I've arrived~

Where do I begin? First, i'm sorry to everyone whose been asking/wondering if I am alive, especially to Val who had to call my Mom to confirm my safety.

The moment has arrived!! I am here! I've been in a whirlwind. I may not be certain about a lot of things, but I've known absolutely, without a doubt, like kids whose lifelong dreams are to be doctors or teachers or firefighters, that I was meant to study abroad - adventures awaiting me and within my grasp, just as I like it....

Flying over Chicago, Equador bound, I know that my feet will be returning with a few more miles on them. I am pumped. All excitement aside, usually mental preparation for any major life changing event is key. However, I usually skip this step and go straight for the gold. This backfires sometimes. For instance about an hour into the plane ride. to ecuador. for five months. My heart definitely beating a little faster now... I don't know anyone. They speak spanish. I speak english. Third world country. Energy/water crisis. Classes in spanish. No english. New family. No english. Stranger danger. Did I pack enough underwear. Where is my passport. Is anyone picking me up at the airport. No english. I started looking up phrases such as "I don't understand"- no entiendo, and "please speak more slowly"- por favor, hable mas despacio, etc.

I kept going back and forth between out of my mind excited, and wanting to spitefully puke on the boy next to me who was feeding off my insecurities and falsely confiding to me that he was "completely hopeless at spanish" mean while he has smartly whipped out a spanish textbook, explaining in perfect sing-songy spanish how he loves reading them for fun and is offering to lend me his other copy for the plane ride (at which point I had a mental picture of me cracking this book over his head, as I am now actually terrified and up to this moment have truly been hopeless at spanish). Now I am rapidly writing in my journal attempting to drain every thought out of my head onto my paper in hopes of peacefully returning to my blissfully ignorant pre- mental preparation happy pumped place. Mental preparation is overrated.

The plane landed in Atlanta, and some fellow study abroad students and I shyly rallied together during our layover at T.G.I. Fridays. Randomly we ended up sharing a meal with this young guy recounting his travels all over South America as a professional poker player. A round of drinks later, my new compadres and I were feeling united, refreshed, and very inspired to shed our normal lives as students in Champaign, Illinois. Plus for this flight I sat in the isle seat next to a sleeping grandmother. She was much less intimidating, although she did snore.