What a day!

I know i'm kind of posting a lot on here but today was kind of a big deal ha.  Last night two girls from my program spent the night and we had to wake up at 5:30 to go to the registro civil which is similar to the DMV but for EVERYTHING! ID's passport stuff, everything.  So we had to go to apply for our chilean visas but here is the deal.  They are only open 8:30-1 and they hand out 200 numbers at 8:15.  If you get a number, you have to wait until it is called to be helped.  But this is where EVERYONE goes so we literally had to line up and wait in order to be able to get a number.  We were there at 6 and were the 3, 4 and 5 people in line which meant we were done by 9:15.   By 6:30 I would say there were already 50 people and it grew exponentially.  And everyone is trying to cut the line or find some loop hole and there is no security guard or anyone, it was pretty crazy.  But we were 3rd so success, its done!

THEN, I got a super private/official tour of Palacio de La Moneda, which is the White House of Chile.  It was crazy.  My host mom last night said that her friend worked for the government and was getting a tour for 25 people the next day and that she had been invited and had asked if I could go and the friend said yes! So there I was, on the second floor where people are never allowed to go.  I was literally in the room where all of the presidents meet their guests, in the room where the 25 ministries come for their meetings with the president and saw the chair all of the presidents sit in during that meeting.  What is crazy is that I recognized the room/table from a movie I watched last semester called NO which is about the Pinochet regime!  I was also in the room where Salvador Allende was found dead after the September 11th bombing by Pinochet's coup.  Crazy stuff.  The rooms were amazing and the art on the walls were all super famous/beautiful/old paintings that all meant something ha.  Mimmy and Fajy, you would have loved it and all of the history that was there.  Anyway, that was incredible and just had to share.

Last thing, shout out to Andrew Luu who got stuck next to me at a table exactly a year ago!!! THANK YOU FOR BEING IN MY LIFE!

my room

kitchen 

entrance 

view from the retreat

zipline I did there!

La Moneda entry courtyard

painting of independence day

the table that they have their meeting at

famous piece of art

all of the presidents had bronze statues

to show how pretty it is/guard

Allende's memorial

the little church

where the president gives HER speeches

where I run! its a park in between two streets! thats how it is here, the trails are in the median.  Its beautiful

Week 1: done

Its crazy to me that its only been a week because I literally feel like I've been down here for 19 months ha.  There is just so much changing and there are constantly things to learn and improve and figure out my head has been on a constant swivel! We went on a retreat this weekend to figure out class stuff and get to know the group and the group is awesome.   I really really like all of the people in my program.  They're all so nice and interesting and just really amazing people so that was nice.  Also, my program directors are incredible and super helpful so it is nice that I have them to act as a kind of family.  I found out that my host family is having another student come next month so I need to for sure find another place to stay which is a little bit stressful on the brain but I will figure it out.  I'm trying to decide whether to stay with another host family or find chilean students to live with... we'll see.

We also started our intensive spanish classes today.  I am in the advanced class and our teacher is super sweet and helpful.  I feel like these three weeks are really going to help me learn not only better grammar and the chilean vocabulary (which is SO different than Mexican; for example avocado isn't aguacate, its palta!) but we are also talking about a lot of the history and culture which is cool.  We have four hours a day of class which isn't too bad.  Lastly, went to a folkloric dance festival thingy tonight in Nuñoa which is where my campus is at the moment and that was cool.  Very traditional outfits and the cultural dances were beautiful.  I love you all so much and hope all is well!

Metro y Micro

I successfully took the metro (subway) and micro (bus) today to and from my host family's home.  It took a total of 40 minutes to get to the campus oriente where we are having our language program.  But I didn't get lost the whole time and even was able to get back after walking around after classes.  Also, my host sister is here for the day before she leaves for the lake with friends and she seems super sweet.  15, but really nice and sweet and she took me to help me get my chilean phone activated and the people there said that I spoke spanish really well and that it was cleaner then the chilean spanish and they were so nice! AND I made a friend on the bus with a student at La Chile, the other big university here, AND I really like the people in my program.  So today was a good day.  And this weekend we're going on a retreat with the program as an orientation but it will be nice to get out of the city to see what else is out there! Besos a todos

Host Family

Helllooooo! So today I met my host family.  They seem amazing and perfect and I´m really excited.  The mom is named Rossana and the father is Rafael? maybe? I still need to clarify that one.  They are super nice though and are a very active and healthy family.  She said that she picked me because it said that I was very sporty and liked to eat healthily so I guess I have to hold up that reputation.  I went on a run as soon as I unpacked to try to start that up again.  Also, the reason my blog is called empanadas and mayonnaise is because mayonnaise is SOOOOO popular here.  They eat it with everything.  And not just eat it, but it coats everything.  Its nasty.  But luckily since I´m with a healthy family they don´t use it. YAYAYAYA! They have a 16 year old boy and 15 year old girl who are both at the beaches right now so I haven´t met them yet but am excited too.  Hopefully they like me haha.  Love to you all!

I'm in Santiago!

So... my brother told me to start a blog because it would be easier for people/less annoying for them than an email all the time.  Here we go! Today is my first day in Santiago and so far its going really well! I met some girls in my program at the airport and we all took a cab to a really cute hostel in the city.  The city actually reminds me a lot of Mexico City, but then again I've only really seen the blocks that surround the hostel.  Tomorrow I meet my host family and I really hope they are nice.  I'm scared to drink the tap water because I really don't want to get sick already so I'm buying bottles for now... sorry Cath.  Its killing me too.  Also, the conversion of pesos to dollars is 520/1 so you can only imagine my mathematically challenged brain trying to do those conversions on the spot.  Ay carumba.  Anyway, I'm exhausted because I haven't slept in 24 hours and we all know how well I handle no sleep so today is going to be a relaxed day. Bye for now.