The cab picked me up at 5:30 a.m. along with my extremely heavy suitcases and my carry-on bag which contained a copy of my thesis novel printed on 361 pages of acid-free, watermarked paper.

I used the self-check-in at the airport. It offered me an “earlier” departure flight, but when I pulled it up to look at, it left only 10 minutes earlier, connected in Atlanta (instead of Cincinnati) and arrived in Pittsburgh 10 minutes later–all for an additional charge of $25. No thank you! But then, when I went to the counter to check my suitcases, the attendant told me they were expecting severe weather in Cinci and there was a chance my connection to Pitt could be delayed a few hours, possibly canceled. Not wanting that, I agreed to re-route (at no additional charge) through Atlanta, remembering that my friend Analisa Oviedo was flying the same airline through ATL and arriving around the time they were telling me this flight got in. After everything was settled, I text-messaged her to let her know I would be there so we could hook up, then let Delta take me to Atlanta instead of Cincinnati while I continued reading HOLES (Louis Sachar — what a fun read!) for school.

In ATL, I met up with Analisa and we had a nice visit while waiting on our Pitt flight. While waiting, we learned from a couple of people sitting near us that they’d been scheduled to fly to Pitt earlier that morning, but their flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. They were stand-by for our flight at 10:00 and for another one at 3:00 that afternoon. I hope they finally got there!

We arrived safely in Pitt at 11:45 a.m. I was once again impressed by how clean, modern, and easy to navigate that airport is.

At baggage claim, we found Melissa Doll, our “third party” this trip. Because I had been rerouted, I was concerned about my stuff — okay, I admit, I worry about it every time I fly because it’s my stuff and it’s not under my control. But almost as soon as I walked up, I saw both suitcases. Analisa’s seemed to be taking longer, so Melissa and I went over to get the rental car, where I had to wait in line quite a while (I don’t wait well). I was surprised Analisa hadn’t shown up after about 10-15 minutes, but thought maybe she’d run into someone else from school and was waiting with him/her.

As I was signing the car rental agreement, Analisa called to say her suitcase hadn’t arrived and she was still over in baggage claim, so we rejoined her there. Come to find out, the flight from ATL was overly heavy, so they left the baggage of about 35-40 people behind. she had to fill out a form to have her suitcase delivered to the hotel when it arrived on the next flight from ATL.

Melissa, Analisa and I stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch upon leaving the airport in our sleek black Pontiac Grand Prix. What a wonderful time of catching up,, even though it seemed like we’d just seen each other six days rather than six months before.

From the airport, it’s about a 30-45 minute drive to Greensburg where we got checked in at the Comfort Inn and unloaded/unpacked in our room with a king-sized bed and roll-away (so much more room than in January with 2 queen size beds with the roll-away). We discovered we had a microwave and fridge, too! Which was great because Analisa and I wanted to be able to pack our own lunches to take to school, since we’ve never been overly impressed with the cafeteria there.

Analisa and Melissa stayed at the hotel to rest while I drove about 5 miles south of Greensburg to get a spa gift certificate for Wendy Lynn, the program’s secretary–a job I respect and fully sympathize with. After getting that, I stopped at Pier One to get gifts for my faculty mentors, Leslie Guccione and Barbara Miller. By this time, it was pushing 5:00. So I went back to the hotel to get Analisa and Melissa so we could go to Target and the grocery store before orientation.

After all of our errands and going back to the hotel to put the groceries in the fridge, we ended up walking into the library at Seton Hill University right at 7:00, but everyone was still mingling. I had a brief moment to meet my newbie–Aubrey Curry–and to say hello to/hug other friends.

Dr. Albert Wendland oriented us by recognizing the faculty and staff, newbies/”ones”, and graduating students; making announcements; and introducing the theme of the week: critiquing–but more so being a community of writers who assist and support each other.

After trying to talk to/catch up with everyone I know after orientation, Analisa, Melissa, Danielle Hinesley, Melanie Schaeffer, and I went to our favorite Mexican place for dinner–Cozumel, which is right in front of our hotel. They were getting ready to close in 20 minutes, but recognized us and invited us to stay as long as we wanted to–which wasn’t too long, as we were exhausted and really just wanted to go to bed, which we did around 11 p.m., excited about what the next 5 days might bring!