Tour of Valparaiso

Helloooo! Today we went on a tour of Valparaíso, the city next to me where I will soon (ughh) be taking classes, with everyone in my group and it was really great! We started at Casa Central, the main building at my University, and then all got on a bus and drove around while a tour guide explained our surroundings. Then we drove up hill for a really long time and arrived at Pablo Neruda's house. He lived really far up the hill so the view from his house is unbelievable. We went through the house and had head sets that explained each room and the house was so beautiful. Each room had huge windows and you could see the whole city of Valpo and the ocean. Sadly my camera died the second I got off the bus, so I stole some pictures from my friend.

After that we drove to an area of the city that had a million little cafes and amazing houses. There is graffiti and art all over the city and some of it is really cool. The houses are all brightly colored and the streets are very hilly, which kind of reminds me of San Francisco. Also there are about a billion stray dogs here so they followed us around for awhile. (The other night 9 dogs followed my friends and I home it was crazy.) The dogs are harmless and it's kind of sad how many of them there are and a lot of them look like they're in pretty bad shape.

After walking around we went down to the street, and because the town is so hilly there are "ascendadors", kind of like elevator/gondola things that you can take down to the street, which were really cool. Then we got some lunch and got back on the bus and went to the port where we got on a boat and saw the city from a different point of view. On the boat we saw seals that were everywhere and hugeeeee. They were pretty cute and some were just jumping around in the water.

After the boat we went back to vina del mar and a few friends and i walked to the beach and sat and watched the sunset. (we didn't actually see it fully set cause we were cold, buttt it was pretty nonetheless.) We also pretended to be guests at the Sheridan hotel and walked around there and are now plotting how we can somehow/someday sneak in and go in the hot tub because it is just so cold here sometimes! Probably won't happen but the hotel was really nice and warm!

Now I am back at home and going to rest until I meet up with some friends and go out for the night. I start school on Wednesday and I haven't completely picked my classes yet but I have an idea. Also there are a ton of clubs and community service opportunities you can do through the school and my friends and I were thinking about helping out with little kids and teaching English or maybe taking in street dogs and cleaning them up and give them flea medicine. Also there are a lot of club sports, which I might try and join and also an intercambio program where the school sets you up with a chilean person and you help teach them English and they help teach you Spanish. All in all I haven't spoken too much Spanish because i've been hanging out a lot with the "gringos" (americans) in my group but I know when classes start my brain will hopefully make the transition!

first day of orientation

Holaaa today i had my first day of orientation. It was really short and pretty boring but after I walked around campus with a few friends and then went back to vina del mar with my friend Emily. We walked around the town and then had lunch with her family, which was really nice.

Here is a picture from my first day when I went to the botanical garden with Leslie and her two friends.... it's from Erwin's camera and he took soooo many photos and just sent me some.

Leslie y yo

Discoteca and disastrous ending

Hola!

Last night we went to the discotec for a guy in my programs birthday and it was so much fun. Leslie, Martin, Erwin, and I walked there and picked up some friends from my program along the way. The club really cool, pretty small and there was a nice restaurant in the front and it was great to see everyone from my program for the first time! (in 24hrs but whatever it seemed like forever since I had seen some gringos.)

I was so hungry so I went to the restaurant part with a friend and ended up ordering chicken wings and french fries because we hadn't eaten dinner and I loveeee dinner. After that we danced to everything from chilean music to spice girls, mamma mia, backstreet boys, and lady gaga. They had karaoke so it was hilarious to watch some chilean guys get up on stage and sing backstreet boys.

We danced until 2 and then some of my friends were ready to go back (Martin and Erwin danced until 6am and then jumped on their bus to santiago!) and we decided to call a radio taxi, which is a kind of taxi that will bring your right to your house house but it's more expensive. Once we got in we realized we really didn't have enough money and none of us really knew where we lived but eventually we got to my house but I didn't have enough to pay the taxi man and had no idea what to do. So embarrassed, I called my brother Axel and he said he would be at the house in 5 min and could pay. When he got there he was panting and so out of breath because he had sprinted like a mile up hill to the house. When he said 5 min. i thought he was getting a ride or was really close, i didn't realize he would run all the way home from the party he was at! I kept telling him you are my hero thank you thank you thank you (he speaks really good english) and he was like Abby I'm your brother of course i'll come, even if i was in a different region or country! (awwwwww) we went inside and talked about our nights and at first I felt soooo embarrassed but he kept saying I really needed to stop saying sorry because we're family blah blah and other really nice things. I feel so lucky to have such a nice family! Ahhh they're so great! So all in all it wasn't really a disastrous ending as much as a nice little bonding experience, awwwwww.

