China

I didn't start packing until 2am the night before and I finally fell asleep around 3am. Unfortunately for me, my aunt's dog, Duffie, realized something was up and decided to sleep with me. I would usually be fine with this except I'm sleeping on a smaller-than-twin-size bed. I managed to push her enough that I had all of my body on the mattress but sleep still avoided me.
I woke up sometime before 7:20 but fell back asleep and woke up twenty minutes later. I managed some cereal and then I rearranged some items and I was off. I learned there had been an elevator all along for me to take down to the L platform... would have appreciated knowing that last summer but whatever. A man was kind enough to tell me as he carried my 42 lb suitcase down the first flight of stairs. I took the elevator for the second.
I don't know why people complain about the security at the airports. I always breeze through. I must take airplanes at off times on off days. Otherwise, people are whiners (and the fact I'm saying that says something about them).
I hung around and played my computer while I waited. One thing better about China is that the airport has free wifi whereas O'Hare did not. I was pretty bored for two hours.
And exhausted. I couldn't wait to board just so I could sleep. When I got seated I immediately situated myself to fall asleep. I actually missed the take-off, and considering how badly my left ear hurt when we landed I'm fairly impressed. However, over time my hips and lower back began to hurt and sleep was difficult. Especially at the end, I started to vocally whimper as I tried to find a comfortable position.
I found out there is absolutely no need to bring anything on the plane to occupy your time. There were a ton of movies to choose from, including two Jerry had bought me specifically for the plane ride. I ended up watching Dumbo, just because I couldn't remember the storyline. I also watched two Chinese movies "Love" and "Lovesick." Boy, did I need tissues! They were both really good. I tried knitting on the plane but of course I didn't have the right size needles. The flight even had games, audio-books, TV shows, and a couple other things but I wasn't interested in them enough to remember.
I landed an hour later than expected but I'm being picked up at 5 so I had an hour and a half to write this. When we landed I took my time getting off just to avoid the push. It's funny. I've only done this once but everything was exactly as I remembered. The airport was completely empty again. I swear I got off at the same gate because I made the same turn at the same kiosk. And then it hit me.
The smell.
I had forgotten this smell and when it hit me I realized China has a smell. I can't really describe it, but after just getting off a plane and feeling nauseous it wasn't a good smell. I'm slowly starting to get used to it but still I feel a little sick.
I grabbed my suitcase and walked to exit the customs area and into the airport lobby. Right there is where we've been told we'll be picked up and right there is basically where everyone is picked up. It's almost like walking a red carpet how everyone is staring at you. I managed to get through the mass of people at the end of the runway and immediately started walking to find the wireless station.
I knew exactly where to go.
I kid you not I walked right over here and found the exact wireless kiosk I used last year and am now sitting close to where I sat last year (I sat against the wall last time because I needed to plug in... which reminds me I forgot my adapter.. crap!). Considering how I walked around this entire place for over an hour and didn't get to the wireless station until the very end of my journey through the airport I'm pretty proud of myself! I walked around here like I did this all the time!
Anyway, I got my wireless information and my VPN almost didn't work but finally did. Thank goodness too because that would be just like last year for a piece of technology to not work as expected (except last year it was my phone).
So I'm here! Arrived safe and sound! It's 3am in Chicago and 4am in Atlanta so I don't expect anyone to read this for a while. By the time anyone does I should (hopefully) be on my way to my new school!