Day One, Dia Primera

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My first day in Santiago and I have never spoken so much spanish in my life! But it feels good with my aunt, uncle and I all with our dictionaries out trying to have a full conversation in three languages (my uncle Werner keeps translating Spnaish into German rather than English.) This is so much fun. After a 14 hour flight and 2 delays I got into Santiago at 8:30 am. At the end of my flight I got to talking to this nice guy named David. He is from Santiago and spent some time in Washington DC to study the government. Speaking with Davind was my frist experience with true spanglish, with his trying to translate from spanish to englisha nd me trying (very poorly) to translate english to spanish. Astoundingly it worked and I made my frist Chilean friend and got to see the sun rise over the Andes. Once I got off the plane, customs took an hour and I had to pay $100 in resitution for a war that the US was involved in 20+ years before I was born. But no problem this has been the most wonderful day. I am staying with two of the most wonderful people in the World, Werner and Luisa Arias Aeschlimann. After a 4 hour nap, Werner took me on a tour of Santiago. I saw the Swiss High School that my dad went to and the University of Chile and the Alps turned pink by the sunset. My day was capped off with nothing else but EMPANADAS!!!! This was an incredible first day in my new country. I feel really close to my dad here but really far away from my mom and Sean. I miss you both very much.
I am so ready to do this and to learn Spanish and to teach and to just be present in a country I have always wanted to visit. Thank you everyone for helping me get here and I am so looking forward to all the people I am going to meet.
Always,
Andrea

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