Arrival

I made it!! After a long day of traveling, my final flight arrived in Santiago this morning at about 8:50 local time. We left about 40 minutes late, but arrived only 20 minutes late so the pilot definitely made up for some lost time in the air. It was a pretty good day of traveling. I was so exhausted I accidentally fell asleep on the 45 minute flight from Grand Forks to Minneapolis, but that was okay. We left Minneapolis a little late because of the rain, but I still arrived in Atlanta with plenty of time to catch my next flight. I was glad I had gone through the Atlanta airport before for an international flight, because the international terminal is a whole seperate part of the airport and you have to take a train to get there, but I knew how to do that. I was kind of dreading my 10 hour flight to Chile and not being able to sleep, but I was somehow blessed with an open seat next to me! It was so great because I was able to lean against the window wall and then stretch my legs out across the open seat. I fell asleep almost immediately after take-off and then missed dinner, but one of the flight attendants brought me some after I woke up. I slept on and off throughout the night while watching Frozen and Mockingjay in Spanish. I also "watched" about 10 minutes of Malificent but slept through the rest. I was SO thankful that seat was open because I do not think I would have slept will if I were stuck sitting upright. The flight into Santiago was GORGEOUS because the sun was rising up and we were over the mountains and the ocean.

When I got through the airport, it took a while to get through passport security and customs because multiple international flights came in at the same time. Their customs screening is actually really intense which I was kind of surprised about. When I finally made it through, I was unable to find my driver from my company, but I called them and ended up taking a different taxi to Viña, so it all worked out. I was glad my Spanish skills are good enough to communicate with the people at the airport!

They brought me to my house here, which I am sharing with two other roommates, Laura and Grace. They were at their internships when I arrived, so I had the house to myself for a while and spent some time unpacking and getting settled in. I got to the house at about noonish. They were still making me a copy of the key so I couldn't really leave the house, but I had no idea where anything was anyways. I hadn't bought a towel yet, but really needed to shower so I just showered and dried off with my hand towel. Ha! Survival skills at their finest. I relaxed on the couch and watched some TV. I found Toy Story 3 in Spanish which was fun, and then it was followed by Miss Congeniality. I seriously love watching movies in Spanish.

Grace and Laura came home around 4:15 and we chatted for a little bit and hung out, and then we went on a walk and they showed me around a little bit. There is a grocery store and a panaderia (bakery) like one block away which is so nice, and there is a super nice mall that is about 5 blocks away! It has 5 floors and is super fancy. So that will be nice in the future. I needed to buy a towel, shampoo, and some food, so I did a little of that but will do more grocery shopping tomorrow when I have some time to think about it. Side note: People always talk about all the stray dogs in Chile, and that is SUCH a real thing! They are everywhere. Napping in the middle of the sidewalk, running around, laying in the grass. Seriously anywhere. They even know how to wait to cross the street until the light changes and they walk with the people. Some of them are so cute and I want to pet them, but I know I shouldn't because they probably have fleas and other gross stuff going on.

It's currently 8pm and I am SO ready for bed! I wanted to nap earlier but knew I shouldn't because otherwise I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for bed. So I am definitely ready now! I didn't really take any pictures today, but I will upload some when I do! The weather was kind of foggy and drizzly this evening when we were out, so I am waiting to go explore the beach until tomorrow. We live like 2 blocks from the ocean shore which is AMAZING.

I have my orientation at the International Center tomorrow morning, so hopefully that all goes well! Thanks for reading! It's crazy that I am halfway across the world.