Hello Santiago!

The Andes Mountains are one of the world’s largest mountain ranges. As we were flying from Buenos Aires to Santiago, we flew above the Andes mountains and saw such a beautiful sight.

Around 5:30 p.m. we touched the ground of Santiago, Chile and proceeded to the inside of the airport for our first layover of our journey back to Boston. We stepped off the airplane to stairs that led us outside, instead of a tunnel to the inside of the airport like we are used to. Some students said they felt like they were celebrities stepping off their private plane and were taking pictures of each other pretending to be paparazzi.

After we all gathered in the airport, we conducted our first roll call in Chile and then proceeded to customs. Many of the students have not travelled internationally and did not realize the amount of security precautions that must be taken to exit and enter a country. As students studying international business, it is important to realize all that goes into traveling to different countries. In order to get to our connecting flight and relax at the gate before we take off for Dallas, we had to go through customs 2 separate times. We had to exit the Chile Airport in order to grab our checked bags and then proceed to print our new boarding passes and check our bags for a second time. After checking our bags, we had to go through customs for the second time and go through security in order to enter the Chile airport. This process took about 2 and a half hours. By this time, it was around 8:00 p.m. and we had about 1 hour before we started to board the plane.

In order to move from one flight to the next, we had to go through customs 2 different times. This process took a lot longer than we anticipated and gave us a perspective on what it is like to conduct business internationally. This experience was very eye opening for many students because it gave us a first-hand experience as to what our life could be like if we decide to conduct business internationally. This process takes a lot of time out of a person’s day and is an important factor in deciding whether to travel internationally for business.

Now we’re ready for our flight to Dallas!