Bienvenidos

I've been in Chile for nearly a week now and have yet to post!  The transition wasn't too difficult, but I got a little misty when saying farewell to my mom, dad, brother, and my dear Tony at the airport.  Funny thing is, we (Rachael and I) didn't leave til the next day because our flight was delayed, so we had to stay in Pittsburgh for an extra day.

Finally, we arrived in Chile (a full day late for the program start).  We stayed in Santiago from that Thursday until Sunday.  We got to see la Plaza de Armas (weaponry of the capital), el Palacio Presidential (presidential palace), un mercado abierto (open-air market), and an artensania (a flea-market type of place that sells handmade crafts).

We were kept busy with sight-seeing and orientation during the day, and going out at night.  My first night, I went out to a pizza place with 5 other girls and we shared pizza and pisco sours, the Chilean cocktail!

We stayed in an apartment/hotel in downtown Santiago.  Our apartment was on the tenth floor, so the view of the city with mountains in the back was breathtaking.  Santiago is such a beautiful city; I felt more comfortable in this city than I ever have in Pittsburgh.  There is such a welcoming feel to it.  It was hard to believe when Sunday came and we were ready to move in with our host families for the next four months.