Blogging from the plane

Apparently this didn't really work the first time... let's try again!

Blogging from the plane! (Well, writing the blog entry in Word and I’ll actually post it later when I have internet). This is pretty exciting…

Right now it’s 9:32pm Chicago time and we’re probably somewhere over the Atlantic, but I’m not really sure. Nights in Rodanthe is on, but I can’t really concentrate on it. I’m a little nervous and there’s a ton of turbulence... and I love The Office too much! We had dinner already, which was some sort of chicken with rice, bread, cheese, and tiramisu (and vegetables and some sort of creamy looking thing that looked a little shady so I didn’t try it). I did have a split of  champagne with dinner, which the flight attendant told me was called cava in Spanish. Good to know!  Aaaand it was gratis (free). Can’t beat that! There is definitely something going on with my tooth and right about now is when I wish I hadn’t been stubborn and had gone to the dentist again to have it checked out. My friend Julia said this was how she felt when her wisdom tooth came in, so hopefully that’s what it is… Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I don’t have to pay a visit to the dentista when I get to Spain.

The plane is really really REALLY big—much bigger than I’m used to. I’m in row 32, seat G. The way that it’s configured is that there are two seats on the left (A & B), then an aisle, then four seats, (D,E, G, H)  another aisle, and two more seats (J & L). I’m trying to figure out why C, F, I, and K got the shaft…

I’m seated between two really nice girls. One is going to Sevilla and one is on my program. Lisa, the one going to Granada, is actually the one who my mom asked to hold my hand through security while I was tearing up (don’t worry, I was actually able to walk through alone).

My mom, my dad, and Matt came with me to the airport to drop me off. We went to a restaurant in the Hilton called The Gaslight Lounge for lunch-- Great food, phenomenal company, and an… interesting atmosphere. We then went to the terminal, checked me in, and they stayed with me as long as they could in the security line. Saying goodbye was really tough, but I knew it would be.  I had my phone at the gate, which for some reason was really upsetting. It was almost like my family and friends were close to me physically but I knew that I couldn’t see them or talk to them on that phone for four months. So, after teary phone calls to my parents and Matt, I turned it off and felt a little more like I had bitten the bullet and was en route.

We had a lot of fun at our gate, sitting around and talking about the trip. I’ve already met a lot of cool people on my program, which is exciting. We were laughing the first few times they made announcements in Spanish and all of our faces lit up when we understood them. Then we got on the plane and the announcements got longer, more complicated, and faster, and we realized we may have gotten excited too soon!  I’m sure the pace of the language will come soon, though. I’m just excited to get settled in Granada!

Here’s a slideshow I put together on the plane… I’m loving my new Mac! The slideshow has pictures from the last few days. The song is “Let’s Get it Started” by the Black Eyed Peas, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the part I wanted to play to play. It works, though J I’ll hopefully figure out all the iMovie tricks soon.

 

Miss everyone already!

Con amor (with love),

Sal

UPDATE: 10:17pm CST. My tooth is starting to feel better, and using the power of self-diagnosis (because, as many of you know, when I feel remotely sick or am mildly injured, I become a physician and diagnose myself, usually with the worst-case scenario), I have determined that it is my wisdom tooth coming in, which I can handle…. Just as long as I don’t have to have root canal #4, especially in another country.