i thought this day would never come!

estufa + sweatpants + sweatshirt + socks + all of the 7 layers of blankets on my bed = I am actually a little bit too warm.

And this is even despite the cold, gloomy rainstorm that's been going on all weekend. I have finally conquered Santiago.

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UPDATE

24 hours later, the temperature has dropped 10 degrees and I have added a winter coat and a scarf to my bedroom attire. I am forced to retract all of my previous statements of victory. Damn. We'll keep trying.

why santiago > dc, part II

It is perfectly normal to sleep away half of the day here. Because everything happens so much later here (dinner at 8 or 9 p.m., going out for the night at 12 a.m., staying out until 5 a.m.), no one will judge you for sleeping past noon. This weekend, I stumbled out of bed around 1 p.m. both days, and my host family remarked that I probably needed to get more sleep to get rid of my cold.

Even the weekdays start a little later in Chile. My earliest class this semester is at 9:40 am, and my host family gasped when I told them what time I had to be at school. My host mom tried to sympathize with me by remarking, "Que temprano (how early)!!" If only she could have a chat with my real mom...

things i am missing right now

• watching TV shows online
• chocolate bars (it seems like everything in Chile is made with wafers and I just want some plain old chocolate)
  
• a public transportation system that stays open past 11 p.m.
  
• free tap water in restaurants
  
• living in the same building as all of my friends
• being able to understand entire dinner conversations
  
• central heating (duhhh. I know you already knew that, but I just couldn't leave it out.)
  

it's a small world... even in a different part of the world

Yesterday, I kept experiencing weird coincidences.

I found out that the last exchange student who lived with my host family was also from Lancaster, PA. Of all the places in the US, it's weird that they keep getting students from Amish country!

When I was on my way home on the bus, the two young guys in front of me were speaking English. It's rare to hear English around Santiago, so I assumed they were fellow exchange students and asked where they were from. It turned out that both of them knew Dan, one of the AU students in my program, through a mutual friend. And when they found out I was from AU, they told me that they knew someone who was a student there -- one of them went to middle school with Steph, one of my friends from college! So crazy. I couldn't believe that I was making so many connections with random strangers on the micro.

Later that night, I went out to Bellavista with a group of people from my program. One of my friends brought along some people from another exchange program in Santiago...and one of them turned out to be a college student from Franklin & Marshall, which is the college down the street from my house in Lancaster where my dad and stepmom both teach math.

Next thing you know, I'll run into a Mennonite. Apparently anything is possible in this city.

um.

I can see my breath in my bedroom.

NOT COOL SANTIAGO NOT COOL

viña and valpo

Our group just got back from a 2-day trip to the coast, where we visited two of Chile's famous port cities, Viña del Mar and Valparaíso. It was absolutely beautiful, and it sort of made me wish that I lived by the ocean instead of in smoggy Santiago (and I'm pretty sure my lungs and throat agree). Since Chile is such a skinny country, it only takes about an hour to get to the coast...so I'm hoping there will be a lot of beaches in my future!

I probably took about 200 photos, but I tried to narrow it down for this post. There are a lot more pictures on my Facebook if you're dying to see more (and you should be, since Chile rocks).

First we went to Isla Negra, where one of Pablo Neruda's houses has been turned into small museum.

This is the view that Neruda had from his house...lucky man

We spent the night in Viña del Mar.

We watched an amazing sunset on the beach!

The next morning, we took a bus to Valparaíso, which is the older and more historically significant of the two cities. Ten years ago, Valparaíso was the poorest city in Chile and Chileans didn't have very much interest in trying to improve it. But now it's making a serious comeback -- in the past decade, a lot of its former beauty has been restored and new shops, restaurants, and hotels are popping up everywhere.

We took a two-hour walking tour through the city, and everything we saw was amazing. So many colorful little houses and beautiful murals.

Our tour guide referred to Valpo as "an urban jungle" -- because the 500-year-old city was never officially founded, it's not laid out in any sort of grid. Instead, buildings popped up all over the place, and the city adjusted along the way. Now Valpo is full of tiny alleyways, winding streets, and tons of awesome and varied architecture.

The city is spread out over more than 20 hills, so the views are great.

We ate an incredible 4-course almuerzo (lunch, the biggest meal of the day in Chile) at this restaurant that overlooks all of the city! I should have taken pictures of the food because it was equally amazing.

an actual conversation with my host dad

Álvaro: Do you need anything? More bread? Tea?

Tara: No thanks, I think I'm okay.

Álvaro: Are you sure? Can I get you anything at all? A piece of fruit? How about a boyfriend?

Tara: Uh....no, it's okay. Really.

Tara: Can you help me turn on my estufa? It's getting a little cold.

Álvaro: But Tara! I offered you a boyfriend to help with that problem, and you turned it down!