Goodbye

The day came somehow. So unbelievably fast.

I started the day late with my host dad waking everyone up for breakfast. We enjoyed a light breakfast together. After breakfast, my host sister Flavia and I went in my room to watch some movies and hang out and my host parents started to prepare lunch. We watched White Chicks and Monsters Inc. I slept through most of both movies. I don't know why, but I was so tired. I think just the thought of leaving truly exhausted me. I got out of bed and got ready, because there was a football game on at 2. Peru is currently competing for the America Cup, which is like the World Cup but only the Americas. Today Peru was playing against Uruguay. I had my team shirt on and was ready to go and cheer on my team from the couch.

While watching the game, we ate. Upon my request, we first ate ceviche. It had been a long time since I had ceviche, so I was definitely taking advantage of my last opportunity. After that, we ate lasagna. A very strange combination, but I had to have ceviche one more time and my host mom makes an incredibly delicious lasagna so I wanted to have that one last time. My host dad had a variety of beers to try as well, so we all had our own at home beer tasting. After all of that, we washed all of our food down and toasted to my exchange with a glass of champagne. As for the football game, it was a tight game ending at 0-0, resulting in penalty kicks. By the end, Uruguay missed one and Peru got them all, meaning Peru won the game and was going to move on to semi-finals. It was a great moment!

After the game was over, there were a few last minute things I wanted to get, so my host mom and I went out to a place called La Feria, which is like a baby-sized Inka Market in a ginormous park in Jesus Maria. While we were going, there just so happened to be a pride parade going on. Pride was that day all over Lima, so the streets were filled with people celebrating Pride. It was really cool and interesting to watch. We soon got to the park, and there were people walking around for Pride as well as the usual Saturday night festivities. People are always dancing and have all kinds of groups from traditional Peruvian groups to K-POP groups. I tried what my host called hot ice cream while we were there. To me it just tasted a lot like whipped cream, but it was different and interesting. Something I hadn't tried before. We went into La Feria, and I was looking for one thing in particular, which was a necklace of Peru. All the way at the end of it, I found one! I also got some other goodies, because why not. The short drive home was very silent but tense, knowing that I was about to leave in hours time.

When I got home, I took one last shower before I'd leave. When I got out, my friend Fernanda and her mother were in the living room waiting for me. They came to say goodbye to me, and I was so happy to see them. They gave me a beautiful gift, a sweater that her grandmother had knitted for me. I spent some time with them before they had to go. They wouldn't go to the airport knowing that they would cry and didn't want to say goodbye, but see you soon. I know I will see them soon.

Once they left, I was doing my last minute packing. I had packed my bags days before, but now it was time to get serious between good organization and keeping both of my bags at 23 kilos. That required also having my backpack, which my first host family had in their car at that moment, making things a little harder. My friends Claudia and Frezia came over to my house to help me out and say goodbye as well. While we were going between bags, my host mom reminded me that I needed locks for my bags. Being that I didn't have any, I had to go to the market to buy some. I went for a late run to go buy some locks with Claudia, Frezia and Flavia with me. It didn't take long at all, and we goofed around all the way there and back. When we got back, my one bag was good to go and be locked. Finally, my first host parents came over with my things that they had so I could finish everything up. I split everything between my carry on and backpack to keep the bag underweight. That required having an overly stuffed and heavy backpack and carry on, as I also put the heaviest items in those bags. My carry on is pure books and sweaters. While it wasn't the most fun thing in the world and I was hoping to have a moment at home with everyone there before I left, It was interesting being out in the living room and having everyone help me out to get my things together and make sure I was prepared to go. I finally got my last bag locked up and it was ready. My host dad put all of the bags in the car, and I ate some more lasagna to hold me over. A few days before, I had also made some peanut butter cookies, so I served those to everyone. Before I knew it, it was already time to go. We all went in 2 cars, Frezia and Claudia with my first host family then Flavia and I with my second.

At the airport, everything went very well and smooth. The bag drop line, was very short. My bags were overweight, but not enough that they said anything and it was fine. I had my check-in done, so I was done with that in 5 minutes. What a relief. We then went upstairs to security, where I would have to be leaving. My flight was delayed from 1 am to 1:30 am, so that gave me a whole half hour to take pictures and say my goodbyes. It was sad, I didn't like it. I didn't seem real. There's no way it was possible. I had been to the airport so many times to say goodbye to people, but this time it was my turn. Just... How? Nobody really cried, just because it didn't seem real. But once I was leaving, everyone was teary-eyed. I waved until I was through those doors, and then almost broke. But I couldn't do that, because I had security to go through, which was also super fast. I got to immigrations with my permission form and legal documents hoping that there would be no problems. Right as the guy was about to let me pass, I realized that I had forgotten my jacket in security. That was very important, being that it was my class jacket from my school... That was actually how I lost my blazer too... I haven't written about that on here. That's for another day. If anything, getting that jacket back was way more of a pain in the butt than going through security or immigration or anything. I had to fill out this whole lost item form and finger print it and all of this stuff to get back a jacket that I had left for literally 5 minutes. But it was alright. I had to go through immigration again, and ended up with the same guy to let me though, but he had to take me to another lady to actually document my permission form and that I had gone through. It was just standing there for 5 minutes, and I was done. After that, I decided last minute to change into some sweatpants for my flight. I went by my flight gate, and there was a small shop where I could buy some things. I thought, hey, I'm going to buy and bring home all the Inka Kola that I can now to take home! Then I got to pay for it and apparently even when you're passed security you can't bring on liquids if you're flying to the US. My country, I swear, we make everything so much more complicated. I got to pay for my goodies thinking hey this stuff is all really reasonably priced, until I realized that it was priced in dollars and not in soles. Oof, making it 3x the price I thought it was. Finally, I enjoyed my last Inka Kola and bag of gummy bears and got on my phone for the first time in hours to respond to all of the goodbye texts and calls I was getting from my friends. I was so ready to cry right there. I couldn't believe it and I took a second to realize just how many people I had impacted during my exchange and how much more they meant to me. It was unreal.

Before long, I boarded my flight and it was time for me to go. I was one of the last one's on, like normal. Everything went fine, but my extremely heavy carry on was very difficult to get into the overhead bin and almost had to be checked. I had a window seat to look out of. On the flight I put in my headphones with my music, and just listened. The whole time. I didn't sleep at all for the first half of the flight, just stared outside and thought. It was a beautiful clear night, so I could see all of the stars. It was an amazing view from the plane and something I'd never experienced before. I could see where the ocean ended over the horizon from where I was looking out, because that was where the stars ended. I eventually fell asleep for the last 2 hours of my flight which was only a 6 hour flight. It's normally 7.

Everything was also smooth getting off of my flight in Atlanta. I quickly got through customs and rechecked my bags. Having a whole 6 hour layover, I went to the bathroom and got myself cleaned up. And here I am in Atlanta, typing this all up. What else am I to do? I ate some Chipotle, and it was tasty. This still feels so unreal. All I hear is English and see more white people. It's strange...

Well, my layover is now over and I'll be boarding my flight to Fort Wayne soon. I can't believe I'm almost home to my family and friends. Tomorrow, real life starts up again between my crazy busy summer and getting ready for my last year of high school.

Where did the time go?