(part of this takes place on June 23)
My day started bright and early at 3:25 in the AM. I didn’t want to be rude and wake up my roommate, so I got ready by the hellish glow of my phone.
I slept in my plane clothes so all I had to do this morning was roll out of bed, brush my teeth, and gather my electronics.
Now, they told us to be in the lobby by 3:40 or else they were going to start knocking on doors. Most of us are ready and sitting on the bus, but the RDs look frazzled. Not to my surprise, some people were missing so we had to hunt them down. You know how I said some people were going to pull an all-nighter? Yeah, they ended up crashing and slept through their alarms.
I retrospect, I’m pretty sure the RDs planed on that happening because on our schedule it says we don’t have to meet in the lobby until 4:00, so they definitely built in wiggle room.
And now, it’s time to add to my list of bad airport experiences.
Yesterday, I tried to check in for my flight using the United app since that’s what I did for my flights coming to DC. Since I’m actually leaving the country for this flight, the app needed me to scan my passport. I scanned it, and found out that I couldn’t check in because the name on my passport and the name on my ticket don’t match. My ticket is booked under my full name (I have two middle names), but my passport only has one of my middle names. I talked to my RD and she called NSLIY and they said that as long as my first and last name matched, we shouldn’t have a problem.
Wrong.
As I’m getting my bag checked, the lady at the desk says: I can’t give you your boarding pass because your name doesn’t match. We tried to explain that we already talked to someone and said it didn’t matter but she insisted that she couldn’t give me my boarding pass. She “didn’t care that my name didn’t match” but “TSA will care” and “they will not let me through.” Unless I could find a legal document with my full name on it, I was out a boarding pass.
Well, lucky me! Because my driver’s license nor my student ID have both my middle names. Our RD had to get on the phone and make some calls because none of us had any documents that contained my name. I was told that if we couldn’t get this sorted out I might be flying on a plane to China myself.
Gulp.
Remember how I said I had a feeling that going to China just wasn’t real? That fear was about to become a reality.
HOWEVER, I now do believe that everything happens for a reason. Because the Chinese Embassy was giving me such a hard time about my visa, I had a crap ton of photos of legal document on my phone. AND while I did delete them, I was able to recover them because of the “recently deleted” folder added to iPhones. After some mild panic, I actually found a document with my full name on it. God bless my naturalization papers and the Chinese Embassy.
While my RD and the security lady were having a firm conversation, I showed her my photo. All of a sudden her attitude change and she finally gave me my fricking boarding pass.
Blessed.
And guess what? TSA didn’t even blink twice about my non-matching name. I was so ready to present that stupid photo too.
But the story doesn’t stop there.
So, half of us got through bag check before the other half, which meant the first group already boarded the plane. My group was kind of late and ran up the gate. (I didn’t get breakfast L) We were then told that our flight was going to be delayed until 10:00. (That turned out to be a lie since they let us board the plane after ten minutes of confusion.)
When we did get on the plane, we were told that the Chicago airport had shut down the runway. There was a true fear that we wouldn’t make our connecting flight to China, but we landed with four minutes until take-off.
The plane ride was LIT. Honestly, it didn’t feel like 13 hours, but in the same respect it did. So, my original seat was the middle seat in the middle isle (boo.) But then, one of my friends texted the GM and said he had two open seats next to him if someone wanted to join. Me and Jessica ended up moving to the front of the economy section, so thanks Alex for hooking us up.
Ultimately what happened was a five person cuddle puddle. We had four people sitting in three seats, and then I just spread out on top of them. (Thanks guys for being my human bed.)
Also, another thanks to Anushka for flushing the plane toilet for me. Honestly, I might have died without your love and support.
After the plane ride that through off my sense of time, we landed in Shanghai at 12:00 PM on Saturday. Note that it was 9:30 AM on Friday when we left and 12:00 PM the next day when we landed. Honestly, I didn’t even know when the morning started because everything feels like one big dream.
But the traveling fun doesn’t stop just because time literally doesn’t exist anymore. Immediately after we landed, we were ushered on to a bus (with hella good AC) for a five hour drive to Nanjing. While on that bus I learned a few things:
1. I hate people with T-Mobil (because they had service with their American phones)
2. I love people with T-Mobil (Hannah set up a hot spot for me :D)
3. I made an awesome new friend (hey Hannah)
4. I know a lot less Chinese than I think I know (A group of us had a chit-chat with one of our teachers)
Half-way through the trip we stopped at a gas station to get water and have a restroom break. And while NSLIY did warn us about the squatty potty, I was still a bit shook seeing them in person. Honestly, peeing in one isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The real issue was the learning curve because I couldn’t figure out how to pee without taking off my shorts. (I was later informed of the proper technique.) Also, I fell out of the stall because I forgot there were steps coming down.
Finally, after a long day(s) of travel, we arrived at Nanjing University where we get to stay in the International Student dorms for one day. I just wanted to go to my room and sleep, but we had dinner before that could happen. And while I did enjoy my first meal in China, I couldn’t truly appreciate it when my brain was 2 steps behind my body.
Things got better when we finally got to the dorm rooms (which were pretty nice.) The beds felt like sleeping on rocks, but I was too tired to care. The shower ended up making up for the bed because that thing was NICE.
Exhausted, I was out almost immediately after my shower.
