After our last (once again, incredible) week full of incredible youth, it is time for us to say good bye.
I have been so emotional the last few days. I just couldn't imagine leaving this place. I was so happy that we had such a great group our last week here!
After insane amounts of cleaning and packing and two of us staying up until 2:30 in the morning packing the kitchen... it was finally time to leave.
We got to San Juan fairly late, probably around 10:30. After only getting 5 hours of sleep the night before, I was incredibly ready for bed. However, once we got to the city I had to track down some TSA officers and talk to them about the fact that I didn't have any photo identification (because it had been stolen a few weeks prior) and see if what I had would suffice. After that, I had to wait for my team to get back, to find out that someone had left some very important things back at the church in Arecibo. So, Jenna and I went to the hotel and tried to take as much stuff into the rooms as possible so that we wouldn't have to deal with it after we took the van back to the rental place. After getting that situated we got to the rental place, around 11:45. Once we get there we have a very small debacle where they were going to charge us a ridiculous amount because we had returned the cars in San Juan and not in Arecibo. But, we got that figured out and then had an awesome conversation with the lady that was working the counter. After getting everything figured out and fixed we were then just waiting on the bus to take us back to the airport hotel.
Apparently Jenna and I are just incredibly easy to talk to because the bus driver decided to tell us his life story and we had a wonderful conversation with him as well! We finally made it back to the hotel around 1:30 and tried to get some sleep... I got woken up around 2 because I had to switch rooms. Then had to get up at 2:30 so that I could make it to the airport by 3 so that I could talk to the security people about getting on the plane without photo ID.
FINALLY got through security (which took only 2 minutes and the website told us to prepare for an hour and a half long process...) and got to the gate and decided to try and take a short nap. I got to nap for about half an hour and it was GLORIOUS! I was pretty proud of myself because I had a ridiculous amount of stuff, mine and Adrienne's, to guard but I was so tired that I just wanted to sleep. So, being the smart guy that I am, I put everything that needed guarded on one seat and then I sat in one seat with my legs over the other seat and held some stuff to my chest so that I could sleep and still make sure that no one took anything. Worked wonderfully!
We made it to Minneapolis with little to no problems. I tried so hard to sleep on the plane... but I was just too exhausted to sleep.
We had the rest of Sunday and all of Monday for Exit Ramp. It was incredible! I loved it! I realized that I most likely have the best Area in the MidStates. With some poor decision making on my part... I had some very late nights and some pretty early mornings at Exit Ramp... oops.
The last day I stayed up until 1:30 hanging out and saying good bye to everyone and then had to be up by 4:30 to make my bus. I decided to go home by bus because it would be cheapest and I wouldn't have to deal with showing my lack of identification. I BARELY made it onto my bus. I showed up as it was leaving and thankfully it was waiting on someone else so I was in the clear.
While on the bus I was able to sleep... a little... but I missed my stop and stayed on my bus for far too long. I ended up in Kansas City. After sitting in the bus station for a while I got ridiculously bored and the fact that it was 12:00 and my bus wasn't coming until 10:30 was very daunting. So, I decided to take a walk and walked around downtown Kansas City, Missouri for a little while. I found a nice restaurant and ate there and used their Wifi for a bit.
Then when they closed at 3:30 I continued walking around to look for a grocery store with a coffee shop that the people at the restaurant told me about. While I was walking a man asked me if I was homeless (don't worry he did ask me for a dollar after he found out I wasn't homeless)... I hadn't showered in a day and a half and also hadn't shaved for about 4 or 5 days and I had a backpack and a pillowcase with my belongings in it. I was a little offended at first, but then I saw my reflection in a window and realized that I did in fact look homeless. I found the grocery store then, I just hung out there for a bit so that I could get out of the sun and the heat.
After sitting at the grocery store for a couple hours I made my way back to the bus station for the bus at 10:30. The bus at 10:30 was way full so they didn't let me on. There was another one coming at 2:30 though so... you know no big deal. Luckily I found some pretty cool people to talk to and that made the time for faster. Although, at this point I was just so tired that I wanted to die.