Day 2 en Vina del Mar

DAY 2 EN VINA y estoy muy consada. (i am very tired!)

Today I woke up at 10am and nobody was awake yet (they sleep in! Yessss!) so I showered and got ready for the day and then Leslie knocked on my door and said change of plans because 2 of her friends from Santiago decided to come for the day so we were going to explore Vina with them. Once her friends arrived, Martín y Erwin, we walked to the bus stop and went to a Botanical Garden which was really fun. Because it's winter it was fairly flower-less and it was pretty small but it was nice to be outside and we had a little picnic.

I spoke both spanish and english with everyone because they all speak a little english and really want to learn, and then they taught me a whole lot of useful words you don't learn in the classroom. (ie. lame=fome, cool=bacán, yeahh= sipoh, i don't remember the rest but there were lots!) Also it was really funny because Leslie was like can you please explain to me "pretty ugly" because she had no idea how that made any sense haha.

Then we got back on the bus and went to the "mall" which was really just downtown and there were lots of stores and mucho mucho people. I got my chilean cell phone to work and then we went to lunch and had pineapple juice and a huge plate filled with french fries, sausage, beef, onions, and then 3 fried eggs on top. It was good, but i was pretty surprised when the waiter first set it down on the table!

After lunch we walked what seemed like forever to the playaaaa (beach)! It was beautiful out and I was perfectly comfortable in jeans and a sweater and we just laid on a blanket and relaxed. It was really funny because Erwin took about a zillion pictures throughout the day so Martin and Leslie started calling him "Chino" like an Asian tourist haha. Then they talked about their boyfriends and girlfriends and gossiped, and it was really cool to hear because it was pretty much identical to the millions of conversations that my girlfriends and I have.

After the beach I was sooooo exhausted and we walked to a gas station and my mom picked me up and brought me home because Leslie had a doctor's appointment. Now Martin, Erwin and Leslie are in the living room and at 10 we are going out to my first discotec (dance club wahoooo I can finally expose my dance moves!) and going to meet up with a bunch of people from my program because it is one guys 22nd birthday!

So far everything is going really well. It still gets really overwhelming with all the spanish but my house if very comfortable and my family couldn't be nicer so I feel really lucky!

Here is a link to the club it look s sooooo intense!! http://www.tutixclub.com/index.html

First day with my host family!

I finally moved in with my host family today! This morning we went on a hike in the campanos (i think thats what it was called) which was really pretty and it was nice to be outside. It's really cold here but it felt good to be outside for awhile.

(you can kind of see the white mountains in the background, they were soooo pretty but the sun was so bright so it didn't really turn up.)

After the hike we have lunch and then had a meeting about what it's like to live with a host fami

ly/etiquette and then we had a quiz about everything we've learned and MY TEAM WON and we got really good chocolate, caramel cookies. Then we boarded the bus to vina del mar which was about 45 minute and when we got there all the host families were surrounding the bus and taking pictures and it was fairly awkward but really funny. My host mom greeted me with a big hug and smile and helped me get my bags and then I drove home to with both of my parents. The house is really cute, i've only seen it at night though, but it's really comfortable and nice. I have 2 host siblings, a guy named Axel that is 21 and a sister named Leslie that is 20. We all talked in both Spanish and English about interests, families, music, Lady Gaga, tv shows and have a lot in common. Axel is really good at badminton and Leslie is a really great artist. Then we had dinner which started with tea and coffee and I asked for water and the mom was like really? water? and I was like ohh no nevermind tea. For dinner we had tur

key toasted sandwiches and talked a lot in both English and Spanish (the kids speak almost perfect English which is really nice, buttt i know i'm here to learn spanish) Then i moved into my room which is really cute and tiny, but i have my own bathroom and everything and it's perfectooooo. Axel and Leslie went out with their friends and my parents went to sleep so I guess I'll do the same. I have Monday and Tuesday off from orientation so Leslie is going to take me to the mall and show me around and then Tuesday Axel is taking me to my university to show me around there. I feel really comfortable and I couldn't have a nicer family!

DAY 2!

