Hello again! This time I have a little bit more time to write. Pardon my cheesey title haha. It´s actually not that cold today. I was lucky and got to sleep in this morning! It was amazing! Today, Melissa and I are planning on doing some exploring downtown. We´re probably going to go visit El Museo de Las Bellas Artes (The Museum of Beautiful Art). Apparently this is the most important Museum in Santiago. I saw it yesterday while I was trying to find my school and I´m pretty sure I can find it again. I hope so! Oh, while we´re on the subject of being lost, I BOUGHT A MAP! Woohoo! I am so happy about that! Maybe I can find my way around a little better. I think I can! I think I can!
Also this afternoon, Melissa and I are planning on going out for ice cream with a friend of her family named Pilar. Then, later tonight we are going to a birthday party that Lorena, our advisor, told us about. Luckily for us, my mamà `s nephew is a cab driver, so he´s going to give us rides there and back. I´m not comfortable enough with this city to be out at dark yet, so this is a relief! Then, I think Melissa´s just going to spend the night at my casa. I don´t have plans yet for tomorrow, but hopefully we´ll do something fun!
The food here is very good! I love having hot tea all the time. Last night I had a traditional drink (I forgot what it was called) that consists of non-alcoholic red wine served hot with fruit slices. It was really really sweet, but good. My family had company, so we had a bigger dinner than usual. We had tacos! Yum! They were different though. They were small soft tortillas that you could fill with black beans, palta (sort of like a spicey guacamole), corn, cheese (although a very different type than we´re used to), and chicken. The chicken was different though - not shredded and not spicey. I loved the black beans in the tacos though - yum! The night before we had a special type of bread with whatever toppings we wanted - palta, cheese, eggs and bacon, ham, and this stuff that´s kind of like solid jelly that you cut into slices. That´s the best way I can explain it hehe. Everything is so good here! The milk is similar to the milk in Spain - it´s proccessed differently, so it´s okay if it´s left out for a long time, and it only has to be refrigerated after it´s opened. I don´t really care for the flavor enough to drink it by itself, but it´s okay if you just eat it with cereal or something.
I´m starting to figure out my neighborhood. I live next to all of this gigantic skyscrapers since I live in the financial district. It´s a pretty busy part of town. The Spanish here is different - they cut off the last part of their words and speak verrryyy very quickly. Also, most of their speech is made up of slang called Chileanismos (or something like that). Lorena (my advisor) said that Chileans speak with terrible grammar too - not just the lower classes, but everyone! So it´s been challenging at times to understand people. My family is really good about slowing down when they speak to me though. They are wonderful people!
Well, I´d better get going! Props to everyone who actually read all of this. ¡Chao!
Saturday
Friday
¡Estoy Aqui! (I am here!)
Hola from Chile! First of all, I would like to apologize for typing errors - the keyboard is different and I am still trying to figure it out! Also, I can{t write much today, but wanted to give everyone a quick update.
I had quite an interesting flight here. I took some medicine for motion sickness because I didn{t want to get sick during the flight. Well, apparently that was a bad idea. During the flight, I passed out, then threw up three times. Three separate times too - once right after passing out, once before landing, and once after landing. It was embarassing and I felt terrible! They made me leave the plane in a wheelchair, which I didn{t like at all. I haven{t really felt too great ever since. Usually I feel fine, but when I have to stand a lot or walk a lot (anytime I venture out of the apartment) I start feeling sick. Not fun! Oh well, I suppose it will get better soon. The good news about getting sick on the flight was that I got three seats to myself to lay down on, so I got a lot of sleep.
Chile is cold! It wouldn{t be so bad if there were heaters in the buildings. I miss the sun! When I landed yesterday, it was raining, but today the sky has been beautiful. I haven{t been able to explore much, but the basic impression of Santiago that I{ve gotten is that it is a BIG city! I have gotten lost every time I{ve ventured out of the apartment, which has been very frustating. It took me an hour to get to school this morning - luckily I left an hour early. I was so lost though! I can{t even get from the apartment to the nearest metro station. Once I{m on the metro, I{m fine, but then I can{t make my way from the metro station to school or to the apartment. I am pining for a map of the city and have heard that I can get one from some of the kiosks that line the streets. Woohoo! Also, the student who lived in the house before me left me his cell phone - all I have to do is add minutes to it. But I can receive calls for free, so if you feel like calling me I can give you my number via e'mail. Just let me know.
