Lemme tell y'all about the beginning of my study abroad experience. Now I know most people would be like, "Oh my god! It didn't hit me 'till I sat on the plane...I hope this experience is magical...". I'm not gonna discredit those people because I know to each their own and everyone is going to have a different experience. HOWEVER, (and you can tell I'm trynna make a point cause I'm using CAPS LOCK), I just wanted to catch my flight to begin with.
Now, before this whole experience I was blessed to have had an internship experience in Queretaro, México. There is a lot of context that will be missing, but basically what I learned from the experience is that there are both good and bad people in the world. I learned that I needed to have that event happen so I would be able to keep my guards up during this time around. Chicago has some CRAZYYY weather so flights were being cancelled left and right and I had grown annoyed of waiting in long lines and talking with rude people (no shade, but...).
Anyways, I finally get my flight changed twice and I'm already angry, tired and upset even before I leave my city. As I hug my mom goodbye I tear up a little bit because of the situation to be honest. I was used to being on my own (and kind of happy that I would be away from my school and the USA for 3 months). When I get to the first flight I notice that its take off time and we haven't taken off. I don't think y'all understand how pressed I was about getting to my connecting flight in Georgia. So I start cursing people out in my head and start questioning everything about this experience like, "What is the purpose of this?, Who said I needed to go abroad in the first place? Why is the universe so complicated?". So I text my sister and ask her questions about the terminal and the lady sitting next to me asks if I am doing okay. So obviously, my first reaction is "Excuse me, but who are you? Are you trynna kidnap me? What if she robs me?". So I just casually say "Naw I'm good, but I don't want to miss my connecting flight". She goes, "Oh I'm from Georgia I can help you find the terminal". I'm like OKAY and I give her the terminal info and she tells me where to go and what train to take.
Eventually this plane took off and I take a nap. I wake up and realize that we had already touched down and were waiting for them to open the door. Y'all know when people stand up for no reason and try to get their stuff? I was surprised that people were gonna let me run off the plane. Before I left, Shae, the lady hands me her name and number on a Ventra card and says, "Look. Text me if you need help and I can come and find you and help". YOOOO. I was so taken back. I thanked her so much and ran off the plane. I run through the airport, get to the train and read the flight info and it said it was boarding. I've run away from things in life, but I was running up stairs and escalators that when I got there I had to lay on the floor. I was so relieved that I started to laugh (don't judge, keep it cool). I get on the plane and it still hasn't hit me that I'm about to be in this plane for 9 hours...So I realize that I have no one sitting next to me which makes everything better and I knock out.
I woke up at like 5:30am confused and when I opened the window...dun dun dun...it hit me. I saw the sun and sunrise and saw the view down of Chile and I was so amazed. I did not realize how amazing this point was. I realized that I was going to be away from everything and everyone for 3 months with strangers. I was ready, excited, nervous, confused, hungry, sleepy and lookin' like a hot mess. Imma go all deep on you guys. My goal for these posts is to have some reflection. I think that the sunrise was kind of a way to clear my head and forget about everything that had happened the day before. It sucked at the moment, but then it was all good. I got off the plane, went through customs and saw one of my directors. I made it y'all! I was ready for this "journey" to begin and I was ready to eat.
The End. 🌞✌🏾
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