Huh? We're where?

Well, it's the end of a long day of travel, and I'm finally in our hotel in.....Chicago? What? Shouldn't I be flying over Russia right about now?

I most certainly should, and I would be except for some "aircraft maintenance" issues. They said something about an indicator light that wouldn't go out, so we waited in the plane for a while without air conditioning as they checked things out. It got so hot that they first opened the rear escape hatches (prompting Wei, one of my fellow travelers, to later tell her boyfriend that we parachuted out said escape hatches), and then they eventually let us off the airplane. We waited for another couple of hours before they moved the flight to tomorrow morning.

So, for now, the airline gave us all hotel vouchers. I may have to wear these clothes for three days instead of the expected two, but at least I get to sleep in a bed and not on an airport bench.

We should be (fingers crossed) getting to Beijing at around 11 am Wednesday, just as our first class will be ending. We are all hoping that they will at least give us the rest of the day off to get adjusted and probably catch up on sleep.

And now, I'm going to bed despite the fact that it's only 8:30 (Chicago time). My dad would be proud