Traveling to Arequipa was quite interesting. My flight was at 6:15 am, which meant we had to be at the airport at 4 am so I could make my flight on time. It was even more interesting since I didn't sleep at all the night before.
We get to the airport ready to go, and I go to check in my suitcase. Except it was overweight. Not just overweight, but super overweight. The limit is 23 kg (51 lbs) and my bag was at 29 kg (64 lbs). I had to get out of line to reorganize my bag and try cramming as many things into my carryon and backpack as I possibly could. So I tried just that. And thought I was good. My host dad was doubting me the whole time, but I was convinced to get it done and not have to pay that overweight fee. It was $25, which really isn't crazy, but it's a lot easier to just not have to pay that if you don't have to. I get back in line to check my bag. And it was still overweight. So super fast, I took some more stuff out of it and crammed it into the space I really did not have in my backpack and carryon, but I made it work. Even after that, it was still about 23.8 kg (52 lbs). Seeing how stressed and exhausted I was, the counter lady just let it be and said it was fine. How nice, that made me so happy.
I had my bag checked, I had my ticket, and I was ready to go by 4:40. My family came with me up to the security gate, and from there I said goodbye. I also got through security reasonably quickly, although it was still stressful. It's security.
I got out of there, and I found my gate, which was very conveniently right next to Starbucks and an outlet. I was able to charge my phone, which had almost no charge on it, and get something to eat. My flight started boarding around 5:30, but I just waited around to let my phone get some charge and finish eating. All I had was a very caffeinated frappuccino in attempt to wake me up (it didn't work) and a croissant. Oh, how I miss eating croissants. I was the last person to board my flight around 6: 05. That seems to be consistent theme every time I fly, is that I'm always the last person on board for whatever reason.
As soon as I got my bags stowed away and seated, I knocked out. I woke up an hour and a half later in Arequipa. It's one of those things for I was very lucidly sleeping but it felt like it had been 15 minutes, not an hour and a half. It wasn't very restful, but it was enough for the time being.
I got off the plane, got my bags, and soon enough I was out waiting for my host family. I flew to Arequipa with another exchange student, Siham, so we were able to stick together that whole time. Her host family was there to pick her up, although mine was not. SO they waited around with me until they arrived, which was really nice.
After probably half an hour, my host family finally arrived at the airport. There was my host dad, my host mom, and host sister. I had my things all ready to get around, and we all squeezed into their car that is a pickup truck. From there, we went to a restaurant to go eat breakfast. There we also met up with some my host aunt and uncle. We ate adobe, which is a traditional Arequipenan dish that's kind of like a piece of pork in some soup. I liked it.
We walked around for a little bit after, as it was beside a very cute plaza area, that was followed by going to my host aunt and uncle's house. At that point, I had explained to my host family that I hadn't slept much because I was at a party the night before. So when we arrived at their house, my host cousin offered up her room to me, and while my host family was visiting each other, I was able to sleep. What a dream come true it was. I slept from about 11 am until 1 pm. It wasn't long after that we left their house, and we had to go pick up my host brother. He was taking a test to get into the university. It was then that I also learned that my host family had to host me because he is going on exchange next year.
After a long drive, we finally made it to my new house around 3 pm. I got my things around and settled in. Later on for dinner, we had my favorite, pollo a la braza. I was a happy camper. That night, I went to bed early. It was a busy day of traveling literally everywhere. But it was a good first day!