Friday, July 6, 2012

Getting Ready for 6 Months Abroad


Friday, June 29th
 
Packing for this trip was easier than I thought it would be! It took all of an hour maybe to pack the majority of it. Luckily, most of the stuff that I took to Thailand was similar to what I had to pack for Guatemala (bug spray, sunscreen, tent, etc.). In order to prepare for the potential of a lot of down time during the slow part of the nesting season, I bought 27 books for my eReader. Now don’t worry…half of them were free due to the expired copyrights for many of the classic novels. I figure what better way to spend some of my free time then reading on the beach in a hammock ;).

It was hard to say bye to everyone, but I know that this will be the experience of a lifetime. How many people can honestly say they have lived in another country for an extended period of time (not including study abroad trips)?! After double checking everything, my parents and I drove to the San Diego airport. 

My mom and I took a 4:30pm plane to LAX and then had a 6 hour layover. For those of you who don’t know, my mom decided to go with me in order to “drop me off” (aka make sure I didn’t get snatched by one of the drug cartels, which are apparently rampant in Guatemala).

Waiting in LAX for my flight to Guatemala City, I was a bundle of nerves. I was full of excitement for working with sea turtles and working towards a career in helping to protect them. I was also slightly overcome with nervousness for a new situation and country. I had heard and read many bad things about the lack of safety in Guatemala, but I can assure you that so far I have yet to feel unsafe. At midnight, we boarded our plane and arrived in Guatemala City at 6:00am. It was actually a pretty short flight and equivalent in time to flying from the West to East Coast.

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