Orientation... so far.

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So! I am in Chile... at orientation somewhere near Santiago (they said an hour and a half but it took us three... but we did drive by some of the same things a couple times so I think we were lost at some point). Being an exchange student has yet to feel real to me, it’s sort of more like being on a surreal vacation. Or maybe more like being kidnapped by really friendly people. WOW one of the other girls from my room just sort of exploded in... she seems to do that very naturally, she’s very bubbly and super-friendly (ironically for those of you who know the Louisa that was in falmouth... she’s a German girl named Louisa!).... These exchange students are a lot of fun! Anyway, I think I’m learning what it’s like to be in a herd of cows as we seem to just shuffle off after whoever gets up and seems to know what they’re doing or where they’re going. However this herd of around fifty seems to be mostly German and Swiss (and other europeans), consists of a lot of smokers and is generally speaking in a language I don’t understand. Well actually they all speak english, but they speak their native languages to eachother.

On the upside though I seem to have some of the better spanish here and have gotten a few compliments and a few chances to converse with locals. In the tv room here at the hotel thing we’re at I helped a woman get her grandmother into a wheelchair and then chatted with her a little bit. I also helped one of the other girls buy a toothbrush in town, which was sort of funny because Louisa was videotaping us the whole time. Also the food is wonderful here, and the vegetarian options often look better than the meat options! Orientation has been good, the volunteers are all very nice and we play a lot of games... unfortunately the two games today both involved popping balloons and as some of you may know that makes me really really jumpy and I tend to block my ears... so those were more stressful than fun.

The other US YFU student (Adam from minnesota) missed the flight here due to a delay in his first flight and arrived today, but I did manage to find the other two students headed to Copiapó; Marcelo, a soft-spoken Norweigen of Chilean decent and another boy who I couldn’t understand very well and is possibly from Latvia...? Adam seems to be really nice and I explored town a bit with him and another girl. I have also spent some time with Evelin (from Estonia) and Flavia (Swiss and the only other vegetarian).

Other than that I don’t think there’s much news... my flights were ok, well actually the first flight was not so great seeing as the large man wedged in next to me was taking up not only his whole seat but a third of mine. However I had a great flight to Santiago because the plane was pretty much empty so I had three seats to myself (and three blankets and three pillows!).

P.S. pictures to come soon! i didn't have time to upload now -.-

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Comments

[Trish]

Glad to hear you are settling in!
Hi Tammy! What a great adventure...I am thrilled to hear that you are settling in. I am sure you are making lots of friends. Thanks for keeping us posted. We never got to do our tea party before you left! We'll have to have one when you come back so you can share all of your stories...Luv ya and miss ya...Trish