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mandag den 26. august 2013

Arrival in Colorado Springs and The first days in Salida ;D

I left Denmark on Thursday on the 22nd at 9.55 am. It was a really weird feeling that I wouldn't see my parents again for ten months, and I didn't manage to not cry when I had to say goodbye. Thankfully I travelled with a girl called Annahita and talking to her really helped me get out of my head. It was really nice to have someone talk to. Unfortunately we only travelled together to Paris, so I had to take the next plane alone. We helped each other finding our terminals, and then I was on my own. I had spent a little too much time trying to buy lunch, so I had to run down to the gate. I made it in time and found my seat. I sat between  a boy and a girl a little bit older than me, but we didn't rally talk (I'm pretty sure they were both French), so It was a bit awkward. And I can also say, that 9 hours in a plane does not make your back happy, but besides the back pains it was a pretty good flight.

In Atlanta I had to go through immigration, which took some time. I also had to recheck my bag and go through security. It went pretty painless, but I did have to run to get to my next plane. This time I sat besides two Americans who were very nice. They talked to me and told me things about Salida, and they were pretty funny as well. About 20 minutes before we landed in Colorado springs airport, I saw lightning in below in the skies (a very crazy and  a very pretty sight) and I also saw some of  the infamous fires Colorado has been having lately. This one was on the border of Idaho. When the caption said there was 10 minutes till we landed in Colorado springs, there started  to come more and more lightning. It went quite crazy, and it didn't take long before we were told that we wouldn't be able to land in the Springs, because the airport had been shut down. There was a crazy storm, and it wasn't safe to fly. Instead we landed in Pueblo airport, where we had to sit in the plane for 3 hours. I was very happy that the men next to me talked to me, otherwise I probably would have been more bored and scared. Because I wasn't really scared, even thought there was like 4 lightnings every second , everyone was really calm and there was a pleasant vibe. After 3 hours we were up in the air again, and we landed in Colorado springs airport about 10 minutes later. Then we had to wait for the gates to be reopened, and that took another half hour. When we were finally allowed to walk out of the plane, people cheered.

Christi and the girls had been waiting for me for little over 3 hours, so they were all tired, but we had to wait again for the luggage to arrive,  since there were several planes that had landed at the same time, due to the storm. When I finally found my suitcase (Which Riley helped me locate and push) we ran out to the car (it was still raining) and drove to the hotel. I think we got there around 12:30am so everyone was really tired, and we just went straight to be. I think I ended up being awake for 26,5 hours that day! The next morning we all slept in. Once we woke, we got breakfast, where I tried peanut butter and jelly on a bagel for the first time. Not as disgusting as I thought it would be, and Riley and Audrey told me it is there favorite kind of sandwich. They are really excited to have me as their big sister, lots of hugging going on. After breakfast we went to Target to pick up some stuff I needed. Target is huge and has everything you can imagine. They even have 4 isles with cards for different occasions! I bought some of the basic school supplies, which were a bit hard, since I don't know which classes I am going to take yet. I also got some new shoes. After Target we had lunch in a restaurant called  "Chilli" and it was really chilly in the restaurant because of the aircon (sorry for the bad joke, I just had to ;D) and then we went to Salida.

Salida isn't a very big town, it is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone (Christi says hi to about every second person we meet, I find it very impressive how she knows everyone) I noticed that the houses look very different and I think that it adds to the personality of the town. I will upload some pictures later, so you can see the town, house and my room. Speaking of my room, it is completely purple and it has wooden doors, and I think it looks very homey.
We didn't really do much Saturday, they didn't wanna fill my first few days with a lot of stuff.

Today we went to church. Since it was the first service after summer vacation, it was held at the park. I must say that church is a lot more exciting here than in Denmark. The music is more modern, and they had a full band and 4 singers, and the priest (or pastor, or father, or minister or what whatever this domination of Christians call the dude that preaches) was way more enthusiastic and fun to listen too. A lot of people showed up, and people got really into the songs (waving hands and saying amen and stuff). After the service there was free food (The best thing ever!) which was barbecued brisket, potato salad and some kind of macaroni. After we finished eating Christi introduced me to girls from the high school. They were all really nice and I especially like talking to two girls named Audrey and Jamie. They told me about two different youth groups and asked if I wanted to come, and Audrey offered to show me around the school, so that was really nice. I think they were both juniors, so hopefully I will be a junior too. I also met a guy who said I could borrow one if his guitars, since I couldn't bring my own ;D After church we went to Wallmart, who apparently everyone hates here (Christi said it is because it is the only big store they have, so people find stores like Target more exciting - the grass is always greener) I thought it was great. I bought the necessary toiletries which I forgot to buy at Target. On the way home from Target we stopped at the library and got me a library card.

Tomorrow I start school and I am really excited and a little bit nervous. I don't know what grade I will be in, so I will start the day at the counsellors office where I will get my schedule.

I think this is all for now, I will try to update tomorrow about my first day of school.
- Malene

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