Tales from the airport

Hello from Africa! After nightmare upon catastrophe upon fiasco upon disaster getting here, the city is really interesting. On Thursday morning (still in DC) we went from our hotel in Arlington to Reagan National Airport to arrive around 8:15 for a 10:40 flight to JFK Airport in New York City. After checking our baggage, we went to our gate and waited. Our plane was delayed until noon. We waited more, and it was delayed again until 2 and then again until 5, and then only after 5 was it canceled entirely. Then our group leader, Christine, had to run around in a panic to try to get us onto another flight. (I was traveling with 10 other students; the other 10 had already caught flights to New York.) Our plane to Casablanca left JFK at 8:45, so it was unlikely that we would make it but there was still an 11 p.m. flight to catch. Finally we got on an 8:30 flight to JFK, landing there around 10:40. So then we had to run (literally) through the airport to the Royal Air Maroc check-in area with all our carry-ons (no one even tried to worry about our checked luggage, which just came yesterday). We had to beg them to hold the plane, then we ran through security and to the gate, getting on just in time. The flight to Casablanca was sevenish hours, then we had to wait about five hours in that airport for a flight to Marrakech. Then we finally got there, without our checked bags of course. Unfortunately I have to log off now to go back to Arabic class, but I will try to write another entry tomorrow or Wednesday with pictures. Ma-salam'a!