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...

Returning...

So I am back in the US now. As of the 23rd. Left on the 21st, but not before I had a few more new experiences in the DR. Went to a mañanita (early morning) which is basically there is a truck with huge speakers in the back blaring music and literally hundreds of cars behind with people all piled inside or on top playing music too. Everyone is drinking and dancing in the backs of trucks. The normal ones people go around waking their friends up and they join in too. But the one we went to was the horse one so there are literally over a hundred horses in the street SO SCARY, but so fun too! We ran from car to car. Pretty cool. Saw Avatar in spanish! ahhh so cool! Had my last empanada...so sad. I couldnt believe i was leaving, and I still cant believe im here instead of there.

I left on the 21st my flight was delayed two hours, which made it impossible for me to catch my connection at JFK, the earliest flight they could find was for the next morning at 8 25, so I spent my third night in JFK. I hate that airport. Never again. First thing I noticed about America is how fast everyone was walking. Granted, I was in an airport so obviously people are walking even faster, but jeez!! Then, of course, the cold. ahhhh. Also how big everything is, just the expanse of the road and the houses. Nothing is smooshed together. There is almost no trash. Everything is very clean. It was weird hearing english. I need to find someone to speak spanish with soon before I forget it all!

Yes, I already really miss the dominican republic. Everything here seems so cold and dead in comparison, I know it is winter, but man. I cant belive I still have a whole other adventure to do in Chile. eee.

my mom visits!!

Mom came to visit for 10 days. She stayed with my family for a few days and I showed her around Santiago, but she brought the rain with her, so she didnt get a typical view of the city. Most of my friends were leaving on that sunday (she arrived friday) so I wanted to stay and say goodbye to them. Then on monday we went on a little adventure to the nearby town of Jarabacoa. We saw two awesome waterfalls. One of them being the waterfall in the opening scene of Jurassic Park! I need to watch it again so I can feel cool that Ive been there!

Then we left for the North Coast. Our destinations: two days at Rio San Juan, a cute little beach town that has a lagoon with mangrove forests in sight and then twoish days at Las Terrenas a more developed beach town with lots of European tourists. So it took about three little guaguas packed with people to make it, but we finally god to Rio San Juan and made it to our hotel which is literally on the beach. We had a beautiful view from our two huge windows of the water and at night we could hear the waves crashing. Spent the days at the beaches, very relaxing.

Then on our way to Las Terrenas. Took most of the day to get there so we spent the rest of the day at the beach of course. The next day we got adventurous again. Rented a little scooter and off we went to Samaná, we were attempting to catch a boat over to the amazing los haitises (devoted readers will have already seen awesome pictures) but we didnt make it. We then spent the next three hours on scooter trying to get to a legendary amazing beach: playa rincón. The guide book said most people go by boat, and we learned why! The last few miles were down this red dirt "road" so scary. We collapsed on the beach, had a pina colada (sin alcohol) and then we basically had to go because it took so long to get there and we had a LONG way to go. But we had a grand old time.

Forgot to talk about this hilarious little episode above. We went to fill up on gas before we left on the long journey home and somehow got caught in a HUGE crowd of all the other motoists filling up. There are more off screen. It was ridiculous! My little mom in a sea of dominican men!
I call this the picture that embodies the dominican republic: a scooter/moto, horses, a stray dog, the beach, and a random kid!
Me collapsed at playa rincon. Look how deserted and beautiful! too bad we couldnt enjoy it..
At rio san juan. There were these weird taino heads, i was trying to be one.
Our view from our hotel!

ailments

Hi Everyone. I am literally writing this to you with my eyes closed (impressive, i know) so if there are more errors than usual i am sure youll understand why. Okay, first off. Sorry for not posting in awhile. These last few weeks were pretty hectic. All last week was finishing up-and starting haha final projects. And the weekend before that week we had a last hurrah at the beach with everett or firend from another program who is already gone!!

Then by the middle of last week I started feeling shitty. woke up with fever, all that. thought it was rid of it. Nope. Came back, I took my spanish final at 9 in the morning with a high fever, well see what happens.

So i thought I had pretty much recovered so I went to the beach yesterday. It hurt to move my eyes, I still had a terrible heacdache. Then on the way back int he guagua my contact starts freaking out. I have to be in a gony for about an hour before I can take it out, but the agony does not stop. My eye is compeltetely red, all slwollen, cant really open it. Went to the pharmancy they gave me freking pink eye drops NO IALTHOUGHTMY EYE IS PINK IT IS NOT PINK EYE IDIOTS. soooo that is how i came to be writing this message with my eyes closed. The timining could not be worse to look like quasimoto...

La navidad

So, when I arrived back from Haiti, so two weeks ago, I arrived to Christmas world. Before I could even put down my bags, my mom took me on a mini tour of the decorations she had put up, mind you, there were still many boxes yet to be unpacked. A few days later, the tree went up. Beautiful, looks like it could belong in a department store. Then an entire mini city complete with nativity scene was constructed at the foot of the tree. The magnets on the fridge have been changed to Christmas, the bath towels, mats, and TOLIET SEAT: Christmas. All surfaces have been covered with either Santa figurines or caroling dolls. The couch pillow covers have been changed to Christmas. Our plates and placemats have been changed to Christmas! It is sooo funny!

I asked my friends if they had a shit ton of decorations, they do not. However, I have been to three different relative's houses now and they too have houses where it looks like Santa Claus has thrown up all over the room. They too have mini cities with lights and a million Santas. So far, the count is at 32 for the number of Santas in my house. They don't have Thanksgiving, so there is nothing to hold them back!! In some stores there have been decorations since before halloween!!

As for other news, this coming week is my last week of classes, and it is the most work I have had here, but literally it is still nothing. 3 page paper, presentation, two final projects, and a final exam coming up. Sounds like a lot but isn't. I can't bring myself to work on it because I know I could do it all in one night if need be...woops.

Can't believe everyone is leaving so soon!! In reality I am not leaving for about a month still, but I know the time is going to fly past. Mom gets here the 11th, once school is over it will just be nonstop fuuuun. I love it here, I am really going to miss it. I also probably wont live to go to Chile, seeing as I am anticipating dying from the cold that I will encounter upon my return. When it gets to low 70's, I get goosebumps, okay? AHH!