So im not sure how long this writing every week will last but for now I will try to keep this semi updated. I’ve been here for a little over 2 weeks now which is crazy! Starting to settle into a routine somewhat as classes started last Wednesday and I actually have stuff to be responsible for now. We’ve tried to travel a little bit but its hard b/c its winter here and traveling just isn’t the best b/c it’s often cold and sometimes rainy and while places are cheap, it would be better to just wait a month or so to enjoy traveling more in the spring time. We did travel to Renaca last weekend which was pretty boring. It sa beach town and not much happening on a Saturday afternoon. We made our own adventures and I led my friend heidi up the big hill in town, there was no path so we just ended up climbing throiugh sand and ice plant to get to the top. Im still wearing my boot so that was definitely an adventure and I cant wait to be free of this 3 pound lug so I can completely explore.

Since classes didn’t start til wednesady we had some vacation time and spent it exploring Valparaiso where our school is located. My first impression of that tw=own was that it was old and dirty and sketchvillecentral but upon further investigation I actually llike it a lot! Its definitely got character and a lot of history and is more of a port, cool city where as vina where I live is more touristy and beachy. I have a cool brochure I acquired that lists walking tours so we spent a couple days following the walking tours seeing old buildings and finding new places. Perhaps one of the coolest parts of valpo is its ascensores which are ancient little elevator boxes that go straight up and down the hills all over town. They cost about 20 cents to ride and are quite entertaining. Unfortunately when we went to go find one of Pablo Neruda’s homes(a famous Chilean poet) the ascensor was closed so we ended up walking up a ton of stairs and then straight up the hill..quite the workout but definitely vale la pena…it was worth it.

I’ve been pretty homesick the past week or so, all the newness of being here has worn off and I know my way around and know how things work which is really a cool place to be in but when the whole initial ‘wow im actually in chile’ wears off whats left is ‘wow I love chile but I still have such a looooong time to be here without any of my family or friends from the states’. Each day is its own and some days are better than others but know that I think about all of you every day and miss and love you a TON!

Okay so classes. I’ve only had 2 out of my 6 classes so far..the other 4 were postponed til this next week for various reasons, one of the reasons Latin America rocks, they are incredibly laid back. The first class I’ve attended is Communicational Spanish and Chilean Culture which I am REALLY excited about. All of my classes are completely in Spanish, taught by the Chilean professors of the university. Also all of the classes I am in with other Chilean students, aside from my Spanish class which is just for foreigners. There are 4 students from the U.S., 2 from Austria, 2 from Germany and 1 from Holland in my class so that is fun to get all these different perspectives and accents into one. My profe is extremely down to earth and engaging us in a number of topics such as Chile’s history, way of life, modismos(slang), political and economic system, etc. I’m at the point now where I can pretty much understand when people talk, its just coming up with something intelligent and analytical to say beyond ‘im hungry, it’s a nice day out’ that I sometimes have trouble. It will come in time I hope. Im really nervous about the other classes…having to give presentations and take tests and write papers all in Spanish at a university level- it was so much easier my freshmen year of high school in mexico when I didn’t really need to always understand or pass classes! My second class was international economics which, needless to say, I dropped as soon as I sat through 3 hours of not really understanding and having the professor pull us foreigners aside and explain how difficult the class was, how much economics and math was involved and that while we could write our stuff in English if we wanted, he didn’t really recommend us taking the class. Always comforting. After talking with a few Chileans who were taking the class a second time around, I decided to not suffer, enjoy my life in chile, and just drop that class. Now I don’t have classes on Fridays and if I drop my Monday class I just might have a 4 day weekend every week! We’ll see how the other classes go, I hope not as hard as intl. econ. Sick joke.

Please continue to keep in touch, it means the world to me and always brightens my day to see I’ve received a message or somesuch happiness here on the opposite end of the world. I’ll reply as soon as I can, you can count on it. All right, time to leave my warm bed and face the cold winter world. Enjoy the humidity and sweltering temps in mid summer USA! :) love you guys.

Katie