I was really indecisive about whether or not I wanted to do a travel blog. After it was requested I decided that I would go ahead and do one. So here goes....

This is my third day living in Viña del Mar, Chile. It has been a rollercoaster to say the very least. Leaving my family was hard, just as expected. I left on Sunday, January 30th out of Denver and flew to Dallas for a few hour layover. Luckily, a girl from the program was on my flight, which made travel much easier. We ended up having a glass of chardonnay at the Dallas airport before our 10 hour flight to Santiago. If I would have known how that flight was going to go I would have had two.

I didn't sleep at all on the flight, and it was absolutely freezing! I remember falling asleep for what I thought was a long time and waking up to my screen saying that we still had 7 hours left.

Arriving in Santiago was much easier than expected. We met up with two other ISA students right away and got through customs easily. ISA found us instantly and we were off on our bus to Viña del Mar.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. There are many vineyards along the road; this area of Chile is the best for wine because it is the perfect climate and has the humidity from the ocean. Apparently Chile has great wine! Hopefully we will visit a vineyard in the coming months. Viña del Mar (where I live) is a sister city to Valparaiso. We stopped at the top of both cities (Viña and Valparaiso) to get an idea of where these two cities divide. It is absolutely insane. Valparaiso (Valpo) is a very important town of Chile because it has a port which is where they export lots of fruit and other goods, especially to the United States. It is the older town, with more antique buildings and history. Viña del Mar (Viña) is the newer and more modern town where you will find many tourists and Chileans on vacation.

After arriving, we were met by our host families. My Chilean family consists of Nora my mom, Julian my dad, and their three kids. Anibal is 10, Sofia is 5 and Leon is 2. They are absolutely adorable. The family was very welcoming, however no one speaks English! That makes communication a little difficult! However, I have surprised myself with how much Spanish I actually know. Communication for us is not that difficult for us anymore, and it's only my fourth day. It can only get better! The house is very nice; it is even currently getting remodeled. I am about a 10 minute walk from the beaches of Viña. Can't really complain :)

The two cities of Viña and Valpo are so indescribable. There are around 1.2 million people that live in the two cities. The houses are all different bright colors, packing into every corner and there are many windy and STEEP roads. "Collectivos" (taxis) and "micros" (buses) fill the streets and are constantly flying by.

Yesterday I started taking classes. For the first 3 weeks I am here I am studying only Spanish. I am taking classes at Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Valparaiso with only other ISA students. There are about six people in our class. I have class everyday from 9am-1pm.

I am starting to get used to this whole study abroad "thing." Absolutely everything is different: the language, people, currency, clothing, lifestyle, weather, time, family, friends…! It's an absolutely amazing experience and I can't wait to see what God has planned.