Fun at the airport!  From L to R: Chiara T., Morgan T., Gretta L., Lillie H., Brooklyn G., and Anna P.


                                            Look who got her wings!  (Spoiler alert: it's Gretta L.)

Waiting for our flight!  Bottom row L to R: Alexis R., Morgan T., Brooklyn G., Anna P., and Kristen S.

Top row L to R: Lillie H., Ashley M., Chiara T., Kacy G., Kallen K., Meta T., and Gretta L.

(Not pictured are Helena C., Alivia D., Sam M., and Danette L.  The latter three are doing great, however!  And Helena is already in South Africa!)

As I type this post, it is 4:35 PM EST in Atlanta, Georgia.  Our flight is scheduled to leave at 9 PM EST for South Africa!  The students are excited!  We started the day by meeting at the Sioux Falls Airport at 3:30 AM to check in for our flight to Atlanta.  The check-in process went smoothly but we were delayed a few hours because of weather.  However, no worries.  We had a long layover in Atlanta so we had no risk of missing our flight to South Africa.  We arrived in Atlanta around 11:30 AM EST.  We spent this time exploring the airport, playing cards, sleeping, laughing, and relaxing before our long flight to Johannesburg (16 hours).  It will be a long flight but we will be fed several times, watch movies, and hopefully get some sleep.

Helena C. has already arrived in Johannesburg from Brazil and she is doing well!  The rest of the class cannot wait to meet her in person.  Next time you hear from us, we should be in Johannesburg to begin our adventure.  We should arrive ~7 PM local time.  We will then transport from the airport to the hotel in Centurion, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Everyone is doing well!  As a reminder for families and friends, the USA (central time) is 7 hours behind South Africa; therefore, if it's 6 PM CST in Brookings, it's 1 AM in Johannesburg.

See you in South Africa!

Michael Gonda
 

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