Departure

The Departure

As I prepare to leave Peoria for the departure from Champaign, I am rechecking my list. I packed my bags after class and prepared to head towards Eureka, where Kristen, Steve, and I carpooled to Champaign. As I got into my car, I had an epiphany regarding several things I forgot. Therefore, I ran back inside, grabbed the remainder of my things and hurried out the door. Once I got to Eureka, Kristen and I ran to the store, grabbed a few items we needed for the train, and went back to her place to meet with Steve. At this point, we began our hour and a half journey to Champaign. In the car, we sang the entire way, and talked about our upcoming semester. The ride went by very quickly, and when we arrived to the train station, we had trouble finding the parking lot. We circled around for what seemed like twenty minutes looking for the right parking spot. When we finally found it, we walked with our abundance of bags in the freezing cold, inside the train station. Once we were in the train station, we waited, and waited. We blogged a little, took photos, and just talked about the 17 hour train ride that awaited us. At one point, we were so bored, Andrew left to go find cards. We were lucky that the train was late, because we weren't sure if he would make it back on time. As we were getting ready to leave, Andrew could not find his wallet anywhere. We looked everywhere, and even retraced his steps. After about five minutes, he realized it was in his pocket, which was a sign of relief. Given that I was nervous about the train ride, I continued to try to distract myself, watching the sights and sounds around me. In the corner, there was an Amish couple reading their bibles, keeping to themselves. There were also a group of African American females in the other corner. Everyone was seemingly segregated, prior to getting on the train.

Finally, our train arrived and we were able to board. There was some complications with the seating arrangements and everyone being able to sit together, but we finally got settled. I packed all of my carry ons away, and get comfortable in my chair. I can sleep, anywhere, anytime, regardless of the situation. Therefore I went right to sleep on the train. The day was exhausting, so I slept the majority of the night. When I woke up early in the morning, I realized that I was the only one awake so I laid back down and eventually fell back asleep, listening to music. This was my first time on a train, so I continued to watch my surroundings. When it came time to eat, Steve and I went to the food cart, which honestly was not that great. It was overpriced and did not taste great. I wasn't expecting much, so it's not like I was let down. The ride went by seemingly fast, considering I slept the majority of the ride. We finally arrived to New Orleans, and made our way to our hotels.

"This sounds like a bad time to cut an avocado."

Let's be real. At this time, I was freaking out. I actually began to cry as I left my apartment, only because I was sad about leaving my cats behind. This is why I could never be a parent. I left four hours early, just because I was so anxious and needed to get out of the house. I went to Kristen's house early, and we went to go pick up few things up that we needed for the train ride. I was grateful that we were able to sing, chat, and have a good time on the way up because this enabled me to relax a little bit, easing my anxiety for the train ride to come. Once we arrived at the train station, all I could think about was getting onto the train and getting settled, but it seemed that ten thousand things got in the way. First, we couldn't find the proper parking lot. Then we found out our train was slightly delayed. Then Andrew lost his wallet, which just stressed me out even though it wasn't my problem. I was high strung from the beginning and just wanted to curl up and fall asleep. To distract myself, I started people watching at the train station. I noticed the Amish couple in the corner, reading their bibles. This calmed me a little bit, given that I related with them. I also had my bible in my bag, and this brought me comfort. At one point, I look over and see Andrew attempting to slice an avocado with a plastic knife, which was quite entertaining. I was looking for anything to distract myself. Finally, our train arrived and I was able to get on and get settled. At this moment, I was relaxed and fell asleep quickly. I did not stay up to socialize with the others, I passed out within an hour of getting on the train.

The next day, I woke up to everyone walking around the train, going to get breakfast, and socializing. Given that I have severe motion sickness, I remained in my seat for almost the entire trip. I tried to make the most of it, and surprisingly it wasn't that bad of a ride. Driving through Mississippi and Louisiana was quite eye opening. I looked out the train window and see so much poverty and destruction. Maybe it was the area that we were in, but it appeared that everything was very beaten down. This is surprisingly what I expected it to look like, given the medias representation of the South. We saw people sleeping under bridges, covered with nothing but trash bags. There was trash and broken down houses, boarded up all over. Other than some birds, I saw no signs of life. This wasn't surprising, but it seemed as if this area was uninhabitable. Throughout this area, there was a ridiculous amount of water surrounding us. Not only the Mississippi, but other small bodies of water. I am terrified of water, so at this time I covered my eyes and distracted myself. I have always had a fear of water, and wasn't aware the train would go over the water that closely. This was towards the end of the trip, therefore I knew it was almost over. Finally we arrived, and I could breathe again.