Safe and Sound

I made it! Safe and sound! It feels so good to know that my journey has officially begun!

I was nervous all day yesterday as I was packing... my heart was literally racing from about 2:00 in the afternoon until I finally fell asleep a little after midnight. But after a long day of packing, I got everything... I hope. I've had that "I-feel-like-I'm-forgetting-something" feeling all day today. Guess I can't do anything about that now! This morning, after my mom made me some cinnamon toast, I finished packing and said goodbye to my family. Mom and Sarah took me to the airport, and I think that is when everything hit me. I started tearing up as they were leaving, but I soon found Amy and Lori, so everything was okay. :) We had a smooth flight to Dallas, where we met up with Katie! While waiting in DFW, some nasty storms came through, and our next flight was delayed nearly two hours. We spent a total of five hours in that airport, but people-watching helped the time go by quickly. There were also some storms forming over the Gulf, so instead of making a straight shot over the water, we had to fly down over Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, which delayed us even more . We were so worried that our transportation provided by Modern Language Studies Abroad (MLSA) would not wait for us, and that we would have to take a taxi to our house. Taking a taxi wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that we knew it would be late and we had no clue where to go! The whole way to San Jose, I prayed that the MLSA bus would still be there. Sure enough, after we found Hannah, got our bags, and made it through customs, we saw a sign. At that point, it was the most beautiful sign in the world, because it said "MLSA!" I literally screamed when I saw it. The bus took us to the MLSA office in San Jose, where we met our host mom, Lilieth! She had arranged for a friend of hers to pick us up, but I don't think she anticipated the number of suitcases we would have! After loading the bags, Amy, Hannah, Lilieth, and I all had to cram into the back seat of one of the tiniest cars I have ever seen. Haha! When we got to the house, Lilieth showed us around and talked to us a little bit before we headed upstairs to unpack and get ready for bed. Let me just say: Lilieth speaks pretty much NO English. I know very little Spanish, and the hardest thing for me is listening. So already, I have done a lot of nodding and saying, "Si!" Haha!


Sarah wanted to go with me.


Saying goodbye! (Dad couldn't be there, but I said bye to him earlier.)


I will miss this girl!


Amy, me, Katie, and Lori

Tomorrow we leave early for orientation. After lunch, we will take our placement exams. I'll update on how it goes! Pura vida!