Day 15 Saturday, September 26th (K.S.)

 

Throughout the week, we had all been talking about how bad the weather was going to be on Saturday. Naturally, when I woke up on Saturday, I expected it to be pouring rain and very windy. To my surprise, however, it was only cloudy and drizzling slightly.

A little later, we headed to Boston College for the tailgate. When we arrived, it had started to rain a bit, and we were lucky that my exchange student’s sister and her friends had set up their tailgate inside a garage. After meeting her sister and her friends, eating, and talking for a while, we moved to their dorm because the rain had become much heavier. They had also stopped letting people into the garage, including some of their friends.

Seeing the culture surrounding college football and student life was eye-opening because we do not really have anything similar in Switzerland. It was interesting to experience how much excitement and community there was around a college football game, even though the weather was getting worse.

On the way back to the house, we stopped at Five Below and Target for some last-minute shopping. In the end, we basically bought nothing but candy and snacks. Around 5:45 p.m., I said goodbye to their dog, which was quite sad, and then we headed to the airport. Before leaving, we took some last-minute pictures with our exchange students under the flags. Then we all said goodbye to one another, knowing that we would not see each other again for another six months.

When we were waiting at our gate, the plane was already delayed, and we were all tired from the long day. Then came an announcement that shocked all of us: our flight would not be serving any food. We later learned that this was because of the storm and the fact that the catering cart could not safely be brought onto the plane. We therefore went to an overpriced, tiny shop at the airport and bought some snacks to take with us.

The next day, after barely sleeping, we all woke up hungry since none of us had eaten dinner. I think I slept for a maximum of two hours during the flight. To ease our hunger, the crew offered us some small snacks that they had on board. I ended up eating a bag of pretzels that I had bought at the airport, a bar of Kägi, and a small bag of popcorn. At the time, I was quite upset and hungry, but looking back, I think it was the right decision not to serve a full meal. Otherwise, the flight might have been cancelled because of the storm. The pilot even told us that this was the first time anything like this had happened during his 35-year career.

After we landed, we were in what felt like a flow state and flew through passport control and baggage claim in record time. We then had some time before our train departed, so we bought some food and headed to the station.

On the train, most of us, including me, took a nap. Surprisingly, I felt like that short nap was more effective than the sleep I had gotten on the plane. After everything we had experienced, we were all exhausted, but there was also a feeling of relief that we were finally on our way home.

When we arrived in Basel, I was sad that our wonderful journey to Boston had come to an end. At the same time, I was excited to finally head home, see my parents, and, most importantly, get some proper sleep.