Day 1

Yesterday I embarked to the biggest journey of my life so far to Santiago, Chile. My mom came down to hug me before I left, laugh with me at my packing stresses, take my car back home, and tell me she loved me before I left. The day started with early morning Ash Wednesday mass, good byes, and boarding the plane in Austin at 10:46. I arrived in Houston shortly after where I then departed to Panama City....I had a moment and thought I was headed to Panama City, Florida--totally shocked when I landed seeing this out my window:

Obviously wasn't in Florida...literally the volcano was doing its thing out my window. Once in Panama, my awesome (grain of salt) Spanish speaking skills had to come into play because of course....very few people speak English in a Spanish speaking airport. Come to find out they had overbooked my flight from Panama to Santiago and I was on standby.... DO WHAT--mild panic attack. I absolutely had to get on the flight otherwise I would be stranded in Panama overnight (it was 9 PM) and would miss my ride and entire group in Santiago. Needless to say, I was super annoyed--I'd had this flight booked since November, like are you kidding me? So me and Jesus had a talk about it and then out of nowhere I met the sweetest girl in the entire world who had also been put on standby. She lives in northern Chile and had moved from San Salvador a few years earlier just as a free spirit move so we understood each other. She was also bilingual which was great for me. There was a nice family of six who gave up their seats for the second night in a row (it's summertime, bonus miles for six people? YOU BET) and we were able to get on the flight.


The flight from Panama to Santiago was the longest flight of the day for me and I was and still am pretty exhausted. Somehow, I had landed a seat in the exit isle...PROS: leg room, CONS: the chairs don't lean back. I was also starving and they weren't able to serve food until about two hours into the flight because there was so much turbulence. However, it ended up working out for me because it was spaghetti or chicken for dinner and it was after midnight when we were served so I was able to eat the meals--thanks Jesus.

I fell asleep off and on, caught myself drooling a bit (hey, like I said I was exhausted) and then after five long hours we landed. I waited for Leslie to get off the plane because I thought she would be taking another flight to her city, alas, she wasn't and we ended up going through immigration and customs together--God totally sent me an angel. Best part is, she gave me all her contact information and told me to come visit. She was adamant about me making sure to get into touch with her when I was settled. She told me her roommates surf, the city is beautiful, and I was welcome to come anytime! I made it through immigration and customs no problem, then I found the coffee shop I am supposed to be waiting at.

So, that's where I am  now, sitting here waiting for my ISA director. I have absolutely no clue what we are doing today, hopefully there is a siesta scheduled in somewhere!

Things I have observed so far:

I am an awesome packer, right, Teague?!
Communication is just like everyone says, nonverbal.
There are SO MANY bilingual people.
I am obviously experiencing culture shock already...
Alcohol is served free of charge from Panama to Chile.
In Time (the movie that played on two of my flights) is absolutely terrible...even when I can't understand hardly any of it.

That's all for now!

Ciao!