The Inaugural Post

If you hadn't already heard, I made it to Chile! With only a few complications...

1. My expert over packing - I was under the weight limit! But everyone else has either smaller or less bags than I do... what else is new
2. The 12-hour flight delay in Dallas - Because of this, I flew through Toronto instead. (Interesting, right? Not quite on the way to Santiago..)
3. A long layover in Canada without Canadian dollars or a friend... Instead I took comfort in my last moments of phone calls and texting - especially when I was discussing the best inventions for solo travelers when they don't want to truck their carry-ons all over the airport...
4. After finally arriving in Chile, I made it through customs and declared all of my items. But unfortunately my packet of important papers stayed in the airport. Why? Because of my lack of sleep, excitement, and momentary brain lapse... Luckily, I used my expert "Get Smart" skills to sneak back into Chilean customs and retrieve it. I waited outside of the automatic doors and when someone finally came out, I ran through them - James Bond style - before they could close on me. Let's just say that the security man thought I was un poco loco.
5. And last but not least - I lost my travel buddy. After the issues with American Airlines, Abby switched her flight to connect through Atlanta... Although this seemed like a great idea because she would now be traveling with Madeline, her flight was delayed from Kansas City and she missed the flight to Santiago. About 36-hours later, Abby finally made it to Chile - but only after spending the night in ATL (at Madeline's house.. even though Mads was already here.. haha), dealing with more flight delays, and not sleeping on the plane.

But even with all of the traveling troubles - I still made it and Chile is amazing!

I am here with 34 other students - 6 boys and 28 girls - from schools ranging from Penn and Georgetown to Pomona and USC. I am slowly getting to know everyone, but it's tough - especially since 10 kids arrived late because of the Dallas troubles.

When we first arrived, we stayed in a hotel and took care of all of the necessary details for the start of a study abroad program. We bought cell phones, exchanged numbers immediately, discussed safety measures, tested the transportation and our "tarjetas de BIP!" (metro cards)... yada yada.. everything vital. And of course an orientation wouldn't be complete without a "Picture Scavenger Hunt" with all the Chilean words that we didn't know and an after-orientation drink: Pisco Sours.

Last night, I moved in with my family and I love them. I'm living in one of the upper-middle class, Santiago neighborhoods called "Las Condes". Santiago is split into many boroughs like New York. My family is very complicated... I have a Chilean mom and she has three kids - Sergio (26), Natalia (19), and Valeria (not sure how old she is... I'm meeting her tomorrow. She's married and lives with her husband. I did meet him tonight, but that's another story...) My mom is separated from her husband (for the last 11 years) and now lives with her companion, Marco (I think that's the best way to describe it). They've been together for 7 years. [Side note: Divorce was illegal in Chile until 2004.] Marco has 3 kids who live here every 15 days for the weekend. The rest of the time they live with their mom. The last member of the family is the niece who lives in the house during the school year so that she has an easier commute. I haven't met her either because the second semester in Chile hasn't started yet.

Sergio and I have our own wing of the house with two bedrooms and a bathroom to share. He's great - a Chilean version of Ryan. I have yet to meet his girlfriend, but I should soon.

Today was a Catholic holiday in Chile, "The Day of the Virgen del Carmen". Because of this, everything was closed and most people from Santiago left the city.. including my Chilean mom and Marco. (I had CIEE stuff to do.. so I couldn't go. Boo.) Instead I stayed here and unpacked so that I could finally get settled in. Sergio and Natalia went to go hang out with friends, so I had the whole house to myself. Me and the 4 beagles (two adults and two 2-month old puppies - they are all named after artists... Van Gogh, Dali, Gala, and Tara ). The night was quite eventful. The gate-bell rang twice.. First was my Chilean sister's husband. That was confusing because I had never met him before and I was wary to just let him in the house... but he proved himself to me and all was well. Then the garbage men came by.. for some reason he rang the doorbell but when I went out to talk to him (there was a locked gate between us - no worries), I couldn't understand a word he was saying.. so I just nodded my head and went back inside. Oops.. hope it wasn't important!

So that about sums up my last couple days. Which brings me to my final point... the Spanish here is ridiculous. People in Chile don't even consider their language "Spanish".. it's "Chilean". And boy is it fast. They speak so quickly, it's a wonder their mouths can form so many syllables in one millisecond. Jeez. So as I am trying to catch everything that they are saying.... throw in all of the Chilean slang.. and poof. It's crazy. But I am catching on.. and learning a lot of new words and phrases.

So I'll leave you with a lesson - a Chileanism. So that you can all learn with me.

Today's word of the day is carretear - to party. Hahaha. Ejemplo: Esta noche, Sergio y Natalia carretean con sus amigos y yo tengo la casa para mi mismo. Translation: Tonight, Sergio and Natalia are partying with their friends and I have the house to myself.