The food here is awesome! Its very rich and heavy and yummy. We drink hot tea with every meal and all the meals I have had so far have been served with soup. Very good soup too! Chileans love their avacados, bread, beans, rice, etc... I will have to write more about it later though. It{s dark and I need to figure out how to get home haha.
Thanks for all of the comments, they made my day! I have had some frustrating moments so far, but have been trying to stay positive. Classes today were great '- grammar! Woohoo! I feel more confident though, even though classes are taught completely in Spanish. I am taking classes with two guys from Korea, one girl from Germany, and Melissa, who is from MSU too. My family here is awesome and very very sweet. My papa is hilarious and I am lucky enough to have my own room with a connected bathroom. They are very small, but it{s nice to have a little bit of privacy. I learned how to use a gas stove and turn on the gas to get hot showers last night. Apparently I didn{t do it completely correctly because I only had about a minute of hot water. Oh well, I will ask my mama tonight for help. The family has two pets - a three legged dog named Benitoand a cat named Blanca. Benito reeks but is very sweet.
Well, gotta go! I{ll try to write more this weekend! Hasta luego!
I had quite an interesting flight here. I took some medicine for motion sickness because I didn{t want to get sick during the flight. Well, apparently that was a bad idea. During the flight, I passed out, then threw up three times. Three separate times too - once right after passing out, once before landing, and once after landing. It was embarassing and I felt terrible! They made me leave the plane in a wheelchair, which I didn{t like at all. I haven{t really felt too great ever since. Usually I feel fine, but when I have to stand a lot or walk a lot (anytime I venture out of the apartment) I start feeling sick. Not fun! Oh well, I suppose it will get better soon. The good news about getting sick on the flight was that I got three seats to myself to lay down on, so I got a lot of sleep.
Chile is cold! It wouldn{t be so bad if there were heaters in the buildings. I miss the sun! When I landed yesterday, it was raining, but today the sky has been beautiful. I haven{t been able to explore much, but the basic impression of Santiago that I{ve gotten is that it is a BIG city! I have gotten lost every time I{ve ventured out of the apartment, which has been very frustating. It took me an hour to get to school this morning - luckily I left an hour early. I was so lost though! I can{t even get from the apartment to the nearest metro station. Once I{m on the metro, I{m fine, but then I can{t make my way from the metro station to school or to the apartment. I am pining for a map of the city and have heard that I can get one from some of the kiosks that line the streets. Woohoo! Also, the student who lived in the house before me left me his cell phone - all I have to do is add minutes to it. But I can receive calls for free, so if you feel like calling me I can give you my number via e'mail. Just let me know.
The food here is awesome! Its very rich and heavy and yummy. We drink hot tea with every meal and all the meals I have had so far have been served with soup. Very good soup too! Chileans love their avacados, bread, beans, rice, etc... I will have to write more about it later though. It{s dark and I need to figure out how to get home haha.
Thanks for all of the comments, they made my day! I have had some frustrating moments so far, but have been trying to stay positive. Classes today were great '- grammar! Woohoo! I feel more confident though, even though classes are taught completely in Spanish. I am taking classes with two guys from Korea, one girl from Germany, and Melissa, who is from MSU too. My family here is awesome and very very sweet. My papa is hilarious and I am lucky enough to have my own room with a connected bathroom. They are very small, but it{s nice to have a little bit of privacy. I learned how to use a gas stove and turn on the gas to get hot showers last night. Apparently I didn{t do it completely correctly because I only had about a minute of hot water. Oh well, I will ask my mama tonight for help. The family has two pets - a three legged dog named Benitoand a cat named Blanca. Benito reeks but is very sweet.
Well, gotta go! I{ll try to write more this weekend! Hasta luego!
