15 June 2010

HOLA! I am in Chile (obviously). It has been sooo much fun so far. For the last few days since we got here we have been able to explore the city and the culture here. It is very similar to the U.S. in many ways but lots of things are different too. Santiago is a very big city so it is a lot different than living in Moorhead or Andover. I got to ride the subway a few times already, which was really fun, even though we can walk to most places. And yesterday morning we went to a grocery store that was underground! We had to take an escalator from the street level to the store which was under a plaza-like area. The food here is really interesting, I have been taking pictures of my more interesting meals. The first day I had a completo italiano for lunch, basically a hot dog with tomatoes, guacamole, and mayo. And Saturday for lunch I had a sandwich with meat and tomatoes and tons of green beans! In the afternoon we watched the World Cup U.S. vs. England game, which was really fun. They are crazy about the world cup down here! Chile plays their first game tomorrow morning so that should be interesting! Yesterday we watched Germany beat Australia pretty bad, and then we climbed up Santa Lucia, which is a rocky hill in the middle of the city. The views from the top were amazing! There is a larger hill, San Cristobal, which we might go up on another day. It had just rained when we went up Santa Lucia so most of the smog that is usually around the city was gone. The Andes are so cool! And it seems like they are surrounding the whole city! Way different than Moorhead for sure! Oh and my favorite thing about Santiago so far is all of the stray dogs, they are everywhere! And they are all so friendly and cute!!! I am pretty sure if I lived here for real I would have a pet dog in about 3 seconds. Ok more updates later, this week we are going into the field and I will get to see a degu!! I can't wait!