The last day in Port Elizabeth, South Africa....

So after days of saying goodbye to lots of other people it was finally my turn to say goodbye to the few who were left. The last night I was there we had a final goodbye braai (this was much smaller than the first goodbye braai we had a week early – which I must say was pretty insane. I think I even met some international students I had never seen before!) After the braai, I said my goodbyes to Shawn, Alyssa, Patrick, Chelsea, Maria, Meli and maybe a couple others. There were not many left to say goodbye to. It wasn’t to hard to say goodbye because we know we will all see each other again next November for Shawn and Alyssa’s wedding! I got home and went to bed. The next morning was insane. I got up early so I could go to the glass studio and collect my work.. since it was only fired the night before. But when I got there it was still to hot to open.. so we had to wait. I ended up walking back home so I could finish packing and stuff and Tammy said that she was going to watch the temperature for me – she is a sweet heart. I got home and attempted to finish my packing. Well then June decided it was necessary to come up then as well – that is always a pleasurable experience. She rambled on about how messy things wore and how I need to wipe up the crumbs and do the 3 dishes that I left in the sink. And then she complained about not having matching forks when she knew that in the beginning they were all matching (come to find out they weren’t so she did apologize). Then she was saying that there were scissors missing (which I found for her). It went on and on. Finally I left and went to stained glass. My pieces were finally out! I didn’t get much time to look at them before they got wrapped but hopefully they look ok. Tammy and the professor wrapped them for me and then she drove me home! She is such a wonderful lady. I finally made it out of the house. I left a few things behind for Breana and then Tish and I headed to the airport. She was so sweet and decided to take me!!

We arrived at the airport and I put my bag up on the scale to see what it weighed.. it ready 31 kg (and I said that is ok right?!) haha nope so not it was supposed to be 23 kg. And it turns out I could only check one bag for free when going into London Heathrow. Perfect. I was planning on checking 2 and then taking 2 bags on. She told me I could re-arrange my bags and put my heavier things in my carry-on and then it should be ok. She motioned for me to go behind the counter where the conveyer belt was at for the bags to go on. So we crawled underneath the bar that went over the scale and made it to the floor space behind the counter. I opened up my suitcases and began to move things around. I threw out some unnecessary items and then put all my heavy glass in the smaller suitcase to carry on, which they said they would not weigh. After about 20 minutes we finally got it all sorted. The checked bag weighed about 23 – a little over so it was almost 24 and then who knows how heavy the smaller bag and my other carry-on bag weighed.. but let me tell you my shoulders and arms know that it was way to much for them to handle. So Tish got some random presents and I got to take all of my things on with out paying extra. I was so glad when they let me put my carry-on bag underneath the plane! So then I just had my two bags to worry about – my book bag with all the important things and then my pink bag, which was huge and filled with glass!

I got to Joburg with no problems. I was on the same flight as Jan and a couple of others so it was really nice because I wasn’t alone. So Jan waited for me to get off the plane and we headed into the airport to collect our hand luggage that was stored underneath. Then we walked around the airport, started buying things and finally found a place to rest and get some food. I hung out with Aidrian from Norway while Jan went up to some luxury lounge and got free food and Internet. Gosh why does he get everything cool!?