Back in the USA

So after a 9 hour and 32 minute flight I'm back in the USA. The flight was good, even though the movies were terrible, and immigration and customs was a breeze.....kind of too easy really. To be honest Chilean customs were more difficult to pass than US customs today. Immigration took about 30 seconds during which a highly uninterested agent scanned my passport casually asked me how long I was out of the country and the reason for my travels. Next all of the passengers of my flight were waiting around a baggage claim for about 20 minutes, then they made an announcement that they had changed the baggage claim machine (what do you call those things?) so everyone frantically ran over to find their luggage. Next was customs. I showed the agent my form, he asked if I had any food, I said no, I kept walking without putting my luggage through any screening or anything - I feel like I could have just smuggled in cocaine or something (I do have student loans to pay off you know...).
Now I sit in an incredibly crowded airport waiting for a few hours for my flight to Louisville. While waiting in line at Moe's (the airport Moe's has amazing breakfast burritos) I was talking to a flight attendant. Apparently it was raining early this morning and the airport was basically shut down last night form a storm and, according to her, when it rains the planes have to land every 3 mins rather than every 90 secs. This results in complete chaos in the airport as everything gets a little backed up. The business men (aka guys who travel a lot) are all on their cell phones telling their friends that they've never seen ATL's airport this busy (seriously, the walkways are shoulder to shoulder). Beyond being crowded half of the people are highly pissed off - every airline I walk by is announcing that they oversold the flight and that they don't have room on any flight anytime soon for extra passengers - I'm really hoping that doesn't happen to me (if it does I'll surely be pulling the "I've been on a plane for the last 14 hours" card).

So I feel the need to reflect a little on my trip. First and foremost, it's really weird being back in the states. Americans are very very easy to pick out of a crowd - we just have this appearance that's different from anyone else. It's also awkward to be speaking only in English, I find myself starting to speak in Spanish and having to switch languages. More or less, this trip has made me highly aware of my "Americaness" even thought my "americaness level" is less than most. My Spanish has improved although the Chilean accent (yeah, I pick up accents very easily) has ruined my pronunciation - I no longer feel the need to pronounce 90% of my "s's" and answering everything with "sipo" is somehow ok in my mind. I've also learned that I'm more than capable of suriving in a forgein country on my own and that I can handle most situations that come my way. Really to sum it all up, this trip has shown me one thing - I love to be abroad. I have a feeling that before I graduate I'll study abroad again, and who know's what I'll do after I graduate (teach English in Temuco? Fullbright in a Spanish speaking country? foreign master's program?)