Nervous energy

By Ignacio Marquez

Day one of the SJI program and I can’t help to feel a little nervous. I would be more nervous if it wasn’t for the small case of jet lag that hit me on the coming from Los Angeles to St. Petersburg, Fla. Headaches are plentiful, but I feel somewhat refreshed, especially after averaging 12-hour sleeping patterns after finishing my undergraduate work about a week ago.
The road to Florida was weird, annoying because I vomited on my way to the airport. I barely made it on time to LAX. After getting through the TSA line and their X-ray vision, I made it to the plane without knowing that a delay was to ensue. Some hatch in the plane was not closing properly and delay my departure time by almost 30 minutes, which would be a problem once arrived in Miami. I am scheduled to arrive at Miami International Airport at about 3:20 p.m., which was the exact time my flight to Tampa was beginning to board. And what happened next? Well it took me about 25 minutes to get off the plane because my seat was in the back. It was about 3:41 p.m. when I got off the plane and I needed to get to Gate 42 before 3:50 p.m… I was in Gate five. Yeah I was not going to make it unless I had a red and yellow superhero jumpsuit with a lightning bolt across my chest. I ran as fast as I could, took the Airtrain at Gate 18 to the last stop. The plane was on time and I was left sweating and sicker than before. There was nothing I could do and went to the American Airlines help desk to see if I could get in a later flight. Luckily for me, there was a flight boarding in the next hour so I was able to get on that with no more problems. I called Sandy Rosenbush right after that because she was going to pick me up at the airport. She did not sound too happy on the phone and I was officially that one person with the flight issue. I was the last to show at Poynter, which was not bad after I meet the rest of the class. Really cool people here. It was great to finally meet Greg Lee and Sandy in person after several emails. As nervous as I was coming in and the little I am now, I am excited to get things started. Getting to sleep was a difficult task after walking around the city and meeting fellow class members. Losing three hours due to west-to-east coast time zone difference was the biggest obstacle. While everyone was asleep at 2 a.m. EST, I was still in Pacific Time. Not tired at all. I was still panting and breathing heavily after the flights, but it was good to be here.