The arrival

The feeling I had was that I was a package that needed to be delivered...

I all started on the 18th of June, when I woke up home. I was excited, like I was going to attend a party which I waited for years. I left home with my parents and went to the airport. I tried so hard not to cry or even think about what was about to happen. My parents delivered the package to Bogdan P, which was going to Brussels for business stuff. One of the most interesting things was that it was the first time when I travelled by plane; even though I visited other countries, I always used to travel by train or by car, never by plane. Bogdan took really care of the package and explained the whole process in order for me to be ok with everything. First flight was interesting and I really liked it, but unfortunately it was cloudly and I could not see anything. When I arrived, Bogdan gave the package to Alexu, because I was about to spend 17 hours in Brussels. I visited the city, ate the traditional meals and, of course, goffre :) I managed to sleep of 4 hours and at 4:30 Alexu gave the package to a taxi to delivered it to the airport.

From this moment, everyhing changed. The package was me. I was by myself in a completly new city. It was night and the driver was not speaking English, so I was by myself. All alone. Weird are the thoughts that run through your mind when you are put in a situation like this. My mind was trying to stick to anything that was familiar: I was so happy when I saw written "Cora" or "McDonalds". My mind was trying so hard to make everything normal for me. At the airport, I was totally lost: huge airport, everything was new for me and I had to do the check-in. They had like at least 100 desks where you could do the check-in and at least 30 planes arriving or leaving in the same period. Fortunately, I managed to do the check-in, had a coffee and also, went to the bathroom to do the make-up :) I had to look nice in the plane.

I spent 2 hours, by myself in the tranzit area, looking at the plane and thinking about how everything will be. I could not focus on anything and, of course, I could not eat anything. After the boarding, while seating in the plane, I felt so alone... I was wondering what are my girlsfriends thinking right then, if Bogdan was enjoying the team-building and the weather (he wanted nice weather, but it was raining outside) and specially, I was wondering if my parents were sleeping or crying. When the place left for take-off I started crying like crazy. I realized in that moment that I'm actually leaving 10.000 away from home and anything familiar for me. But the pilot announced us that we need to get back, because of technical problems. We turned back for 3 times - I started wondering if that was a sign and if I really want to go or I should ask to get off the plane. But the place took off. So that's it. I was leaving for 1 year in the other part of the planet. By myself. Alone. To challenge my self, to find myself, to be free, to learn new things, to be very good, to prove all the things I promised, to deliver them, to help another AIESEC country grow. My god.. I'm crazy. Oh, God, I will miss you all so much. My god...I'm actually leaving. That's it, I left.

The time spent in the plane was nice, pretty good food, Dominicans in the back, the stewardess is speaking French and Dutch, barelly English. I'm ok. Everything will be ok. I managed to sleep only one hour and I watched different TV series on a personal player I bought for the plane. 10 hours in the plane, sitting on the same place...my ass was kinda hurting. I was 100 km away from Punta Cana. One more hour. I'm here. The weird things in the plane:

1. all the Dominicans applaud when the plane takes-off or when it lands
2. the view from the plane: the island is green, filled with forests, almost no houses or roads
3. the emply spots in the air, when the plane was suddenly falling (kinda)
4. the air when I got out of the plane - you actually cannot breath because of the humidity
5. the airport is weird - 6 houses like the peasants house in Romania, only bigger. The walls made from concrete and the celling made out of branches (tree branches, yes). That's it. Oh... and inside, besides some chicas dresses in local clothes, which were taking pictures with you, almost nothing. The AC was made out of 2 huge fans hanged from the ceiling. And that's the airport.

At the airport, after I picked up my luggage, I went outside and I was looking for Zakaria, who was supposed to pick me up. Apparently, my plane landed earlier, even though we took off later, so after 15 minutes, Zakaria came.

The car we used to get from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo was a taxi, of a member from Santo Domingo. It was a Mazda, but please imagine it like a Trabant. Very old and with nothing on board working. I had no idea what was the speed of our car, because the machines were not working. We stopped for some food and when we jumped back in the car I realized again how weird our transportation mean was. The car turn-on using a screwdriver :) because apparently the car was smashed by some thieves. The trip with the car was so weird, you cannot imagine. We were driving, I think, at 120 km/h, with the windows down, because it was too hot. I had the impression at a specific moment, that we are going to take-off. Oh... and no driving regulations are respected. You can overcome a car using the emergency lane or using the land next to the oncoming traffic. :) The food I ate was really good, I like it (I'm very picky with my food) and now I can say I'm ok with the local food, or at least with what I tried so far.

I arrived in the office, did the check-in :) and apparently there was suppose to be a party. But I was too tired, so I went to sleep. For 15 hours :) And now, I'm still tired :)

The feeling overall? It's weird. I cannot believe I'm here for 1 year. I cannot believe I travelled so much, paid so much to do this. I cannot believe I'm so far from anything famliar to me. It's weird...