Map #1 of Torres Del Paine - Click image above tl expand

We set off at about 11am for Torrex Del Paine National Park which cocers 2400 square kilometers. There are numerius hiking trails that can span a da

Already I can tell that it will be difficult to keep up with this online journal because there is so much to do and see, people to meet, etc. But, now I have a little time to write about my travels thus far. The plane ride was uneventful and uncomfortable. On the flight from Atlanta to Santiago, I was stuck in the very middle of the row. There were 2 seats on both the right and the left of the plane, and three in the middle aisle. I was in the middle seat of the middle aisle. Uncomfortable. I never actually drifted off to sleep. There was just a lot of shifting around to find a comfortable way to sit. But finally, we made it.

Surprisingly, USAC had a bus there waiting for Lindsey and I, so we started off meeting a bunch of people (whose names Im still trying to remember). After waiting at the airport for the rest of our group, we went to the 4 star hotel where they put us up for one night (last night). We checked the pricing and it costs $60 each night, and this was a very nice hotel. We were on the eastern outskirts of the city, and the entire hotel was surrounded by beautiful trees. It was furnished with beautifully ornate antique furniture. It seemed like an unreal place to be, considering it is in the city. It could have been an island get-away, it seemed so secluded. There was no real time to relax, between all the orientation meetings and paper work to fill out, class schedules to straighten out, etc.

I am now enrolled in:
Latin American Cinema
Novel
Business Spanish
Latin American Cultures

The cultures class is one for Latin American Studies instead of counting toward Spanish because of how the schedule worked out. There were some classes that I wanted to take that were offered at the same time as each other, so Lindsey and I fortunately had the option to get some for credit for something besides Spanish. Otherwise, we would have come back with 6 hours of credit toward our studies at KU, which would have sucked needless to say.

This morning, we woke up for a really good breakfast of fresh fruit. My God, it is so weird to have such good fruits in January. And the tomatoes are awesome. Then more orientation stuff which was boring. Fortunately, we got out a little early and Lindsey, Francesca (new friend) and I went out to determine the dormitory (residencias) situation. The first cab we took didnt have much trunk space, so our huge bags were strapped to the roof of the car. We arrived at the Residencia Amapolas and with a lot of stuggle, unloaded our bags from the cab, paid, sent the cab away and began to talk to the woman who was in charge. Come to find out that we didnt have reservations at this particular dormitory...We actually preferred to have a room in the other dormitory as it is closer to a metro stop and closer to la universidad, so we werent too very upset, but we werent sure that the other (que se llama Orchideas) had rooms available. So, we lugged all of our stuff into another taxi and drove off to the next place. Fortunately, we had our rooms reserved here, at Orchideas, instead of Amapolas.

So, here I am, in my single dorm room, typing on my computer (we have wifi). There are 8 of us from the program here at this dorm. We went to lunch/dinner here close by and had delicious food. We all want to speak Spanish, so hopefully well all keep up with that. I have all my stuff unpacked and am looking forward to a nap. The time here is three hours after our time in the states, so having had no sleep on the plane, I am looking forward to getting caught up on sleep over the next few days.

We have a tour of Santiago and the university tomorrow morning, but tomorrow night we plan on going to Valparaiso and spending Saturday on the beach.

The weather here is amazing. Low humidity, but sunny and pretty warm during the day and cool at night. Yes, Im wearing sandals, which sure beats the snow boots of Missouri. Im very happy to be here. This will be quite the adventure.

Already I can tell that it will be difficult to keep up with this online journal because there is so much to do and see, people to meet, etc. But, now I have a little time to write about my travels thus far. The plane ride was uneventful and uncomfortable. On the flight from Atlanta to Santiago, I was stuck in the very middle of the row. There were 2 seats on both the right and the left of the plane, and three in the middle aisle. I was in the middle seat of the middle aisle. Uncomfortable. I never actually drifted off to sleep. There was just a lot of shifting around to find a comfortable way to sit. But finally, we made it.

Surprisingly, USAC had a bus there waiting for Lindsey and I, so we started off meeting a bunch of people (whose names I'm still trying to remember). After waiting at the airport for the rest of our group, we went to the 4 star hotel where they put us up for one night (last night). We checked the pricing and it costs $60 each night, and this was a very nice hotel. We were on the eastern outskirts of the city, and the entire hotel was surrounded by beautiful trees. It was furnished with beautifully ornate antique furniture. It seemed like an unreal place to be, considering it is in the city. It could have been an island get-away, it seemed so secluded. There was no real time to relax, between all the orientation meetings and paper work to fill out, class schedules to straighten out, etc.

I am now enrolled in:
Latin America

http://www.algolworldnews.com/americano/hotel_reservation_software