First Full Day in Chile

Hey everyone!

I want to let all of you know what I'm up to during my semester abroad in Santiago, and I figured this would be the most convenient way. The instructions for setting this blog up are written in spanish, and my jet-lagged brain isn't completely processing even my native language yet, so please bear with me for the first few entries if anything goes wrong.

I arrived in Santiago yesterday morning. Everyone in the group was super tired, but also super nice and very friendly. We got taken to our hostel and then were given the better part of the day to wander around. A big group of us ended up wandering around our part of Santiago. We braved one of the many chains of Chilean supermarkets, found some places to buy ice cream and pastries, and sampled our first empanadas (which are pretty common, light snacks here). Then we kept wandering and ended up finding a majority of the major government buildings. The armed guards at the presidential palace building wouldn't let us in, but they very nicely posed for some pictures. We passed the judicial ministry, the main post office, the ministry of commerce, and the stock exchange building. We also stumbled upon one of the main shopping malls and the long, shop-filled street that runs next to it. Overall, my first impression was that Santiago is a very nice, pretty city. It has an interesting mix of old and modern buildings. And the part that we walked around was bustling but not too congested. There were also a few beautiful squares in the middle of the most crowded areas, and it was fun to see all the people sitting around reading and chatting.

Then we were given a lesson on the metro (the subway system here), which looks surprisingly like the T in Boston. We met with the program director and found out about our host families and the rest of our orientation schedule. We'll be in a hostel for the next two weeks, and then get picked up by our hosts and start classes at the University of Chile.

To end the day, the whole group of us went out to a restaurant a block away from our hostel that's very popular with Tufts students in Chile. The food was delicious and it was really nice to spend time with the whole group together.

Today we're going to a nice restaurant and then are being given a tour of the other, more central parts of Santiago. Overall, my first 24 hours here have been a whirlwind, but a very fun one.