Bienvenidos a Chile!

Hola! Welcome to my first post in my Adventures in Chile blog! I am very excited to be studying abroad in Valparaíso, Chile, this spring semester. I hope that here is where I can keep you up to date on whatever adventures, thoughts, questions, new revelations, and shenanigans I run into in my new city :)

I arrived in Valparaíso, Chile, a week ago after a short stay in Santiago, Chile. It is currently the last hot week of summer here. Temperatures are spiking into the 80s, and the sun shines from 7:30am to 8pm.  This is quite a change from the weather I was experiencing in South Dakota! I live with a family of four, my chilean mom and dad, Viviana and Miguel, brother Matías and sister Monserrat. I also have a roommate, Stacie, who is in the same study abroad program. All of the aforementioned are very nice and kindhearted. We speak Spanish in the house, although Stacie and I have to ask them to speak slowly so we can understand.  Each day I learn more and more Spanish. I was somewhat intimidated right away because our program directors were warning us that Chilean Spanish is very hard to understand. They speak very fast, stringing words together, and much of the time they drop the letter "s" out of words. However, I am encouraged because they say if I can learn Chilean spanish, I can learn any Spanish :)

The city is beautiful. This is a picture of me on one of the hills that shows one of the best panoramic views of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, sister cities that are right next to each other. I live in Viña del Mar, the left side of the photo, but I will study in Valparaíso, the right side of the photo. You can also see some of the port of Valparaíso, one of Chile's largest sea ports. Along the water's edge are main streets and businesses that always seem full of people walking around. The hills, or cerros, are full of multi-colored homes on whimsical winding streets. I haven't been able to walk around much to peruse these houses, but soon I will and I will upload some awesome photos.

Watch for another blog post soon!