Arrival

It is 7:32 PM Managua time, February 9th, 2011. I could not be any more ready to go to bed!

From what I have seen of Managua so far, I think I will really like it here. The city itself is busy, dusty, and infinitely confusing. On our van ride from the airport to the center, we zipped past men and women selling water in plastic bags in the middle of the highway, several horse-drawn carts navigating the fast-moving roadways, and young children who would dart out to wash our windows and tap on the glass, hoping for payment.

The center we are staying at is peaceful, especially compared to the little bit of the city we saw briefly today. We eat our meals prepared by the staff here on a covered porch, surrounded by green foliage. Air moves freely through the open windows of the house, keeping it cool and letting in the sounds of crickets and the occasional loud motors from outside.

Tomorrow we will explore the city with the resident staff, learn how to use the public transportation system and purchase pre-paid cell phones. Aside from the 2 hours of sleep I got on the plane and my half-hour hammock nap this afternoon, I have not slept at all the past two days! Off to bed now... and it's only a quarter til 8. What a day!

At the airport

I've said all of my goodbyes, packed months worth of clothes into a single duffel bag, and I am almost on my way. Sitting at gate B15 of the SeaTac airport, with about 10 other travelers who are also here two hours before their flight to Houston leaves, I don't really feel like I'm going anywhere.

I suppose I'll have to believe all of this is real once I get off the plane in the 90 degree Managua sunshine... but right now I don't feel like it's true! I'm mostly a little exhausted from a hectic day of last-minute running around and packing (...and re-packing). I'm also a little bit torn, leaving my friends and family here in Seattle: admittedly, I teared up a little when hugging my parents and boyfriend goodbye outside security. They stayed and waved to me as I got my bags re-checked by Security Man when I forgot to take my laptop out of the bag and run it through on its own... Traveling with fancy technology is new to me! What can I say?

But anyways, here I am. I am almost a caricature of a typical Seattelite, with my Birkenstocks, flannel, spare flannel, and REI hiking pack. I am feeling better and better about this trip by the minute, and now I just hope that the next hour and a half until boarding passes quickly...

All for now! More to come...

R.

Getting closer!

A week and a half!

A week and a half until takeoff, a statement which simultaneously sounds amazing and horrifying. A week and a half! Regardless of how I feel about that statement, that week and a half will pass, and soon I will be in Managua, Nicaragua with four other girls who are probably as unprepared as I am.

Which reminds me! Yesterday I had my online orientation for the Managua program, and I learned that five girls, including myself, will be in the program. It's like my FIG all over again! (When I started college, I joined a Freshman Interest Group which was made up of something like 14 girls and 1 guy, and many of us girls from that group have remained close throughout college). Managua looks amazing, and the local staff seem like good people.

Soon I'll start the ridiculous task of packing a six month supply of everything I need into a single duffel bag and hiking pack, and then I will be on my way.
 Hasta luego.

One Month Til Departure

Exactly one month from today --on February 8th, 2011-- I will embark on my six month direct exchange at la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua, in Managua. As of now, I know nothing about my future host family, the other students in the program, or the courses I will take at UNAN. My Spanish is fairly rusty, having been put on the back burner since the end of my Freshman year of college. I am currently a Junior.  

...I may be extremely unprepared for all of this.

Knowing so little about what lies ahead is both terribly exciting and, quite frankly, slightly terrifying. I recently began a writing in a journal that I plan to keep during my time abroad, and as I began writing in it for the first time, I sat back and and reveled in the fact that right then, on the first page of that blank book, I had no way of even imagining the people, places and events that will fill the rest of its currently quiet pages.

Before I can find out what lies ahead, I will be soaking up all the grey skies, coffee shops, great friends, rain drops and secure comforts that I have spent the first twenty years of my life surrounded by in the Pacific Northwest. I will miss Seattle, but I am ready for a few new places, though currently unknown. 

Impatiently yours,

RM

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." -Martin Buber