Sara In Rio: Tuesday, September 6, 2016. Arriving in Rio.

I woke up on the plane right before it landed, and despite being a little groggy, I was excited for this next adventure at the Paralympics. This go-around, I would be living in the Athlete Village, with all the Paralympians, with a role of being their first line of support for advice about any Paralympic-related rule. My boss Kacie would be supporting me from a hotel outside of the Village. I was on the plane with at least 20 athletes in wheelchairs (and about 40 others with disabilities), so you can imagine that it took a bit for us to all get off the plane, get our bags, and onto the bus. The bus ride was only about an hour, which I mean in all sincerity, it was great that it was only an hour. We had no traffic, and if we did hit any, it could have caused upwards of another hour. Then, we all unloaded from the bus, and we all walked/pushed through the Village, on a brief tour. And a meeting with a general overview of a few key important things to note (where the laundry service was and what the hours were, where the USOC offices were and the athlete lounge, info about the dining hall, and all those other logistical things that would help athletes, and staff, get around their living quarters for the next two weeks).

Then, stupidly, I asked if I could help with anything. I will always ask if I can help with random tasks to step in where needed. However, this probably not the best time to offer my services to help. I was tired, exhausted, it had already been a long day of travel, and was already 1:30pm. I was asked to push a cart of garment bags from the Welcome Center to our USA building. Easy enough. Or, so I thought… Then, apparently I had to deliver the bags to respective rooms/teams. I first thought I just had to deliver them to one room. Not a problem. Well, the first hurdle was waiting for a free elevator… which took a very long time since the elevators are extremely small and many wheelchairs users had to utilize them. And, of course, I would let all the wheelchair users go before me. When an elevator finally opened up, I pressed the button to the floor I was to go to. Unfortunately, when I got to the floor, the doors would only half open and I was stuck in there! I could have gotten out myself, but the cart that I was pushing would not fit out the half-open doors. I tried to push and kick them open, but to no avail. Then, the elevator started “ghost” going to other floors. Great. I called the Village Director to get some help, but it finally stopped at a floor where some people were and they were able to help kick the doors enough to open it. Whew. I started handing off the garment bags for Cycling, and then realized that there were two more sports of garment bags underneath there. Wonderful—now I had to get back in elevators and find those sports. Luckily, I knew where Rugby was, but finding an elevator that was not already occupied (and working) took longer than expected. I was beyond tired, exhausted, and hadn’t even been able to bring my own bags to my room. I finally got to the Rugby floor, and had some Track and Field bags left over. I just brought it down to the main floor for more guidance (since I had no clue where it was supposed to go). I just wanted this task to be over before I broke down. This was not the best start to my Paralympic journey.

There are times here where it’s great to offer to help, and other times where you need to know when to ask for help. This was a time when I shouldn’t have offered, and I should have asked for help. It was just too much for me upon my immediate arrival. Finally, I was able to carry my luggage up to my room, but had only about 10 minutes to quickly put down my things before heading out to the Team USA Welcome Ceremony that started at 3pm (notice, that I had landed at 9:30am and just got to my room by 2:50… not an experience like just getting to a hotel…).

The housing here is arranged in an apartment style. My apartment had 4 rooms in it, and LUCKILY, this apartment had individual rooms. In many other apartments, people had to share a room, two to a room. I was so thankful to have my own privacy in my own room, even if I would have to share the bathroom and common area with others. And, I would have to say that my room (that I had been assigned to) was the best one. We had a balcony off the main living area, and, my room was the only one with a glass sliding door connecting to that balcony! And with a beautiful view looking out over the mountains. It was an unexpected pleasantry after a hard day of travel! I had no time to get my room together or even take a shower before I had to attend this Welcome Ceremony. This is NOT opening ceremony, just a Village acknowledgment of all the different countries and welcoming them to the village. A lot of our other Team USA staff living outside the village got visitor passes into the village just for this. It was okay, but really nothing special. They gave a plaque to each country, played their national anthem, and then did a little show. Maybe it was a good showing, but I was too out of it to take it all in. After it was over, we all went over to the dining hall (finally I got lunch! Or even breakfast for that matter). After lunch was another tour. The Village is spectacular—4,500 athletes would be living here along with another 2,000 delegation/staff. A mini city. However, once again, it was hard to take all this in when I was just worn out. I felt more frustrated with my travel and doing all of this stuff than be able to appreciate it. I just didn’t get the excited feeling of being here. Or, at least, just not yet. I knew it would get better once I rested.

Finally around 7pm, I got back to my room. I rearranged my room so my bed was facing out with a view of the mountains (which is awesome), and I unpacked my suitcase. I brought my own sheets, my own pillow, and my tea pot. I knew that having these little comforts would ease my time here. It wasn’t as early as I wanted to get to bed, but finally finally was able to close my eyes in my new home for the next 2.5 weeks.