Day One

Hopped out of bed;anxious, nervous, EXCITED. As we drove to the airport to pick up the students, I looked at all the empty seats on our posh bus and tried to imagine the bodies that would inhabit them in an hour....

Derek, Lydia, Jenny, and I-we were a team. We were ready.

At the airport the wait seemed like it took FOR-EV-ER. To curb our anticipation we decided to rate the reunions we witnessed. Classic daughter running into daddy's arms: 8. Overjoyed mom and apathetic teenager daughter awkwardly exchanging greetings-3 (points given for humour).

We tried to guess what the group would look like. To be honest, I don't think I have ever *met* or even *seen* an Iraqi before so I lacked visual imagination.

Finally, trudging up the escalator with exhaustion, some wearing hijabs, one wearing traditional Kurdish dress, and the others looking quite put together (better than typical American twenty-somethings)-they arrived.

The first person I talked to was Diana, or as she liked to be called "Princess Diana". Come to find out she definitely thought she was some kind of royalty...

He wasn't amongst this group. He was still in Baghdad, thinking he would never come to the United States due to a late visa.

We all went to Old Chicago's for pizza. A quintessential American welcoming, I thought. Stuffing em up with greasy, over portioned pizza.

The rest of the day was a blur of moving in, having group talks, and trying to make conversation not awkward.

Adventure. Excitement. Friendships to be had. Learning. All was ahead of me, little did I know how profound this summer would be to me.

I remember laying in my bed that hot summer night, exhaling from all the joyful chaos, and breathing in a very new air.

Something started in my heart that night, I just didn't know it yet.