Spasms of Excitment

I have now finally made it safely to Santiago for the first portion of my trip. I arrived here at 7:45 am having no idea of what to do and where to go. Firstly, the travel went smoothly considering I thought I might miss my flight in Dallas for Santiago! I was sitting in the waiting room for my flight and struck up a conversation with an obvious looking college student who just happened to be from Denver University! Small world. Once on the plane, my entire body was shaking from excitement. There was a man sitting in front of me speaking spanish with me and joking with me about the personalities of Chileans saying they like to talk a lot! Being around him made me that more excited plus I just happened to sit next to this boy from DU on the plane so we talked forever until the Dramamine kicked in and I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer.

Once waking up for breakfast at 5 in the morning, the sun was slowly coming up lighting up the clouds. Soon the coast of Chile was visible and then the most amazing view I've ever see from a plane came to me... the Andes mountains sticking up around mass amounts of clouds with white snow covering the peaks... almost more pretty than the Rocky Mountains in the fall! My breath was taken away and all I could think was I can't believe I'm doing this all on my own! Once I landed I navigated myself slowly through getting my visa, immigration, and then customs. My spanish was definitely put to the test and I made it through which made me feel some hope that I would be able to live and function in this country. I was scared to death though when I saw how many people were around me because I needed to find my friend Jeanie and make it to our hotel for the day. I didn't think I would ever find her and it was such a relief to find her in the mass of people including other students with ISA (International Studies Abroad).

The day was exciting meeting a few of the girls in our group including another girl that goes to CSU and is from Montrose which was exciting! Tomorrow is the big day of meeting everyone in our group which is around fifty students. Then we are here in Santiago for four-five days and then off to Valparaiso to meet Jeanie and I's host family!!