A day that is finally ending

Since we have not slept between Wednesday and Thursday, I am having some difficulty deciding from what time exactly to begin this blog. I will begin with what occurred at 12:00 AM. Apparently, the plane from Chicago to Syracuse was scheduled to depart before we even arrived at Chicago. From the moment we arrived at Chicago, we were wasting our time – 7 hours of it. After waiting hours at the Chicago airport and discovering that our flight was cancelled, we headed upstairs where we proceeded to wait in a line that was 70 people long (according to the very observant Dyana). Not only was my back and shoulders in immense ache, but also our spirits. What we thought as a funny experience soon turned into a nightmare; ironically we were not even fortunate enough to actually have a nightmare, as we all attempted to sleep on the airport’s very dirty floor.



Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kaplan, of course, were trying their best to discover a solution for the problem, as they called people up and looked up possible flights online. The seven of us found a corner on the floor and situated our belongings. Although some were already sleeping on the benches or on the floor, the rest of us busied ourselves by chatting, making videos, playing cards on the floor, and roaming the empty halls of the airport. At around 4:30 AM, Mr. Ramsey informed us that we were heading to Hartford, Connecticut at 4:00 PM. The only question was, what in God’s name were we going to do for 12 hours? We packed up our belonging and migrated to the Hilton Hotel, which was not so far away from the lobby. We sat at the Hilton’s lobby and waited until 6:00 AM to eat breakfast. Everyone was so incredibly tired, as I am again, finally, sitting as I write, at 2:30 AM on the 25th, writing for the 24th, in the wonderfully comfortable and air-conditioned hotel room with Andrew Gonzalez in my room in the Sheraton Hotel in Syracuse. Why? Because I have nothing better to do this late, sitting in a dreamy bed fit for a king, packed with four pillows your head could sink into and sheets that could hug you until you knock out…



Anyways, we stayed at the Hilton from 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM, attempting to catch up on 24 hours of sleep. But no, it was not that easy. Our room was not yet available, and Andrew Woo and I ended up waiting until 9:30 AM, while taking turns sleeping on the lobby chair. I slept for about 4 hours in the room, while Andrew played on his computer. The reason that we did not get the room until 2 ½ hours later was because I was informed the room was not ready; it was constantly being delayed 20 minutes for cleaning. This would be completely unacceptable for Isadore Sharp, who always makes sure his customers are top priority. Obviously, they were not giving us the proper service. Anyhow, we left a bit early to grab some lunch at the airport and then we headed to the gate to finally board the plane to Hartford.



While I will not describe in full detail the inconceivable sickness that I was feeling on that flight, though only 1 hour and 36 minutes long, and the sweat beads that were dripping down my forehead as I was virtually readying myself to vomit which, proudly, I did not, I will say we safely landed at Connecticut at around 7:30 PM, as the flight was delayed. From then, we grabbed two cars, one guided by Ms. Kaplan and ridden by me, Jacky, Andrew G. and Dyana, the other guided by Mr. Ramsey, who drove Beilul, Andrew W, and Alex. Honestly, I thought the 4 hour ride from Hartford to Syracuse would be unbearable.

I can say, with complete candor that, as my roommate, Andrew Gonzales says, the ride was “shmacking.” We had so much fun singing to songs and playing a little game of “who will get their first” with the other car. On the way, we stopped at Roy Rogers, a nice burger joint, at around 10:20 PM and actually posted our blogs for the 23rd. It’s funny that only 4 hours later, we are about to post the blog for the next day, which is not even today. We finally arrived at the Sheraton in Syracuse at 1:20 AM, due to some miscommunication and a sudden change of route, which was provided by the extremely resourceful Jacky, who I have to say, was awesome in arranging a bunch of things these past two days. And now, here I am, still, at 3:01 AM, sitting on the bed, after taking a much needed shower (by the way, our luggage was waiting at the Hotel). Without further ado, although nothing went according to plan today, and although I am dying for a professional massage right now, I will sum up today with one word: priceless.