Bienvenidos

Hola from Olmué, Chile!

Today is day three here in this small town about 40 minutes from Valparíso. We're spending orientation here, where we've been talking about the IFSA-Butler program, Chilean culture and spanish, safety and more. Yesterday we went on a "cabalgata," or a horse ride. The area is beautiful with massive mountains as a background--it's amazing having such large mountains so close! So the cabalgata was gorgeous and relaxing, but I also noted that the horses seemed really hungry and weak. Some of the horses were even sitting on the ground while other students were riding them! I can't say I know too much about horses but that seems odd and overworked to me! Otherwise, it was really lovely. And I'll post some pictures to show it!

A lot of the students here are from Minnesota--a whole bunch come from Denver University. But there are students from all over aside from that. Overall the group is friendly and interesting--I don't know how to feel about it since I don't particularly want to spend too much time with them once I move in with the family. At least while I'm trying to get the language down! For now its nice to get to know them.

We'll go on a small hike tomorrow in a national park before heading to Vina del Mar. That's where we will all be living, which is the city right next to Valpo (local nickname for Valparaíso). The commute time, without traffic, is about twenty minutes by bus (i think). But apparently we need to assume traffic and it will be more like a 45 minute commute. Oh well, not as bad as a commute to Staten Island!

We took our exams today--I did so badly on the grammar part! But it seems like everyone did. Most of us haven't taken a grammar class in so long! At least he said I spoke well--for now, since I'm all worried about my daily survival en las calles de chile, i'm most concerned with being able to speak. I can always check my grammar over and over before I hand in anything at school.

I'm getting excited about classes! There seems like some great history course options. But Butler has told us how the classes change so much--with everything, scheduling is subject to change change change. Otherwise, I'm for now anticipating and totally worrying about all the ladrones! Ladrones are thieves. It's supposed to be terrible! They rip gold jewlery off (luckily I have none) and sound like they're everywhere all the time! People have their cell phones stolen out of their hands! So I have to really be careful. And I don't want to feel crazed about it. But yeah, that'll be something to keep aware of.

Okay, I'm skyping with Rachael for now! So I'll post more soon! (pictures aren't working for now, hopefully they'll come soon!)