In late November, I got swine flu (yes the fantastic and almost mythical H1N1) and had to postpone my interview at Duke. The first date they had available...was February 1st. After waiting months and months (and having much inter-interview time to kill), February 1st is finally here. But, just my luck, so is a horrible snowstorm.
Yesterday morning, trying to preempt getting caught, and ultimately trapped, by the snow, I called Southwest Airlines about my flight. Twenty minutes of elevator music later, I was told that there were no weather advisories in Baltimore, and the ones in Raleigh ended at noon. I was advised to stick with my current flight as I would be A-OK with my 3:30 departure. Proud of myself for acting like an "adult" and calling the airline ahead of time, I continued to go about my day with a slightly prouder look on my face.
Fast forward to 6:45 pm...I was meeting a friend for dinner at 7:15 and I had plans for another friend's birthday sometime after 8. I looked down at my phone and realized I had a message from Texas. No, it was not a telemarketer or some friend I had deleted from my phonebook, it was Southwest calling to tell me that my flight...had been cancelled. S-H-I-T. I am no master at flight cancellations (though interviews make me feel like a master traveler) and due to this call I was now frazzled, stressed, and well, pissed. I called Southwest and the annoying fake operator (you know the kind that pick up when you call banks, and you have to keep talking to them in order to get to the next step in the menu, and then they usually send you to the wrong location anyway) told me that the wait time was 30 minutes. AWESOME. While the phone was on speaker and the same amazing elevator music played...I tried to log onto my account and change my flight myself. Not only was my password somehow not what I always use, but I did not know the correct information to access my account ("you flew somewhere on 11/29...where was that?"...a question to me post-interview season a joke, but now...I feel like I do not even know where I live let alone where I have traveled to on any specific date). It took me just as long to access my account and start looking at changing my flight (which I would have had to pay for without talking to the airline), as it did for an operator to finally answer the phone. The woman picked up and started happily editing my flight. Then, all the sudden she was gone. She HUNG UP on me. To make matters worse, there was no way to call back and jump the line. WHAT...an unnecessary pain, especially as my dinner friend was still waiting on me. I called back...and the wait time was now "1 hour and 20 minutes". FANTASTIC.
Thankfully, the next operator picked up in more like 15 minutes (maybe because everyone else hung up when they heard the wait time) and I changed my flight. Every time she stopped talking to type and I could not hear any sounds, I kept asking her if she was still there. She responded by saying "Yes, I can't type that fast...my fingers hurt already"(Side note: the fingers hurt comment reminded me of the scene in Happy Gilmore with Ben Stiller in the nursing home). AWKWARD. I apologized for my impatience, but I just did NOT want to get hung up on again.
I am now scheduled to leave today at 7:30 pm...fingers crossed they have the snow cleaned up by then and my new flight is not cancelled. Toes crossed that by waiting around to be able to land in North Carolina, the snow did not arrive here and make departing Baltimore impossible The "frightful" weather outside of my window is not helping the cause and neither is the page long e-mail from the dean of admissions indicating that if we do get there, the interviewers might not.
If my flight is again cancelled, even though I do not believe in fate...I might start thinking the Universe is trying to tell me something.
UPDATE: It is 3:30 pm, still snowing(see same view only a few hours later below), and my new flight for tonight has been cancelled. I guess the dean knew the truth.
I am now trying once again to get there (and ignoring the Universe) by leaving tomorrow...and spending virtually no time there to have fun. I feel like there should be some catchy Christmas song about being snowed in, not just about snowmen coming alive and chestnuts roasting. Here's to hoping I finally get there and that my interviewers show up. Maybe then they will realize that I must really like the school if I keep trying to visit even after all the elements have gotten in the way.
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