Before I came to China, I knew that the trip would be exciting.

However, I didn’t expect the plane ride to get here would be eventful.

Before I left for the airport, I was preparing myself for the inevitable 15-hour flight ahead. I got to the airport and met the rest of the group, and we boarded onto the plane at four, as scheduled.

Our plane left the gate and got in line with the other planes, ready to take off. Right as it was about to be our turn to get on the runway, a stewardess announces the plane is experiencing mechanical errors and they're doing their best to fix them as soon as possible.

Five hours later, the crew decided to return the plane back to the gate and let us off, telling us the flight would be at 10:30 p.m.

After sitting in the airport for about an hour, we were told they were placing all passengers in a hotel and our flight would be rescheduled to 4 p.m. Our group, along with most of our flight ,took shuttles to a hotel nearby and settled in.

I wish I could say we had the chance to relax and catch up on some sleep to prepare for the next day’s flight, but only hours after we were placed in the hotel, the airline called the hotel and told them to alert all of the passengers the plane was repaired.

Even though it was 2 a.m., the airline scheduled for the flight to be at
4:45 a.m. Everyone from our group, some who had fallen asleep, rushed
to get our things together and catch a shuttle back to the airport.

By the time we got onto the airplane for the second time, all of us were delirious with exhaustion. Thankfully, there were no problems the second time around, and we left on time.

We made it to Jinan with two hours to spare before our connecting flight, something we were anxious we would miss due to the delays back in New York.

We finally arrived at Shangdong University 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and got the chance to finally breathe.

— Katie Haughey, a junior psychology major