I wrote this bit on my laptop from my hotel room --
I got to my hotel, checked in at the desk, and then went to check in with the actual Fiesta people. When I walked up they said "Hey Kristina!" which surprised me, but I guess I did get picked because they all watched my video and now my picture is on the site.. hahaha. Still. Weird.
Now I am sitting alone in a pretty ritzy hotel room and there is no wifi so I am just typing this on a text document.
When I checked in they gave me a fiesta tshirt and new shoes in a little goodie bag. They're not special fiesta shoes or anything. Just sneakers. I don't really have good sneakers, so while I don't understand this gift, I'm not complaining.
I'm supposed to meet everyone downstairs in 15 minutes so I think I will head out now. This is exciting!
(That's all I wrote. The rest of this blog post will be after-the-fact.)
So that night we went to a meeting with dinner and an open bar (I LOVE being 21 xD) and they told us ALL about the movement itself, missions, what's required of us, what they're doing for us, and we had a little lesson in PR. We also were give sweet new Sony Webbie cameras with which to film things for the movement, and watched this video on how to use the cameras that was narrated by a woman with a hilarious accent.
We were then bused back to the hotel, and everyone decided we needed to party it up with the other agents. We all went to this nearby bar together, and then I split off in a group of four other people I'd gotten to know over the course of the evening and we had a great night. Among these four were two other agents, Derek and Meghan (the links go to their Fiesta profiles).
The next morning we had another meeting where we learned all about the cars themselves and I know more about the Fiesta specs than I ever thought I would know about a car. Also the cars were made in Germany and built to English standards so many of the features are European. The hood and trunk and referred to as the bonnet and the boot, the voice activated thing talks to me in a female british accent, and the degree and gas readers are all in Celcius and miles per liter. That's annoying.
When we all panicked about the Celcius reading, the auto guy was like "Think of it this way: if you're hot.... turn it down. If you're cold... turn it up. It'll be fine." xD
After we had learned everything we ever wanted to know about the Ford Fiesta, they took us down to the "track" and we FINALLY got to see our cars. They looked so cool and colorful and exciting all lined up beside each other. There was 13 cars; we were the very last of the agents to recieve them. Surprisingly, no one's was exactly the same as anyone else's. The graphics on the side are so fun.
I was still feeling pretty nervous about driving it, but the instructor helping me said "Listen. Other people on the road? Fuck 'em." ...and it was the best advice he could have given me. Nothing makes you freak out more than worrying what the car behind you is thinking as you continuously stall on a hill. So fuck 'em. They can wait a second.
Meghan's friend Tim (whom I'm glad I met as he is an incredibly lovely person) saw I was struggling when they'd set me on the orange cone track by myself, so he ran and hopped in my car and drove around with me for about an hour while I started to get a better hang of the car. When you learn in a clunky old car and then suddenly switch to a supersmooth 2011 fiesta, there is a whole lot to adjust to. I was grateful for the extra help.
Around 2pm they gave me some complimentary sunglasses (I think I missed out on the cool ones during my driving lessons and got stuck with these really boy-ish ones. Maybe I'll give them to Alex) and a custom fiestamovement glasses case, and they sent me on my merry way.
On the way home I got stopped at a light on a hill and literally had to sit through TWO FULL GREEN LIGHTS before I realized I wasn't going to be able to do it without the e-brake, and heart pounding, face red, I finally got the car to go up the hill and drove sheepishly the rest of the way home.
That was my fiesta weekend! I am so excited to actually get good at driving this car and going on missions and such. I'm going to pick Alex up from the airport in it tomorrow. I'm going to consider that Mission #1. Hahaha.
Days until Alex gets here: ONE!
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