A good example of the architecture in Santiago: old+new--some of the new buildings are seriously awesome
How cute is this!! The big markets with lots of fruits/vegetables have kitties to kill the mousies.
The creepiest priest I have ever seen!
Río something that starts with an M runs through the city--its dirty cuz of dirt, the current is really scary and fast.
My view outside my window of the hotel I stayed at during orientation. Mountains really are right there. Cant wait to watch them get filled with snowwww!

So I am about to go on my commute into the city. I live about 2 blocks from the metro (subway) stop, takes about 20-30 minutes. Pretty sweet. Im living in a big city, its crazy! I have more fotos and obviously more stories to share. But for now I shall end with a few of my fav chilenismos (chilean slang)

que chorro/bacán= cool

choco=mullet it is sooo in style here guys

estoy curada=im druuunk

la raja=fantastico!

holahola

Hello Readers! So glad to be back. I cannot tell you how close I was to dying of boredom before I left. I am on my third day in Santiago, it is 9 40 in the moring so I will probably have to safe this and leave soon because I have to be at the hotel a las 10 for more orientación. Let me get you up to speed. The airplane ride was awful, it was like i was stuck in limbo, couldnt fall asleep. but perk is I sat next to a chilena and talking to her made me feel less nerviosa. I arrive finally and I am going through customs and show the guy my visa and hes like i need the two pieces of paper with your picture on it (i remembered getting my visa back and being like whats these? and then putting them somewhere turns out in my checked bag...) so a little stressful but not really at all.

Then the CIEE grupo was actualmente there to meet me. sorry about the spanglish ive been speaking/thining todos los dias en espanol entonces ustedes van a aprender un poquito de espanol. i Should probably be writing this whole thing in spanish. Therefore (por eso) no going to write as frequent bc i want to always be writing in spanish!

So a lot has happened, even more bc i didnt have to save this.

Ok: orientacion...there are almost 40 peeps in my program. MUCHISIMA GENTE. lotta people. ummm most are really nice, theres thing grup thats kind of like ooh i know ppl from my school already and im too cool/stylish/from la for you. kinda irritante. but whateves im gonna have amigos chilenos. So then we had this charla (chat) about all these stuff and it really stressed me out (this is the second day now) and then we were going to meet our familia chilena. So, we are all waiting down outside the hotel and i see this family and there is this little boy with flowers and a mom and a girl and i was like aww look at them, i wish they were my family! and then the mom was like kali? and i was like OMG YES. I LOVE MY FAMILY SOOOOO MUCH. its so great. okay: i have two hermanitos (little brothers) one is 11 and he loves me bc i love soccer and we are so cute and today we played futbol in the parque and hes so cute. the other is 14 and is more reserved bc you know hes in puberty but hes super nice too. THEN i have an hermana!! she is basically my age, 18 and is about to start her first year at the univeristy. i just got back from carreteando con ella (partying with her). met all her friends. chilean spanish is SUPER hard guys its no joke. holy crap. Like, if i came here first without going to the DR i would have been sooooo screwed. all the words are really unique to just this country bc its so isolated (mountains on one side, coast en la otra) ive already learned so many new words.

ok i cant write anymore bc i am bien cansada (reaaaally tired i woke up really early today for stupid orientaion) but hopefully i can write more tomorrow, but my power converter doesnt work with my computer charger bc it only has two holes and my thing has 3 prongs, get it? ahhh i know this is really desorganized but im just really excited and have way more to tell that yeah its ending up a mush. oook love ya!

Off to a new place!

Tomorrow/Today as it is past midnight, I will fly to Chile! First I fly to Dallas, TX, then from there to Chile. I arrive around 9 30 am on the 17th. Since the pick up leaves at exactly 9 30 I will have to find my own way to the hotel, so let's hope that goes smoothly. I hate public crying. Speaking of, I would like to belatedly congradulate on not having many of those episodes in the DR (maybe once but it was among friends :D).

I am really excited to begin learning chilean spanish. It is very very different from normal spanish because slang "modismos" are used an inporportionate amount. At the orientation awhile back I was given a slim book containing hundreds of modismos, also in the estudiante extranjero manuel of one of the university's I will be attending, they included a list of words to know. So i have been trying to study them, but you know me. When there's no pressure I'm not very motivated. Anyways, it will be interesting.

My three main goals this semester are to:

1) speak spanish as much as possibleeee!

2) make an effort to become a real part of my host family's family.

3) make chilean friends and speak lots of spanish with them!

My other goals are to of course learn about the culture and hopefully do some travelling. But I think learning about the culture will be enwrapped in the first 3 goals. Well, I guess you will be hearing from me soon...