May 16, 2008

Just like all good things in life, Chile Plus 3 has come to an end. Today was our last day here in the country, filled with emotion and reflection. Our only goal for the day was to get up and be packed and ready to leave on time. Judging by the sprawling mess of clothes on my side of the room, I thought there was no chance it was all going back into that small blue zippered case again, but sure enough after some negotiating I got it to fit. Even though the Hotel las Americas was not my favorite living arrangement (cubicle bathroom, obstacle course-like bedroom), I was sad to leave it. Some of the Chilean students came to see us off before we got on our Verschae bus that one last time to go to the airport. We presented them with some bottled parting gifts and said our goodbyes. The weather that morning was cloudy and foggy which was exactly the same weather that we were greeted with when we arrived. I couldn't have asked for more from weather when we were there, though. It was beautiful and sunny almost every day we were there and never rained once during the day. The flights going back were surprisingly smooth. The only real (minor) complication was some students buying too much and exceeding the weight limit for their suitcase. I've had non-international flights that were full of problems so when the international flight goes perfectly it's a nice thing. We did not even really have to wait that long in the airports for layovers or complications with flights. When we were waiting it started to sink in that I was sincerely going to miss this group of kids this summer and how many new and exciting people I've met. Plus 3 has been a pretty incredible experience and I'm very happy that I took the effort to become a part of it. I'm going to recommend it to each and every kid that I teach as a peer advisor next semester and every freshman I talk to about it. My thanks goes out to Jo and Krysta for making the Chile trip possible and making sure everything was safe while we were there. I wish there was a trip like this for every year of college because I would undoubtedly do it again. I learned a lot in Chile, developed a lot of valuable friendships, and formed great memories to take with me the rest of my life.