I said I would talk about Puerto Rico, so here we go. Puerto Rico is niiiiice. It wasn't so nice and wonderful when I realized I missed my flight-- not my fault-- and that there was no tourism booth to help me find accommodations. But thank God Puerto Rico is indeed a US territory so my cell phone worked. My mom ended up booking me a hotel from thousands of miles away and gave me an address which I relayed to a taxi driver who took me safely to a Holiday Inn where I passed out while watching my first American show without subtitles in months.
Ok, let's back up a little. I like to see where things went wrong (or shall I say right?) So, the whole thing can be adverted in the future. Lesson one: Do NOT assume an hour is enough time to get through customs (especially applies when returning to the US). Thanks to the huge flight it took an hour to get through customs, but by then my flight had already left. The kicker is that it actually left early. Now why would it do that? Because I bought my tickets last minute and had to fly on two different airlines. This means I wasn't checked in for my US Airways flight and they assumed I wasn't going to make it so they gave my spot to someone else. Nice. Lesson two: Check-in for your flight before you leave the house. Lesson three: When in trouble, call your Mommy. She will always be there for you.
After the chaos of missing my flight and during the long hours I spent in the airport trying to insure a flight out the next day (can you tell I was a little traumatized?), I was finally able to slow down for a little and eat some Mcdonalds. This is where I fully realized where I was. Puerto Rico. Where they speak Spanish and 80% speak passable English. Before I studied abroad I was working so hard to find a way to avoid grad school yet continue on my career path, but, folks, I could go write a paper on grad school about Puerto Rico. The bilingualism there is beautiful. I'm talking about the cashier was able to speak perfect English AND Spanish as tourists and Puerto Ricans alike came to order at Mcdonalds. No hesitating, no errors, just perfect.
I know it seems like a huge exaggeration on my part, but I have never experienced personally two languages coming together so fluidly. Can I say it was beautiful one more time? I seriously plan to write a paper about it one day. Maybe even my Ph. D. thesis pa-- OK, that's going too far. Let me just get to grad school first.
I wish I had pictures to post in this blog of my overnight vacation but to be honest I was actually in Puerto Rico, as in not in the airport, long enough to get to my hotel and sleep. I was exhausted after an overnight flight from MVD to Panama then from lugging all my luggage around for hours in the airport. It did remind me a lot of Florida though. Especially Miami.
All I have to show for it are a key chain, a pretty post card of some building I never even saw, and a tiny flag. Even still it was the best place to miss a flight and I will be back. Best believe!
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