And so it begins...

As I drove down I-94 on Friday to the airport, I felt nothing. I don't mean that literally, of course. I was just emotionless. Was I supposed to be scared? Was I supposed to be excited? Were there supposed to be tears running down my face? Was there supposed to be a grin plastered across my face? After checking my luggage, I told my mom that I was emotionless. She told me that I was lying. She could tell from my face that I trying to be tough.

In the words of Jessie J, "Mama knows best". 

As I hugged my parents goodbye, I tried so hard to keep myself from crying. I even told myself, "I am not going to cry, I don't have emotions" over and over again. Out loud might I add. My mom encouraged my tears to fall. So fall they did. 

Waiting to board the plane, the "nonexistent" emotions I claimed about an hour before disappeared... The fact that I'm gonna be nearly 8,000 away from home for nearly 5 month hasn't sunk in yet. 

Random: Luthansa Airlines are amazing. I  had no idea that two floored airplanes were a thing until being on two of there flights. Also, the flight attendants were so nice! (Cool shot of the plane in Germany)

After a long 6.5 hours in Delhi, I am sitting in a lounge inside the Delhi airport. These past few hours have been a prime example of expecting the unexpected. So, story time! Two of the four other girls and I have been here since midnight. The system shut down as we waited in line to get through immigration. After nearly two hours, we got through to baggage claim to not see our luggage on the conveyor. We asked for helped and found our luggage on a cart headed to be stored (I think). I was do tired I couldn't even hold my 40lb duffle bag so I instead dragged it. Two passport/boarding pass checks later we could drop off our checked bags on the opposite side of the airport. Finally making it through an intense security check was such an amazing feeling, by the way. We had plans of logging into the free Wifi but that didn't happen because without service we couldn't receive the code via text message. So frustrating. We learned that we could pay for wifi usage in one of the lounges BUT we had to pay in rupees which we didn't have yet because the currency exchange counter was closed until 5:30am. So we chilled for about 2 hours until it was supposed to open. At 6am we finally got our
rupees which meant food and wifi and a comfortable couch to lie down on. 

The time is now about 7:30am which means I am about 3 hours away from my last flight. I am yearning for a shower and a bed because airplane and airport chairs aren't cutting it. 

These past few days of traveling have been really interesting to say the least. I actually believe all of the advice given to me by past participants about having little expectations. Let the journey begin. 

P.S. The reality of my situation still hasn't set in... Give me about 2 weeks to realize that I'm not just on a vacation that will soon end.