Day 1.

Let's just say I got off to somewhat of a rocky start this morning: I had to go through security about three times.

I thought I put everything necessary in the bins- my change, shoes, jacket, and I took my laptop and camera out of their cases...etc.

But I buzzed at the metal detector because I forgot about my phone in my pocket. So I took it out, added it to the bins, and got through the second time just fine.

Then, after getting through, I started putting my coat and shoes back on when I was notified that my carry-on had to be searched by hand- I forgot to take out my liquids. So after the security guard took my quart-sized ziploc of less than four ounce bottles of liquids out, it had to be x-rayed again.

Meanwhile, apparantly you're laptop and your laptop case can't be in the same bin, so security had put both back through the x-ray a second time in separate bins. Through the ordeal of getting my carry-on checked, I completely forgot about my laptop, and my camera which was with it. I left for my gate without them. It wasn't for a while down the airport that I realized what I did. I instantly freaked and SPRINTED back to security. Thank God both were just sitting there and no one had taken them!

By this point, my dad and I had wasted so much time that we were cutting it close for my flight. We ran through the airport to my gate, and got there at just after 6. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10. So that was a sigh of relief.

Getting onto the airplane we were stopped. Apparently the overhead space had been filled, so Delta was checking everyone's carry-ons. It took awhile for them to take the information for each bag, so they would know its final destination, and people were NOT happy. One lady argued with the flight attendant (who was not very friendly and obviously stressed) for at least 10 minutes, until finally the attendant gave her an ultimatum: check the bag or get off the flight. Another person in front of me had a good comment to the attendant: "Well, that's what you get when you charge for checked baggage..."

It didn't matter to me that my carry-on was getting checked, but I was annoyed when I got on the plane and there was a TON of space left in the overheads. Plus, then we got to sit and wait for at least a half hour while they checked and loaded the new baggage.

Why does it seem like life always works like that? We rushed to the gate to then wait for a half hour. It was a total "hurry up and wait" moment.

So now I'm in New York. I leave for Europe tomorrow at 9pm, and in the meantime we have orientations, and activities, and we get to meet some 130 other American exchange students going to certian European countries. I guess it's cool to see and meet a lot of people that are doing the same thing as I am (especially the 30 other kids going to Spain), but for me, I just want to get there already! And all the orientation stuff is just review anyways.

It still hasn't hit me yet that I'll be gone for 10 months, and I don't think it will until I'm actually in Madrid.

But I send a HUGE thank you to everyone who have wished me luck these past few days. If the rest of the trip is as hectic as today was, I could use all the luck in the world.