My trip so far

This has not been a very good trip for me so far.

We left before the sun came up Monday morning. (That is, 11 of us did. The rest of the choir caught a later flight.) It took us 27 hours to get to Rome. We flew from Denver to Atlanta to New York (JFK). Our flight into JFK was delayed due to weather, so we missed our connecting flight to Rome and had to be rerouted through Paris. In Paris, they picked us up at the plane and shuttled us to our next gate since we had only 45 minutes between planes, but they detained our member with cerebral palsy at security and she almost missed the plane. An attendant responsible for getting us on the plane to Rome kept trying to hurry us all onto the plane, but I didn't want to leave Bonnie alone at security, and the attendant said he couldn't promise the plane would wait for her, and he told me my flight would be cancelled if I didn't get on the plane immediately. I had no intention of leaving Bonnie alone in Paris, and I hadn't had but a couple hours of sleep, so I went off on the guy and in the end, the plane waited for us. We arrived in Rome a few hours later. Today is Thursday, and our luggage has yet to catch up with us. So, I've been wearing the same clothes for four days.

Add to that, I got an ear infection. I was perfectly healthy when I boarded the plane in Denver, but my right ear was clogged and my throat on fire on one side before I landed in Atlanta three hours later. Four days later, my ear is still clogged and I cannot hear anything out of my right ear.

I went straight to bed when I got to the hotel. My friends had food and antibiotics sent up. I don't know if I reacted to the antibiotics or if it was just the ear infection that caused it, but I passed out in St. Peter's Square after the papal audience yesterday morning. I've been really weak ever since. I can't climb more than 2 flights of stairs without getting exhausted. The rest of the group is visiting the Vatican museums this morning. I will meet them at St. Peter's at noon to sing mass, and our concert in the Sistine Chapel is scheduled for 4pm. It seems most unlikely that I will be able to sing the solo quartet, as it is very high and requires a ton of energy. Right now, I'm concerned about getting through the mass.

I am so frustrated. I have no luggage and I haven't gotten to do anything since I got here except lay in bed. The choir brought me here to SING, and I feel like I'm letting them down. It has to get better from here. It just has to.