Long Night

Because of a combination of not wanting to pay for wireless Internet and doing the bulk of my writing on the planes, I decided to post yesterday’s news today from here in Denmark. Sorry it’s a bit out of date, but here’s the lowdown on our journey here:

10:47 a.m. CST, Thursday, March 12
Sitting in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport right now. Dollie Pinegar, a sophomore, is nervous about her first-ever plane ride and is almost to the point of tears. Fellow choir members are using coffee and reassuring words to ease her anxiety.

Still practicing music in the downtime. Ryan in the Minneapolis airport.

12:30 p.m. CST, Thursday, March 12
Before take-off, junior Brandon Spencer is informing all of us as to what is available in the Sky Mall catalog.

Some of the award winners, in no particular order:
A customized steak brander. Brandon claims if he had that he’d “brand more than just steaks.”
A statue of three meerkats entitled, “The Meerkat Gang.” A worthy piece of art that can be yours for just $50! Plus shipping and handling…
The Neck Pro Traction Device. We don’t really know what this is, but there’s a picture of a guy whose neck is suspended by some kind of a swing hanging from the ceiling…I won’t go into the speculations we made after the discovery of this … product.

12:49 p.m. CST, Thursday, March 12
While Dollie sat back and relaxed with the help of some prescription muscle relaxants when our plan took off, Danielle McKinney, English freshman, was a little beside herself since it was her first plane ride, also.

So, we talked about English classes at Grand View, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Steinbeck and “The Grapes of Wrath” among other things. Before she knew it, we were up in the air, and when I opened the windows, she responded with, “That wasn’t so bad.”

Everyone else seems to be doing just fine, too. We’ll land in Atlanta, where the temperatures are just around 70 degrees, in a little more than two hours. It won’t be for very long, but I can’t wait to feel that warmth on my skin.

4:01 p.m. EST, Thursday, March 12
We made it to Atlanta and it’s sweltering inside of the airport, quite a change from the frigid temperatures of Minneapolis and Iowa! However, not exactly a welcomed chane as many of us were wearing sweaters and jackets, which left us nearly hyperventilating. We’ll be boarding our eight-hour flight to Copenhagen in about 30 minutes.

McKenzie's first this trip. Apparently, that's nothing.

8 p.m. CST, Thursday, March 12; 2 a.m. Denmark time, Friday, March 13
Currently, we’re over Canada, after traveling more than 2,200 kilometers. We have a little over 5 hours until we reach Copenhagen. We’ll be hitting the ocean soon. It seems like everyone has settled into their surroundings in the plane. I, however, am running out of Miles Davis songs to listen to, which could be a very bad thing.

12:20 a.m. CST, Thursday, March 12; 6:20 a.m. Denmark time, Friday March 13
We’re now flying over Ireland and Scotland now, according to the large map on the screen in the plane. I don’t think many people from our group have gotten much sleep. Anna and I are sitting near the restrooms, and a lot of our fellow travelers have passed by and said they’re too uncomfortable to sleep.

Audrey Swanson says she’s too afraid her snoring will wake the sleeping plane of people. She claims it’s that bad, which is something I’d like to see and tell about: “Des Moines girl wakes, angers entire plane with snoring.”

But the man from Sweden sitting next to me has done just fine in getting plenty of sleep, which leaves me feeling jealous. Not to mention, after they stopped showing movies, the television show selections have been pretty terrible. “Everybody Hates Chris,” I mean, really? Is that even still a show? Our official first day in Denmark could end up being a very long day for all of us.

8:07 a.m. Denmark Time Friday, March 13, 2009
In Denmark now. Most of us didn’t sleep through the plane ride.