Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Orientation

Yesterday I started 2 weeks of orientation at the Universidad Diego Portales, which basically consists of a Spanish grammar/language review and some touristy activities in and around Santiago. I'm also adjusting to my commute which takes me a little less than a half hour since I live in a really central area and the metro here is actually efficient. The weather is great and I love walking around, taking everything in.

The university is located in the Centro of the city, really close to a metro stop. Classes don't start there till next week and right now everything is still closed, so the buildings are a little eerie but it's nice to be getting a feel for it before the whole area is crazy busy.

Yesterday after class our group took the metro to Providencia (where I live yay!) and wandered around for a while searching for a place to eat. Our group has been meshing really well but it turns out it's pretty difficult to get seating for 13 so we split up for lunch. My group ended up going to a delicious but expensive Chilean restaurant, where we all tried pisco sours for the first time. Pisco is a delicious type of liquor that Chileans appear to mix with any and everything. 
My pasta! Here instead of the word espagetti, they use "fideos" for pasta. This means I sometimes think people are asking me if I want to watch a video but really they are talking about food.

Then we went for a walk through Providencia and ended up hanging out in a park for a few hours, chatting and exploring. I'm happy I live in such a central area, everything is so convenient! Check out some of our first group pics!


After a siesta and dinner with Claudia, Mark, Kevin and I decided to try our luck going out, which was an adventure but a blast. We went to a place with the most famous terremottos in Santiago, so I was happy. After we wandered over the neighborhood Bellas Artes and hung out some more. Everything was great until I arrived home at a perfectly reasonable hour my parents would be proud of anddd I realized I somehow managed to lock myself out of my house. So, it's 4 AM, and I'm calling Claudia all lo siento!!! Luckily, she loves me and just laughed and went, "Ayyyy gringitaa!" and went back to sleep. When I apologized profusely today she just laughed at me, so that worked out well. 

Today instead of "class" we took a tour of the city by bus, which was pretty interesting and I learned a little about Chilean history. 

 Changing of the guard at La Moneda



Plaza de Armas!

After the tour, I was exhausted but starving so I went with two girls in my group, Teresa and Carolina to try "completos" which are hot dogs with various toppings, at this place in Providencia (yay again living in a convenient location). Carolina is Chilean and living with her grandparents here in Santiago instead of a host family and so although she is still learning the lay of land she definitely has a better idea than me where to find a good, cheap meal. And my completo was delicious. I got an "italiano" which has avocado, tomatoes, and mayo on it. Sounds gross but totally delicious.

Ciao!

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