My Second Week in Chile

Hola todos (Hello everyone)

After my trip back to Santiago from San Pedro de Atacama, I was greeted at the airport by a women named Tanya, who set me up with a phone etc., and then, I was off to meet my host mother! I arrived on a street called Luis Thayer Ojeda, and it is quite a beautiful neighborhood. It is in an area called Providencia. The streets are lined with trees, and nice apartments. I arrived at night, and people were out walking their dogs and jogging. A great place, I couldn't have asked for a better place to live. My host mother's name is Iracy, and she works in the Kuwait Embassy here (cool right?). She is Brazilian, but has lived here for a few years. It is great because, I am solely speaking Spanish here, but in case I am dying for my native tongue, she speaks English, and she also speaks Portuguese, which is great because I took a class last semester at Albany, and want to keep working on it!

The next day, March 1st, 7 people and I met one of the Middlebury coordinators, Pamela, at a Metro station, where we traveled down to Valparaiso (Valpo) which is on the coast. I met the 3 girls that will also be in Santiago with me. Their names are Laurel, Micaela and Arantxa. Laurel and Micaela are both going to Pontifica Universidad de Catolica, so it's only Arantxa and me attending Universidad de Chile!
In Valpo, we met the rest of the people in the program. Middlebury is a part of universities in Valdivia (south), Valpo, Viña del Mar (next to Valpo), and Santiago. Most of the students are located in Valpo so that is why we all went down there. I met all the other students studying in Chile. In total there are 17/18 of us.

When we arrived at 11AM, (yes, I had to wake up at 7AM that morning) we took a quick tour of Valpo and saw the common attractions and things that they are known for. Afterwards, we went out for lunch which was great, and the view was spectacular. The back wall was one big window overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We then went to a lounge on the bottom floor of a building and started going over orientation.At around 8PM we traveled to a restaurant to eat dinner, and I am lucky enough to say I was able to see the sun set on the Pacific Ocean. Absolutely breath-taking.
That evening, we had a nice dinner with another beautiful view overlooking the city this time. The students who were living in Valpo were with their host families so it was quite a festivity. That night we stayed at a B&B, and sleep was wonderful. Sadly, it wasn't as much as needed, because we had to wake up at 7AM the next morning as well.

The next day, we went back to the bottom floor of the building and finished orientation and learned about a Middlebury hosted volunteer program called, "Manos Verdes" (Green Hands). This is a program that allows Chilean children to go outside and explore nature. Middlebury students, or people participating in the program, can be a part of it. After we learned about this, we had a "Manos Verde" experience of our own. We went to Viña del Mar and took a kayaking trip and learned about nature. We kayaked down a river called the Concon. We got to admire birds through binoculars and learn about the landscape. We then took a little trip around the nature, and did some group exercises and learned more about the environment on the area. It was nice to feel like a kid when we colored our booklets with crayon, and taped flowers to our sheets of paper. It was also nice to do something outside considering we had spent a lot of time inside while doing the orientation. After this, the three other girls and I who are living in Santiago, returned back to Santiago. Orientation was fun and I am happy I met the other people. We also spoke Spanish the entire time we were there, and I think my Spanish is improving already!

The next few days since my mom was still with me, we explored and admired Santiago. Yesterday, (Tuesday) we went up to an area called Bella Vista which is quite a happening place. It is a very youthful place with lots of bars and restaurants. It seems like a great place to visit during the weekends. That evening, my mom left back to a cold, snowy New York that I am thankfully not in right now.
During this week I also organized some international and school related things. Tomorrow, I will be organizing even more.

I will be beginning school on Monday! I am still organizing the classes I will be taking, and hopefully will get an internship here. An internship here is ideal because it will fulfill a need for my major back home, and there aren't many internships back in Albany that could fulfill my major.
I got to have a nice long walk today in the beautiful weather and explored more of the city. A nice second week so far.