On your mark, get set, let's fly to Mumbai

There was no better way to start our trip than to be sent off by our own, Dr. Shefali Mathur, who graduated with the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Class of 2008. As stated before, she has been a crucial part to initiating the Globoal Health Outreach Initiative in India. There were a few tears as she was happy to see us go but disappointed that she would not be able to join us for our adventures. Also, we were extremely suprised by the presence of Dr. Daniel Erb, the Director of Student Affairs in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Duke University. He met us at Raleigh-Durham Airport to see the newly Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates setting off to India, as this was one of the newest chapters in their lives. However, none of us knew what was going to be in store.

FYI: This may be a little too descriptive but you have to understand the details to understand our dilemmas. Our adventures started when we checked-in our luggage and noticed that our flight was delayed. Instead of leaving at 5:10 PM, we were held back 35 minutes (likely due to inclimate conditions at Newark Airport in NJ. We finally boarded our plane but continued to sit and taxied on the airplane for another 45 minute. The flight was bumpy and turbulant but we made it in the estimated time of arrival. Due to the delay from RDU to EWR, we were very rushed to get to our connection flight at 8:20 PM. We literally had less than 10 minutes to get off the plane and run to the terminal. When I say run, we ran! Kara and Chris ran off the plane and into the terminal gates to make sure that we could make the plane. Fortunately they were able to get the airline attendants to allow a few more people on the plane. They re-opened the gates for us. It probably took all eleven members to reach the gates within 10 minute, as we had to navigate across the aiport terminals. After sitting for a few hours previously, it was difficult to sprint. And it was not like we were trying to run towards the plane, knowing that we were going to be sitting in the plane for the next 14 hours. After about 6 hours of sleep or "resting your eyes", watching 3-5 movies (by the way, August Rush is the cutest movie ever!), playing 1-2 video games, and/or reading books/magaizines, WE MADE IT to Mumbai, India!