When I said long, I didn't actually mean LOOOOONG.....

Wow! What a trip traveling.

First the bus left late, then we got stuck in traffic. By the time we got to the airport there was less than an hour to check our bags, go through security, and then run to the farthest gate in the farthest terminal! The airport was crowded and everyone was was nasty beyond belief. The woman checking our bags kept on yelling at us and made sure that Garay, the director of the trip knew that next time we had to get there earlier. She threw my bags on the carrier and snapped," Who knows what they are doing, you or me? when I asked for my bag check tickets.

The trip to Chicago and the layover was fine. The trip to Frankfurt was fine too. Advil PM is amazing stuff, I actually slept most of the way. It was after we landed in Frankfurt that the drama began.

First one guy left the group. After waiting around for about half an hour, a mysterious man came over to us with a note stating that the guy went to visit an old friend and would meet us at the gate for the departure.

Then a woman on the trip said that she was going to meet a professor of hers and left.

The rest of us met up with two German Middle Eastern Studies majors and went to a HUGE breakfast and walking tour of Frankfurt. We went to an enormous cathedral, and then to some Roman ruins. Afterwards we had 2 hours free. Most people went shopping, a couple went to a pub, I went to a street fair. It turns out that it was, "Keep the Nazis out of Frankfurt Day" There was a parade with singers in native dress from around the world dancing, singing, and holding hands. Signs and banners proclaimed peace between the races. I couldn't have chosen a better day to be in Frankfurt.

Later we went to a Mosque. It was the first time I was ever in one, and was intrigued with the Arabic script and the tile floor. Yet I was exhausted was we sat and listened to the man explain its history and symbols. I kept nodding off, and was horribly embarrassed. Yet as I looked around, everyone else in our group was falling asleep also. It was at that time that I realised that it was about 4 in the morning by my internal clock and that we had been up for 30 hours! No wonder I was having problems keeping my eyes open!

By the time we got back to the airport, hardly anyone could stand. No matter how unbelievable it is, I was actually looking forward to the airplane trip. I figured that at least I would be able to sit and sleep. Yet, exhausted beyond belief, once we hit the airport we learned that we had lost a one woman on the subway and the one who went to meet her professor had not returned. I ended up going back through the subway to look for the lost woman. (I was the only one with any German since the students had left by then.) As I was looking for her,I found her on a train going back to the airport, she had fallen asleep and gone 10 stops too far! Naaaa, we weren't tired, were we?

Yet back in the airport there was less luck. The woman who went to meet her professor never showed up, they held the plane for her for a while but eventually we had to leave without her.

Although I felt badly, I was excited to be able to sit down. My seat mates were a Muslim woman and her little girl. I just naturally assumed that they were Jordanian. So you know me, I couldn't just sit there. I had to play and interact with the child. After many games of lines and boxes, as well as impromptu Arabic/English lessons, we all fell asleep. The little girl with her head in my lap. We awoke as we were starting to land in Amman. As the plane's wheels touched the ground, she smiled and gently kissed me on the cheek.

As we left the airport she came over to say good bye and gave me a hug. Then she said something in Arabic. Her mother translated for me. "I thought all Americans were evil, like the soldiers who killed my father." It turns out that they were Iraqi refugees.

Both her mother and I stood there in tears.