a final goodbye

Sitting here in the airport in Chile, all of us can only reflect about what happened in the past two weeks. Every day was just so different from the rest and with each one a new memory was formed between all of us. We are all sitting here with our new USM sweatshirts and it is depressing to know that we will not be together again. We all did not really know each other before the trip, but we all came together just like our family, especially in our little meeting corners in the lovely Hotel America. We all wished we could have at least take a souvenir from the hotel seeing as how it was one of the weirdest and interesting experiences of our lives. I know it is safe to say that we will never have that same experience anywhere else. We all embraced the hotel and more importantly took on the Chilean culture and atmosphere to its fullest degree. Every day could easily be the best days of my life. I am torn between a couple of the days for my favorite, such as the Pablo Neruda house, horseback riding on the beach, the spa day, and especially surfing. This whole trip has opened all of us up to so many doors and experiences which few people get to have. I was not all to enthusiastic before the trip, thinking it would not be that much fun, but I could not have been any more wrong. I made a lot of new friends that I would never have met them at Pitt, but I know now that the memories we share together will always stay with us. These past two weeks have been the greatest days of my life so far and I hope to come back to Chile sometime in the future.  Even now, just hours after we all departed from eachother and it feels like it has been a year since we were all together in Hotel America. It is very depressing to think that we just spent two weeks in Chile and it is already done and gone. Sitting down and talking to my parents and family about my trip and all of our experiences truly does make me miss not only being in Chile, but everyone that was there to share the experiences with. We all came together with Chile as our common bond; no matter our background before Chile, we will always have that common thread that will be with us forever. If I could change one thing about my time in Chile it would be to truly appreciate every single day and moment that I experienced in Chile because our two weeks spent there went by way to fast. I remember sitting in the hotel room after surfing and just thinking that we were halfway done with our time there and that in merely five more days we would be on a plane heading back to the states. I think I speak for all of us when I say this, I already miss being in Chile, waking up in the morning and heading downstairs to see everybody and just enjoy each others' company.