Airport Chronicles

It’s the night before our flight is scheduled to leave, currently 6AM, we’ve had previous pre-departure meetings talking about this exact day and yet I can’t fully realize that today is the day that we fly out for our study abroad experience! The last-minute packing and the anxiety of the flight keeps me up until the 8AM. My mom makes me some coffee, and I eat a last minute meal before heading over to KRACH. The bus will take us to Chicago O’Hare Airport where we will travel across the North Atlantic Ocean to Madrid, Spain. As we arrive to KRACH I feel the anxiety starts to build up, not because of the places we’ll visit but for the airplane ride. As I walk into the building, I see my other friends and instructors busy making sure their luggage is under the 50lb limit. The feeling of leaving grows stronger but it’s all made up by the fact that the flight is only a small portion of the great things we'll discover and learn more about on this journey. We finally board the bus to Chicago at 10:30AM and I say my goodbyes to my family.

(3:20PM) Finally arriving to our first hotel!

              We eventually arrive at the airport around 12:44PM. The airport is full of life and full of busy people. We check our luggage and finally reach our gate. Only to find out that our flight was delayed. Some friends and I decide to play UNO to pass the time. We finally board by 4:30PM and the anxiety for this plane ride is slowly catching up to me. I sit in my seat, 42E, and start talking with another student, which eases my anxiety. Time passes on the flight, and I start looking around the plane thinking to myself how truly special this study abroad is and what it really means to me. My family and I aren’t big travel people and on top of being a first-generation Latina student, opportunities like these truly help me put everything into perspective about how much of a privilege this truly is.

(3:50PM) Playing uno to pass the time:)

              The time change was something that still confuses me until now. We land in Spain at 8:20AM. Something I realized was how much more laid back our TSA experience was here. My friend and I decide to exchange some USD for Dirhams! This process was a little difficult for me to understand in the beginning, but only required my passport. Additionally, I learned how much more expensive it is to exchange currency at an airport! Finally, we start boarding our final flight at 11:20AM, and I am surprisingly not as nervous as the first! At this point in the day, I am feeling the heavy jetlag. I see it on my classmates faces, we’re all tired, dehydrated, hungry, and ready to go to Morocco. The landing for this flight was scarier to me than the first one, but I’m glad it was way shorter!

(8:34AM) Spain's airport surrounded by mountains!

              Finally, we arrive in Marrakech, Morocco at 1:20PM. One of the first things that I immediately noticed was the amount of palm trees that Morocco has! On our way to our hotel I also realized how much more hectic their streets were, filled with bikes, pedestrians, buses, and cars--surprisingly all knowing where they’re going, weaving through one another! Overall, today was a very tiring day but I truly enjoyed spending more time with my classmates and getting to know everyone a bit more before our true adventure begins!

(2:33PM) Look at all those palm trees!!