¡Estamos en Chile!

   We made it! After a four hour delay leaving the Atlanta airport Friday night, we finally arrived and made it through customs by noon on Saturday. We were completely exhausted, having left home at 3pm the day before. Good news is, it's the same time here in Santiago as back home, so we didn't really feel jet-lagged. 


I met really great people at the Atlanta airport!
   Dana, the Harvard graduate and Peace Corps alum, was (obviously) super intelligent and really sweet. She's starting grad school to get an MS/MPH at Michigan this fall, and is here for the week visiting a friend that's studying at a university here in Santiago. Weirdly enough, she's staying only about two blocks from where I'm renting.
   Justin had/s a really cool backstory. He dropped out of high school at 15 and sold drugs, then managed a fast-food restaurant, and then sold some more drugs. He then decided he wanted to go back to school, so he got his GED, took the ACT, and got into UC Berkeley! After his first year he did so well he got a full ride for the next three years. Afterwards he went to law school for a year and a half, but hated it, so he decided to get his PhD in History at Auburn. (We wound up sitting next to each other on the plane oddly enough, which is why I know so much about him.) Anyways, he's a really cool guy, and I might meet up with him when he is staying in Santiago between ski trips.


   Gerardo, the guy I'm renting from, was nice enough to pick us up from the airport. He doesn't have a car, so he took the bus to the airport, and we all (including my new friend Dana) took a cab back to Ñuñoa, the neighborhood where I'm living. When we got home, we met Gerardo's mom, who was in town until this afternoon, and also my other roommate Lars. Lars is my age and from Germany. He's here in Chile doing a semester abroad studying to be a pilot. Both Gerardo's mom and Lars are super friendly.
Here's the view from the patio of the apartment; the view from my room is more of downtown Santiago. Those are mountains in the background.

   We then ate the 'breakfast' Gerardo's mom prepared- thinking we would arrive around 8am. We enjoyed delicious traditional pastries, coffee, and tea. After, the five of us decided to go exploring and shopping. We bundled up, because it is so cold here!


   Just a few blocks into our walk, we passed Casa Memoria, a house used to discreetly torture citizens during the Pinochet regime. (As you all know, I'm interested in human rights, so a house so close to my apartment where human rights violations occurred will be great to study!) The actual house was demolished years ago, but there are poles representing where the house/rooms were. A girl that volunteers there (while going to university in Santiago studying History- and human rights!) saw us milling about and came to give us the story. I understood about half, but she understood the questions I had to ask in English, and while she could only respond in Spanish, I knew what she was saying. She invited me back to study the literature and documents they have at the little museum that accompanies it. I'm so excited! 
Here's a website that shows what I'm talking about and explains the history a bit: 
http://www.southamerica.me/casa-memoria-torture-center-santiago/


   We kept going after the Casa Memoria and learned how to take the subway, and bought subway cards. We had been informed by family that the subway system here is sketchy, but Gerardo warned us instead of the buses. Either way, we'll be careful. I felt really safe on the subway, though. 


   We took the subway to the mall, which was a lot like our malls in the US. I wasn't surprised when I saw a McDonald's, or even Dunkin' Donuts, but right in the middle of the mall among shoe stores and such was a Ruby Tuesdays! I told Gerardo I would want to go there if/when I feel homesick, and he said he'd be happy to go whenever because they have great burgers. Ha!


   Their Walmart equivalent called 'Jumbo' was in the mall, and Gerardo helped me buy a cheap phone to have here in South America. Lars was off grocery shopping on his own, which left my mom and Gerardo's mom together. Neither speak each others' language, but the two hit it off well and really seemed to connect. It was so cute. 


   We came home at 10:30ish and grilled burgers on Gerardo's mini grill on the patio. Gerardo put his iPod over his home speakers, and to my excitement was playing current American music. He said he loves it, but doesn't really understand much of it. I told him I would teach him all of the raps in "No Hands" and the lyrics to "Super Bass," haha! The burgers were great though. We all just sat around, ate, drank (great) Chilean wine and talked in Spanglish until around midnight when I crashed the party- just too exhausted to keep going.


   We slept until noon today, which was much needed. It's been raining off and on all day, so we got a late start and hung out skyping our loved ones and such. Me, my mom, and Gerardo then went to a different, further mall to get things we forgot and just to shop a little. I got some cheap (but cute!) flats on sale for only 2.99 CP (thats 2,999- they use decimals where we use commas and vice versa), which is about $6.50 USD. They were $30+ USD originally, so not bad! I also got a vest made of this wool-like material to put under my coat because it's just so cold.


   Anyways, I've written a ton and it's only been two days. I'll be sure to upload lots of pictures (once we take some more) and keep you all posted on our adventures!