An Atypical English Class: Part 2

[fblike] Samantha Dinga

After waiting for months to see my friends, the day of the flights to England seemed impossibly long. Going up the escalator and seeing everyone for the first time in FOREVER was definitely the best part of the day. With our suitcases packed, passports in hand, and tickets attained, we made our way to the gate in the Louisville airport.

We had been waiting at the gate for about half an hour already when we heard a flight attendant came on the announcements, saying that our plane would be delayed for 15 minutes… 45 minutes… two hours. So while our first flight should have let us meet up with the Nashville crew, we ended up arriving in Charlotte with 5 minutes to spare before the gates closed on the flight to England. While we were all prepared for a quick dash to the gates, running through not just one wing of the airport, but five, with all of our bags was not quite on our itinerary for the day. Nevertheless, we made it huffing and puffing to the gate where Derick was using strategic stalling tactics to delay the plane.

Once we were all finally settled, the flight consisted of a lot of free movies, games, some excited glances out the window for those who were flying for the first time, and a sadly negligible amount of sleep. After a long flight and a very short night, we went through customs at London’s Heathrow airport and then took a coach from London to the beautiful Harlaxton Manor.

Once settled we had a walk-through tour exploring all of the hidden rooms and secret passageways of our new home. Our first day back together was definitely a long one (about 36 hours by my count), but it was a great and definitely unforgettable one.