3 countries. 5 airports. 28 hours of travel. I’m finally in Chile! Other than being incredibly long, the trip here was fairly uneventful. I think that’s a good thing. I left from Madison and then flew to Milwaukee, DC, Toronto and Santiago. While waiting for my flight in Toronto, I randomly met another student that’s doing the same program as I am. He was supposed to arrive on Wednesday to snowboard for a few days before classes start, but his flight ended up being cancelled and he slept in the Baltimore airport. After hearing this, my flight schedule seemed a little bit more tolerable.
Arriving in Santiago was accompanied by a milestone in that it’s my first time to South America. This also means I am officially ahead of my sister in our ongoing “Who’s been to more countries” rivalry. Sorry, Jennifer!
I was a little apprehensive arriving in Santiago for a couple reasons. 1) I never received any information about my host family - just that I’d supposedly have one. 2) The university arranged airport pick-up and I was told to look for a taxi driver with a sign that said “Kelliann” in a location that I forgot to write down. I figured there couldn’t be too many taxi drivers, especially ones with signs that said “Kelliann.”
Luckily, I found him and he drove me the 1.5 hrs from Santiago to Viña del Mar, where my host family lives. Natalia, my new sister, greeted me into the apartment building when I got there. I have my own room with a TV (one English channel) and wireless internet (whew!). The apartment’s on the 6th floor, so the view of Viña is amazing. My host mom, Katia, works at a bank, so I didn’t meet her until later that night. She is divorced and my host brother, who is 19, lives with his dad so I don’t know when/if I’ll meet him. There is a housekeeper that makes all the meals, cleans, and does laundry. I also have 2 host birds that live in a cage on the porch.
Arriving in Santiago was accompanied by a milestone in that it’s my first time to South America. This also means I am officially ahead of my sister in our ongoing “Who’s been to more countries” rivalry. Sorry, Jennifer!
I was a little apprehensive arriving in Santiago for a couple reasons. 1) I never received any information about my host family - just that I’d supposedly have one. 2) The university arranged airport pick-up and I was told to look for a taxi driver with a sign that said “Kelliann” in a location that I forgot to write down. I figured there couldn’t be too many taxi drivers, especially ones with signs that said “Kelliann.”
Luckily, I found him and he drove me the 1.5 hrs from Santiago to Viña del Mar, where my host family lives. Natalia, my new sister, greeted me into the apartment building when I got there. I have my own room with a TV (one English channel) and wireless internet (whew!). The apartment’s on the 6th floor, so the view of Viña is amazing. My host mom, Katia, works at a bank, so I didn’t meet her until later that night. She is divorced and my host brother, who is 19, lives with his dad so I don’t know when/if I’ll meet him. There is a housekeeper that makes all the meals, cleans, and does laundry. I also have 2 host birds that live in a cage on the porch.
My room.
The view from my window.
After eating lunch, Natalia and I walked around the city and by the ocean. Today, we’re going to take the bus to the university so I know where I’m going for the first day of classes on Monday. It’s 11:30 am and Natalia still hasn’t woken up. I could get used to this!
5 comments:
Sounds awesome so far! I am leaving tomorrow, and I'll be getting there at about 7 in the morning on Sunday. Maybe we could meet up or something! You're staying in Viña del Mar? So am I! What's your address? Maybe we're neighbors. haha. Glad your flight worked out okay and everything.
hey wow it looks so nice!! =) I can't wait. I'll be there 8am on Sunday morning. I live in Viña del Mar too. Maybe we are all neighbors and we can go to school together. That would be awesome. I live at Jackson 347. I am also happy that everything worked out for you.
Is that a body under your covers?
Ola! Glad to hear you made it ok! Sounds like you will be meeting many new friends just from what I have read here already. View into the city is great! Cold weather..sounds pretty darn good to me...considering it is 90's here! Don't forget to get recipes for things to try when you return!Sounds like a good beginning to a great adventure. Will check the blog frequently. Good Luck!
Glad to hear that you arrived safely without being kidnapped with all the airports that you had to go thru. Won't worry about you finding friends as sounds like you already on your way to finding many. love from gramma
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