we made it!!!

The adventure began at around 2:00 PM on March 29^th! Some of the fam took me to RDU to wish me off. I met up with Molly, Abby, Rachel, and Tess, got through security without a hitch, and headed straight for 42^nd street in the airport! Soon enough they called for us to board our plane to Atlanta. It really hadn’t sunken in that we were leaving the country yet… Thankfully, I had Molly at my side at every plane ride to calm my nerves! When we landed, we had a pretty significant layover until our 8 and ½ hour trip to Brazil. So, we pretended that we were rich for a second and treated ourselves to a nice meal at Sweetwater Brewing Co. in the airport. After a few hours, it was that time again- time to board. I didn’t let anyone know, but I started to get really sad to leave home. I held my tears back while I tried make sure Skype was going to work with my mom. Powellsville is known for a lot of things, but definitely not for its great Internet service! On top of that, they started speaking to us in Portuguese when we got on the plane. Things were definitely starting to sink in. It’s a crazy feeling: incredibly excited to go on this journey, terribly sad to leave those I love, recognizing that I’m graduating when I get back, all mixed up with a little giddy laughter because of not knowing what’s going on! The plane ride was LONG. But, they did their best to keep us occupied with food and movies. Also, in case you’ve ever tried to sleep on a plane, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Molly and I didn’t get so lucky, we got about 1 hour! When we got to Brasilia, we had to figure out how to navigate all by ourselves. Let me tell you… this must be how my students felt when I didn’t teach something correctly! But, we made it through. I learned that body language, hand gestures, smiles, and laughter are all universal languages. I’ve never given so many thumbs up and said “Obrigada!” (“Thank you” in Portuguese) in my life!! It was hilarious.

We made it to the hotel and got some much needed sleep, food, and a shower! Then we were ready to explore the city! We went to the mall to get some Mexican food (must be missing Dillo). The easiest tasks are now the most difficult, when you can’t communicate with the people trying to take your order. After dinner, we explored some more and FINALLY ran into the rest of our group who had been in Rio for the weekend. After lots of hugs with KeJuan, Jennifer, and Lucy, some people offered us free tickets to a show in a local church! It was incredible; we were singing worship songs that we knew… just in Portuguese!

I have learned so much, and it’s only the first night. PS Molly and I can only get wifi while sitting in the doorway, so that’s where we are right now! Going to bed now, TCHAU!