So it's been one week since I have arrived in Chile and I must say its been amazing. its difficult for me even to decide where to begin. i love it here and nearly each day as i walk down the street and blend in with the people and listen to the crowd and watch people passing by it slightly hits me that i am in chile! i love hearing spanish everywhere i go and being completely immersed in it. i dont always understand but that makes it more fun! i wish there were more hours in the day to spend talking with all of you, writing down my thoughts, and experiencing chile. it is such an interesting great country and already i have experienced so much. rather than telling what i have done each day i thought i would just write a little about a few highlights as well as some random observations for your enjoyment. bear with me as i have spent almost all of today speaking and being surrounded by spanish and i feel like my sentence construction is not up to par. but thats okay. english is my mother tongue, i will never forget it. i constantly struggle with spanish verb conjugations and each day learn and then usually forget, new vocabulary. oh well, c'est la vie. ;)

i am now moved into my room where i will be for the rest of the semester, it has a great view of the city and nearly everyone lives in apartments. the poorest of the people live at the top of the many hills that surround Vina and Valparaiso. i have spent a good deal of time traversing Vina, soaking up life and exploring as i enjoy doing. it has been very cold, around 30 at night and we had some days of gross rain and miserable puddles and such but the past few days have been absolutely amazing, brilliant sunshine, moderate temperatures and really its all downhill from here weather wise. as chile is in the southern hemisphere it is technically winter here but the seasons and temperatures directly mirror those of san francisco so it never snows here, only rains on occasion and doesnt get extremely hot, isnt all the humid and of course i daily enjoy views of the beautiful, mysterious pacific ocean. the andes stand tall and proud off in the distance, also presenting themselves as adventures waiting to be discovered.

i LOVE my host family. i am so lucky though i ahve not heard many stories of people not getting along with their families. my older brother, agustin is 25 and i rarely see him. he works and when he is home he spends all his time in his room on the computer. literally all his time. my older sister, verito, is 24 and is SO FUN. tonight we went to the supermarket, all of us minus agustin, and we tried to find me a new coat as my old ones were stolen along with my house keys and minimal cash last night while at a cafe/bar celebrating my 20th birthday. it was so much fun to just hang out with her and talk about whatever came to mind, learn some spanish, and just relate to one another and joke around as i enjoy doing throughout my life. we made plans to go camping soon and i'm relally pumped about that. my host parents are older and i think retired b/c they never go to work or anything. my host dad always makes lunch which is the main big meal here and sometimes is the only meal i eat in a day b/c its so big. i've had some interesting foods such as artichoke and they also looooove mayonesa and 'pancitos' which is bread with ham and cheese. all the time i am asked if i want 'un tecito, un cafecito, un pancito': tea, coffee, sandwich. my host mom is extremely neat and tidy and everyday i make my bed and when i return she has completely straightened up my room, folded my pajamas and once i was missing one of my necklaces and found it tied in a knot, hanging from a nail on the wall...decoration? for those of you who know how extremely neat i am ;), it is quite strange to always have a clean room. currently my room is really messy and i hope it stays that way for a little bit anyway, it makes me happy to have a disorganized room dont ask me why. lived in maybe?

all of the friends i have met so far are from the united states, all over. it is super exciting and fun to hang out with people who not only share my love of the spanish language but who are experiencing similar things as i am. while i definitely missed being home for my birthday this year, they made me feel celebrated and my host dad even made me a birthday cake...it had a sugar wafer bottom and then cream and lucuma which is a chilean type of fruit and realllllly good in a sort of meringue cake, pie. riiiiiiico. (deliciously rich) i have even found a few who share my love of adventuring though my adventure level has been down on account of my foot but i am happy to relate that yesterday i spent most of the day without my boot, and walked along the beach a little without it. i hate wearing it and want my foot to get strong. one of my friends here is majoring in exercise science and she is my doctor, always giving me advice as far as what to do for my foot and how to make it feel better faster. we have plans to go climbing once i free myself of the boot and im really pumepd about that. i have definitely explored and walked everywhere with it but will be able to take my experience of chile to the next level of awesomeness once it is completely healed. i reallllly wanted to climb a tree today but had to stop myself b/c well, that would just be a bad idea. climbing trees is a bad choice!

i have had orientation week at school all this week, registering my visa, getting pictures for identification cards, scheduling classes, touring the two cities where all the buildings of this exteremly spread out school are(about 3 times the students as butler and definitely muchhhh bigger, as i said, there are classroom buildings all throughout Vina and Valparaiso..luckily Vina and Valpo are only about 10 minutes about by bus..i hope to bike between the two cities one day soon) figuring out the public transportation system has been entertaining and i spend about $1.60 each day taking the buses back and forth. they dont really stop so i have to kind of hop on and off and its a really bumpy ride, definitely difficult with a crazy boot but i deal of course. makes life more entertaining but im getting tired of the buses. tomorrow i might take the metro which is the new subway system in Vina. there are between 200-300 foreign exchange students from over one hundred different universities and all sorts of countries here this semester. lots more than i ever imagined. there are still mannny mannnny hoops to jump through for my time in chile such as registering my visa and getting an id card and all sorts of more obnoxious things, it didnt end even though i am here!

i should probably end here and go to bed but yeah, if you have any comments or questions or something you want to hear about, write in teh comment section and i'll write away next time about whatever. thanks for reading my ramblings and know that i love you soooooooooo much and miss you even more. it is awesome here but i miss my people. you are my people.
oh yes and anyone who wants to visit, please tell me. i dont have a lot of money so i cant offer that to you but i can offer a great time and a high place in my heart for the rest of time. or mail. i'm content with mail. speaking of, here is my address:

Katie Osland
Ecuador 116, Dp. 61
Vina del Mar, Chile

currently accepting long letters, presents, pictures, stories, money, whatever you feel like. anything. also, get on skype and i'll get really excited and talk to you whenever you're online. its free so theres really no excuse. other than the minimal purchase of a microphone, ten dollars in a walmart near you. do it. because you love me. many many thanks to all those who have contacted me in any way while i have been here, know that each and every message warms my heart and brings a smile to my face.

i'll end for now with this quote that a dear friend sent me before i left for Chile:

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
-Andre Gide

may that be your motivation to seek adventure and live your life to the fullest.

get skype and write me letters of love,
katie :-D