Using my language skills- NOT Spanish!! (en route part 2)

Traveling day one continued (Miami)

It is now almost midnight and I'm in bed (sharing with Emily), Lauren and Morgan have the other bed and the door is open to another room of girls (ReNay, Goldie, Kylie and Keelia). Sports are on TV and some girls are giggly having fun, others sleepy.Our hotel in the Miami airport is not terrible, but nothing special and certainly convenient. Getting everyone onto the free shuttle last time was stressful and with this many people (over twice as many) it would be likely impossible.

It is hard to believe it's the same day as this morning! For lunch in Chicago I had Chicago style pizza (so yummy) and Jeff had a Chicago style hot dog (we believe in eating according to wherever we're at when possible!) and the layover was just right. We had time for lunch, but not too much down time. Unfortunately once we were on the Miami flight, it was one thing after another: a broken seat they had to fix, our plane had hit a bird and broken the plane's nose, weather... so we finally took off a full hour behind schedule. We didn't mind the delay so much, as we didn't have a connecting flight, but stress ran high for those who did.

I have never been on such a large plane before- 40+ rows of 7 seats across, 2 aisles. I was seat 38b and Jeff was 38c, but the rows were staggered so we weren't even next to each other.

I was sitting by a guy from Italy! When I tried to make conversation, I realized his English was rough and he didn't quite sound Spanish-speaking. I was going to guess Italian before he told me! His name was Mario and he was originally from Messina, Sicily but is a chef in Manchester. His girlfriend is a native of Jamaica, where she lives, in fact that is where he was headed. I sure hope he made his connection, as it was going to be tight, but I don't suppose I'll ever know.

As you may know, I dabbled in learning Italian online a while back but it's been a good year since I've even thought about it. I have never actually conversed in Italian with anyone unless you could once via texting with Judith, and I had the benefit of lag as well as spell check/dictionary. Not so this time! My only hope was rephrasing, asking and hoping he knew the English or just letting it go. Words I forgot started coming back and rough though it was, we talked for hours! (we sat for 1 hour then the flight was 3+ hours) I translated flight directions (updates about the delays, etc) and helped explain to the flight attendants for him. I was very glad to have this language opportunity and was very proud of how I did, even though I know my Italian must be very pathetic. It's communication that matters, though!

The flight attendant must have overheard a little, so he addressed him in Portuguese. I guessed that's what he was speaking and informed him Mario spoke Italian, not Portuguese. However, I had heard a lady speaking to her kids behind me and thought she spoke Portuguese - so I suggested he may speak to her in Portuguese, and off they went! The guy in front of Jeff was reading a German magazine, so it was a pretty multi-lingual section to say the least! I love it!

We finally got to Miami around 6:30 and got settled in our hotel. Half of us were getting Subway and half wanted an adventure. Guess which I was? You know it! We went to La Carreta Cuban restaurant, which was pretty good, but suffered from the same issues "La Rosa" did - service was slow and the salad was pretty gross. The mango was canned and the under side of the table was caked with abc gum and the floor covered with food. The rice and beans were great, though! We did have our adventure, although with cabs, it was expensive, but I don't regret it. We talked to Hannah and hung out in the lobby a while chatting too. The girls are pretty silly but are settling down. It's midnight, but we just have to be in the lobby at 9. I love how no one has seemed clique-y. It's looking like a great trip so far!