This weekend I got to experience some more authentic chilean life. On Friday night we went a coffee shope in Valpariaso to see a little theatrical performance by some students from UAI. My favorite part about it was that the coffee shop was non-smoking, something pretty much non-existant in Chile. The play was pretty good too. It was somewhat difficult understand because it was in Spanish and they were speaking very quickly and had very little of the sign languag...

Hello Friends, Its finally starting to feel like I'm living here, instead of just on a great vaction. I've got my routine down and I'm really starting to feel at home in the city and in my apartment. This week has been pretty low key so far, no really great adventures but just overall quality days. On Sunday I went to the beach to do some "studying" with friends. Very little actual work got done but we had a great time anyway. We witnessed a moth...

Hola Todos! Well I've now been here for more than a week and what an adventure! The last few days have been quite busy. On Wednesday night we went to Santiago to see a documentary about Ariel Dorfman. It was the premier of the film so Dorfman himself was there which was really cool. The other super cool part was that it was shown in a theater inside La Moneda, the presidential palace. It was really cool to be able to see that one site in Chile, though we g...

Hola Todos! Well I'm finally starting to feel more comfortable here. Its only been 4 days but already I feel like I know the area I live in pretty well and my Spanish is improving daily. Its definately been an adjustment though. One of the hardest things to adjust to is the food and eating times. In Chile lunch (almuerzo) is the biggest meal of the day, and generally is the meal the family eats together. Dinner is then very small and more casual. In my family w...

I've made it to Chile! After 22 hours of traveling I finally arrived to my new home yesterday. So far I am very happy here. I am living with a host family in an apartment in downtown Viña del Mar which is about 70 miles west of Santiago right on the ocean. I have a host mother named Manuela who has been very sweet and kind to me so far. I also live with a host sister named Carla. She is 27 and works as a journalist. I also have a host brother, Mauricio, but he d...