| Space Camp |
| By Alli |
| Thursday, July 17, 2003 low rumbles shook the ground as Delta flight 1676 departed from the Portland International Airport at 8:25 a.m. This flight would take my mom, dad and myself to Atlanta, Georgia. We would then ride on another plane to Huntsville, Alabama where we would spend the next week. I would stay at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center where I was to attend Space Camp while my parents would stay at the Hampton Inn Hotel and vacation. This was the beginning of the most amazing week of my life. On our first flight, which was five hours and nineteen minutes long, we were given breakfast. Each breakfast bag contained milk, cereal, yogurt, a granola bar, a banana and a small water bottle, not to mention the spoon and napkin. I do not understand why people complain about airplane food; what I had was great. This was a very large plane. The seats were two on the left, three in the middle and two on the right. I sat in the very middle of plane. Later on in the flight, they showed a movie, Head of State. I did not watch it. I slept. Apart from sleeping, the only way to stay entertained was to play cards with my mom, which we did for a few hours. This flight was the longest, and probably the most boring flight we were on. We arrived in Atlanta at 4:09 p.m. eastern time. Our second flight that day was Delta flight 725 to Huntsville, Alabama. This flight was one hour and two minutes long. We had no food served to us except for a small bag of pretzels. There was no movie. I did not mind since I had a window seat. I watched the clouds drift by and the beauty of the land when it was visible. We eventually landed in Huntsville at 5:57 p.m. central time. All that was left to do that day was to rent our car and find the hotel. That was simple enough, but as we left the airport, I realized how different Huntsville was from home. Huntsville was hot and humid, Lebanon is hot and dry. People spoke differently, everything was yes or no ma'am, yes or no sir. It was all a matter of respect. I shall not forget the accents; some people had strong southern accents, others sounded like we do in Oregon. Have you ever heard of southern hospitality? It is not a lie. Everyone was very kind and helpful. I should mention that Huntsville has wonderful museums. I didn't have the chance to travel around as much as my parents, but from what I hear, everything is greatly geared towards kids. According to my mom, this is the kind of place one would want to raise a family. The next day I was up and ready to go to camp. I was somewhat anxious about going, but I knew that when I got there I would relax. We took my bags out to the car and headed to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. It was hard to miss because of the vast, full size model, Saturn 5 rocket. As soon as that came into view my heart jumped; I was almost there. My mom parked the car, and we unloaded my suitcases. We checked in at the gate and walked back to Hab 1, my home for the next seven days. I checked in there and got my team information as well as my name tag and dorm number. All I paid any attention to was my room number, 407. I grabbed my bed sheets, and the flight suit and clothing packages that I ordered. I walked up the stairs to the fourth floor. My room happened to be right next to the staircase. I opened the door to find another person already in there making herself at home. I put my stuff on the floor next to the bed I had chosen and began to get organized. I introduced myself to my roommate. Her name was Sarah. I asked if it was her first time to camp as well. She said that it was her seventh time coming. When she said this, I got the impression not only from her answer but from the way she said it that she was stuck-up. She asked me what team I was on. I looked at my name tag and tried to pronounce the name. Sheknew which one it was and announced that we were on the same team. Great I thought, but acted delighted. After my things were put away, I looked closer at my name tag. It said that my track was pilot. That was not the track I signed up for, nor the one I wanted. I have to get this fixed, I thought. How was I going to do it? I had to speak with the person who gave my tag to me. He directed me to another person. I told her that I signed up for a mission specialist but that's not the track I was put into. All of the mission specialist tracks were filled. I asked about a payload specialist. She could give me one of those positions but asked why I didn't want to be a pilot. I told her that I didn't want to fly. I wanted to do the experiments. She understood and changed my team and position. I was now a payload specialist on the Von Braun team. I was glad I did not have to be on Sarah's team. |
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