Tuesday
Oh geez, I'm leaving tomorrow!
Wow! Time sure has flown the last couple of weeks! I am all moved out of my apartment. My stuff is all over the place - some is at my Mom's house, and some is at Mykl's house. Plus, I have a table at Mykl's sister's house. I am so lucky and thankful for all of the people letting me store stuff everywhere!
I've been ignoring my wedding plans. Most of it can wait until I get back. I've left Mykl with the task of finishing the invitations and sending them out. Then, I'll just have to get busy when I get back! I've got most of the big picture stuff settled. It will just be a matter of buying decorations, figuring out food plans, and that sort of thing.
Tomorrow evening I will be flying out of St. Louis, stopping in Atlanta, then spending a long 9 hours and 45 minutes on a flight to Santiago. I was able to put the audiobook of the fourth Harry Potter on my mp3 player, so that should help me pass the time! Plus, I'm supposed to be sleeping then, so I may attempt to do so. I had such a hard time sleeping on the way to Spain though that I'm not sure how successful I will be. I'm planning on not getting much sleep tonight - maybe that will help! This time I will have an inflatable pillow that goes around my neck. Fancy!
If anyone needs to contact me, the easiest and cheapest way will be to e-mail me at jacobs718@missouristate.edu. If you are just dying to hear my voice (like so many of you are! Heh just kidding) than you can e-mail me or call my mom to get my phone number. The time difference isn't too crazy this time, so you should be able to call anytime.
I can't believe I'm going to study abroad again! I've been enjoying the nice weather today. I'm sure I'll be missing it by this time Thursday when I feel the winter weather. I hate winter! Oh well, winter won't be too bad there I suppose. I'm excited about trying new foods again, and practicing my Spanish. I will be taking classes during the morning until around 1:00, and then I'll be free the rest of the day unless I can arrange a volunteer opportunity. I'm hoping to do a little bit of traveling, but my funds are a bit limited. I may only get to visit one or two other cities. Hopefully I'll get to go skiing! Chile is well known for their great skiing conditions (most of their country is mountainous for goodness sake!).
Well, this is getting long (again). I will probably be posting again this weekend sometime. I start classes Friday! Eeek!
I've been ignoring my wedding plans. Most of it can wait until I get back. I've left Mykl with the task of finishing the invitations and sending them out. Then, I'll just have to get busy when I get back! I've got most of the big picture stuff settled. It will just be a matter of buying decorations, figuring out food plans, and that sort of thing.
Tomorrow evening I will be flying out of St. Louis, stopping in Atlanta, then spending a long 9 hours and 45 minutes on a flight to Santiago. I was able to put the audiobook of the fourth Harry Potter on my mp3 player, so that should help me pass the time! Plus, I'm supposed to be sleeping then, so I may attempt to do so. I had such a hard time sleeping on the way to Spain though that I'm not sure how successful I will be. I'm planning on not getting much sleep tonight - maybe that will help! This time I will have an inflatable pillow that goes around my neck. Fancy!
If anyone needs to contact me, the easiest and cheapest way will be to e-mail me at jacobs718@missouristate.edu. If you are just dying to hear my voice (like so many of you are! Heh just kidding) than you can e-mail me or call my mom to get my phone number. The time difference isn't too crazy this time, so you should be able to call anytime.
I can't believe I'm going to study abroad again! I've been enjoying the nice weather today. I'm sure I'll be missing it by this time Thursday when I feel the winter weather. I hate winter! Oh well, winter won't be too bad there I suppose. I'm excited about trying new foods again, and practicing my Spanish. I will be taking classes during the morning until around 1:00, and then I'll be free the rest of the day unless I can arrange a volunteer opportunity. I'm hoping to do a little bit of traveling, but my funds are a bit limited. I may only get to visit one or two other cities. Hopefully I'll get to go skiing! Chile is well known for their great skiing conditions (most of their country is mountainous for goodness sake!).
Well, this is getting long (again). I will probably be posting again this weekend sometime. I start classes Friday! Eeek!
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