Day 1 begins at 1:00 AM on July 20, 2016. I am exhausted, but eager to begin the journey. We get onto the ULL bus with our luggage and begin the drive from Lafayette to New Orleans. I sat by Leah A., of whom I have been friends with for many, many years. A girl named Jenna yelled out "Praise The Lamb," instead of the common "Praise The Lord," and so the thoughts of "this will be a crazy trip" and our first inside joke as a group began. I remember noticing that I had two nuns sitting in front of me, and a priest right beside me; I felt content and calm as we drove off into the night.
As Leah began to slowly fall asleep, I remember mimicking her, and I was suddenly awoken as we hit a bump on I-10 East just outside of New Orleans. I couldn't believe I slept on a bus for over an hour, over the Atchafalaya Basin and through Baton Rouge. (It is very hard for me to sleep in places that do not include a full horizontal position.)
Soon enough, we arrived in New Orleans around 4:00 AM. When we got off the bus, I finally had a chance to see my fellow pilgrims' faces. I knew 12 of the 34 pilgrims on the trip, myself included. 4 of them were from my hometown of Alexandria, LA, and the other 8 I knew from Faith Camp, a Catholic Camp for JR. High Students, where I staffed with these people.
DISCLAIMER: I have never been on an airplane by this point in time so the following information is probably only comically relevant to people in my situation.
We checked in our check-in bags (duh), and proceeded to Security. First off, no one should have to be around when I remove my shoes. I awkwardly began to remove the money belt that I had strapped to my chest, and I removed my shoes (forgive me, Father), and put my liquids on the tray. Then, I walked through the scanner in my blessed sweat pants and "I'd rather be studying Theology" T-Shirt, along with my Benedictine Crucifix. (I was taking no chances of evil entering that plane.) The scanner buzzed, and apparently Jesus on the Crucifix was a problem with Security. The Guard asked me to hold up the Crucifix, and I held it up to his face as if I were performing an exorcism on his soul. He then pounded my chest, as if my 5 inch Crucifix were hiding something in my clothes, then let me go, as he soon realized I was an airport-ignorant Catholic 18 year old. (I am not trying to bash the Security officer here, I definitely appreciate the work he did for ensuring the safety of all that entered the flight.)
Next, I walk into the terminal and my stomach tells me that it wants breakfast. I, being completely obedient, searched for food. I found a muffin for 6 dollars, and, even though it tastes like soap, I eat it in its entirety. Finally, Sr. Fatima (our group leader) gives us our tickets. Anxiety stirs within me as I wonder who I will sit next to. After waiting a bit, we board the small plane, and I am sitting between two people, one person I do know, Emily P., and one person I don't, Dylan S.
The plane begins to take off after some brief safety lessons that are identical to every movie with a plane scene, and I enjoy the rush of the airplane as it speeds up on the runway. Short after that glee, I begin to worry that we are running out of runway, but, Praise the Lamb, the plane lifted off the ground and we began our ascent into the starry sky. I just pretended as if we were on another bus. I got to know Dylan a little bit more, as Emily, being typical Emily, slept in awkward positions the whole time, even though it was her first flight as well.
We land at the Newark airport in New Jersey, and we have a 7 hour layover. That speaks two things to me: food, and chapel. I ate, and ate, then spent some time in the chapel. I realized at this point, after reflecting, that the group of Pilgrims I was traveling with were special, and I was rally going to befriend them. Then our whole group had mass in the chapel, and I ate some more, then we boarded our next flight. The 8 hour flight to Berlin. Fun.
The plane was equipped with individual screens to watch movies and play games on. This flight was an overnight flight, so two meals were provided. In the duration of the flight, I watched a movie, and slept, and came to the realization of how fantastically disappointing airplane food is. We arrived in Berlin at 7:50 AM, with a crazy time change of 7 hours. Thus ends Day 1.
Nicholas Scalfano
As Leah began to slowly fall asleep, I remember mimicking her, and I was suddenly awoken as we hit a bump on I-10 East just outside of New Orleans. I couldn't believe I slept on a bus for over an hour, over the Atchafalaya Basin and through Baton Rouge. (It is very hard for me to sleep in places that do not include a full horizontal position.)
Soon enough, we arrived in New Orleans around 4:00 AM. When we got off the bus, I finally had a chance to see my fellow pilgrims' faces. I knew 12 of the 34 pilgrims on the trip, myself included. 4 of them were from my hometown of Alexandria, LA, and the other 8 I knew from Faith Camp, a Catholic Camp for JR. High Students, where I staffed with these people.
DISCLAIMER: I have never been on an airplane by this point in time so the following information is probably only comically relevant to people in my situation.
We checked in our check-in bags (duh), and proceeded to Security. First off, no one should have to be around when I remove my shoes. I awkwardly began to remove the money belt that I had strapped to my chest, and I removed my shoes (forgive me, Father), and put my liquids on the tray. Then, I walked through the scanner in my blessed sweat pants and "I'd rather be studying Theology" T-Shirt, along with my Benedictine Crucifix. (I was taking no chances of evil entering that plane.) The scanner buzzed, and apparently Jesus on the Crucifix was a problem with Security. The Guard asked me to hold up the Crucifix, and I held it up to his face as if I were performing an exorcism on his soul. He then pounded my chest, as if my 5 inch Crucifix were hiding something in my clothes, then let me go, as he soon realized I was an airport-ignorant Catholic 18 year old. (I am not trying to bash the Security officer here, I definitely appreciate the work he did for ensuring the safety of all that entered the flight.)
Next, I walk into the terminal and my stomach tells me that it wants breakfast. I, being completely obedient, searched for food. I found a muffin for 6 dollars, and, even though it tastes like soap, I eat it in its entirety. Finally, Sr. Fatima (our group leader) gives us our tickets. Anxiety stirs within me as I wonder who I will sit next to. After waiting a bit, we board the small plane, and I am sitting between two people, one person I do know, Emily P., and one person I don't, Dylan S.
The plane begins to take off after some brief safety lessons that are identical to every movie with a plane scene, and I enjoy the rush of the airplane as it speeds up on the runway. Short after that glee, I begin to worry that we are running out of runway, but, Praise the Lamb, the plane lifted off the ground and we began our ascent into the starry sky. I just pretended as if we were on another bus. I got to know Dylan a little bit more, as Emily, being typical Emily, slept in awkward positions the whole time, even though it was her first flight as well.
We land at the Newark airport in New Jersey, and we have a 7 hour layover. That speaks two things to me: food, and chapel. I ate, and ate, then spent some time in the chapel. I realized at this point, after reflecting, that the group of Pilgrims I was traveling with were special, and I was rally going to befriend them. Then our whole group had mass in the chapel, and I ate some more, then we boarded our next flight. The 8 hour flight to Berlin. Fun.
The plane was equipped with individual screens to watch movies and play games on. This flight was an overnight flight, so two meals were provided. In the duration of the flight, I watched a movie, and slept, and came to the realization of how fantastically disappointing airplane food is. We arrived in Berlin at 7:50 AM, with a crazy time change of 7 hours. Thus ends Day 1.
Nicholas Scalfano
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