First story at AIJIBy Charles Pulliam
Jacquelyne Taurianen’s journey to the American Indian Journalism Institute’s summer program started from Detroit Metro Airport on June 2.
“The two people I was sitting next to (on the plane) were kind of funny at first,” Taurianen said, “But it just became more and more awkward.”
She boarded a plane to Minneapolis with a connecting flight to Sioux Falls, S.D. that followed. Her final destination was Vermillion, S.D.
She is a first time AIJI student from Clinton Township, Mich.
The actual time on the on her first flight was extended even before take-off do to a storm. An announcement from the pilot mentioned the storm and the delay, but a quick solution was to simply fly around it.
After several minutes of waiting in a line up of planes to take off, Taurianen said she heard another announcement saying the plane has to take on more fuel to make up for the additional flight time.
The idea of not having enough fuel worried Taurianen.
“I thought that not having enough fuel to fly just a little bit longer was kind of weird,” Taurianen said.
Taurianen’s seat assignment was also unexpected. She was placed in the middle of two older men.
“There was about an extra two hours on the plane, waiting to fuel up and sitting in between two older, creepy men,” Taurianen added in disgust.
Arriving in South Dakota was the farthest west Taurianen had ever been. After mapping out where she had previously traveled – her longest trip was to Chile – Taurianen was convinced she will get to the Pacific Ocean one day, only by traveling the “long way” all the way around the world.
South Dakota was a little different than expected for Taurianen. “I was expecting more cows than people (when I arrived),” Taurianen said, “There definitely are a lot of cows, but not that many.”
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