Photos de Chile

Bienvenidos a Santiago!

If these past few days are any indication of how my next four months in Chile will be, then I am definitely going to have the time of my life (and be exhausted all the time). I'll give a run-down of my experience thus far.After a super long journey to Santiago (from door to door a total of 34 hours) I made it to the group hotel, a beautiful old building with amazing gardens in Vitacura, a "comuna" of Santiago. Right away we had a HUGE lunch- in Chile el almuerzo is served at around 2 and is the biggest meal of the day- then were set free to wander and explore the surrounding neighborhood. The area itself was not too impressive- it was prim

arily car and motorcycle dealerships- but the view of the Andes was breathtaking. Since it is the end of winter in Chile, the mountains are still topped with snow and are enormous. My host mom said that it takes about an hour to get to the

mountains but it looks like they're much closer- alm

ost in walking distance!

Pastel de Choclo

During the evening we had the first part of our orientation- a introduction to Chilean customs and culture. Though I'd read a good amount

about Chile prior to arrival, I was shocked when they dropped this bomb on us naive Americans: Chileans NEVER wear shorts. In fact, apparently you never really show your legs- if you wear a skirt or a dress you wear leggings underneath. That would be fine and dandy if the weather was cold all the time, but we're only in the first few months of spring and already the sun is strong enough that I can go out in a t-shirt. I can imagine these next three months will be sweaty ones. :)

After a brief introduction to our school and a

killer language placement test, the moment arrived to meet our families. I hadn't been too nervous about my stay until that moment. I think I was shaking when I walked down the stairs to meet my family. I recognized my host mom, Carolina, right away. She gave me a big hug and a kiss and seemed so happy to meet me that I immediately felt better. We loaded my stuff into the car and drove to our house which is located in Nunoa, a comuna to the southeast of the center of Santiago.

My house is in a beautiful, old neighborhood of Santiago. There is a central plaza only two blocks away that is full of bars, "resto-bars" and discotec

as. Carolina told me that during the weekends the plaza is full of young people from 10 to 4 A.M!!!! I haven't yet gone out during the night but when I do it will be so convenient having a hip spot in town right around the corner.

After a trip to the supermercado for shampoo, conditioner, and a telephone, I finally was able to rest and unpack.

During the evening I met Andres, the father, Marcela, a daughter, and Benjamin, Marcela's five year old son. Andrea, who is the daughter my age, studie

s tons so she didn't return until I was already asleep. Everyone in my family has been so kind and patient with me and I already feel right at home. Marcela and Andres both speak some English but they only speak Spanish to me which I am very appreciative of. Though at times I feel like Helen Keller, I know that this confusion is for the best. There's no better way to learn than to be thrown into a sink-or-swim situation, and I

already feel like my Spanish comprehension has improved over just the past four days.

On Friday we had to meet at the center of Santiago at eight in the morning. Ay Dios Mio! There we registered our Visas and walked around Plaza de Armas, the central city square. After, all 45 of us boarded the Metro and traveled to our school,

La Universidad Andres Bello. The street our school is on is awesome. The area is basically only universities so the streets are literally packed with college students. There were booths with music blaring, bars, restaurants, and malls. Students from the university gave us a tour of the buildings and surrounding area for a few hours. We th

en boarded two big buses and took a tour of Santiag

o. By the time Carolina came to pick me up at four I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was an extremely exhausing day.

My school! Universidad Andres Bello

Today I woke up and took a long walk around my neighborhood to familiarize myself with where I live. When I came home everyone in the family (Andres, Carolina, Marcela, Andrea, Benjamin, and Marecela's boyfriend) had a traditional lunch of Pastel de Choclo. It was delicious. Later in the afternoon I met up with a few friends and we walked around a neighborhood called "Bellavista" It is super hip and there are tons of murals everywhere. I really, really liked the vibe of the area. There was a big crafts fair and tons of people enjoying themselves in the streets. I will certainly return there very soon.

We walked around the comuna Providencia for a while and stopped in a cafe to drink some coffee, then I returned home at around 9 to eat some dinner.

Class starts Monday! I am super pumped.

Sorry for that extremely wordy post! Hope it all made sense.. I'm still a bit tired.

Besos,

Hennessy

Hola Amigos!

I made this blog to keep all you folks in the U.S. updated on my Chilean adventures! I'll try to update it as often as I can (I'm not sure what the internet situation will be in Santiago) but knowing my blogging habits, the posts may be few and far between.

I leave in approximately 30 hours which means the last minute scrambling has begun. Fortunately both my suitcases weigh less than the maximum 50 lbs. so I avoided the horrible game of "Which shirt do I like less?" I am positive that I overpacked but I figured if I had to bring two suitcases, I might as well fill them both up.

Tomorrow I depart from San Francisco at 1:30 A.M. From SF I fly to San Salvador, El Salvador, where I have a seven hour layover. (YIPEE!) I then fly to Lima, Peru, and finally land in Santiago at 2:30 A.M. where I will then wait until 8:30 for the program flight to land before we make our way to the hotel. Phew! Just typing that out makes me exhausted...I'm bringing a fully charged iPod and a few books to keep me from losing my mind on my 28+ hour journey to Chile.

I am so excited to arrive- it's really hard for my to believe that this is happening in less than two days! Again, I'll hopefully be able to post photos and stories of my experiences.

See you all in December!!!

HASTA LA VISTA

Hennessy