Day 1 Journal Entry

This is a journal entry I made during the first step toward my exchange:

Day 1: First flight
Aug. 24, 2014
4:15pm

"This morning I woke up from a strange lucid dream and thought to myself 'I'm not really boarding a plane today, I'm not really going to Slovakia... right?' 'This is the part where the movie ends,' but this is just the beginning.

Back to the dream I mentioned; I dreamed that I was on the plane to Vienna just finding my seat. I put away my carry-ons, took my seat, held small conversation with the other passengers next to me, closed my eyes, and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in Slovakia. I had no recollection of ever getting off the plane, of getting my luggage, or of driving the 1 hour trip to Bratislava from Vienna with my host parents. But there I was, laying on a bed in the street in the middle of town. I 'woke' to greetings from my host sister Adela and one of her friends. They showed me back to her dorm where I unpacked all of my things and got settled in. I remember leaving the room for a few minutes, coming back, and then standing in the middle of the room thinking to myself 'This isn't right... Something is off about this' I walked over to the mirror and stared at myself for a short while before saying aloud 'This is a dream. I am asleep, and I am dreaming.' It seemed like such a surreal realization because from that moment on I was completely conscious and aware of everything that was going on around me. After my epiphany, a girl walked in and I told her of my sudden realization to which she was completely understanding of and then spent the rest of my dream trying to help me wake up.
--It was one of the oddest lucid dreams I've ever had!--

Well I'm sitting here on the plane in my seat writing this. It's actually a pretty nice plane. Everything is very personalize-able. There are little screens for watching T.V. shows, movies, listen to music or audio books and even to play games... I'm pretty hungry. The past few days my stomach has been giving me some trouble and even still today it's bothering me. I'm glad I brought snacks on the plane, that's definitely a heads up for any other exchange students in the future - BRING FOOD! I'm a little anxious about this flight. I've never exactly loved flying, it's a little unnerving to me actually, plus this is going to be a long flight and I'm not use to that. Oh well, first time for everything!... Take off! Bon voyage America!"

Day 1/2 of flight - Accomplished!
Day 2 of meeting host parents, getting settled in, and going to Rotary meeting - Accomplished!
Night 1 of jet lag & unending dreaming - Check & Accomplished!

Dovidenia!