Carolina, calling me home!

January 29, 2010

The day has finally arrived. We are finished with our 20-day excursion to China, and it is time that we say farewell and head home. I am so sad to say goodbye to the wonderful country of China. I am thankful to have all the great memories with me though.

We woke up this morning around 9:30 A.M. and packed the last minute items. We had a lot of fun last night at the dance club celebrating our last night in Beijing. After showering and somehow fitting all our belongings into 9 total suitcases (between Emma, Victoria and me), we finally grabbed some breakfast. We calculated how long it would take us to get home, and quite frankly, were dreading every second of the trip. We were heading back to reality, leaving our paradise.

We loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed out for our last meal in Beijing. Li took us to a very nice restaurant and order oodles and oodles of food. She ordered every single one of our favorite dishes from the entire trip. We ate, and ate, and ate some more. After filling our stomachs, we drove the 20 minutes to the airport.

Upon arriving at the airport it was obviously the biggest airport I’d ever been to in my life (which is a lot). The airport reminded me a lot of the bird’s nest. I assumed that the airport had been expanded not only because Beijing was the capital, but because of the 2008 Olympics as well. As we stood in line to check into our airlines, I realized I did not have my wallet (and passport) with me. Luckily, I remembered it was on the bus and Li called to have the bus come deliver it. As we were checking luggage in we were told there would only be one carry on item per student, and 2 checked luggage. We had assumed it would be like the US where you could have 2-checked luggage’s (for international flights), a carry on and a personal item. However a small suitcase and backpack were just “too much”. Victoria, Emma and I all had to find a way to consolidate and find other people who had only checked one luggage to be able to get all our things home! Never a dull moment!

The flight was long, or seemed longer than the flight to China. The trip back always feels longer even if the travel time is shorter. Upon arriving in Chicago I turned on my cell phone to find a voice mail and text message from my dad. He said that our flight to Greenville had been cancelled! Of course, I frantically told everyone else on the trip.

We all acted like princes and princesses trying to think of possible options to still get home as we stood in line for customs. I’ve traveled enough, and knew in the back of my mind we were not coming home tonight. We all got through customs with our illegal, legal and counterfeit goods without a problem. We went to check our bags back in for the flight to Greenville when it was confirmed that our flight had been cancelled.

For the next hour and a half the professors worked to get everything straightened out. After countless runs around the airport, lines galore and pulling suitcases here and there we finally had a game plan. We would be staying over night at a hotel, and leaving on the 11:04 AM flight the next day. That is, if the weather cooperated or not.

We headed to our hotel tired, frustrated and hungry. A group of us girls decided to order “Chicago Style Pizza” and make the best of it. Bad decision. We should have known better not to eat greasy cheese pizza after not having grease and cheese for a month. I’m pretty sure all our stomach’s hated us, and punished us for it as well.

We watched a documentary on John Edwards and crime-solving TV shows. Around 11:00 pm we decided to head to bed for a “goodnight sleep”