Friday August 26, 2011 – Leaving

Started the day off well, we left Beatrice early to meet Mason for lunch, where Randy, Grandpa and Grandma met us at Carlos O’Kelly.  We arrived at the airport very early, my checked bag weighed 51.5 pounds so we removed the bottle of shampoo then it weighed 49.5 pounds. Mom, Dad, Chelsea and I sat at the airport until a little before 4:00, I worked my new iPod Touch that my parents bought me so I could get text plus and text them when I was around wifi. There were no tears until the security gate, thanks to Mom’s crying I had a few tears, Chelsea was crying, and my dad was very teary eyed. I did not want to cry so I could not even look at their faces. As I walked away and through the gate I tried very hard not to think about leaving and did not cry but I wanted to. I started to freak out a little and wanted to text everyone but my phone had died so I quickly plugged it in. By the time I had got settled the plane had been loaded and they called out for my name because I was one of the last two passengers to board. I left Omaha at 4:32.

I arrived in Newark airport around 8:30 where I got some gross and expensive spaghetti. After eating I looked for a place to charge my phone but by the time I found one an announcement said that my flight had been moved to a different gate. I started on my way there and on my way Kevin, my roommate and the only other kid from Academic Programs International (API) on my flight, passed by me as he was going to our old gate, but I stopped him and brought him with me to the new gate. I finally was able to charge my phone and get a hold of the people I wanted to, not for long though because we had to load the plane. We left Newark at 10:10.

Kevin sat two rows in front of me on the aisle seat and I sat next to the window on a three seat by three seat plane. I felt very fortunate that I got to sit next to a young couple from Madrid and the guy played tennis. I talked with them in English because I was afraid still to talk in Spanish. They told me many places I should visit in Madrid, even wrote it down, and also helped me with other questions I had about Spain and Spanish. It was a long flight