First Days: Airplane power outtage, Earthquakes, Once

I am in Chile! I arrived 23 de Sabado and my life has been a whirl since then. On my first day there was a some-what large earthquake, but I didn't feel lit at all because we were driving on  a bumpy road! My journey here started on Friday the 22nd, where I had to say good-bye to my family for the year. That was difficult because I love them so much, but we know we will be seeing each other again in only a year! Thankfully, I had TSA pre-check which was a breeze. Then I met up with my good friend from Alaska who was heading to Santiago with me! On the flight to Dallas, I had a window seat next to a mother and a son from Mexico City. They were very friendly and somewhat impressed by my minimal Spanish skills. The son kept showing me pictures he thought were hilarious and wanted me to play a game with Zombies in it. So that flight basically consisted of Zombie games, Ifunny pictures, sleep and sunsets. When we arrived in the Dallas airport, Kyla (my friend from Alaska) and I headed straight for our next gate which was boarding in 10 minutes and leaving in 1 hour. Luckily my Dad text me the directions of how to reach our the gate the quickest possible way (Thanks Dad!). We hopped on the Skytrain and arrived at our gate in about 5ish minutes and when we arrived and the got we saw about 5 other exchange students (all girls) in a group. They were all sweet and would also be coming to the same Rotary District as me! We boarded our plane and I found my window seat next to an Older man from Chile but living in Canada. We talked for a few minutes but for the rest of the plane ride we really didn't talk at all. I was extremely cramped and only had about 6 inches of leg room. Not fun. While we were sitting in the plane at the airport, the main Auxiliary power in the plane went out. It was pitch dark. And then they got it to come back on. And then it went out. And then they were able to dimly turn on the lights but could not restore all of power including the air-conditioning. So here we are: a couple hundred people or so stuck in the main cabin of an airplane before take off in roughly an 80+ degree plane. After about 45 minutes all of the power finally came back on and we were ready for take-off! From here, the next 9 hours on the plane were fine: no turbulence, no more power-outtages, microwaved airplane food, grumpy flight attendants. It was such a cramped flight and I had trouble sleeping because I was so uncomfortable and squished. So I barely got a few hours of sleep. In the morning, I was able to see the sun rise over the mountains in Chile, which was extremely breathtaking. The next thing I knew was that we were only 1 hour away from landing! Even though my body clock was programmed to be 5 AM, I was so awake and excited. I looked out and saw the hills and then as we descended I saw a few small towns, grassy fields, so on. Once the plane landed, I got off the plane and headed towards customs. At the bottom of the escalator my oldest host sister and my host dad were at the bottom to meet me and help me with customs. They had a special pass and also helped the exchange student they will be hosting next (she arrived at the airport before me). After customs all of the exchange students went to baggage claim and looked for our bags, but we couldn't find them. Turns out we were waiting at the wrong baggage claim. But everything turned out perfect, we found all of our baggage and then headed through another security area. Once we were out, we walked a bit down a hall and then turned right to out side where a huge crowd of people, and there was my family and my host counselors a total of about 8 people. It was so loud and the greetings in Chile are so different from in the US. You kiss the person on their right cheek, say, hola, etc. I prefer it to the American greeting of awkwardly waving/sometimes hugging/shaking hands/I don't know. From there we drove straight to the house! And since then, I have been to Santiago, walked around Talagante, and much more. I will make another BlogSpot later to update you on the past few days and events! Chao!