I am writing today mainly because I have good – no, great – news! I finally received my visa in the mail!  You know what this means, right? It means that there are only a couple hundred miles and a days worth of packing separating me from the beautiful country of Venezuela! 

I know I am writing quite a lot even before I leave the country, but I am trying to get into the habit of documenting my life for my own personal retrospection, and, of course, your enjoyment.  I thought that, today, since I only have to be to work in a few hours, I would give my faithful readers a little preview of what’s ahead for me as far as traveling.  Also, if I am being honest, each time I detail my crazy (and it IS crazy – for me, at least) travel schedule to someone, it gives me that “you can do this!” kind of confidence boost, which is needed to balance out those before-departure nerves.

 So, here it goes… (hopefully, none of my stalkers read this blog; otherwise they will know exactly where to find me once I leave my house on the 23rd.  Just kidding. That was stupid. Anyway…)

I will be leaving my house no later than 4:30am on January 23, 2011.  At this time I will be enduring a probably very uncomfortable ride with my parents, boyfriend, and three BFFs to the airport.  The reason I say “uncomfortable” is because that’s the best word I can use to describe the “we all know why we’re here, but we don’t know what to say” vibe that always you get from your loved ones as they drive you to the airport.  I’ve only ever traveled alone once, but I still remember the feeling.  It’s not necessarily pleasant, but it would be worse if they weren’t there.

So, after saying my goodbyes and NOT crying, I will be departing from Harrisburg at 6:45 (if all goes according to plan). I will then arrive in Miami at 11-something, feeling lost and trying desperately to not to show it.  At this point, I will probably call someone – anyone – to let them know that I am still alive (and to let myself know that I still have people in the world who care about me).

Hopefully, I will then seamlessly take an airport shuttle over to the Airport Hotel and check-in.  Once I am in my room (maybe with a roommate, maybe not? – I don’t know), I will try to update my blog, no doubt with stories.  Because, as you can probably tell, I always have stories. I mean, I’ve just made my imaginary account of my first flight about 3 paragraphs long. Believe me, I will have stories (and pictures!).

Most likely, I will then spend the rest of my evening in my room, attempting to sleep, because the next day is a DOOZY.  My flight out of Miami to Caracas is around 7am, BUT, because it is an international flight, I have to show up THREE HOURS early.  This means I will probably be waking up at 2:30am. Imagine my excitement. Then I will have to navigate my way back to the airport (maybe with other people from my group, maybe not), and to the LAN terminal.  According to what I have been told, a VENUSA rep (from my college in VZ) will be accompanying the group to Caracas.

I should arrive in Caracas at (once again) 11-something (hmm… I should probably get those “somethings” figured out before I leave).  Our group will then get our bags (, try not to get mugged or conned?), go through Customs at some point, and then walk from the international airport to the national airport.  There, we will wait for a few hours for our flight to El Vigia (which means “the lookout” in spanish – that was your fun fact for this post).
Here’s another fun fact: I am so nervous about going through customs! I just hope they’re not mean.

So, then we will fly out of Caracas at 5-something and land in El Vigia an hour from then.  After that, we will take a van from El Vigia to Merida, which could take anywhere from 1-2 hours. Once we arrive at VENUSA, we will finally meet our host families!

We get Tuesday (the day after we arrive) to pick our classes and attend an orientation, and on Wednesday our classes start! Yikes! No rest for the weary, apparently. The nice thing is that we get every Friday off, so we always have a three day weekend.  The school sent me an activity calendar, which looks promising.  It’s filled with weekend excursions, dance classes, and movie nights.

So, that’s that.  There’s my schedule. I’ll probably write a few more times before I leave the states; hopefully, once when I get my host family info and once in Miami.  Because I am a freak like that and I like to document everything. Ha.

Peace n’ Love!

Mandy

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Photo 1:
“I’m going to Venezuela in nine days!”

Photo 2:
“I’m going to Venezuela in… NINE DAYS?”

Photo 3:
“I AM GOING TO VENEZUELA IN NINE DAAAYS!!?!?!!!”

Location: Lebanon, Pennsylvania