So here I am. I already showed my Passport at the airport and I am waiting for my flight. I do not know anybody there, but my family is somewhere outside waiting for my flight to take off. I am sure my nephew will be shouting: “Bye, bye, Memé”. By the way, Santino is the only person who calls me Memé. I think he chose that nickname because it sounds similar to Mamá.
I still feel his hug. It was the longest, the deepest and the last one.
I won’t cry.
I can’t cry.
Santiago’s airport is cool. I’m in Chile now, and I have to wait five hours for the next flight to New York. I think I have some cookies in my backpack. When I open it, I see a colorful envelope in it. What is it? It is a huge envelope that says ‘Open it when you miss us’. The envelope was full of smaller ones with letters written by my family and my friends. I just take one and I start crying while I am reading the second line.
What’s wrong with me? I am living a dream and I am crying!
I won’t keep crying.
I can’t cry.
Such a huge dream, it scares me a little bitt. But I am fine! I mean, I am always fine, I have to be fine, right? I will just open letters once in a while during my five months away from home.
Now I need Wi-Fi to let everybody know that I am fine. That is what I always do when I leave my place. After more than an hour of walking, I find a place to have a coffee and Wi-Fi, the other restaurants are really crowded or do not have Internet. I send a text to the ‘Familia’ group, ‘Amigas’ group and to him. I just feel like singing ‘All by Myself’ out loud. Being completely alone has not happened to me before. But I kind of like it, it is you, your choices, your timing and your thoughts.
New York City is marvelous, captivating, unique. I’m just thinking about this after having gone in a transfer from JFK to Penn Station. I can’t wait to come back for Christmas and explore this awesome city! (If the snow allows me to do so!)
The train from Penn Station to Harrisburg is good, but it is getting darker and I feel a little bit afraid of being in an unknown city with a pretty heavy package and no familiar faces around me. I take a deep breath, everything is going to be fine. Around 9 pm I arrive to Harrisburg and there is a very nice man waiting for me with a ‘Dickinson’ banner. So it is happening, I am almost there!
After around 50 minutes, the man tells me: so here you are! Welcome to Dickinson!
Yes, the Academic Quad that I have seen in so many pictures is there, in front of my eyes. It is real, it is beautiful.
A really nice woman gives my key and my ID at DPS. Why is everybody so nice here? Clearly, I am not in my country anymore.
I arrive home and two girls who are going into the house help me with my baggage. They are Marie, from France and Anna, from Russia. I go into my room and after a shower, I go to bed.
After more than 24 hours of airports and train stations, I can say that I have experienced a thunder of feelings. I think they will evolve, change, arise and disappear. I am ready for the adventure!
