It was just over 6 years ago that I packed up after my first summer running my own site in Los Angeles. It had been a fun and exhausting summer. I was responsible to get half of my staff to the airport that morning, we had a very early flight to catch! I made the arrangements, but nothing prepared me for what would happen that morning.
The Super Shuttle called around 4:30 a.m. to give me a 20 minute warning. I had already been up for about 30 minutes. I wanted to be sure that I had time to do a final sweep of my room and wake up the staff and get them moving. I went down the hallway and knocked on all the doors.
I learned that they had been out late at a bar/restaurant the night before and didn't get in until after 2 a.m. On one hand, I can't blame them, they had worked hard all summer and deserved every last minute to celebrate together. It would be their last night together as a staff. Half of them would be returning to the East Coast, leaving the remaining staff on the West Coast. On the other hand, we couldn't miss our flight!
I didn't mind that they were all groggy getting their last minute items packed, brushing their teeth, and wiping their eyes.
What I did mind was walking into the room of Scott (my brother) and Michael (counselor at the time, current coordinator) and seeing the entire thing in disarray. Scott had his suitcases lined up ready to go. Michael looked like he had not packed a thing!
In fact, he was still in bed, even after the 2nd time I checked on everyone.
I shook him awake and said, "Michael, get up!!!! You have 15 minutes until the shuttle comes."
"MMMMMM...." he groaned.
"Why didn't you pack anything last night?" I asked in a panicked tone.
"I was too tired," he mumbled back.
I walked away. Five minutes later I returned to their room and Scott was helping Michael throw clothes into suitcases. They were balled up, some with hangers still on them. The room was still in disarray.
Now Michael was awake and starting to panic.
"Danielle, the suit case won't close!" he yelled.
So what did we do? Like any sane person would do at 4:45 a.m. when your airport shuttle is minutes away, we sat on it. Actually, more like jumped on it.
Scott and I both sat on Michael's suitcase as he tried to get the zipper closed.
"Michael, you have to take the clothes off the hangers and leave them here."
"But I bought these," he whined.
"I'm sure someone else can use them, or you can leave your clothes that don't fit... up to you." I was direct and to the point. That's all I could do. I walked out, leaving Michael and Scott to deal with the disaster at hand.
I gathered everyone and started telling them to go downstairs to the shuttle. They started moving in that direction. Scott even pulled one of Michael's closed suitcases.
I checked on him once more, and the suitcase had magically closed. He was triumphant and I couldn't help but laugh.
While it was an eventful morning, we all made our flight on time back to Philadelphia. Pretty much everyone slept on the plane, it was well-deserved rest, and the end to a successful summer.
Does anyone else have good stories they was to share about Study Tours? You can leave them in the comments or send me an email at eventssimplifieddr@gmail.com.