I made it safe and sound! Chile is amazing already and my host family seems so nice from the little that I can understand them! It's very difficult already, they speak so fast and slur some of their words together so it is hard to understand, but then again I have been here for only like 24 hours so I am sure my Spanish will improve fast! It took me about 15 hours of actual flying to get here, the flights were very long and I am still very exhausted. I need sleep and lots of it! I was lucky enough to not have to fly alone.
The exchange students that are in the same district as me, about 12 of us were all picked up at the Conception Airport. We have students from the USA, Germany, Denmark and Canada in our district. From the airport we got on a bus and went to our hotel, Hotel Salto Del Laja, in Los Angeles. The hotel itself was up in the mountain overlooking a gorgeous waterfall. It was breathtaking! We stopped at the bottom of the mountain/hill thing for our first Chilean meal! We basically had a 5 course meal, it was crazy and pretty delicious! We then went back to the hotel part where they have a "meeting" building. The rotary members with us went over the rules and everything, not to mention Chile is coming out of winter, but it's still freezing and there was little to no heat in the building so it was freezing! We then went back down to the restaurant and had dinner, around 8pm! All of us were exhausted at this point from all of the traveling! Then after dinner they finally let us go to bed! This morning we met together to have breakfast and then more orientation things and more rules that we need to follow, etc. At noon we were being picked up by our host family!
Meeting my host family is definitely the highlight of my day! They are all so welcoming and so nice, I am very lucky! We went to this like carnival type of place for lunch. It was very interesting and it's hard to compare it to anything in the states! I had chicken (pollo in spanish) because that was the only word that I recognized on the menu! And then we had ice cream, it was very good but it made me colder! Its about 50 degrees here, but coming from the summer in Vermont makes it feel much colder than I think it really is! Then the most exciting part, my new home for the year! I live in like I neighborhood type of set up, but it is VERY different. I like it though. The house is nice, but very small! My family also has a house in the country and they said it is much bigger than this house in the city. I am so excited to just finally be here! I moved in all of my stuff into my new lime green room! But other than sleeping for a bit that is a short version of what I have done so far in Chile!
I still can't believe I am here, it really hasn't hit me yet. It's hard to not understand anything, but I know that it will get better. I have a very patient family that I know is willing to help me learn! I will try to post when I can, but I don't want to be on the computer all the time! I hope to post pictures next post as well, I can't wait to take some! Adios por ahora! (Bye for now!)
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