The First Flight and First Impressions

Here I am. I am sitting in the Historic Deerfield library, using their internet, hundreds of miles from home and anyone familiar. It is SO AMAZING that I am here! As a forewarning, the house that I am living in does not have an internet connection or wireless capability, so these blogs may be more sporadic than my Newberry blog, likewise with responses to email. But allow me to retell my journey getting here...

After a restless night, I wake up Saturday morning as anxious as I have ever been in the my life. I was shaking much of the morning and well until I got to the airport. My parents and Richard went to the airport with me and waited until noon before leaving. I made it through security without any problems and waited for my flight. Luckily, the Moline Airport was as nice as everyone had told me it would be. The people were friendly and it is really small. I got onto this little plane that would take me to Detroit, and sat next to an older woman who was traveling with her daughter and granddaughter to New Jersey for a high school graduation. She was very friendly and gave me advice when I told her it was my first flight. Fortunately, it was the first flight for the four or so year old granddaughter, so I listened to her and her daughter give the little girl advice and followed them. Gum chewing helped with the air pressure, though the feeling was still very strange.

I made it to Detroit with no problems, and asked for the gate where my next flight would be. Because my ears were plugged, I misheard the man say "69" and went to "6." Now, if anyone has ever been in the Detroit Airport, the wings are massive! I walked a good mile to get to gate 6, asked for help when I didn't see my flight on the screen, and then made my way to gate 69. At least there was a tram to get me to the other side of the airport. It was very similar to the "el," except it was slower. Well, I made it to the gate alright and with plenty of time to spare, so that was fine. Boarded the next flight with a much bigger plane. They had complimentary water and cookies, which I consumed, and waited to get into Hartford. Okay, so for those of you who don't know, I am currently battling a cold (yeah, Tuesday night my throat started hurting and it moved into my head by Saturday...), so my ears really hurt on the second flight because of the pressure from the plane and my cold. I landed and couldn't pop my ears until I blew my nose. It was very uncomfortable. I found the program co-tutor no problem, claimed my suitcase, and went to find the other fellow who had flown in from Chicago earlier in the afternoon. After an hour drive, we got to Deerfield. It was about 9 o'clock when we got in, and by the time I had unpacked and showered, I was exhausted and miserable, so went to bed.

I slept in a little bit this morning, and woke up and ate breakfast before the other two girls arrived. One drove from New Jersey, while the other drove from Michigan. The house we are all sharing is SO CUTE!! It is very quaint, but still has all the necessities. I'm very excited about living with these girls. Three of us walked around town today, and then all four of us talked over snacks before heading over to the other house for the program supper. Okay, so I am living in the Wright House, which has the laundry room, 4 bedrooms, and the front half of the house is available for tours. The 2 boys and the co-tutor of the program live in Allen House, which is where I will be eating most of my meals. Once I get to know Deerfield as a town and everything else, there will be lots of other names being thrown around, so don't worry about those; just know that I live in the Wright House. I will hopefully be taking pictures tomorrow of the rooms, houses, and other places around town...so look for those.

Tomorrow we are going on walking tour which begins our orientation. We also have class and will be discussing the "Redeemed Captive" by John Williams, a pastor in Deerfield. I have to go and read that now, but I will try to go into more depth about what I will be doing with the program tomorrow. There are three places with internet capability, so I will try to make a daily excertion to check email and blog, but I may not be able to do it everyday. We shall see what happens.

Just know that everything is great, the program participants are really great, and while this will be similiar to Newberry, it shouldn't be so intense academically. I am well, and once this cold is gone will be perfect. Until tomorrow (hopefully)...