¡Hola!
I just arrived at my house in Quito and the trip could not have gone any better! No delays, no missing planes, no losing papers (accept my baggage claim… but he just used my passport instead,) nothing stolen just perfect in every way. Although it makes me nervous that the trip home everything will go wrong, but then maybe I will just get to stay here longer J
But back to pre-departure:
I moved out of my apartment in Milwaukee New Year’s Day. This took longer than expected, like packing always does and it probably didn’t help that I went out the night before with my friends Heather and Blake, but it was worth it to bring in the New Year with them. The ride home with my stepmom Kim and Dad I went a little crazy. The car was jam packed so I was completely surrounded in the back seat with boxes and my dad decided to put my stuffed bear creepily staring down at me which did not help my sanity. But I think the main reason I was so loopy was I had so much on my mind I had just said bye to Jayne, Michelle, Heather, and Blake the people I have come closest to this year in Milwaukee and it was starting to hit me that I was not going to see them for a long time and so much could change in that time. I like to think I embrace change but if the change is not favorable, let’s be honest, not so happy about it. I know it sounds crazy but I am scared that my friends will forget about me and move on in their lives and when I come back they will be so independent from me I will be all alone again. But that is my worst case scenario and thnking like that was the main reason why I feel like I am going crazy. So that night I went over to Dev’s to relax a little and take my mind temporally off the fact that I was going to South America in 18 hours. The next morning (Jan 2 2009) I had an 11am doctor’s appointment to take off my cast and get it re-x-rayed. So I went to that and then ended up just giving me a wrist brace with a metal split (which is super fn to go though security with) but it is removable so that helps. After that I went to my dad’s to pick up last minute gear and say “goodbye.” Finally, I got back to my mom’s to start packing. At this point my mom and I are both freaking out because I leave in 12 hours and I have not put anything in a bag. So we got in a little fight but eventually settled down and got to packing. We left for the Madison airport at 5 am after I got about 1 hour of sleep, most of which I was curled up in the only open corner of my bed, then my mom woke me up and I cleared off a full side. We got to the air port with just enough time for my mom and I to get into another little fight say or goodbyes and get through security.
Plane ride:
Madison to Dallas flight was on a tiny plane but I slept through most of it. It was still dark as we left and I love looking at the aerial view of a city at night. I noticed that street lights look like those rope lights from above, I thought it was cool. Dallas layover was pretty short. Then I got to Miami, I do not think I have ever been to the Miami airport and thank god I ended up not having to change terminals because it was confusing. It was a 2 and a half hour layover so I made some final calls before I officially left the country. Finally we were on the plane, the last flight in my trip to Ecuador. We watched some movie about the some guy that sees ghosts and the main character was Michael Scott from the original British the Office TV show, would not recommend it… I would recommend both versions of The Office though. Soon the sun set and my window seat became quite depressing. Although the darkness was a perfect metaphor for the trip I was about to start, I know where I am going (in the plane Quito airport, in my trip I have an itinerary) but I have no idea what the path looks like on how I will arrive (on the plane because the lack of sunlight, on the trip because I am in a whole new place doing a lot of things I have never even dreamt about.) Yeah I know it is a little corny but hey I think it works. We approach Quito in the plane and it is the most beautiful city at night, the way it sprawls out into the mountains and the size! I had no idea how big the city was! Eventually I realized I had my forehead to the Plexiglas and the people around me also wanted to us to window so I leaned back and took a deep breath. I am in Ecuador! I looked at the Hispanic man next to me and smiled he did the same; I don’t know if he is Ecuadorian but his smile was the most sincere welcome I got. I immediately felt like I had arrived and thought to myself “F**K YEAH this trip is going to rock! I can do anything!” Soon enough I was through immigration got my bags and went through customs. My host parents are waiting for me on the other side of customs with huge smiles. I had some trouble with my baggage claim slips like I said earlier, but it all worked out the second man that helped me after I was searching in my bags for a couple minuets said “he is the crazy one {about the previous man helping me} do you have your passport?” So I gave him my passport he Okayed my bags and went to meet my host parents.
My family:
They are an couple that live on the north side of the town very close to what seems like a Spanish plaza or NYC’s central park, it is called Parque... crap I already forgot, it is some woman’s name starting with a “C.” Anyways, they do not speech much English so my spanglish is not too helpful, but we can get by when we need to talk about something they are good about rephrasing or repeating something if I don’t understand. We went out for pizza, since I was starving because the plane did not have a vegetarian option for dinner. I learned that they do not have children but rather 4 dogs. This is much better in my opinion, haha. They have 3 cocker spaniels and 1 german shepherd. They show the cockers and have a lot of trophies in their office. I told them about my mom’s dogs and my host mother said she thought Shih Tzus are very cute and they both had a good laugh at his name “Don Jaun.” They have been having foreign exchange students for 10 years now (I think) and I am their first student from Wisconsin. We got home to barking dogs and they showed me around the house tomorrow we are going to visit the college and run some errands so I can get some needed toiletries. I am so excited for this trip! I can’t wait to tell everyone all about it!
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