Made it to Kuwait

Over the weekend, Adam dropped me an email to let me know that he has officially made it to the base in Kuwait. They had a total flying time of about 14 hours, with more than 10 hours of layovers. Obviously, their sleep schedules are all messed up, but they're being given about five days to get back on track, and have been told that their main responsibilities right now are to drink water, rest, and regain their strength. A large portion of Adam's unit is sick right now, and that includes him :-( It's a cold-type thing, stuffy nose, cough, all that fun stuff. He thinks it's a combination of climate change, travel, weird sleep schedule, and close quarters.

Adam reports that the food from the chow hall is really good, and is actually provided by an outside vendor (that explains a lot). The base where they are is the base that almost all troops entering the Middle East stop at to do their "climitization" time, so it's pretty well built up. He said that they have a Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks. Tough life, eh?! His barracks are air conditioned, so he's been staying inside a lot, but the theme of the email really seemed to be "It's unbearably hot." His ankle is still healing (from where he sprained it the first week of July), but he's now able to walk wearing his regular boots and the doctor says that he should regain total mobility over the next week or two. He said that the range of motion is still limited, but the pain is almost gone--please keep his overall health in your prayers, along with his safety, as he's technically both sick AND injured right now. Of course he's being all Mr. Tough Guy about it, but he promises me he's taking care of himself, taking Vitamin C for the cold, following the doctor's orders for the ankle, etc.

Adam's unit will be in Kuwait through the last week in July. After that, they will be heading into Iraq, although there is still no certainty as to where he's going to end up. He's hoping for the northern part, because it's cooler, but I'm just hoping for the SAFEST part. On Saturday, he was able to call and talk to me for a few minutes for my birthday!!! This was quite a luxury, and I certainly wasn't expecting it, but it totally made my birthday so special. It's looking like he'll probably call about once a week once he gets settled in at his post in Iraq, but really who knows. He has bought some pre-paid internet minutes, which is how he's been able to email, but he said the connection is awful--slower than dial-up and kicks him off every few minutes, so video or IM is out right now. We're really hoping that maybe it will be better in Iraq so that we can do some video chatting every few days. In the meantime, I'll take anything I can get!

I feel like my life is boring in comparison, but here's a little update on me. This week I'm working on pulling together a big mailing for the National Student Exchange at my internship. It's been a great project to work on because I have planned and executed it from start to finish, and it's given me a real sense of ownership and professionalism. I continue to coach students on academic success strategies at the Academic Centers for Excellence on Mondays and Fridays, and I find real fulfillment in working with them one-on-one. As I mentioned before, I went to Charleston on Saturday for my birthday, and as soon as I can get the pictures from Heather, I'll post a blog about that experience (sneak peak: it was AWESOME!!!). Most of my friends in the program are finishing up their internships in the next week or so, and so they'll be returning to Columbia soon. Honestly, I can't wait...I think it will really help me get life back to as normal as possible. I'm even looking forward to classes starting in the fall. I just want to keep as busy as possible to help this year fly by :-) Hope all is well out there, and thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!

D

Adam has left the...country?!

Just wanted to post a quick update on Adam's travel. He left in the middle of the night last night and arrived in Ireland this morning for his layover. The airport had free WiFi so he was able to email me a quick update...turns out that their layover was going to end up being about 9 hours. The total process was going to take at least 18 hours (although I am unclear whether it's 18 hours in the air or 18 total). He should arrive in Kuwait sometime in the next couple of days, where he will be staying for two weeks before traveling to Iraq. Adam said that the whole purpose of staying in Kuwait will be to do "climatization," which he said basically involves drinking a lot of water and exercising to get your body used to the severe climate change. Once their bodies adjust, they will travel to a base in Iraq, although at this point they have no clue which base or even which part of the country. They are not told these things for security reasons and also because things are changing very rapidly over there right now, so they really may end up some place entirely different than what was originally intended.

On my end of things...I'm doing ok. I certainly would prefer that Adam be here with me, but I'm keeping myself busy with internship and Prac II and Brady and whatnot. Saturday is my birthday, and I'm going to be heading down to Charleston for the day with my friend Heather. I'm looking forward to seeing Charleston, as I've never been there before and have heard great things about it. It was one of the cities on my "must visit" list when I moved here, and I'm glad that I'm going to get to experience it with a Charleston veteran like Heather :-) Internship is about 2/3 done, and it's actually making me sad. I've really been enjoying working for the Office of Student Engagement, and especially love my supervisors there and the amount of autonomy I have. I really feel like a professional staff member and not just a grad student. I wish I was getting a bit more of a tan, but I'm inside from 9-5 most days, and it seems to always rain on the weekends haha Oh well, I'm sure that my skin will thank me in 20 years!

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. I'm heading to bed...have a great Friday!