Flight to Chile and first day experiences

The flight to Chile went relatively smooth, and without error.  I do have to say though that leaving my family at the Chicago airport to walk into the tunnel/plane with only a fellow classmate, did freak me out a little bit.  It took me a while to gain my bearings back and find myself excited again, but in that little bit of time, I struggled.  Thank you to Mom, Dad, Megan, Aaron, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Rachelle for being there for me and not leaving till the very end!  I appreciate it.

Once I got to Chile.... holy crap.  I had/have pretty high expectations for this trip, but they are already blown out of the water.  As was expected, the host family has the biggest affect on this.  I couldn't be more happy with my host family.  They are GREAT.  They remind me very much of my own family, and although I have only known them for half a day, I feel very comfortable around them, and know that I will spend a semester here with them and truly remember it for the rest of my life.  Judging by some of the pictures we took in our apartment, you can see how we are all taking to each other very quickly :)

My host brother, Gabriel, and another students from CSB - Kylie Stanfield - and I went downtown Viña del Mar today.  We got a lot accomplished but of course had a great time as well!  We both bought a cell phone, figured out where our group is meeting in the near future, and slightly figured out how to use the metro system, and where to go to make it to school.... I'm just going to take this opportunity to say that I hope someone shows us again, cause it all went pretty quick and let me remind you, everything is in Spanish.  I neglected to mention that neither my host brother, sister, or mother speak English (host brother very little).  I am actually very thankful for this because it forces me to use my second language to it's full extent... if I can't say it, it can't be said, and I'm not one to sit in silence, therefore I learn.  

The view from our apartment - on the 16th floor - is out of this world.  Instead of describing it, I will let the terrible interpretation of digital photos do the work for me.  I wish you could all see it for yourself, it's breathtaking.