Off I go

I am writing this post on my word processor because I don’t have internet in the airport. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post it-- I fly to Tegucigalpa in two hours. I’ve been going, going, going since Wednesday when my family and I drove down to Seattle to stay at a hotel so we could catch my 5:00am flight on time. It didn’t really hit me until I got on the plane that I’m actually doing this. I know it sounds silly but it just didn’t feel real until I left. I kept repeating to myself on the plane, “I am doing this. This is actually happening. I’m going to be an exchange student!!” Even if I had wanted to sleep on that flight, I was too wired about everything to relax. I don’t think I’ve slept more than ten hours in these past three days. Even now, I’m weirdly wide awake. When I arrived in Miami, I immediately made my way to the AFS orientation. Or at least that was the plan. The orientation started at 4:00, but my flight didn’t land until 4:10. And when I got off the plane my baggage was literally the last on the baggage claim. *The* last. That would happen to me!

And then I got slightly lost and went out the wrong exit. There are two exits, one on the top floor and one on the bottom floor, and I went out the one on the bottom floor and stood there dumbly for a few minutes, like, what’s up with all the taxis? Where are all the shuttles? So I wandered around until I found the right exit on the top floor and then, twenty minutes later my shuttle arrived and I got to the hotel after 5. I figured I could just tell AFS that my flight was late (because it was) but the lady at the AFS desk was all “Where ya been? There was a kid on your same flight and he’s been here awhile.” Oh…ok…um…idk…cool. Facepalm. So I tossed my bags in my room and busted into the last few minutes of the orientation session looking all frazzled and probably smelling like sweat and disgustingness to find a room full of irritatingly composed-looking teenagers looking up at me and took a seat. We began to participate in the last bit of an AFS trivia game, and then we walked down the hall and sat down to eat dinner in this fancy dining room where we had like three forks and butter balls shaped like ROSES. My whole table was really friendly and chatty and cool and we talked about how nervous and excited we were.

They were all girls-- 13 out of 16 of the kids at the orientation were girls, not shocking, and all of them were going to Costa Rica. All of the kids at the orientation were going to Costa Rica except me and two kids going to Panama. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I am the ONLY American AFSer going to Honduras this semester!!! Crazy. I feel sort of special but also kind of bummed, not because I’m not psyched about going to Honduras, but because I won’t see any of these girls at my Host country orientation and I won’t be flying with any of them. I think not a lot of people apply for Honduras just because they don’t know much about it, but honestly, that’s why I’m psyched to go there. I’m looking to have an experience in a Spanish-speaking country that is as foreign as possible, and I figure going to a country with relatively small-scale tourism is a good way to achieve that. When I tell people I’m going to Honduras often (if they even know where it is) they’re like “Um, WHY? Why aren’t you going to Argentina or Spain?” Seriously, they say that! Well, I applied late so I didn’t have the option to go many places, but even if I had I probably wouldn’t have picked Argentina and I definitely wouldn’t have picked Spain. So I smile and say “Why NOT?”

Anyway, after sleeping very poorly that night I woke at 6:30 am, actually sort of sprung out of bed without the help of the numerous alarms I had set and made my way to the airport. I got an early start on the latin experience in the Miami airport because there seemed to be more Hispanics than Americans! An Cuban AFS volunteer saw me to security, and in order to get me through the airport she was speaking rapid-fire Spanish with all of the authorities. She argued her way out of a check-in with a long line and although normally I’d have to pay for my baggage, after batting her eyelashes at an employee and exclaiming “Por favorrrrrr, por favorr!“ she turned to me and triumphantly declared that I didn’t have to pay. It was very impressive. I had a huge, delicious central-American-style breakfast of spicy potatoes, sausage, and a small, sweet sandwich (the buffet lady addressed me in Spanish-- haha! Am I still in America?) and now I’m sitting at the restaurant with some time to kill before my flight.

I feel so cool in my AFS t-shirt because people keep stopping by me, like, hey, what’s up with your t-shirt? What are you doing? And I tell them I’m going to be an exchange student and they’re all, “Cool!“ When I arrive in Honduras I’m going to be greeted by AFS volunteers, and I’m going to go to an orientation with other AFSers (I’ll be the only American!) and learn a little bit more about the program and the culture before I get to meet my host family on Sunday! I’m going to be in Honduras in a few hours!