Arriving at Newark Airport yesterday and boarding my flight to Europe did not give me the feelings I had anticipated. I thought I would be excited or at least scared. But the reality of where my life was taking me did not hit me yet. Of course I had butterfiles during lift-off because flying is frightening but it was not the “Oh my goodness I’m actually on my way to live in Spain for 6 months” butterflies…just the “Wow, this is SCARY” butterflies.

Even during the flight reality had not set in. I had a row to myself (I know! I got lucky!) But I still could not get comfortable enough to sleep. I watched a movie at first…then I just watched the blue screen that confirmed to me just how scary air travel is. The screen told me the altitude, speed, ETA…everything! 40,000 feet in the air? 600 mph??! AHH!!

Here’s where reality finally sets in…

Eventually-like 7 torturous hours later!- I arrived in Lisbon. I made my way through customs (I think that’s what that was?), went through a security checkpoint, found out my gate number for my next flight from a transfer desk (I will board after this 8 hour layover!) and then FINALLY I just wanted to call my boyfriend and my parents…simple right??? NO!

I tried the pay phone, I tried the thing next to the pay phone with a fancy touchscreen. I tried credit card, euros, collect calls, operators…EVERYTHING. I could not get through. An automated operater kept talking in my ear and I wanted it to stop. I just wanted to dial! Then I had a real operator but that was not helpful either because we could not understand each other. I was flustered and frustrated. I finally had to step away to let others in line use the phone. I asked a couple if they knew how I could use the phone to call home. They did not speak English but they spoke Spanish and French and between the two languages we were able to communicate and they directed me to a store in the airport where I could buy a calling card. Unfortunately, they did not have calling cards to the U.S… why would they right?!! Such luck I have.

But they did have a cyber cafe. So I bought an hour…and now I am on my second hour (yes I wrote an entire blog in the last hour but my time ran out and I lost it! Now, I,m trying again!) I emailed my family to let them know I was safe in Lisbon and I have been trying to reach my boyfriend. I miss home so much already. I know this is going to be hard.

As pathetic as this might all seem, I have now realized just how dependent I am on my iPhone. No WiFi is like a slap in the face. I’m so used to the instant gratification of constant internet access whether through 3G or WiFi. Life without it is…hard. Okay, I am being very dramatic! But, disconnecting is going to be very hard for me…but it will be just one of the many things I have to adapt to through this experience.

But dear God I cannot wait to get to Spain. Portuguese is so hard to try to understand! Wish me luck!

More later from Seville!

Jenn

Location: Lisbon, Portugal (Lisbon International Airport)