Hola Americanos!
As of 3 days ago now I have officially arrived in my new homeland. I don't even know where to begin with all the stuff that has happened already! I suppose I should start from the top...
I don't really want to tell about this particular part of my trip that I'm going to tell you anyway, but I guess it's sort of essential so that you know ALL about my adventure, even the low points. Wellll, once I got off my flight from Minneapolis to Laguardia in New York, I was lucky enough to have my good friend Dom who graduated from Ball State and moved back home on Long Island pick me up and drive me in her famous tricked-out orange jeep to the other airport, JFK, where I'd fly out of overnight and arrive in Buenos Aires around 10 a.m. With traffic, I'd guess it was about a 45-minute drive. She even brought me a huge slice of delicious New York pizza and some garlic bread knots! It was rainy and chilly in New York on Monday evening and right around the time for rush hour (I repeat...IN NEW YORK...) and I was already overwhelmed with the big city and having to lug around my backpack, carry-on, 2 checked bags and be able to find Dom. Eventually I did, and off we went eating pizza and catching up during the car ride. Very happy at this point to get fed and see an old friend! What could go wrong now?!
Then about 20 minutes into the hectic drive with rain, construction and rush hour, I get a call on my phone from a 1-800 number in New York. That's odd. I answer, and a woman asks me if this is Mackenzie and if I'm on a shuttle between airports right now. I told her yes but I'm actually with a friend and didn't take the shuttle. She tells me, panicking, "I'm with American Airlines. You need to come back to Laguardia right away, you left your purse on the plane and it has everything in it..." (internal dialogue: "Oh. My. God. This is a worst nightmare for an international traveler ever and I hate myself.") Here she goes again: "It has your passport, money, everything..." OKAY GREAT AMERICAN AIRLINES LADY, I KNOW! THANKS FOR REMINDING ME!!!
I told Dom we have to turn around and she was shocked at first, but the rest of the time she was the one to keep me calm while I smacked myself in the head and tried not to have an anxiety attack. I was worried about the time with the rain and traffic for catching the next flight, but she assured me that we were fine and she's glad we got the call when we did and that I had stuck an extra American Airlines bag tag in that purse in Minneapolis with all my information on it. How EXTREMELY lucky that she was able to be my airport driver (like she always was in Indiana too!) instead of me being stuck on a shuttle bus and receiving that call and also it's lucky that I decided to put that tag in my purse. I can't imagine what would have happened otherwise--this was definitely a situation involving fate. Did I mention this is the biggest trip of my life?!
Long story short, we went back to the airport and I literally ran around in circles for 15 minutes straight (which god forbid is practically impossible to get my body to do when I'm trying to workout) I was like one of those crazy, unprepared, clueless and irresponsible people you see running like mad who think they are about to miss a flight. I finally found the woman that had my bag and everything I had brought was in it. It was the best way the situation could end, but the stress was horrible :( I was not happy with myself, but we got to JFK for my connection at the same time Dom said we would before we knew I had lost my bag. Everything was fine! It was just so uncharacteristic of myself to lose something soo important, but I think my mind was wandering in all crazy types of directions with this huge trip and thus I did something super stupid. I can laugh about it now that it's over, right??? (No, no I cannot. Not one bit. Ever.)
Once I met the other students, I heard I wasn't the only one who encountered travel troubles which made me feel a little better. 5 of the people had a situation involving getting separated in the city of Buenos Aires and they couldn't figure out where each other went because nobody has a cell phone. Two girls went missing while the other 3 people had all their luggage, and the 2 girls took a train to Rosario without their luggage while the 3 people waited for them at the bus station for 3 hours and were accused by 2 Russian men that they stole their bags because they had so many, police were involved, etc. Sounded messy!
