Bo-bo-bo-boeiiiiing! (#3)

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US. I don’t know what it is, but it’s a holiday, which means NO SCHOOL! Absolutely nothing to complain about.

And because there was no school today, we went on a trip to Boeing. It was a trip our school has planned for us, so it was obligated to go. And I was looking forward to it!

Anyway, we should be on EdCC 10:00 AM, and I have to take the bus from Mountlake Terrace where I live. I always get on the bus with Mogens, because we live one street from each other and have to wait for the bus at the same spot. I didn’t know when would be the best to take the bus, so I asked Mogens and he said that the bus went by at 9:20. I thought to myself, that’s fine, so I didn’t think about it again. I went down to the cross, where I’m supposed to take the bus every morning. But when I came to the place where I’m always waiting for the bus, the schedule said that the next bus was 9:37. It takes normally 20 minutes to go to school, so in the schedule it would work out, but our bus is ALWAYS – and I mean always – late, and it is at least ten minutes late. And then I stood there, no busses. I went over the road, to see when the bus went to Lynnwood Transit center (I can take the bus both ways, and then I just have to switch bus at the Transit Center). There was a bus 9:20, but again, I would have to switch bus. Then it hit me that Mogens perhaps thought it was Saturday, not Friday, because we always go on tours Saturday. I immediately called him, so he wouldn’t be late for the bus. And then he ran down to where I was standing. We take the bus 112 and we were waiting on that side of the road, which would take us to Transit Center. And then, behind the trees, we see the bus coming from the other direction – the one that drives to college. Our bus stops are both close to the cross road, and luckily for us, the bus had to hold still in it. We just looked at each other and then we just ran as fast as we could to reach the bus in time. We crossed the road (there was no time for walking over at the crosswalk), and people in cars were looking at us. After crossing the road, we had to cross the crossroad too. The bus was still holding still, so the others in the bus were looking at us. It must have looked fun, because we were passing some runners. They were just running for fun of course and then we came running like crazy to catch the bus. The bus started to drive and while running like idiots, Mogens waved to the bus driver to hold at our bus stop. And so he did. When we came into the bus we thanked the driver for pulling over to the right. One of the passengers on the bus also commented with “a little morning-exercise” and “morning-run”. Normally I run in the morning, but that’s just because Mogens is waiting for me. But this time, it was luck that our bus was late!

When we came to the school, (9:30 to be precisely) it was only us and Matias and Mette Bækgaard who was waiting. Matias, Mogens and Me then decided to get a cup of coffee. In the beginning we wanted to go to Starbucks, but we ended at Aloha Café, a local café that is mostly visited by the college students. While waiting for the coffee, Oliver came and then we went back to the school, with coffee (well, hot chocolate in my case) in our stomachs, and then we were heading Boeing!

I can tell you this about Boeing: it is huge! I mean, of course airplanes are big, but getting close to some of the different parts of the airplane makes you realize how amazingly big these airplanes actually are! And it is the world’s biggest building by volume! It is 13.385.378 m³ in volume! And if you can’t imagine it, just imagine five times six air planes in one building. 2.2 miles, if you wanna walk around the building (3.5 km)! Besides that, it is almost 400.000 m²! If you still can’t imagine it – just imagine it bigger than you started with and then a little bigger! It was really interesting, because our tour guide told the history behind Boeing and the building and gave us a lot of facts about it. It was amazing to see, a building holding airplanes inside like they were just small bikes. And people actually drove in bikes, because the distances between the different bays were so long. You could see how they build these airplanes, and it was amazing. Some of the employees were working with small parts, no bigger than a human hand. And then in the middle of everything there could be a wing. It is amazing how these sizes become one airplane!

And I don’t disagree. It was crazy, so big it was. I can’t even tell you. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside the Boeing Everett Factory (the name of this gigantic building!), so I can’t show you the size of it. But big, bigger, biggest – and it actually is!

I can only say that I’m blown away!