The First Couple of Days

Day One- We landed at the airport a little before 8, which was almost 45 minutes before we were supposed to. The airport was a little confusing since everything was in Spanish and my understanding of it is very limited. People were very helpful though, I wasn’t really expecting that. It cost me $160 to enter the country which I think is a tad bit outrageous. When getting my luggage I got a broken cart and didn’t realize it until people were behind me getting mad because I was holding up the customs line. Luckily, this Chilean airport employee helped me out and pushed the cart for me. After you go through the exit door there is mass chaos. Taxi drivers everywhere, people with signs of names, Spanish everywhere, it is just very crazy. I didn’t see Phil who is my El Oasis student coordinator so I decided to walk around. This lady approached me and unintentionally tried to kidnap me but it wasn’t here fault, all of us gringos look the same so it really was an honest mistake. She was looking for a girl named Blaire, at least she got three letters right. Another really nice Chilean airport employee approached me asking if I needed help in pretty good English. Of course I did and called the one number I had written down for El Oasis. No one answered. I was about to sit down and then out of the corner of my eye I saw this girl heading toward me and she looked familiar. Upon closer inspection I realized it was Katie, my fellow exchange student. Then I saw Phil and he hugged me and then I told them both my airport story. As soon as we stepped outside my body froze. I think it was about 36 degrees F. We headed back to the car and I saw the mountains for the first time, they were breath-taking. We drove back to the house and dropped my stuff off and then headed to church. The church was really awesome, it was their version of a non-denominational church but I can’t remember what they call it. I didn’t really understand the preacher because he talked so fast and it was in Spanish, but I did understand the music. After church we went on a picnic on Cerro San Cristóbal which is a big hill that overlooks the city. We didn’t get all the way to the top, but it was beautiful. Snow capped mountains everywhere you looked. There was also this awesome park somewhere on the hill but I didn’t play on it, I will next time though! We met a few Chilean friends of Phil and they were really nice. I went to a grocery store which was strange but they sell my favorite energy drink so that made me very excited. I found out that I will be sharing a room with Katie for the semester, I’ve never shared a room longer than a week, but it shouldn’t be too bad. I met the intern that’s living with us too, her name is Eli and she is really sweet. She doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Spanish but its pretty fun trying to understand each other.

a picture Katie took of me when they got to the airport

the view from about 5/8 up the hill, also the sky scrapper being built will be the tallest in South America when it is finished, kind of ruins the picture a little, but those mountains are beautiful

Day Two- I rode the subway/marta like train system for the first time on the way to Katie’s class. Phil and I went with her because I was going to try to get in the class and I wanted to see the campus and all. We got up at like 7:00am which was a little early but it was ok. I ended up not being able to get in the class but they let me stay for the day. It’s from 8:30-1:07 every day for three weeks, kind of glad I didn’t get in. The other exchange students in the class were really friendly and nice though, I might miss them a little. Also everyone in the class was already really good at Spanish so my head was spinning. Well my head has been spinning since I got here with all of this foreign language. After class we went back to get on the subway and Katie tried to take the wrong one, she didn’t believe me. Eventually I got her to get on the right one. I have a good sense of direction, even if I’ve only been there once. These mountains are so beautiful. After we got back to the El Oasis house, Phil took us to lunch at this café style restaurant that is literally around the corner from the house. It was pretty good. I got rice and pork and a salad (really just a bowl of tomatoes, my choice) and dessert (which I didn’t get because it looked kind of gross) and a drink (that I found out the hard way you don’t get refills on) all for like $4 US dollars. I would explain Chilean money, but it’s complicated. After that we went back to the house and Phil, Katie, and I had our first exchange student meeting which was about two hours long. It was good though, and very informational. The sun didn’t come out today so it felt even colder than it actually was. After the meeting I took a shower for the first time here, tiny little shower but it felt so good. I’ve been sitting here blogging since I got out, listening to some Spanish show. I played Draw Something because I decided I wanted to keep that going, I don’t really think it’s a form of communication, it’s just a game that I like and want to play in my free time before bed. I’m trying not to really communicate with anyone at least until Saturday (July 14^th) to give myself some time to adjust. We go to bed really early because we are both exhausted.