Oh Happy Day

Hey everyone! I just wanted to start out this blog by saying ¨Thank you!¨for every single e-mail response in my inbox. I logged into my e-mail really quickly to get some information from my mama (P.S. I´m still waiting for that dear :) and was honestly overwhelmed by everyone´s replies, encouragement, advice, prayers, and even additional invite requests! I will try my hardest to reply to you individually when I get a chance. Right now I´m pressed for time in a smoky internet cafe. Just to reiterate, it really was such a blessing, so thank you again!

Well, I have to be honest. I had already written a full blog but this particular cafe doesn´t tell you when you are close to running out of time; it just reboots your computer. I´m taking it in stride. I know the first few days in a foreign country are the most frustrating and rightly so. These past 30 or so hours have been no exception, but things are already looking up. For instance, I now know to keep a close eye on the time when using the computers here! :)

I have started out by taking things slow. Wow! I heard those gasps from across the Atlantic. I know it´s against my nature, but I´m trying to make adjustments as I grow up so that I hit the ground less frequently and with less velocity. Consequently, I don´t have a whole lot of exciting things to say. Not, of course, that that will stop me from saying something.

My two flights went pretty well. Quite a bit of turbulence though and the first landing was so rough I actually bounced out of my seat. I´m sure it was funny to anyone watching. Two seconds later it was funny to me. One the shuttle between terminals in Heathrow I met two other girls from the program which proved to be wonderful when we had to wait for our delayed flight. Once we got to our beautiful hotel, I met my roomie and the four of us paled (as in pals, not losing color...is that right? If this internet were just a tad faster I´d bop over to a dictionary, but time is tick-tick-ticking away. Palled doesn´t look right either though...Oh, English!) around hitting up an internet cafe, supermercado, real cafe, and I learned the art of using a Spanish payphone with a ghetto phone card.

The one problem that hung over my head was the fact that my luggage was actually still in London. I decided in light of that fact I was going to become a minimalist. I did pretty well in this new lifestlye until nature proved a little unpredictable and I found myself sprinting to the nearest pharmacy, asking why oh why I couldn´t just have all my stuff. Hey, minimalism is not for everone.

Well after I purchased this particular outrageously expensive necessity, I was walking into the grocery store and ran into the two other girls from London who told me my suitcase had come. Joy! I went back to the pharmacy, found the very nice woman who had sold me the purchase, explained what had happened and was so grateful that she took it back with a smile and clear directions. She did seem a little puzzled though and I saw her keep wiping her hands on her pants. Then I looked in my bag and realized one of the bottles of water I had just bought in the other part of the store was broken and leaking everywhere. That return proved to be more interesting as the significantly less friendly clerk there ketp telling me Ës tuya, es tuya.¨ I was so frustrated, trying to remember the word for broken and causing an internal debate between ¨rompio¨and ¨roto.¨I knew there was a difference, but not in the position to stay and chat I finally blurted out the former and she nodded, frowning. She told me to take another and I did, right off the shelf, into the shopping bag and I was out of there. At this moment, I realize I must have looked quite a bit like a shoplifter and am really glad that none of the security followed me out.

By the time I pushed through the rotating glass door of the hotel, I felt much better. I envisioned picking up my orange suitcase, hopping on the elevator, and taking care of a long line of business that started with a shower and new clothes. However, the man behind the counter didn´t understand what I was saying and put me on the phone to talk to Liana Campanella about baggage. I didn´t understand that was what he was doing until my sleepy roomie answered the phone and then I explained, ¨Soy Liana Campanella.¨ At first I think he was thrown by the idea that I would want to call myself but I explained one more time, he got it, I got my bag, and in two minutes I was breathing in the smell of clothes that well, in contrast to the ones I had worn almost 72 hours straight, didn´t really smell. Oh happy day!

Well, I really have no idea what I just wrote because I have not proofread it and I need to be in a meeting down the street in four minutes. True to my username, I have saved this to the 11th hour, but I hope it´s enjoyable. Trust me, there are real adventures to come!

All my love,

Liana