By Cheryl

Hey Everyone!

Today has been very eventful so far. We met at UDLC at 7AM, then rode to the Newark Airport to catch a plane departing at 10:45. We quickly got through security, except for one of our members (who I will not name), who forgot that toothpaste cannot be packed in a carry-on bag. He is going to buy some new toothpaste here. Anyway, we were through security by about 9:15, so then we decided to go to buy some food. There was many choices of were to get food... from, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts to a diner and winery (?). We could not figure out why there was a winery in the middle of the Newark airport. So, being the teenagers that we are, we chose McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. One of our members even got a vanilla ice cream cone! After that we road the mechanical walking things up and down a few times, then boarded the plane. When we got on the plane we realized that we were surrounded by other youth headed for the same gathering. One church from Dallas, PA even handed everyone green glow in the dark bracelets. We then all put our arms (with bracelets) into the air for a photograph that was sent to a Lutheran magazine via Twitter. During the take off of the plane a few of our members became nervous, and were tightly holding hands. Once the plane had landed we got off into a very cold and air conditioned New Orleans airport. Soon though we were outside in the humidity and heat waiting for a bus. They had buses there waiting for us, however we would have had to be split up. Because of an incident that happened on the last National Gathering, Raymond would NOT let us be split up. So instead we all stood in the heat and humidity waiting for a bus that could hold all ten of us! Luckily within about 10 minutes, maybe less, one had arrived and we were on our way to the hotel! The hotel is lovely, it's sort of old fashioned and I feel like I am in Greece. But the people here are very helpful, however their accents are sometimes funny or hard to understand. Well once we got here we unpacked and had a (not so brief) meeting about the rest of our night/week. Tonight we are planning on going on a HaUntED tour. It should be neat! Well thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Cheers! ~Cheryl~