stranded in senegal

my flight from chicago to new york went as planned, and new york to dakar, senegal was fine as well. however, as we were literally about to take off, the pilot had to turn the plane around because there was some issue with the wings or something... long story short, the flight, which was supposed to leave at 6:15 am to head to cape town, was cancelled and we were told that we would leave the following (tomorrow) morning. 

 to sum it all up, things are fine. actually, more than fine. we were really worried about what kind of hotel we'd be staying in, but we are staying in this amazing resort that is on the ocean and really insanely nice. they fed us all three meals today, and then we just walked around the beach and laid outside by the pool in the sun. there are 11 other people on my flight who are in my program, so it's great that we're all in the same boat. about 7 of us really started bonding today; it's only been about 12 hours but we feel like we've known each other for much longer. we're going to be missing our first day of interstudy orientation tomorrow, but i suppose they'll figure out some way for us to learn the things we've missed.

it's really bizarre, because laying by the pool today i felt like i could have been in florida or mexico or something, when really i'm in AFRICA, sitting with people who 12 hours ago were strangers to me, talking and laughing like this is the most normal thing in the world. things haven't gone as planned, but in a way it's good - i got to see a new country, which is always a good thing. i'll be extremely excited to get my suitcases tomorrow night so i can wear some different clothes, but things could definitely be worse. the view from our window is gorgeous and i'm going to go to sleep to the sound of waves. speaking of which, i need to go to sleep now, since i've gotten about 3 hours of sleep since i left... whatever day that was. i've lost track of time. more later.