The Waiting

As we made our way to the airport, there was a very uncertain mood in the atmosphere. Even though we knew we would be going somewhere, we didn't know where that would be. For all we knew, we could be heading to book a flight back to Minneapolis. Still trying our hardest to hope for the best, our group took over a small section of seats in the waiting area in front of the ticket kiosks as two of our chaperones fought to get us tickets to Rome.

The uncertainty only rose as the hours drew on and our plans kept changing so often that slowly, we started to drift off in naps and wander in our restlessness. At some point we even made a Harlem Shake video just as an attempt to brighten the overall mood.

Then, a miracle dawned and we had 17 of our necessary 22 seats booked out to Rome that very evening. We were elated, except for those five people that were put on standby. It was completely random  who was chosen, but it was still so hard to see four students and a teacher potentially be left behind.

We made our way to the gate, this time walking leisurely as opposed to our previous run though the Philadelphia airport and began the seemingly short wait before boarding scheduled within the next hour. As we waited, one by one, the five people on standby slowly were given boarding passes. Before we knew it, we all had tickets leaving for Rome in less than an hour. Or so we thought.

Due to mechanical issues, our plane was being worked on. It was supposed to be finished prior to us even reaching the gate, but it was running a little late. That was all fine and dandy, we were just happy to be getting to Rome, even if it was a little later than expected. The anticipated hour delay turned into two and then three and then four and we still weren't on our plane. The mood had plummeted once more as people running on minimal sleep began to get cranky.

They ended up getting a different plane for us to take and we finally got to board!! The only problem with that was the fact that we were four hours late and now leaving at 10:45 pm made us have to wait in line in order to get on the runway. We were number 22 in line.

After all the waiting, however, we were happily on our plane and heading to Rome for the trip of a lifetime! Our spirits were far above the heavens!