Day 2

So much better today because:

• I got some sleep last night
• the sun is out
• I stopped freaking out every time I didn't fully understand what the program coordinators were telling me in Spanish
• the rest of the girls from the program arrived last night and are all really cool
• I got to see a short video from my homestay family, as well as a letter and an AWESOME sweater with llamas on it from them. I have a mama, a papa, two brothers in college in Santiago, and a sister who seems to be in high school
• we got to go see the developed part of Chile, where we will be living and going to classes
• we drove up el morro, the huge cliff that juts out over the ocean above Chile
• I saw the Pacific ocean for the first time. It is just like the Atlantic ocean.
• We went over safety stuff this morning and alot of it was just basic city-sense: don't wander around alone somewhere you don't know, stay with a group at night and in unfamiliar areas, don't make yourself look like a rich gringa. (PS: thanks Meg, Sasha, Laura, Judy, and Inez at LLS for that "full education" you gave me. If i can survive Flatbush, I can survive Arica).

Anyway, I can see how I will love it here. Jesse was right: How can I be unhappy nestled between the ocean and the mountains?