Pre-Departure and Arrival to Buenos Aires!

I'm going to do my pre-departure and arrival all at the same time because it has been a long voyage process so i'm just going to say it all now...


Pre-departure

The predeparture for me was filled with a lot of mixed feelings. First, one month exactly before I had to leave for Buenos Aires, I had to have surgery on my elbow in order to correct a pre-existing injury that had become infected, and was really affecting the use of my arm. At times there was even risk of me not being able to go all together. However, 5 days before my trip I got the confirmation by my doctor that it was safe for me to travel. This was the same week as my finals week, in which I had been taking 7 classes this semester and was bogged down by paper, exams, and we all know the drill...so juggling all of that WITH my impending trip to the other side of the world, it became kind of overhwelming at times. But after everything cleared up, I started becoming extremely excited. I started making the final confirmations to my trip like buying my entrance into the country (which was not cheap by the way), makig sure I had a taxi to pick me up fro the airport, and confirming all my flight arrangements. I also had to begin the grueling process ofr packing up my life for like the 5th time in my life into 3 suitcases, and judging what was going to get left behind. However, now that I am here, in hindsight all of that stress and preparation wasn't so bad, and i'm glad I had such a relaxed mindset entering this whole process or I may not have made it haha!

Voyage

I had 3 connections, I left Tallahassee at 6 pm and flew to Miami, which only took an hour, but I knew that was only the beginning of the immense amount of sitting that was to come. When I got to Miami I encountered my first problem. I flew American Airlines to Miami, but my next few international flights were with Tam airlines, so when i arrived I had to leave the airport and come back in again at a different gate, and I was afraid that I was going to lose my check-in bag. I landed at terminal D and i had to walk to termial J which felt like 46 miles carrying all my carry- on stuff. I got through the gate on time, and they called me up to the desk to make sure I had the pre-purchased entrance payment and they told me I didnt need to worry about my checked luggage because everything would work out. My next stop was Rio de Jainero, Brazil, and Tam airlines is the best airline I have ever flown. I got 2 meals, some hot rag to wash ym hands and face, coffee, chocolates, orange juice for breakfast and every hour they came around with water. I also watched Life of Pi and the office before I passed out for a few hours (the flight was 8 hours). When I woke up we were landing in Rio, and the Pilot was flying over the bay with thegiant jesus statue, and i could see all of the shanty towns on the volcanic mountains, it was really cool. After waiting in the Aiport for a while in Brazil, I got on my final leg of the Jouney to Buenos Aires, in which i completely slept the entire way.

Arrival

This was asbolutely the most humerous part of my entire trip. First, when I got off the plane and was waiting in line at customs an enormous shouting match broke out between two Argnetinians, because the woman at customs wouldnt shut off the x-ray conveyer belt and appartnely a buch of duty free stuff got trapped inside the machine, so they ended up letting most of us foreigners into the country just based on the honor code, which i thought was just extra special. Then, when I left the terminal I realized I had no idea where I was going...it never even dawned on me to what would happen after I got there because i was so preoccupied by getting there...so i began to panic. My phone was dead, my computer was dead, and although I had the chargers, what I DIDNT have was a converter! I completely forgot that not all countries use the double pronged outlets. So what do I do, I do what any other American would do and go get mcdonalds. I thought there was going to be wifi in the airport, but there wasnt, so  went to the mccaffe thinking there would be wifi there, which there wasnt either. I ended up walking around the post-customs area for about an hour until I found a piece of paper with my name on it taped to a random wall. So i tore it off and just walked around waving it in the air until some woman came up to me and was like what are you doing? and i just stared at here because i really had no idea what i was doing...and she read the sign and completely non chalantly was like oh hey weve been looking for you i was like YES! So i had a driver bring me, who also exchanged some of his pesos for american dollars for me, because im waiting until tomorrow to do it in the city in order to get the highest amount possible for my dollars...and now I have arrived at my house which is in the federal distric of the city, where the congress and president's building are. first thig i did was get a sim card for my phone, and now im about to go unpack..