Okay I promise I will get a life soon enough and won't update this every night (sorry mom), but in the meantime I might as well give you a detailed lay out of my day. Well we woke up at 9 and went to breakfast where I had basically a cheeseburger bun with jelly. They only have instant coffee here which is weird, not that i really drink coffee, but it's all hot water and then you add the different instant coffees and i guess that's how it is throughout chile... interesting fact. Okay after breakfast we had a long meeting about academicas and all the different universities in Valparaiso, it was very overwhelming and I still am extremely nervous about taking sociology, psychology, and other classes actually in Spanish but i'm sure it will get easier after a while. We also have to take a Spanish class through IFSA (the abroad program) which is really nice because it will be with other people from my program! After that lecture we had one about safety which was fairly terrifying. Some interesting facts... don't use the ATM in a bank, it's safer to use one at a super market or pharmacy because if you go to a bank then there will be people waiting outside to mug you because they know that you're going to get money. Also don't talk on your cell phone in the street because someone will take it out of your hand, and also never bring your passport out (obviously) because they are extremely valuable in chile and are sold on the black market for hundreds of dollars, however you must carry around a passport copy because at any time a police officer can ask you for identification and if you dont have any it's bad news. After that talk we had a huge lunch and then more lectures about the history of chile (keep in mind all these lectures are in spanish and i'm actually starting to get a headache, but i realize that it's going to be like this from now on so I should get use to it) and also more about the different schools. After that we had a coffee break and dancing lessons and then a big dinner and then we watched a really bizarre chilean movie. I don't know what it's called nor did I or anyone else understand it. They were trying to teach us slang words and so the movie was very promiscuous and really funny, but they spoke so fast so I barely understood it. It also didn't help that next door there is a norwegian group of high school kids that are here and they were having a dance party so while we're watching the movie all I could hear was the Macarena (which I so badly wanted to do, but i'm not comfortable revealing my unique, original dance moves just yet) Then we were going to go out on the town with some locals that a girl knew but it was 2 men to 25 girls so a bunch of us decided to stay back and play cards. There are 38 people in my group and 7 boys so it's a pretty hilarious ratio. Tomorrow is my last full day in Omulé and I'm so ready to leave and get to Viña and meet my family and finally settle in! Can't wait! Caiooo hasta luegooo!

First Day!

Hola!

I got into Santiago this morning at 7:45am and went through customs and all that stuff and then stood outside baggage claim looking like a lost puppy until some girl came up to me and showed me where my group was! Everyone is so nice and outgoing, which is great and we hung out at the airport until 12 when our group leaders came and took us out to the buses. We drove about 2 hours and are now in Omulé, which is a small town in between Santiago and Valparaiso. We're staying at a hotel until Sunday and then we are finally moving in with our host families in Vina del Mar. Once we got to the hotel we had a hugeeeee lunch. We first had empanachas and I thought it was the only course and I was really hungry so I wolfed it down, but once our plates were clear they brought us tomato cheeesey soup which I ate a little of and then they brought us like 2 huge pieces of beef with rice and then they brought us ice cream sundaes. So much food. Apparently lunch is their huge meal so at least I now know that for future reference. After lunch we moved into our rooms and they're actually pretty nice hotel rooms with 3 small beds and I have 2 roommates. Then we had a long meeting all in spanish about "culture shock" and what it will be like to be a white, freckly, and blonde... they said people will probably stare at you but don't take it as an insult just smile. She said that the people are very blunt so be prepared....sweet... Then we got an hour of rest time which was nice because i'm pretty dead from my flight and then we had salsa dancing lessons which was hilarious, awkward, and pretty fun. Then we had dinner, salad and turkey and rice and now we're back in the hotel room. Everything is going pretty well, it still hasn't hit me that I'm actually in Chile because the hotel kind of resembles an American hotel and I haven't spoken much Spanish, but I'm sure it will hit me soon enough. I'm really excited to move in with my host family and finally get all settled in. Wow this has been a long and very detailed entry. I think that's all i've got! Adiosss!

Here are some pictures of where I'm going:

This is a beach in Vina del Mar, which is the town I'm living in with a host family.

This is Valparaiso. It's on the coast of Chile and thats pretty much all I know about it, but it's where I will be taking classes at the local university.

So I'm not sure how this blog thing works, but I'm going to try and upload pictures and stories here throughout the time I'm abroad! I leave July 21st, which is Wednesday aka 4 days away. Crazy.