I think a Chilean child would make a great souvenier.

It's hard to believe that this is really my life. I am thousands of miles away from home in a country where I barely speak the language. This isn't just any old foreign country, though. I am in Chile, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just to give you an example, from the window in the shower in my house, I can see all sorts of mountains. I told my sister, Fernanda, that I liked the view from the shower, which she thought was funny. I'm getting ahead of myself, though.

Yesterday was my last day in Santiago. We went to an art museum, walked through the city, and shopped in an open air market (pictured below). The art museum, El Museo de Bellas Artes, was amazing. It contained some of the most incredible Chilean works. I have taken art history classes before, but never have I seen art as poignant as what I saw here. The art strongly depicted the suffering of the people from the turmoil in Chile of the past several decades. It showed pain, confusion, anger, fear, and a longing to be heard.

As we were walking through the city, one thing became extremely clear: Chile is for lovers. Literally. Chileans love to make out in public, cuddle on blankets in the park, and display their love for everyone to see. Everywhere you turn there are couples. Seriously, does everyone here have a significant other? My advice: if you are single, stay far away from Santiago.

Anyway, today is my first day in my new home. To get here, we took a 10 hour bus ride from Santiago to Valdivia. The weather in Valdivia is basically the same as the weather in Cleveland. One minute it's raining and the next it's sunny. You never really know what to expect. In my new house, I have a mom who is a preschool teacher, a dad that I haven't met yet, a nanny, and two sisters (Fernanda and Macarena). I have only been here for a few hours but I already love my family. They are super nice. My nanny has already made me two meals, done my laundry, and made my bed. Fernanda gave me a crash course on everything about her family and Valdivia. I can tell that Fernanda, Maca, and I are going to get along quite well.

Having a supportive, loving family here is helpful because I am totally on my own. Luckily, they are patient with me and my broken Spanish. My sisters speak English pretty well so we are able to have good conversations in Spanglish. What I am quickly learning, though, is that studying abroad is truly a test of your independence. It will teach you to rely completely on yourself. Also, to succeed you cannot be afraid of making mistakes. Making mistakes is the only way to completely learn a new language (with the amount of mistakes I have been making, I should be learning a lot).

Tomorrow will be my first day at the Windsor School. I will be taking Spanish and Chilean history classes. I will also be teaching first grade English. These children are PRECIOUS. Mom and Dad, don't be surprised if I stuff one in my suitcase. I think a Chilean child would make a great souvenier. Now, it's time for me to take a nap since I have barely slept since I arrived in Chile. Wish me luck tomorrow on my first day!

If I could see this view every day, I would consider never showering again.

Hello! Or should I say hola y bienvenidos a Santiago! After a painful 12 hours of traveling, I have finally reached Santiago. At 4:30 p.m. (2:30 Ohio time) I am finally relaxing for the first time today. We have been running around like crazy and it's only day one. Once we got off the plane, we headed straight to our hotel, Hotel Neruda. We were all looking forward to a quick nap and a shower since we smelled and had an average of 3 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, neither or those were a possibility. We arrived at the hotel at 9:30, which was 3.5 hours before we were allowed to check in. Even though we smelled like airplane food, could knock out half of Santiago with our breath, and were wearing sweats, we had no choice but to hit the town and wait for our rooms to be ready.

After exchanging our money for Chilean pesos, we were feeling pretty confident and ready to take on everything that Santiago had to offer. Sure, we were exhausted, but we were in Santiago, a moment we have been waiting months for. The confidence quickly faded, though, as we faced our first challenge: ordering food. Really, it shouldn't have been that hard. We knew how to say words like hamburger and pizza in Spanish. Yet, the mixture of having to use Spanish and pay with a currency we didn't understand caused several problems. One of my friends was trying to explain what ranch dressing was to a lady at a sandwich shop. The lady was baffled by the request and Penni didn't get her ranch dressing. Meanwhile, I was with Amanda, Riley, and Anna. We decided to order pizzas because we knew they wouldn't make us sick and we knew how to order them in Spanish. The first time we tried to order, we stared at the menu, became overwhelmed (which we still don't know the Spanish word for) and walked away. Eventually, we gave ourselves a pep talk and went back. Since we didn't understand how the money worked, we just gave them the biggest bill we had and let them figure out how to give us change. After getting our change and our pizza, we finally felt better. We had accomplished the first step to living in another culture. As we were walking away, we noticed the people behind the counter whispering and laughing at us. Who can blame them? I would have laughed at a group of greasy, panic-stricken tourists if I were them too.

At this point, we were thinking we might be able to head back to the hotel and do the only things we really cared about doing: showering and napping. Once again, we were denied. Instead we picked up a peppy tour guide named Bernardo (pictured below) who would stay with us for the rest of the day. He dragged us all around the city, explaining the history of the Chilean government. At this point, we were less than thrilled. Our first stop was to an old camp where government officials tortured people in the 70's. We happened to show up right during a banquet for the survivors of the horrendous ordeal and were actually able to talk to one man about his time in the camp. It amazes me what people can live through.

We saw a number of other buildings, monuments, plazas, and churches on our tour, including the president of Chile's palace. In the last part of our tour, we drove up one of the mountains surrounding Santiago. Below is the view of the city from the mountain. This view changed my mind about sight seeing without showering. If I could see this view every day, I would consider never showering again.



Nothing says out of place like a blonde in Chile.

I can't believe this is finally here. I have been planning my trip to Chile for months and now it's less than four days away. I even picked up my plane tickets today. I guess I can't back out now, not that I would even want to. Anyway, here's the plan: Friday at 5 p.m. I will board the plane in Columbus and fly to Atlanta. By 8:30 p.m. I will be on my way to Santiago, Chile, where I will arrive Saturday morning around 8 a.m. (though I'm not entirely sure if that's Eastern Standard or Chilean time). Chilean time is 2 hours behind Eastern Standard, by the way.

After spending the weekend in Santiago, we will be traveling to Valdivia where we will meet our host families. We will spend the rest of the time there but will sight see on the weekends. We have some amazing excursions planned. Personally, I cannot wait to go ziplining. Other than that, I'm ready to try some Chilean food and hit some discotecs.

One thing I know for sure is that I am going to stick out like crazy. My blonde hair and fair skin will sharply contrast the dark complexions of everyone else there. Getting all the attention I am bound to get will probably be exciting for approximately five minutes. I'm probably going to be ready to dye my hair brown by the second day. Well, nothing says out of place like a blonde in Chile. Maybe I will try to convince people that I am a model or movie star in the United States. That could be good for some free food if nothing else.

Now I have to start packing. The first item on my list is a metric ton of sunscreen. Contrary to popular belief, I have absolutely no desire to look like a tomato. Unfortunately, sun burns are inevitable for me. It doesn't really matter, though. My pink nose and abundance of freckles will be a testament to my month in Chile.

This is my first and last post from the United States. Keep reading because my next post will be from Chile. I'll see you there!