Updating Updates

Yo. Just a quick update to let you know that I will be updating soon, I'm having Internet issues, but I've been keeping track of everything! So. Soon. I really hope.

Barcelona or I Couldn't Come Up With An Interesting Title

Ay. It's been a long few days. And interesting. I'm really excited but I'm having a little breakdown thinking about home and my puppy.

He may not be very photogenic, but I still love him. 

I got to Barcelona last night and stayed in a fancy schmancy hotel. Then I slept until 2:00 pm and had to change rooms because Royal Caribbean is paying for this night. They didn't have a reservation for me, but they gave me a room anyway (phew). I walked into my room and there was a girl sleeping in the bed. So I went downstairs and told the receptionist that there was already someone in my room. Well duh. I was sharing with someone else joining the ship. I felt pretty dumb.

Anyway, meeting her has probably been the best thing that's happened so far. Her name is Maria and she's from Bulgaria. Turns out she has a friend that lives in Barcelona, so we met her for some tapas and then went to a bar. So I got to explore Barcelona a little bit. She has been working for Royal Caribbean for 2 contracts so she has been able to tell me about ship life and now I am not so nervous about tomorrow.

So tomorrow is the day! The shuttle comes to pick me up at 8:00 am and I join the ship. Very, very nervous. Really, really excited.

P.S. Spanish men are very attractive.

Observations and Random Thoughts While Traveling From Chicago to Helsinki

I’m really liking the long hair on these Finnish men.

I saw an Elder getting ready to leave on his two year mission.

There are no cognates in Finnish.

People keep staring at my feet weird…apparently flip flops aren’t acceptable here.

This airport seems really new.

All of the employees seem young.

Europeans really like stripes. And so do I.

My feet are freezing…maybe they are on to something with this whole flip flop thing.

Why do they sell perfume on airplanes?

I need to watch The Terminal again.

What is there to do in Helsinki?

What’s it like to be from Finland?

Why do people visit Finland? Like what is it known for?

O’Hare has these fancy automatic seat cover things. They are magical and I think they should be mandatory in every public restroom.

I need to find a place to sleep.

Home to Chicago to Helsinki

Okay, these time zones are completely screwing me up. Is it today or yesterday or tomorrow? I left home at 9:30 am yesterday and arrived in Helsinki at 8:30 am today, but it is 1:30 am at home. Is it Thursday? Ay. I didn't sleep at all on the plane and now I have a 9 hour layover. 9 hours in an airport. In Finland. By myself. Really tired. At least there's free wifi. 

Helsinki airport is really small, but I still got lost. Most of the people speak English, but some of them just grunt at me. Don’t know if it’s the language barrier or the Finnish way? Or if it’s too early in the morning for people to string words together? I can understand that.

So since Monday I obviously managed to get everything together. On my way to Chicago my recruiter called saying there were problems with my medical, but by the time I got on the plane everything seemed to be in order. At least the last I heard…haven’t talked to anyone from home lately.

That’s been the most frustrating part. I know my family probably wants to know how I’m doing and I want to tell them about everything and make sure everything is okay but I can’t! Thank God for Facebook and iMessage. If only the time zone part weren’t making things so difficult. 

Jumping Through Hoops

So the past few days have been pretty insane. There is so much to get accomplished, but I'm kind of stuck waiting for everyone else at this point. I've got all my paperwork done, the medical finished, tickets bought, I'm just waiting for my information from my recruiter for booking my hotel and getting my lab results back from the doctor. Other than that, all that's left to do is pack. And I hate packing.

It's really stressful having my recruiter so far away and hard to contact. There seem to be miscommunications. Last Friday she told me to go ahead and buy my ticket to Barcelona, so I did. When I was talking to her today she told me to wait until she had the letter of employment to buy it. Ahhh! Freaking me out a little bit. I don't know what's going on on her end, but I really hope that she has the LOE tomorrow and everything will turn out okay. 

If all goes as planned, I will have a day to explore Barcelona before joining the ship, so I'm looking forward to that. A little uneasy, since I know nothing about the city and my Spanish ain't so good. I'm pretty good at navigating most of them time, but I usually have my trusty iPhone to assist me. But Mr. iPhone won't work in Spain :( Hopefully WiFi is easy to access in Barcelona? 

For now I'm just anxiously waiting to hear about my LOE and hoping that I didn't waste money on an expensive plane ticket. 

Prepare ye, Barcelona!

It's all happening! I'm joining the Liberty of the Seas in Barcelona on October 29th! Less than a week to get everything together. I have to have a background check, medical, get my ticket to Spain, pack, plus tons of paperwork. It's very hectic, but going okay so far. When I first heard, I was at work and I pretty much had a panic attack thinking about getting all of the stuff together. But I have the most amazing mother in the world who is helping me through it all. Seriously, Mama, I love you.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to leave my job at the doctor's office before I expected and I feel pretty awful about that. Huge thank you to everyone at Vascular and Thoracic Associates for putting up with my craziness! I'm going to miss all of you! 

I was super excited when I heard Barcelona, but I'm joining the ship on the last transatlantic itinerary until April, so I'll mostly be going to the Caribbean. And from what I've heard, the first two weeks are the worst because I will be doing safety training on top of everything else. So I don't think there is any chance that I'll be able to get off at any of the ports. 

On top of all the training, we are cruising for 7 days straight, so the passengers are on the ship 24/7. Guess it will be good to be able to jump in with both feet. 

Still have a lot of unanswered questions. My main concerns have to do with actually getting to the ship. Being in Spain all by myself! At Orion High School, we learned Mexican, not Spanish. Way to prepare me for the world, Orion. Not that I can speak Mexican very well either. 

So here's my new home for the next 6 months. I can't wait to get started and meet new people.

I still haven't given up on my fantasy that I will meet a supermegafoxyawesomehot Australian even though I'm not going to Australia. He's an heir to tons of family money, but he wanted to work on a cruise ship to get some life experience. He will take me to Australia and teach me to surf and we will live happily ever after in his huge Australian mansion. 

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Joining the ship October 29th!