The Beginning of My Journey to The Other Side of The World By: Emily LoCoco

And so it begins... the long restless, but exciting flight to Concepcion, Chile. I was blessed to be able to spend this trip with two other friends I have known since high school, Catey and Meghan. Our first flight was supposed to leave around 6 p.m. from New Orleans on Friday, May 16th, but we didn't leave until around 6.45 p.m. Once we arrived in Dallas, Texas, we only had about 30 minutes to get to our terminal to catch our extensive flight to Santiago. As we were getting in line to get on our flight, we recognized 2 other people that were coming on this journey with us, Colin and Kelvin. After a lengthy sleepless 10 hour flight, we finally arrived to the city of Santiago, Chile. Once we were in the Santiago airport we had to wait in a line to get our visas from the PDI (Policía de Investigaciones). We then proceeded to get our luggage checked in for our last and final flight to Concepcion, Chile where I would be residing for the next 3 weeks.

My flight over Santiago, Chile

When we arrived in Concepcion, many of the host families were waiting for the arrival of their son/daughter. Rocío, my host family sister, had a beautiful sign welcoming me to her country. I could not help but smile when I saw her jumping up and down waiting to meet me. It almost felt as if I were famous. Once I met my family, we immediately connected with one another. Ken, one of our coordinators, took a picture of us then I began my journey with my Chilean family.

My family took me to the famous University of Concepcion. We walked around the gorgeous campus, while my host father pointed out each building, and the classes that were taught in each one. We then got popcorn on the campus, which tasted like delicious caramel corn. While we were at the campus, there was a beautiful sunset that made the campus look even more beautiful then it already did. This stunning sunset happened every day, but only for a couple of minutes. We were there just at the right time for me to snap a quick picture of the jaw-dropping view.

University of Concepcion (Sather Tower, which is the bell and clock tower, in the background)

On Wednesday we didn't have school because we celebrated Día de las Glorias Navales (Navy Day), which commemorates the Battle of Iquique. On this day, the president always gives a speech. We watched a part of her speech, which aired on almost every station on television. That night my friend, Jaclyn, from the same program as me came over with her host family. We ate a big delicious meal to celebrate this famous battle. 

We ate longanizas (sausages) that were delicioso!

The dinner table on Wednesday night

Me, Rocío, and Jaclyn's host mother
(Milu, my host family's dog, tried to lick Jaclyn's host mother's face)

My first week in Concepcion has been full of many surprises! I hope to blog about my teaching experience in my next blog! Chao for now!