Sports Changes Life challenged us to find our own way with pre-selected teams. I was on a team with Randyll and Jasmine. We had to make our way from Manhattan to Newark Airport. We came across many obstacles! At first we had the idea to take an Uber to the airport to make things the easiest. After our Uber driver couldn’t find us for 15 minutes he finally arrived. He then put my one of my two suitcases in the trunk before deciding everyone’s luggage (12 total bags) wasn’t going to fit and CANCELLED our ride. We then had to make our way through Manhattan to the subway station 10 blocks away during rush hour traffic. Not the brightest decision nor the easiest thing to accomplish. After being out of breath it felt great to sit down, after our crazy journey, on the train to New Jersey. After getting comfortable before the train took off, the train conductor saw us with our bags and quickly shared this train doesn’t go to the airport!! The information booth guy shared with us the wrong track! We then had to hurry back upstairs and find our right train! After finally getting on the right train we made plenty of friends along the way, many laughing at our stories of our adventure to the airport. Thanks to all of those who helped with directions and moving bags!
I was fortunate to share the flight to Belfast with my Sport Changes Life family. Ms. Deirdre was the ‘real MVP’ when she was able to change my middle seat to a window seat with double the leg room J. We took a redeye out of Newark and arrived into Belfast at 9:00am the next morning. I was too entertained by the movies (watched 3 total) that were available so I missed out on sleeping and trying to catch up with the time difference. The flight was pretty smooth and just before landing it was beautiful seeing the scenery from the window of all of Ireland and my future home. I regret not falling asleep on the plane since it took me a couple of days to fully adjust to the time difference.
After we arrived I had the pleasure of meeting my coach for the year for the Ulster Elks. Coach Pat was there to pick myself and the other scholars up from our journey. He showed us around and gave us a quick car tour while explaining how everything works here vs in America and what adjustments we’ll have to make on the fly. He was really helpful and made sure we knew if we needed anything to contact him.
