Rob drove me to the train station pretty early Thursday morning. I cried a lot but felt better once I actually started my trip. I managed once again to completely mis-plan this trip in terms of timing and thus ended up waiting at the airport terminal for about 5 hours straight. I entertained myself by taking various pictures with my iPad. And I totally didn't look ridiculous doing it, in case you were wondering.
Does anyone else have Instagram? Follow me at @tomakelovestay!
Then I jumped on the plane for another five hours. All I can say is thank goodness for iPads and Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes.
I landed in Arizona at around 7:45 pm Arizona time. I really thought I could handle the time difference but I felt like a freakin' zombie. It's amazing that I made the 2-hour drive to Prescott, frankly. Though it was dark I could tell that the scenery was gorgeous. I'm excited to drive it again tomorrow to pick up my brother- and sister-in-law, who are coming to visit this weekend to see the Grand Canyon.
On Friday I woke up and went to a work meeting. After getting acclimated to the campus and meeting the team, I came back to the hotel to get some work done.
I started texting with Adie and we decided to meet up for coffee. I suck so I didn't get any pictures of this, but I had a really lovely time and it was so awesome to get to meet such a wonderful person. We talked for a few hours and enjoyed some yummy chai and frothy (wow, what a gross word) hot cocoa. Delish! I'm hoping we get to meet up again soon.
Some of my first observations of Arizona:
1. The people here are extremely nice! An older gentleman told me in the grocery store how nice it was to see a young woman wearing a skirt (which is super sexist and weird, but he seemed genuinely nice), and the cashier gave me the club discount despite the fact that I didn't have a card. The team members at the college were extremely helpful and are eager to make training go as smoothly as possible, which is shockingly rare in projects like this. Plus, Adie was willing to meet awkward little me after only knowing me only through blogs and Twitter! See? Kind, lovely people all over! :)
2. God DAYUM the air is dry. My lips are extremely chapped, I'm itchy all over, and I feel constantly dehydrated. It feels like all the moisture has been sucked out of my body. Strangest sensation ever.
3. The scenery is gorgeous. I'm hoping to leave a little early tomorrow so I can stop and take some pictures. The sky looks like you could reach up and touch it. I understand what people are saying now when they talk about the beauty of the Southwest.
That's all I got now. This time change has thrown me through a loop and though it's 9:30 here my body is still at 12:30 a.m., and I feel like a zombie once again.
What are your plans for the weekend?
