So this is my first post. Let's see how this goes. Well getting to anywhere is a hassle, most of the time and getting to Vienna was no different. I had to get to the airport, in theory, by 4 pm on February 14th 2011. Well, my uncle couldn't come until about 3:30 pm because my aunt did not get out of work until like 3 pm I'm guessing, and she was the one who volunteered to take care of his kids. So the point is we left the house at about 3:40 pm, which is pretty late considering we live in Aurora, IL and it takes about 40 minutes to get to the airport. We arrived at the O'Hare Airport and we went to terminal 5, because I thought since the flight is international there is a greater chance of it being there. Turns out the flight leaves from Terminal 1, since it was operated by United Airlines. So there we go lugging my luggage around (my little brother and sister also came with me and my uncle). We finally make it to Terminal 1 and I asked a guy where I go to check in and then a lady tells me to check in with the machine thing, so I do but the thing is that it keeps asking me these random, in my opinion questions, about pay extra en get a seat here or something. I finally check in and go to the security gate and say good-bye to my uncle Ivan, sister Denise, and brother Levi. Keep in mind that when I go through security I have a humongous backpack and my laptop case plus a sweater, jacket, a thin shirt on and another one under it, so when I went through security, like always, it was a pain to take the two jackets, my shoes, and take the laptop out of its case and put it all on/back where it belongs. I then proceed to the gate and ask the lady there if I needed to do anything else. She said no so I sat down. Then it was time to board the plane. I will confess that during this whole time I was nervous and anxious, because I was afraid that something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to go because of that. The whole journey seems impossible, which is why I still have a hard time believing I'm here! But anyway I get on the plain and find my seat, but as I am passing by I learned/realized that there are 3 types of first class. There is like the super mega first class that looks like you have a home theater on the plane ( well the set up reminded me of that), then there is a toned down version of that, and last but not least the first class that I am used to seeing. I went to the economy plus, which I still don't understand why they are plus since it is the only type of economy class there. Anyway I went to find my seat 28 B and it was next to this lady, which I would later find out that she is French and has an American husband. She also has a Mexican exchange student living with her at her house and the student is from Monterrey. Ok, so let me tell you about the plane. So I wasn't expecting anything. I was expecting to be treated like I would when I go to Mexico on the airline Mexicana and other airlines that I've gone through. I was completely wrong and so caught by surprise. We got blankets and pillows, that alone was more than I expected. A little while later they started to give refreshments and I thought, "I probably wont get anything because they will charge," but they didn't. I got water anyways. I was thirsty. So then they gave us a bag of pretzels and I was expecting that. Oh and we got nice free headphones, whereas in some airlines they are cheap and they charge for them, by the way there were screens in front of every seat (attached behind each seat) so everyone had their own individual screen. I started to mess with the buttons and channels available. Each channel had a movie playing. I was really surprised they didn't charge for the movies, since I had heard that some airlines charge to view movies. So Iwas watching my movie (Secretariat) when we actually got food! I didn't know food was included in the ticket. Then one of the guys working for the airline tells us we can move to different seats if we wanted too because there weren't enough people on the plane. Eventually I did move to an empty row with two seats. I tried to sleep but couldn't, so I watched another movie ( the new one with Emma Roberts). I also meet this one guy from West Africa, I can't remember the country though. I had a headache during most of the flight, but it was OK. I tried to look out the window a lot. I bet I looked like an exited little kid to a lot of people, because I was kneeling on the sea to get a better view. I was really afraid/paranoid that the plane would crash, so as it took off I recited some of the prayers I know and tried to remember how the rosary went, yeah. I was also thinking about the Greek gods (Percy Jackson obsession people, I know one of many) and saying in my mind "I hope Zeus doesn't blast out of the sky" or "If we fall I hope Poseidon is kind." Yes, I know I was paranoid, but it seemed like it was impossible for me to make it here so yeah... Then we got to Brussels, Belgium. I was so excited, because I thought "If I die from here to Vienna at least I made it to one part of Europe." I think it was also the lack of sleep talking.
I had 1 hour to transfer planes, so I thought eh it'll be all right. Yeah turns out that it was a lot farther than I imagined. It felt like I went from one side of the airport to another. There were cool things there and if I had had more time I would've liked to check it out. I finally made it to the transfer gate and by this time I was all hot and sweaty. Brussels was a lot warmer than I expected. Oh well point is I made it and got on the next plane. On this plane I finally crashed. It was 2 am in the morning Midwest time. I was done. I fell asleep without realizing it. It was on the plane though, but I woke up in time to eat:) I finally got t Vienna, but I wasted all my excitement on Brussels. I was too tired to be excited. We got off the plane and a little bus picked us up and took us to the airport entrance. The entrance was actually not very far, but if you had luggage the ride was convenient. So I got to the airport at noon and had to wait for two hours because two other students were coming shortly after I did. I logged on to the internet and read fanfiction (yeah I know pathetic, but I couldn't help it). I let my mom know I was OK and that I made it to the airport. OK so that's getting to Vienna. I'll post more stuff later.
Bye!
