¡Estoy en Chile!

I'm finally here! And I absolutely LOVE it.

My flight here was great. I flew from Atlanta to Santiago with 8 other exchange students, so we were lost and confused together with our awesome rotary jackets. After we all cleared customs and immigration we followed the crowd out of the airport to find our families. I found two of my host brothers and my host sister with a Chilean flag saying Bienvenida Casey (:

Ricardo, Alvaro, Yo, y Sofi

Mi casa

Yesterday my host brothers Ricardo and Alvaro took me on a grand tour of Santiago. It was amazing! We went to all of the typical tourist spots. I love Santiago! The old buildings are so beautiful, its unlike anything in the USA.

 La Moneda (White House of Chile)

 La Catedral 

 Cerro de Santa Lucia

Right now in Chile there are riots about education. University is super expensive so the riots are trying to change the system. In front of La Moneda (the White House of Chile) there is a group of students who are running a sort of relay around the building until there is change. And in different parts of the city there are people outside of buildings with horns and signs making lots of noise. Tomorrow there is una huelga nacional (national riot/strike) so a lot of stores and companies are closing. Its really interesting to be able to see all of it.

Today I figured out all of my boring paperwork so I don’t get deported. My host brother Alvaro took me on a tour of my colegio (which my host sister also goes to). Its SO small, it only has about 600 people, grades k-12 so everybody knows everybody. But I like it a lot! And everyone is super friendly. My host mom got my school uniform and Im so excited to wear it. I will probably start school on Thursday.

Everyday I’m learning more and more spanish. When people speak really slow with some english I can understand it, but as soon as they speak normally with all of the slang I am completely lost. But everyday my spanish is improving (: 

Ya me encanta Chile. 

Chao!

Leaving Tomorrow!

(Well, technically leaving today since it's past midnight..) I cannot believe that after an entire year of applying and preparing I'm finally leaving for my exchange! After all of the paperwork, the interview, the country assignment, the first orientation, the host guarantee form, Grand Rapids, contacting my host family, getting my visa, getting my plane ticket, and attempting to pack everything I need into one huge rolling suitcase, one carry on, and a backpack, the time has finally come.  

This past week has been weird to say the least. Saying goodbye to all my friends and family has been difficult to say the least, but knowing I'll be back in just 10 months makes it not so horrible. After a surprise going away party thrown by my friends, going away BBQ with old family friends (complete with a bouncy castle), and traveling all around Carmel to say goodbye to everyone the time has finally come. Special thanks for all of the amazing going away presents!

My mom and me with the Chilean flag now hanging in our backyard (:

I'm completely ready to move on to my next stage and have the time of my life. I am so insanely excited right now and have barely slept all week. I can't stop thinking about Chile. On Sunday at 8:35 I'll finally be there. Let the adventure begin!

9 días

Hello! So I finally decided to give in and make a blog to let everyone know what I'm up to.

In 9 days I’m leaving for my 10 month exchange to Chile! I’ll be living with a Chilean family, going to a Chilean school, learning Chilean spanish, and trying to be a Chilean as possible for a year. 

I FINALLY received my plane ticket. I fly out of Indianapolis next Saturday the 20th at 5:30, then have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta, fly out of Atlanta at 10:00 p.m. and arrive in Santiago bright and early 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Officially having a plane ticket has made my exchange finally sink in. I’m so ready to go, but I have so much left to do before I leave.

The first city I’ll be staying in is San Bernardo, which is a part of the Santiago Metropolitan area. Here is a lovely map showing exactly where it it is (it's in the dark green one)

My first host family has been incredibly welcoming already! I’ve been in contact with them through email and facebook and it makes me feel so much better knowing who I will be living with for the first 5 months of my exchange. I’ll have 5 host siblings, a 13 year old sister and 4 brothers, ages 17, 19, 20, and 21, however the 17 year old will be on exchange in Germany while I am there. I’ll be attending Colegio Campanario, a private catholic school with only 600 students for grades k-12, which will be a massive change from Carmel’s 4,600. Here's a link to the website http://www.colegiocampanario.cl/ (you can attempt to read it in spanish) Best of all I finally get to wear a school uniform, which I am ridiculously excited about. 

Special thanks to Ashley and Heather for throwing an amazing surprise going away party;  to Tines and Beth for their awesome surprise present; and to my favorite past exchangers Morgan Duca, Fernanda Rivas, Ria Struharikova, and Säde Kanervisto for teaching me youth exchange in high school isn’t that crazy. And most of all to Rotary and my family for making this all possible!

Only 9 days left, AHH!! So much too do, so little time.