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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 does not live with us.
My room is nice, very small but still quite nice, though the decorations can be quite interesting. Check out my photos for a picture of the artwork on the wall by my bed. The only complaint I have is the cold, because none of the houses have central heating. It is the end of winter in Chile, which unlike in Minnesota consists of highs in the fifties to sixties and lows in the thirties and forties. So it is pretty warm for a winter. The houses however do not have central heating so it pretty much is the same temperature inside as outside. But my family has a small heater they put in the hallway between our rooms and there are lots of blankets on my bed. Its actually not that much different from winter at home when my dad turns the heat way down :)
Viña is a lovely city from what I have seen. Yesterday when we arrived it was pouring rain so I saw little of the city then. But today I had a welcome breakfast at my university and got to see more. It is quite a large city, I believe 300,000 people perhaps more than that. But it doesn't quite have the feel of Minneapolis or other metropolitan areas. There are some large sky scrapers but not very many.
We start classes on Monday and I am very excited for that, and for having a more set schedule. Right now it's a bit hard because we have so much down time and I don't know what to do with myself.
That's about all I have for now. I will write more when in a few days after I have had more adventures.
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