just the fact the bed consisted of 2 pieces of plywood with a sheet draped over it. I kept looking at the clock, and turning over. Although Italy’s efforts to safe electricity by having the key in order to turn on the lights, when you lose the key it makes for a very dark shower-talk about getting dressed in the dark. Anika, Paige and Anna all helped me pack my bags the night before, so there really was not much for me to do.
The whole group of 52 of us all loaded on to the bus for one last time-I still had 2 suitcases, a backpack, 3 jackets, and a pillow/blanket. I weighed my stuff the night before the total weight exceeded 125 pounds. When the bus dropped us off at terminal 5, I navigated myself to terminal 1-still looking like a little kid going to camp for the first time with all of his treasured possessions. There was no way for me to have my flight come in any earlier, which was perfectly fine after the fight I had to go through with security. Either way I made it through, all I had to leave behind was my peanut butter (Sorry Heather, they said it was a biosecurity hazard to carry it on and I did not have any room for it underneath) and my towel from the hotel. I found out this morning when I went to take my shower, it would have been very nice to have. The fitted bed sheet work fine though.
On the flight from Rome to Amsterdam (six hours), the service was excellent. I had a flavorful sandwich, Carmel cookie, coffee, and orange juice (not at the same time of course). Again, I think the fact I had to give up my breakfast at checkpoint and the fact it was free might have encouraged my taste buds. After arrival, I pulled both of my bags down from the stowed compartments in ease (if I would have shown signs of strain, I was going to have to check them under), an older gentleman tried to help-I thought my bags were going to give him a heart attack. He was so nice that when he handed my bags over to me, he even asked if I wanted to smoke with him. We parted our ways, and I walked what felt like to be an eternity to gate D49. Although the walk was bad, once I was there I realized there was no food around and I was sure not going to make the voyage back.
When the time came to “board” my final plan, I walked through security trying to organize my stuff to make it look like a façade. If I did not have to pay for my luggage, I would have saved a total of $200 dollars or more on just luggage. After my sigh of relief, the pilot came over the microphone “I am sorry for the inconvenience, this aircraft has technical difficulties. We will now have to change to a different plane, and through security again.” I am no rocket scientist, but I know there could have been an easier and quicker way than repeating security on the passengers the next gate over. 1 hour and 50 minutes later our seatbelts were fastened. I was hoping for some service food, but this time was your typical chips and burnt coffee.
I went through customs, showed off my hard earned visa sticker, and exchanged my money while waiting for my bags. I wish I knew how this whole money exchange thing worked, so I could know how much and where the best place to use my card and cash were. It is almost as confusing as the whole electricity thing-I still do not know how that works, converter/adapter/power surge/2 prong/3 prong=Complete confusion. Down the hallway, around the corner on your left, up the ramp take a right, down the hall until you see an escalator, up the escalator on the right, a crossed the monorail, and off to your left is the ticket center for the train. The next train was leaving in 5 minutes to Telford for 10:10 pounds (I still do not know how to write that or even say that). Making only as many enemies as I hit getting on the train-I was not off to a good “make friends when you get there” start. With that being said after 3 stops I got off in Telford central and became friends with the Taxi driver.
No worries though, I fully evaluated the situation and decided that I could, out run him or hit him with any of my 3 bags of luggage if he tried anything. He was nice enough though to let me use his cell phone and call Mitch. I immediately went to the driver side of the car( the driver side in England, passenger side in America). My stomach was seriously eating away at itself, as all I had to eat were chips and coffee-so we stopped at KFC. I was completely fine with that though because I had eaten so much in Italy it was nice to have an “American meal”. We sat and talked about the college and my accommodations.
As we were driving to the college, I recognized the main building from the website-it’s gorgeous. I was here. Only a short time ago, it was only a thought, I couldn’t believe it. I called Mom and Dad in Mitch’s office, I had to fight back the tears because the sound of their voice sounded so close. I survived though and Amy my dorm Worden came and took me to my room. Darby Hall 17-funny thing was that when I got to my room, there was no bedding and no one knew I was coming and the word Dick was written a crossed my door. Welcome to Harper Adams, I laughed and got my luggage unpacked, as they got my bedding. Finally at 12:30 I went to bed-I was exhausted, but I survived.
The title is what people here in England call “strangers”, like saying hello darling they will say “’ello my little hen” or “ello my duckling” or “my love.
Sorry I am a day or so behind. I am hoping to catch up tonight, but I am going to start just blogging funny little things now too that I have a post started.
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