Anyways, so my travel this time was much more uneventful than last time (remember, I lost my wallet before I even left Miami)! So far, I still have my wallet and all my documents intact, although keeping track of them is going to be a bit of a chore, at least at first. We are in a hostel for the first month--the rooms are big dorms, and we each get a bed and a part of a closet. There are seven people in my room (6 girls, 1 guy). I hope I can find a good place to live quickly, because I'm not organized enough to be sharing this small of a space with so many people! Maybe when they all go out, I'll take a photo to show you the size of the room. It is a nice place, and the staff are super awesome and very accommodating! I didn't even have to buy my own towel (although that is on the "to-do" list).
Even though the travel was uneventful, it was quite long! I left my house yesterday at 1:30 pm to do some last minute errands (and still forgot some odds and ends, of course), and got to the airport around 3:00. My plane left San Antonio for Dallas at 4:10 and we arrived about an hour later. From there, I had a layover until 9:45. The Dallas airport is interesting, but don't feel the need to spend more than an hour there. I walked up and down the terminal at least four times, just to avoid sitting down. They do have some really cool artwork there, though--I really love the mosaics on the floor! I took some photos, just for something to do. They also have a giant sculpture that you can actually walk through, and it plays music depending on where you step. That was really cool. It was also really hilarious to watch people walk into it without realizing what they were doing! In the pictures below, you can see part of one of the mosaics (a duck!) on the bottom, and the singing sculpture on the top.
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So, I managed to keep myself entertained with animals mosaics and musical sculptures until it was time to head over to the gate and wait for boarding. Upon arriving at the gate, I hear an announcement that the flight had been oversold and they needed 8 volunteers to be bumped. I should've booked one day earlier--they were giving free food, free hotel accommodation, and an $800 travel voucher! Oh, well, I don't know if I could have handled just sitting and waiting anymore. I was super nervous already. I have some stress relief pastilles, and I think I took 4 of them during the course of the trip. I tried to share them with the guy sitting behind me, because he was totally freaking out! We had some pretty bad turbulence, and he was absolutely terrified of flying! He kept grabbing onto my seat (and my arms and my hair), and just panicking in general. I felt bad for him, but that did not make for a very fun flight. We were completely packed full, with absolutely no room leftover anywhere whatsoever! I was in an aisle row on one side, so there was only one person next to me. He didn't feel like being social, and I didn't pursue it. I don't even know what his name was! The flight was about 10 hours long, and at times I thought I might just pull my own hair out! I really could not get comfortable at all (even though I had three pillows). Finally, after over 9.5 hours, the captain announced that we would be landing shortly. My seatmate got up for a bathroom break, and I got to sneak a peak of the awesome sight as we approached. Check it out:
That was when I started to get really excited!! It was even more beautiful than I remembered!
It took about two hours to get through customs and get over to my hostal--I shared a taxi with a group of people from a wine selling company who are in Chile to visit the wineries and check out which ones to recommend for their company. They were very nice, although not very educated about South America (they claim that all of it is still military dictatorships). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to speak much Spanish, but I am going to start checking out places to live, so hopefully I'll be able to find a good place soon. I am really excited about a place I found that is considered "University Housing," but I am hoping that it will still be a good fit for me (there is no such thing as dorms here; university housing tends to be students, but there are also young professionals). If that doesn't work out, there are some other options I have, too. I want to live with Chileans, but I think I would prefer to be in a bit more of a ... "structured" setting (rather than private housing). That way, I can interact when I want to and escape when I want to. And hopefully it will be a bit more secure than just random houses. We'll see.
I am getting too hungry to continue to write coherently (if I was ever at all), so I am going to go see if I can scrounge up some food. Apparently most people already ate... I'll see what I can figure out. More adventures coming soon...
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