My 8AM departure from Pittsburgh No-Longer-International (right? maybe?) Airport was pretty normal (note to self: no more early flights), with the exception of not getting a chance to eat. With only ten minutes to spare I decided that it was probably better to ditch the McDonalds and instead just grab some trail-mix and water at the newspaper stand. Other than that the flight was great! Luckily, no one sat next to me on the plane so I had plenty of room and we didn't run into any turbulence so by the time I arrived in Newark, New Jersey for my layover I thought nothing could go wrong -- or so I thought.
The layover in New Jersey wasn't very fun. The airport was crazy and I was confined to Terminal C since I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to terminal jump in an airport I wasn't familiar. There was a variety of food choices, but nothing seemed to fit my appetite for 10AM in the morning. I ended up settling for a diner and had a nice breakfast. By the time I finished eating I had to board the plane for Boston. This is where things got interesting. The plane was packed and unfortunately I lost the extra room from not having a seat-mate. At some point during the flight we hit a little turbulence...
Let me set the scene: first we are in a propeller plane (so its not a smooth ride to begin with), the plane is packed, and the man next to me is terrified of flying...he told me before take-off that he basically has a severe phobia of flying...
With this picture in mind we then experienced some turbulence...and out of nowhere I hear a scream:
"THE PLANE IS GOING DOWN!"Now some of you are probably thinking he can't be serious, someone couldn't have yelled that. I am 100% serious...and it not only happened once, but twice.
Upon hearing this both my flying-phobic seat-mate and I made eye contact. His knuckles were white from gripping the armrests and his eyes were open wide. To break the ice I muttered,
"Well that was awkward..."Cue the scene from Bridesmaids...
***I can't get over how hot it is here. Today it reached the 90s...that's why I am asking, is this Boston or the Sahara? When I left Pittsburgh, I didn't think it was that hot, but just walking outside here left me in a pool of sweat.
Due to a lack of a/c in my dorm room I had to walk about 15 minutes to a Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a fan. Surprisingly the walk wasn't bad and the people were very friendly. This makes me feel like a little freshman again living in North Hall without a/c and having to rely on a fan to cool down. Tomorrow I'll head off in search of food, hopefully I'll find a nice little grocery store.
***
The campus is really nice here. It's a little confusing since each building houses multiple departments and offices. The student/resident life here is completely different from W&J. Here you must swipe into the building, show your ID to the person at the front desk, swipe onto the floor, and swipe (or enter a passcode) to get into your dorm room...talk about a lot of security check points...but I guess in the end that's a good thing to have. You also have to swipe into the bathrooms...a good thing? I guess?
In keeping with my "immersion" tradition (my Puerto Rico trip friends know what I'm talking about)... I will end with the lesson of the day: Make the best out of every experience and always look for an adventure!
