Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Day One: A CRAZY Schedule and an Awe-Inspiring Arrival!

            On our first night together, we met at Pray’s apartment and bonded over Chipotle for dinner. We then had a meeting where we discussed the day-to-day activities and split up responsibilities, such as blogging and cooking. At Pray’s apartment we did some last minute packing and were surprised to discover that a suitcase alone can weigh 10lbs! It took a lot longer than we thought to pack all the food we would need, and it didn’t help that the scale kept reading out “error.” In the end, we put food in random carry-ons and brought a bin full of bread onto the airplane.

            Our day of travel started at 4 AM. We all met up at Stamp by 4:45 to find that our shuttle driver had the wrong pick up time. We waited in the cold for about an hour, and then had to split up into two shuttles. Upon arrival at the airport, we found out that our connecting flight to Charlotte had been cancelled. Everyone was already so stressed by being late from the shuttle delay, so having a cancellation created even more chaos. In the end, it ended up being a relief since we would not have made our original flight, and we all flew to Miami and then to Nassau.
           
            When we first arrived in Nassau we were all just in awe at how beautiful the sights were, and understood why it is such a popular tourist destination. The moment we stepped foot on the island (and even on the airplane for that matter) we immediately started taking what is already a complete photo album for some—and it’s only the first day! The airport itself was also beautiful in and of itself, and a few of us were even amazed at how nice the restroom was.

            We got on our shuttle to the hotel after the airport, only to find a random tourist had also joined our group on the bus. He was escorted off while we were on the open road! The first thing we noticed here was that we were driving on the other side of the road. We also noticed Subway’s, KFC’s, and a Hilton hotel. We got to the hotel and struggled to figure out how to get in and noticed a parrot in the lobby. We all rushed to get to our rooms and drop our stuff off, the first thing we all did was get the WiFi password so we can update Instagram with all our beautiful photos of the Bahamas. Going to downtown Nassau, we saw a lot of culture clashing between the east and west, but it was great to see a good balance between modern and traditional cultures.


            There were a few mix-ups with our dinner plans. We didn’t really know that things would close so early so we ended up having to order food and didn’t end up eating until around 8. The schedule here is a lot different than what we are used to back in the States.  We ended up enjoying a nice Chinese take-out meal on the roof of the hotel. After dinner we had reflection and talked about our plans for tomorrow.

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