Chile Vanilly

At last the time has come and I have arrived in the beautiful Santiago de Chile. It's a bit surreal that I'm finally down here after all the preparation (from deciding where to study abroad to scrambling to get an FBI background check/HIV test/fingerprints for my visa to packing my life into two suitcases). But alas, I am here, safe and sound and the butterflies that have been raging in my stomach over the past two weeks have finally settled down.

The settling process began once I got through security at the Atlanta airport last night. As I loaded my belongings onto the security belt, I continuously turned and glanced through the glass barricade to catch a few last glimpses of my family waving goodbye. Just before I walked through the metal detector, the man standing behind me commented, "I think you can get one last goodbye in" (I couldn't tell whether he was mocking me or just being friendly). However, I took the man's advice and waved one last time before crossing through the portal.

Although my waving probably was a bit excessive, I couldn't help myself. I needed to do it for closure. I needed to say goodbye gradually. I needed to turn around and see that even though I was walking away, my family was still right there behind me. I've been anxiously awaiting this program for quite awhile, but it's been hard to actually come to terms with the fact that I won't be with my family at all for five months. And saying a bunch of little goodbyes helped my butterflies disappear one bye one rather than chaotically fluttering from one quick goodbye.

Once I got to my gate, things got even easier. I quickly spotted three 20-year-0ld girls whose excessive luggage clued me in that they were on the same program as me. Just like freshman year of college, we went through the typical getting-to-know-you questions and then began listing off our anticipations and concerns about the coming semester. Hearing other people communicate some of the same thoughts that have been spinning through my head reassured me that everything was going to be all right. (How is it that shared worrying can actually ease your worries?) Anyways, our group of three soon turned into a group of 8 and we all wished each other luck as we boarded the plane for our 9 hour in-flight slumber party.

Onboard, I got lucky and had nobody sitting next to me the entire flight. I stretched out and watched the movie "21," (surprisingly good for an airplane flick) then soon fell asleep. Woke up in the morning to an incredible scene out my window - the snow-covered Andes mountains with a cloud blanket covering the valleys and a sunrise coming up through the peaks. Absolutely breathtaking.

Tuesday morning we waited around the hotel as all 40 of the program participants arrived. Walked around the city, which was unusually uninhabited due to a national religious holiday. Almost all the stores were closed and most of the sidewalks were empty. However, we did pass a good number of stray dogs and people walking their pet dogs without leashes. Yet while animals apparently aren't controlled around here, children are. We saw one mother walking her child on a retractable leash! Ridiculous.

As we window shopped, we also realized that things here are quite modern and quite Americanized (the latter much to my dismay). Within 5 minutes, we passed a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, a Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks. Gah.

Fortunately, we didn't eat at any of those places for lunch. Instead, we had turkey + rice (the rice down here is amazing- wet and creamy and a little lemony) + a few assorted salad-type things (just like Argentina, they consider shredded carrots w/lemon juice to be a salad).

In the afternoon we had a brief orientation where everyone officially introduced themselves (basically all of us are some Spanish + some sort of International Relations-type major) and people are from all over the country. After learning about each other, we learned about the upcoming weeks and the basics of public transportation in Santiago. During our break, my friend Racquel who has been studying here since February came to say hi and give me a few last minute pointers on what to see and what to avoid in Chile.

Then tonight, we had a celebratory dinner at a local tapas restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious and it kept coming and coming and coming. We ate everything from clam ceviche to sausage and potato casserole to stuffed mushrooms to fresh fruit salad. And we started off the evening with the traditional drink of Chile - a Pisco Sour. Pisco is some sort of brandy made from grapes and the drink was quite tasty- kind of like a less sugary, lemony, iceless mojito.

After our endless dinner, we went to a salsa club to go dancing. We looked ridiculous compared to the locals, but it was fun to see everyone willing to make a fool of themselves. We all keep pinching each other to remind ourselves that we're finally here and we're about to start school in a few weeks. Once again, it's fun to be amongst common worriers and it's even better to be amongst people with common intellectual interests and adventurous mindsets.

Must get some sleep. Miss you all and can't wait to hear about how your summers are going!

Love,

Lindsay

ps-

In case you feel like snail-mailing across the ocean, here's my address:

Lindsay Eierman
c/o CIEE
Servicios Centrales de la Universidad de Chile
Diagonal Paraguay 265
Piso 17, Oficina 1701
Santiago, Chile

Send me your address if you want a postcard!