(Series: Part One)

                You cannot just walk to China. I had to put myself in a hole just to get to another country. During my junior year, I received a letter in the mail in order to go on a trip with the Global Young Leadership Conference. At first, I thought it was one of those false scam trips, but I decided to give it a try. I did some background info checking and it was quite successful. The GYLC goes on trips all over the world, including some places in the United States. I had the option to go to Washington D.C. and New York or China. My first thoughts were “I could just drive to those places. I live in Pennsylvania. If I really wanted to, I could go to New York right now.” Of course, I chose to go to China. I was so thrilled, and then suddenly, reality kicked in. I do not come from a family that has a steady income, so the first thing that concerned my family and I was the cost. The trip would punch a hefty $6,000 out of bank. The people who were selected to go were picked for academic excellence, so my parents decided that I deserved to go.

                Now, that much money does not seem like too much until you have to get it in a small amount of time. I believe I had five months to turn in everything. The first thing I did was turn to my parents. We did not get much money, but it was a start. The second thing we did was ask church and family members. Then we were able to do a fundraiser. I sold hoagies and pizzas from Galiffa’s in Donora. All of the hard work seemed so fulfilling. It almost was not. Even though every little bit helped, I was still around $4,000 short. I continued to fundraise in school and in my community. I was even able to get some donations from very generous local businesses. After all of my hard work, my church community helped finance the rest of my trip.

                Step one was finally complete. I knew I was able to get there, but I still needed to do a lot of things. I was going to stay for two weeks so I needed to get supplies. I also needed to fill out forms like surveys and essays for the others to get to know me. If you noticed, it is the GLOBAL Young Leadership Conference. There were going to be people from all over the world, people who know nothing about me or my culture. I did not hesitate to get everything done. Nothing was done at the last minute.

                At the point of me leaving, I have never left Pennsylvania let alone the country. I was not at all nervous, but very excited. In order to fly to China, everyone had had a special meeting point. The students that were attending from the United States met in Los Angeles. I left my home very late at night because my flight from LA was not until midnight, and with the time difference I was fine. I was flying out with someone from my church because this was my first time dealing with the airport.

                I get to the airport and my flight was delayed. The person I was with the angered by that, but I remained calm. It was delayed for about two hours. We kept checking in, but about an hour and a half went by and it was delayed again. I still did not fret. I waited patiently, and then finally we were able to board our plane. I won’t get into detail on my first plane ride, but I enjoyed it. We eventually arrived in Los Angeles safely, but hardly in time to make my plane to go to China.

                I ran to my area and told them I need to board a plane to China. My plane was still at the airport, but they refused to let me on. The man at the service desk told me to check back in and he will try to do his best to get me on a flight. At that point, I did not think I was going to get on a plane. I didn’t think I was going to go. I thought, “Kids like me don’t get to do amazing things like go to China”. I was honestly so upset I wanted to cry. We checked back in and there were a few other kids standing there. I asked them if they were going on the GYLC trip too. They said they were and they had missed their plane. They were going to board the next plane to Hong Kong. The person that was with me would not let them get on the plane unless I could go too, so that man was able to accommodate a seat for me.  I said goodbye to the last person I knew, and went off to China alone.

                My first plane ride was only seven hours. The second one was much longer. I had to endure fifteen hours on that plane. I was sitting between two guys I did not know and they knew each other. How unfortunate that they both liked aisle seats. They talked over me about things that were unusual. The great thing about taking international flights is that they give you everything you would need at home. They give you daily meals, and the “whenever I’m hungry” snacks. Plus they give you a TV screen equipped with new movies and music.

                The flight was uncomfortable and boring after a while, but it was all worth it. We landed, grabbed our belongings, and headed into the airport. I was officially in China.