Santiago

Ok, I'm new to this whole blog thing, so I'll do my best. If I leave anything out or not answering any questions, just let me know!

So my trip here was an adventure in itself. When I got off the plane the airport was a little scary, but I made it through customs and exchanged some money and got my bags. I had to have my bags screened to make sure I wasn't bringing in any plant or animal products. They are very protective of their agriculture and so instead of screening for weapons they screen for foreign food products. There were drug dogs all over the airport just sniffing everyone's bags too. When I walked out I luckily had someone waiting for me with a sign with my name, but it said "Mr. Erin Sorensen." I'm assuming Erin is more common as a boy's name here because the guy who picked me up from the bus station thought I was a boy too! So driving through Santiago was interesting. So much grafitti and garbage! I'm sure there are some parts that are beautiful but what I saw wasn't. On the outskirts there were a lot of shanty houses and shacks. The bus station was the worst part probably. I had to haul 80 pounds of luggage everywhere I went and got stared at the whole time! I definitley stick out like a sore thumb here. Anyway, it took me a while but I got a bus ticket and got some sleep on the bus. It was an 8 hour ride. It was interesting to see the landscape change as we went north.

By the time I got to Coquimbo it was dark, my advisor's husband picked me and another student up, and we went to our new house for the next 5 months. It is a nice house, in a good neighborhood, a few minutes walk from the beach. The other 2 students were already there, so I have 3 roommates. Kaycie and Chris are from Nebraska and Eamon is from Vermont. We all have been having lots of fun together. We joke that our situation is like The Real World, the TV show. 4 strangers living together. It does get interesting! Our house mother Purita is amazing. such a sweet lady, I only wish I could understand her better! She is an awesome cook too, she makes all our meals, and there really hasn't been anything I haven't liked yet. I still have been craving some good old american food though. The most interesting thing we have tried though was at a restaurant close to our house, we got a whole plate with all sorts of seafood. Honestly, I don't even know what most of it was. Mussels, maybe clams or oysters, I have no idea! Most of it was pretty good, but not something I'd eat a lot. The fruit here is amazing, we have freshly blended juice everyday. When I was walking home from school yesterday I found the farmer's market and it was so big! There was so much good stuff. Purita uses a lot of fruits and veggies in our meals, and she makes the most delicious papaya jam!

We've had one full week of school now. It was ok, could've been better, but it definitley could've been worse. I am taking 3 classes and a spanish class for foreign students, which hasn't started yet. All of my classes seem really interesting. One professor talks really slow because all of us gringos are in there and she knows we have a hard time. But my other class has 100 people in it, which I had to stand up in and introduce myself in the first day! It was so embarrassing. I stick out bad enough as it is then my professor asks me to stand and speak in spanish in front of everyone, I'm sure my face was bright red! My other class is zoology, which should be cool because we get to go to the beach and find animals and stuff. Most of the professors and students are really willing to help and really nice so that makes it easier. I've made some Chilean friends in all of my classes, so that makes it not so scary. There are 3 Brazilian exchange students we hang out with a lot and 1 from Spain and 1 from France. They are all so fun, I love them. Except the one from Spain, she of course speaks fluent spanish so she won't talk to us because obviously our spanish isn't awesome. But we all get together a lot and have fun.

Some other interseting experiences: kayaking in the ocean! It was so awesome, we can go whenever we want. The head of the sports dept. took lots of pics so hopefully I'll be able to get them and post them on here eventually. But I did put a pic on here of me and the Brazilian girls in our kayaking outfits, we looked a little ridiculous:) We have played soccer on the beach a few times which is awesome of course! We went to La Serena, a city really close to ours and had to register with the police department. La Serena is a beautiful city, hopefully we will go back soon and I can post some pics. We have been to "El Centro" in Coquimbo a few times, it's really fun to go and look around, but we get stared at by everyone so it's annoying to go anywhere with lots of people! I am already getting tired of the stares and whistles and honks. I read before I came that the men aren't afraid to yell stuff at you from cars or make comments to women but I didn't expect it to be this bad. The boys are pretty sick of it too, they say we can't dress up at all because they've heard enough whistles already. I'm hoping I'll get used to it soon.

It's been cold here, especially the last few days. It is raining now which is really rare here. I wouldn't mind the cold but our house isn't heated at all, so the temperature outside is the temperature in our house. So we never get warm. That is why I finally have time for this blog because we're stuck inside today! Anyway, that was a along entry so I'll stop there. Let me know if you guys have questions!