I walked down to the beach today for the first time today with some people from CIEE. It was cold, but really beautiful. While we were there we thought we saw a ball getting tossed around by the waves, but as it got closer we realized it was a melon. It keep rolling around just out of reach. When we finally got it we didn't really know what to do with it. We saw a guy meditating on the beach, eyes closed and arms spread towards the sky. We thought it would be perfect to set the melon right in front of him so when he opened his eyes he would be staring at a bright green melon that came out of no where...I know, it might not sound that funny, but we got a lot of smiles from other people at the beach who thought it was pretty clever! 

That's the story of the day, not too much else happening except tours of the different University buildings and history classes of Chile at the CIEE office. 

Chao!

This is the friendly family cat, Flor (Flower) who live outside and greets me every time I walk through the gate. How cute!

On my walk home

This is a picture of the inside courtyard at the Casa Central of the University in Valpo

My first week in Chile

Today is Saturday and I finally have some time to rest. This first week was getting to know my host family and the city where I will be living for the next five months. So far, I think I will really enjoy it. 

First of all I am here with the program CIEE and there are about 35 other student's in the group from all over the U.S., most of them girls. We all arrived in Santiago the 21st of July after an 11 hour flight. We were all tired, but excited as well. The program took us to a hotel where we had time to rest and get to know the other students. For the next 2 days we had orientation and went out to eat at a few restaurants my favorite being La Huerta, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant. We also took a tour of one of Pablo Neruda's houses in Santiago which was interesting because he is such a famous poet and his house was built to make you feel like you were in a boat. The doors were very small and one of the floors was actually slanted. I can't wait to tour his house in Valparaíso which happens to be right up the street from where I live!

My family is great, the mother is is Cecilia, the father is Manuel, and the 11-year-old daughter is Gabriela. The house is very tiny but cute and cozy... well not always cozy since it is winter here and with no heat it gets pretty cold. ;) I am so glad to be living in Valpo because most of the group lives in a city close by called Viña del Mar. It is more modern and less interesting I

think.

We took a tour of both cities yesterday and took a asencedor, which is a little cart on cables, us to the top of one of the hills. The view was amazing. The University PUCV is located in Valpo, but has buildings all over both cities. You have to take busses the are called micros or the subway to the other city, but there is also a walking path along the beach as well. The transportation here will take me a little while to get use to but it is good and fairly cheap, about $1 to get from Valpo to Viña and vice versa.  One of the previous exchange students told me that sometimes they will let you on for less, but you don't get a ticket. 

That's all for now, I will post some pictures and write more later.