¡Bienvenidos a Chile!

This first picture was taken our second night in Chile. We had a welcome dinner for all the exchange students. The drink is my first Pisco Sour, the official drink of Chile. Pisco is a kind of brandy, and when mixed with eggs and lemon juice it is a Pisco Sour. They also mix Pisco with Coke, which is called a Piscola.



The second picture is one that I took of the city from the balcony of our hotel room the first day. SO BEAUTIFUL!



Hola hola! Many of you have been asking why I haven't updated my blog yet, and it's because I haven't had a moment to spare! Right now it is almost 3am and I just got back from hanging out with friends. They definitely operate on a different schedule here. We eat dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 and nobody starts hanging out at night until 11 or 12. It's hard to believe I have only been here for four days, I have learned so much in such a short time! We arrrived around 9am on Wednesday and after waiting for the rest of the flights to come in got to our orientation hotel around noon. Everyone in the group is fun and interesting in a different way, and so far I have had a great time getting to know everyone (there are about 40 of us in the program). Santiago is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It is completely clean, cute, and beautiful. It has been in the mid 80s here every day and I am getting super tan!
My host family is FANTASTIC! My mom is the kindest, sweetest woman, and she always calls me "mi amor" (my love) or "mi gringita" (my little white girl). My dad is also very helpful (but a little more serious) and I have a 25 year old brother that I haven't met yet, although tonight I talked to him on the phone and he seems very nice. My mom told him I like to play tennis and he said he wants to play with me :) Also, my dad is the same height as me (and my mom is shorter)! haha. I have my own room and bathroom, and my house has a pool! Tomorrow I am having a bunch of friends over after church to lay by the pool and tan and eat and do homework (that's right, its not all fun here-we already have homework). We are taking a class called "Contemporary Chile" that is only for the Americans in our program. It is all day every day for the next two weeks, and we get two credits for it. It's basically a class to help us understand Chilean culture and politics. Then actual classes start two weeks from Monday. I am super nervous for those, but trying not to worry now because I still have two weeks to learn my way around the city and take a class with only gringos.
So far, the language has been both very fun and very frustrating. I now LOVE speaking spanish and am already having trouble thinking of words and spelling in English. On Thursday we signed our language contracts. We are only allowed to speak, read, or listen to English when we are communicating with people in the States or if it is an emergency. This means that even all of the Americans in my program only speak Spanish to each other! It is exhausting to try to speak Spanish when you know that the other person would understand you much easier if you were speaking to them in English, but they say that you learn Spanish much faster if you are not constantly switching between languages. I have even changed all the lanugage settings on my computer, email, facebook, etc. to Spanish. Let me tell you, it can be exhausting but I am pretty sure in these 4 days I have already learned more than I did in 7 years of lanuage classes.
I hope that all is well there in the States. I miss the familiarities of home, and being here can be lonely, but so far I am in good spirits as I know that I have been given the chance of a lifetime to learn and live in a different culture for 5 months. Also, in case anyone wants to know, I am three hours ahead of the central time zone (two ahead of you in Michigan). Thank you to all of you who have been contacting me via facebook and skype. Although I am busy here it is such an encouragement to know that you are thinking of me and praying for me. Thanks for reading, be talking to you soon!