Arrival!

After a grueling day of travel, Michael Hicks has reached Chile! I'm currently lying on my bed in my house in Vina del Mar. What a whirlwind life has been thus far.

Where to begin? Well, we (me, Chaz, and Annie), left Minneapolis yesterday at 3 pm for our flight to Atlanta. We had no troubles making our connecting to Santiago, and we were in the air right around 9pm. From there it was 9 more hours before reaching Santiago. Thankfully that time was passed watching some inflight movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox! AWESOME). Anyways, we landed in Santiago this morning around 7:30 am. The airport is still kind of a mess following the earthquake, so things were kind of slow. And by kind of slow, I mean real slow. After we made it through customs and whatnot, an IFSA person greeted us, and got us on a bus headed to Vina del Mar! Which is where I am currently!

My family is super nice! The house is amazing, I have a lovely room and like nine bathrooms to choose from. My spanish is a little rusty, but I'm picking it up quick. There's some interesting slang going on, so I'll be sure to listen attentively and pick that up. DId I mention how nice my family is? We had lunch together. O man. So good. I'm gonna have to get my butt in gear, otherwise you might not recognize me when I get back.

Well, that's all for now. I have a few things planned through my program before orientation this weekend. A tour of the campus tomorrow, hopefully finding where my GAC comrades are living, see how they are doing. In earnest the program gets going early friday morning when the group flight arrives, so in the meantime I get to spend time getting to know my family and the city. A little bit of relaxation before all the ruckus begins.

Thinking about everyone back home, hope all is well!

Ciao

Michael