ANYWAYS, let's move on from that horrific experience to more positive matters! I was placed in the back of the plane (row 44) from JFK to Buenos Aires, but I had two seats to myself with no one next to me so I was able to sleep fairly well most of the night (overnight flight...10:30 pm until 10 a.m. but the time is 2 hours ahead here so about 9 1/2 hours for the last flight.) I don't know why it took me this long to purchase a neck pillow--it could have saved me a lot of neck kinks, embarrassing twitching, dead arms and pink marks on my face from leaning over to sleep on the tray tables the past 3 years flying to and from Indiana. American Airlines also had Silver Linings Playbook as one of the movie choices on the flight so I forced myself to stay up until 1:30 a.m. watching that since I heard it was good (which it was, interesting but still good.) Wasn't a huge fan of the lasagna and bread that comes in a plastic bag (yummm airplane food...) but oh well, it was "free" with my $1,400 roundtrip plane ticket. Gotta get my money's worth even if that means a stomachache.
Naturally when I woke up about an hour before our plane landed, I asked a flight attendant if they had already passed out the customs papers that we have to fill out. Apparently they ran out (c'mon now, really? Isn't that sort of an important item to have enough of on a flight to another country?) and she told me once we arrived at the airport I would be able to find them. Yeah, that never happened. I was all alone through the process at the airport and I don't think I heard one person speaking English since I arrived at JFK in New York. Practically everyone on my plane spoke Spanish. That's the interesting thing about Argentinians, hardly anyone "looks" like they speak Spanish because they look very European just like Americans. I had to adjust into Spanish-speaking mode very quickly while going through customs, which can be described as nothing else other than a complete cluster of chaos. There were so many people that I could hardly navigate around with all my luggage, sweating like a pig and couldn't even find where the line began. Still didn't have the customs papers at this point. After I waited in line for over an hour (people were becoming impatient but clapping and laughing to speed along the process? I was a little confused...nothing like America where everyone shoots death glares at the person that seems happy in moments of distress. I'm guilty of doing this to people too.) I told the woman that was taking the papers and screening the luggage that American Airlines didn't have any more. She told me to just put my luggage on the belt. And all this time standing in line I was thinking this for sure meant interrogation in a back room somewhere! I think and stress too much.
I made a reservation for a bus called Tienda Leon that was supposed to leave at 11:30 from Buenos Aires to Rosario, which is exactly the time I got through customs. I went to pay for my ticket and tried to quickly listen to where to go, but of course I didn't quite understand so I had to ask some of the taxi drivers that were looking for riders as to where to go. One guy gave me directions that I understood and before I walked away he said, "Eres muy linda, no?" and winked. For you non-Spanish speakers, that's "You're really cute," which of course I didn't know what to say and walked away awkwardly giggling. Pretty sure I was the opposite of cute with my hair in knots from sleeping on the plane and sweat dripping down my face, but okay I'll take it.
At this point I figured I had missed the bus, but luckily in South America the people are more relaxed with time and schedules and it didn't actually leave until 11:45 a.m. I finally found the bus as people were boarding. We were really tired at the time, but I met 3 of the people from my program on the bus and it was a relief to be with people I knew a little bit from Facebook at least. I was surprised that is was more of a coach bus and not a city bus, they gave us food and played a movie and everything. In case you're wondering, the movie was entitled Veronika Decides to Die starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and begins with her attempting to commit suicide by overdosing on pills and she is then brought to a mental institution for the rest of the movie. I know what you're thinking, and I completely agree. It's a very uplifting plot and exactly what I'd like to watch upon arriving in another country! Not sure who took the reins on choosing that dark film, but Tienda Leon may want to rethink that one for the sake of future travelers.
After 4 1/2 hours on the bus, we arrived at the hostel where we stayed for a night on Tuesday. I think this is where I'm going to end this blog entry because apparently I like to write a lot and this is more time-consuming than I thought! I'm pretty detail-oriented. Next time I write I'll talk more about the hostel, my new home with my host mother, and what I've been up to during my first few days here in Rosario. Already lots of stories that I think are fun :) Chao!
