Almost two weeks before school started, my roommate sent me a message saying I was lucky I had gotten my airplane ticket to go back to school early. I wondered why she was saying that, then I scrolled through Facebook and saw all the videos and posts about the Jonas storm. Great. Fortunately, like my roommate said, I was lucky to get back to the East Coast before everything got out of control. Even though I did make it back in time, I have a lot to say about my traveling experience.
First of all, a day before my flight, I was already feeling pretty nervous because for some reason I felt like I was running late for something. Also, I still had some shopping to get done the day I left—to be specific, I was buying some Voodoo Doughnuts (supposed to be some of the best in the U.S.) to bring back and give to my friends. After I got home, I finished packing and everything was going smooth; we got to the airport, my family said goodbye, and I got on my connecting flight to San Francisco. Everything went downhill from there.
I had eaten very little, so when I got to California at 10 p.m., I was starving. I thought I had some time to eat a little bit and rush to my other flight, which left at 10:44 p.m. I stopped by a small restaurant and ordered chicken teriyaki, but the people there were taking too long, and I knew I had to leave. I felt some culture shock in the airport because I had to ask for water instead of it being offered to me, since California is in a drought. Anyway, that’s not my point. The thing is that SFO is huge, so I had to run to the gate, and I felt like passing out because I hate running. By the time I got there, no one was there and the doors had closed. I went to the desk and asked if I could still get on, but of course I couldn’t.
With that, I just started crying buckets. Between sobs, I was telling the lady there that I was going to school and I absolutely had to get there in time, but I was just crying so much that now I was embarrassed. I was even given a small packet of Kleenex! She put me on standby for the midnight flight, and I was able to get a seat there, but that wasn’t the end. The airplane wasn’t working right, so everyone had to get off and get on another airplane. We ended up leaving at three in the morning.
Throughout all that time, I just kept thinking, “Why do I go to school so far away? Is it worth it? What if I transfer? Everything would be so much easier if my parents could just drive me to an in-state school.” Then when I got to Newark, my baggage wasn’t in the carousel. I had to go claim it; thankfully it arrived already in a previous flight, so I got it right away. Then I got on the bus to Pennsylvania, and finally I took an Uber from the bus station to my residence hall.
My trip took 18 hours in total, and I was just exhausted. But I realized that those second thoughts I was having about going to college across the country from my home meant nothing once I got to see my friends and the school. I’m very happy here! But the Jonas storm is cray cray.
