From Benito Juarez

I’m writing this while sitting in the airport in Mexico City. Getting around in this airport wasn’t nearly as bad as getting around O’Hare! O’Hare was pretty much a nightmare for me. It took me half an hour to find out how to get to the International Terminal, and once there, I had a disappointing experience that made me feel that my Spanish speaking skills were inadequate. I walked up to the AeroMexico counter to check in, and the man started speaking to me in Spanish. Sadly, he had to switch over to English because I wasn’t responding quickly or anything. Once I got on the plane, I had the same kind of experience. The flight attendants reverted to English. Hopefully this gets better…I’ve been taking Spanish for awhile now and can listen, read, write, and speak pretty well. I think I may have just gotten nervous, but as I have already said, it was really disappointing for me. I don’t want people to have to speak in English to me when I’m in Mexico…

The flight from Chicago to Mexico City seemed so long! We flew over the Gulf of Mexico, and when we ran into the coast, the view was gorgeous. Here are some pictures:

Here's the Gulf coast

Mexico City

Anyways, I’ve been in this airport for a good 3 and a half hours now. Luckily, I met a girl named MiMi, and we talked all afternoon. She was really kind, and she is heading to Lima, Peru to do some volunteer work. We had a great conversation about different cultures, travelling, languages, and more. It was nice to have someone to talk to, considering that I’ve been all alone for the majority of the day.

Can’t wait to get to Guanajuato!

Pre-Departure

When I checked my flight itinerary this morning, I was unpleasantly greeted by a surprise. Instead of departing from Mexico City at 3 PM, I am now departing from Mexico City at 5 PM. This means that I now have a 3 and a half hour layover in Mexico City...that isn't bad. I'll be able to practice my Spanish and check some prepaid cell phone rates with the companies in the airport. It's just that it's a huge disappointment that I'll be arriving in Leon/Guanajuato 2 hours later than I had planned! On top of that...I'll be worrying about the swine flu the entire time. I know things have improved drastically, but I won't be able to stop thinking about it.

Today I also talked with everyone for the last time. I'm thinking that this trip might break my cell phone/Internet addiction. I won't be able to use my regular cell phone for 5 weeks, and I won't be able to pick up my laptop to access the Internet whenever I want. I'll be restricted to calling a select number of people with an international calling card from the house phone (and not talking for long periods of time because of the amount of minutes on the card) and Internet cafes. This will be tough.

Anyways, it's 12:04 AM. My flight leaves at 6 AM, and my dad wants to leave at 3:45 AM. To put it shortly, I'm not getting much sleep tonight! I just finished packing, and I'll wake up early tomorrow morning to double check everything.

Packed everything in one suitcase! Surprise...

My precautionary Tamiflu, Spanish-English dictionary, and personal travel journal

Right now, I'm feeling so many emotions all at the same time: I'm nervous, excited, impatient, sad, happy, and anxious. It's giving me such a rush that I can't sit still and I know I will be having problems falling asleep.

It's crazy to think that, by this time tomorrow, I'll be asleep in my home in Guanajuato, Mexico.