The Dramatic Arrival!

We made it to the first hotel!!!  It definitely wasn't easy.  We had three different planes to take, and it seemed like NONE of them were running smoothly.  The first, from NJ to Stockholm, Sweden, was supposed to leave at 10PM but was delayed until 3AM.  Apparently the signal to show that the door was properly shut wasn't working, and it took them over 5 hours to fix it.  No worries, though.  We 6 Harvard students (Douwe, Molly, Christina, Shana, Andrew, and me) hung out and got to know each other, along with two random Princeton students and a Duke student who had just graduated and were on their way to Thailand to teach English for a year.  Very cool.  :)

After a 7 hour flight, we left Stockholm for Kuala Lampur, the capital of Malaysia, located on the main peninsula.  That flight was 13 hours.  We passed the time sleeping and doing our reading that we, of course, had put off until the very last minute.  Good times.

Then we had to get on a plane from Kuala Lampur to the island of Borneo.  Unfortunately, due to the delay, we had missed our scheduled flight, and despite being reassured that we would be put on a later flight with no extra charge, we ended up having to buy new tickets.  That caused some drama, seeing as most of us didn't bring very much cash, and our credit and debit cards kept getting declined because we were trying to spend a large amount of money halfway across the world.  Thankfully, though, we managed to purchase our tickets.  But then we ran into another problem.  The weight limit for baggage was 15 kilos, and we were charged for every kilo we went over, which was RIDICULOUSLY expensive, because most of us had nearly 50 kilos of baggage.  Checking the bags cost more than purchasing the last-minute tickets!  We moped to the gate, complaining about the fact that we're broke college students and we just spent our entire budget for the trip just trying to get to the island.  (After around 30 hours of traveling at this point and on a 12-hour time difference, we were all pretty grouchy.)  We got over it, though, and the 3-hour ride to the island seemed like the blink of an eye compared to the 13-hour ride we had just taken.

Now we're in a hotel in Kota Kinabalu, a city on the island of Borneo (on Malaysia's side, not Indonesia's side... it took me a while to figure out that Borneo isn't a country, it's just the name of the island that's split between two countries, Malaysia and Indonesia).  I think all 18 of us are here (9 Harvard students and 9 students from Southeast Asia), but I've only met the 9 Harvard students, one student from Singapore, three from Indonesia, and one from India.  

When we got to the hotel, a letter from our professor was waiting for us at the concierge's desk, along with our rooming assignments.  (There are two people per room, and our professor chose our roommates.  My roommate's from Indonesia.  Her name is Agri -- "like agriculture," she told me -- and she seems pretty cool!  I felt kind of weird, though, in my short-shorts and a tank top when she came in her long skirt and headdress!)  The letter informed us that tomorrow at 11AM, we should have our hiking gear packed and be ready to board another plane to Miri.  There, we will be learning about the insects of the rainforest for a week before we return to civilization (including showers and internet access!).  So that's all for the next 7 days -- I have to go pack up my hiking gear, and possibly explore the city a little before heading to bed (which might be tough, since it's only noon in my head...)

I'm having a great time, meeting some super nice and interesting people, and looking forward to an adventure!  That being said, I'm super nervous to embark into the bug-and-leech-filled jungle, and also a tiny bit homesick --  I miss all of you, and being able to brush my teeth with tap water, not bottled water or water that tastes like iodine!  But I'm pretty sure I'll get over all that pretty quickly... there will be tons of exciting and interesting things on my mind pretty soon!!!  And maybe even a quiz to study for... but not it I get lucky.  :)

Can't wait to let you know how the jungle was next week!  See ya!