Ok...now that you all know I'm here and safe and happy (aka the most important things), it's time to rewind a bit and tell you what I've actually been up to these last few days.
My last week home was a bit rough - just too much going on in addition to the stress and emotions surrounding me leaving. But finally I accomplished everything that absolutely had to be done and let go of the other things I had hoped to do.
Friday March 2nd dawned bright and early for Mom and I. I was up by 3:15 A.M. as I needed to do a few last-minute things and shower, eat, and dress before leaving for the airport for my first flight. We left the house by 4:15 and I made it through check-in and security with a bit of time to spare before boarding. My plane was scheduled to take off at 6:20 am (hence the early wake up call), but of course the weather did not cooperate. Before taking off our plane needed to be fueled, but just as they were about to do that, the storm hit with thunder and lightening and it was unsafe for crews to be out working so we had to wait...1 1/2 hours. (I have the worst luck with delays...has anyone else noticed that?!?)
Being so tired, I fell asleep even before take-off...even though I was deliberately trying to keep my eyes open so I'd know what was going on during the delay. I fell back asleep after take-off and slept til 9 am and then was awake til we landed in Miami, Florida at 10:45 am.
I was not worried when I disembarked about how the delay would affect my connection because I knew I had a 6 1/2 hour layover in the Miami airport. With the delay, I had 5 hours. A long boring 5 hours during which I tried to pass the time getting food, reading, doing puzzles, calling Mom, and closer to my flight time I was even able to chat (in Spanish) with some of the people on my next flight to Peru.
Finally we boarded but had to wait (again) to take-off...something about too needing to space out the flights to Peru...I don't know. This flight lasted what seemed like forever (though in reality it was only 6ish hours), mainly because I could not seem to interest myself in any one thing and was only able to sleep for a half hour.
I was so excited when we landed in Peru at about 10:30 pm just to be off that plane. I had about 2 1/2 hours left til my next flight so, after going through security again and finding the gate, I went and changed into nicer clothes (I had been wearing jeans and a nice sweater but it had already been many hours since I got dressed and because I wanted to do something with my hair, put on a bit of makeup, and change into something nicer, mainly because I knew I would be meeting my host family soon after arrival in Buenos Aires. After that, I chatted it up a bit (again in Spanish) with a family on their way home from a vacation to Disney World, which they described as "very beautiful."
Finally we boarded my red-eye flight to Buenos Aires and took off a little after 1am. This flight only lasted a little over 4 hours and I slept through most of it.
During this whole process, I was surprisingly calm - not too nervous, but also not super duper excited. Just calm. (This began after getting on my first flight...before that, I was a nervous wreck.)
After getting off the plane, I was directed to wait in line to go through Immigrations and to pay my reciprocity fee. The line went on forever but moved fairly fast. Then I entered the baggage claim and almost immediately found my luggage. After that, I had to go through customs and have my suitcases and backpack x-rayed. That took almost no time at all.
Finally I could leave...almost. I still had to find the directors of my program who I knew would be there to meet me and other students arriving around the same time. I found them quickly and gave them besos. They were very nice. Soon other students also began arriving and I was able to meet my housemate for the first time in person and meet some of the others in my program. My housemate and I walked around the airport a bit and then returned to the group. Finally everyone we were waiting for had arrived and we walked to a bus the program had hired to take us to the school. The directors put us on the bus and headed back to wait for the other students who would be arriving later.
To Be Continued...in the next posts.
Peace and Blessings,
Melanie
Spanish Word of the Day: vuelo = flight
3 comments:
hi
I was just checking, the last comment I made was not printed.
My original comment was to let you know that I am very happy that you are back on track with your blog. I always look forward to your day to day adventures. I also wondered whether your lack of anxiety/excitement was due to your new designation as world traveler or that with Paula and your first trip you looked forward to that a bit more.
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