Viña del Mar day 1

Hola! Welcome to my blog. My name is Brittany Byrne and I am a rising sophomore industrial engineering student. Today began day 1 of my exciting trip to Viña del Mar, Chile through Pitt’s Plus 3 program. They day started with a 3-hour flight to Dallas, then a long layover. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a massive airport before, I guess everything really is bigger in Texas.  We picked up some dinner, ice cream, and snacks while we waited and talked with one another about how excited we are for the trip to begin. I was a little bit nervous about the flight since I’d never spent such a long time on a plane before. We all made sure to walk around the airport a bit to stretch out before boarding.

Thankfully, the flight is so far pretty uneventful, just some turbulence.  I can’t wait to arrive in Chile. I only wish I knew more of what to expect. Though the pre-departure assignments and presentations gave me some insight as to Chilean culture and history, I’m sure actually experiencing it all will be entirely different. I’m probably most excited to just explore the area, and get a better feel for the surroundings. I also need to make sure I know my way back to the hotel (my sense of direction is somewhat lacking…) But I’m sure all of that will fall into place over the two-week trip. What I am most nervous about is speaking Spanish. I’ve taken classes in the language for 7 years, but I usually panic when put under pressure to speak. I hope that this trip helps me to get over that fear, so that I can use this opportunity to improve my Spanish-speaking skills. Well, until tomorrow, see you in Chile!