Day 1: Day with Delta

The beginning of this amazing journey starts with a long, treacherous, trans-Atlantic flight. If I can make it through the flight then I should be golden for the next 3 months (we hope). I flew out of Huntsville with no hitches and landed safely in Atlanta with a 4 hour layover ahead of me. Luckily there were 13 of us on the Rome flight out of Atlanta, so I had people to meet up with. During this time I indulged in my final American meal... a #1 from Chik-fil-A and a LARGE Diet Coke. It was pure heaven--I don't know how I'm going to be without it for 12 weeks. I almost (almost) got suckered into shopping at the Duty Free, but showed my will power and resisted (until the return trip....). Our flight left 45 minutes late--not too shabby if you ask me--so we boarded the air-bound cruise ship, taxied the runway and our final goodbyes to America and free text messages and cell service. Oh how I will miss you.

How I spent my 9 hours and 15 minutes in flight:

Finished reading LA Candy by Lauren Conrad (don't judge.... it was surprisingly interesting and an easy read--that is, once you got over playing an episode of The Hills in your mind every time you started a new chapter).

Watched What Happens In Vegas. By far one of my favorite "throw it in the DVD player and let it roll" movies... My friends and I have the witty lines memorized. "YOU KNOW WHY" (watch the movie to understand)

Started reading The Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin. She's one of my go-to chick-lit writers and this is her newest novel. I'll let you know how it is when I finish it. It's got an eye-catching purple book sleeve, so I have high expectations.

Listened to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, the Elvis Live On Stage soundtrack (LOVE The King!) and the new Corrine Bailey Rae CD.

Set a new record on Tetris.

Rested my eyes for about a total of 65 minutes. A decision I know I will be regretting today/tomorrow/whatever day it is when we land.

Prayed, prayed and prayed for a safe landing.

Made polite conversation with my seat partner (he got window seat... I didn't hold it against him). He was a very kind, older man from North Dakota who was traveling to Italy with his daughter and son-in-law. The flight started out with pleasant small talk, then after our fabulous (that's laughable) "dinner" he started asking me all these "life" questions like what kids my age were concerned about (jobs, politics, marriage, religion..) and what I thought my purpose in life was... I believe he was side-stepping around asking me about my relationship with the Lord, so I just whipped out my iPhone Holy Bible Application and showed him I love Jesus. That just goes to show you never know when someone is going to present you with the Gospel (or when you could speak it to someone else). God always presents us with opportunities--we just must keep our eyes open, ready to see and seize them.

Wrote this blog on the BlogPress App on my iPhone--hence the lengthy and longwinded descriptions!

Ciao for now!