Flying Messi

Part One: Miami

After an early morning wake up (arrived at the airport at 6 am) my parents and I stood in line to check my bag. It took forever. And by forever I mean 45 minutes, mostly because they skipped our line for the first class line. Finally, I made to the security checkpoint, where I said goodbye….to everything I’ve known up to this point…but especially goodbye to my parents. Luckily, I quickly made it through security to…the back row. Luckily, it was a beautiful window seat so I saw lots of crop circles, more crop circles, some clouds and, well, more clouds. So now my computer is about to die. More in Barcelona, but Miami is GORGEOUS!!!

Tallahassee, Florida

                       

Part Two: Barcelona

After that five hour layover in Miami, I took an overnight flight to Barcelona. The flight was, well, scripted. The lights were out for takeoff, then turned on for dinner. Then the lights were out again as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. I luckily got two seats all too myself, which helped some with the sleep. But I think I got maybe 6 hours if I’m lucky. The weirdest part about flying by myself was having virtually no one to talk to for 24 hours. Finally at the Colorado time of 2AM I landed in Barcelona….where I proceeded to sit around and wait for a mysterious guy in an orange t-shirt to pick me up to take me to the hotel…Which I couldn’t find and couldn’t find. As the 2pm local time got closer and closer I was panicking. Finally I walked by a group of students and overheard, “CIEE…” Well at least now I had company! Other students were feeling equally lost, but we knew we hadn’t missed the pickup at least. While we were chatting, some TV cameras lined up at the exit. “Hmmm…must be someone important coming through. Ha ha. The only important Spanish person I know is Messi.” Finally the door opened and sure enough, Messi, the world’s most famous soccer player walks through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two or the other girls ran after him, and I followed. He’s a lot younger than I thought he would be. But he’s very cute!!! He looked utterly harassed and tired, which I’m sure he was. Shortly after he was gone, four guys in orange t-shirts showed up and took us to the hotel.