And So It Is.

If you have any desire to know what has happened to me over the past four to five days, read the below passage. If not, skip over the following paragraph.

After finally sorting out a visa issue through much yelling in Spanish and gesticulating (hey, at least my Spanish has improved exponentially) I finally had confirmed that I would be flying from Montevideo, Uruguay, all the way to Madrid, Spain, on Thursday, the 10th. The flight would be overnight, so maybe I would get a minimal amount of sleep. Not so. I was carrying a rosary in my purse and the Spanish woman next to me saw it and asked if she could use it on the flight, that is how bumpy and scary it was. Oh well. At least I had an entire day in Madrid to look forward to, as my flight from Madrid to Oslo didn't leave until 8:00 on the night of the 11th. I get off in Madrid and somehow manage to store up my 70 kilos of luggage (Try figuring out a Spanish locker system while some crazy woman stands around yelling at you to "usa la ficha!". Now I know what a "ficha" is.). I made it to the Metro and amazed myself by actually doing everything right and getting myself to Plaza Sol. It was pouring rain. I was scared of getting lost. I took a couple very fast pictures and then ran my ass into the nearest cafe. There, I managed to order a sandwich and a cup of very nice tea and proceeded to eat, drink, and chainsmoke while reading the rest of Wuthering Heights. I spent a good 4 hours in said cafe before I finally got up the courage to brave the rain and head back to the airport. Back at the airport, I had to deal with "ficha" woman once again and then discover that my flight to Oslo had been delayed for two hours. I met another girl while waiting for the plane, a 19 year old Norwegian who studied in Spain. We got along quite well and spent the time showing each other pictures of our travels and eating sandwiches her mother had made. This was good, as up to this point, the only food I had eaten since Thursday was at the cafe (I hate plane food) and I had about 4 Euros in my pocket at this point. So, free food, nice conversation. Took sleeping pills on the flight to Oslo which made me have the most insane, lucid dreams ever. It is not nice to have a nightmare and then wake up on a little shaky plane. Get to Oslo, I have 13 hours at the airport until I fly to Bergen. I went and found some hippie backpackers, and the four of us strapped all of our luggage together and laid down in a corner and went to sleep. They even lent me a blanket, and I had the lovely travel pillow that Jon gave me, so I slept quite well. Woke up on the 12th and checked in to my flight to Bergen, which was also delayed. I fell asleep at the gate only to wake up to a flight attendant shaking me and rambling in Norwegian. I realized I had to jump up and run on the plane before it left without me. Got to Bergen, made it to the Ferry Station. Ferry Station was closed. The schedule said the next boat was at 4:30 pm, so I decided to wait. I got a cup of coffee and sat around for two hours, then went back to the station. No boat. I asked a sailor/worker and he told me that it was the off-season and therefore the normal schedule didn't apply. I promptly began to cry. Phone calls to my parents, my roommates, and Marc ended with me checking into the Strand Hotel in Bergen. I ordered a pizza and spent the night watching the Discovery Channel and half working on some essays. Slept like a baby and woke up 30 minutes before I had to check out. I had the fastest shower of my life and ran downstairs. I had them call the ferry company to confirm that a boat was leaving today and then I guess that they felt pity on me, because the gave me a card to have free access to their wireless internet and told me to go up into their (closed) restaurant, help myself to a cup of coffee, and amuse myself online until my ferry came. So that is where I find myself at the moment. With a cup of Kantine-grade coffee and free wireless in the middle of an entirely empty restaurant overlooking the fish market. It's actually quite nice. Very surreal, but I'm very grateful.

In 3 hours, I'll be back on a boat to that school. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Maybe if I get some more work done now, things will be okay. And if I remember that I don't have to do everything all at once when I get back. I just need to take my time. Get my head on straight. Remind myself that I am actually a normal person and that I will make it out of all of this alive.

I've done a lot of reading over the break. And a lot of writing. It has sorted my head out entirely. Now maybe when I go back to college, I will get insane again. But at least for the moment, I am at peace. I know where I stand. I don't know if I know what I want, but I know how I feel right now, and that is enough.

Uruguay was amazing. More on that to come. For now, I'll enjoy my solitude, bad coffee, and Historical Investigation.