My first week in Chile

I'm finally in Chile! I arrived in Santiago on the 27th and went straight to my three day orientation in Olmué, where we stayed at the luxurious Hosteria El Copihue. Olmué is in the country and very close to the mountains of el Parque Nacional La Campana, where we took a hike on our last day of orientation.

Although the countryside was beautiful, I was anxious to get to Viña del Mar/Valparaíso and meet my host family. Everything has gone really well my first few days here. My host family is great. Although I'm not used to living with so many people and having visitors over for almost every meal, I'm enjoying the company and conversation. In addition to my host parents, I live with the grandpa, two brothers who are about my age, and an older sister whose eight-year-old son and husband live with the family. I also have a dog!

I'm pretty exhausted most evenings from speaking Spanish all day and doing the international student orientation at la Pontificia Univirsidad Católica, but I feel very content (who wouldn't be, living in such a beautiful place!?) and lucky to be here! I start classes on March 10th, and have been browsing the course list and narrowing my choices down (I'm not used to the plethora of choices available at larger universities!) until then, I'll be enjoying my free time getting to know the cities and on the beach!