its really only been 3 days?!

i feel like i have not slept in quite awhile...my plane got in on saturday around 730 in the morning. did not sleep for long on the plane and it was just go go go from then on. a person did not meet me at the airport, but a chilean security guy saw me with all my bags and decided to take over and help me out. he walked me through the checkpoint and got me set up with my ride to the hostel. i must say it is quite an experience walking out of the airport to a crowd of people with signs and taxi drivers etc. when the doors blew open i realized just what others meant by it being frigid down here.
i arrived at the hostel with others having already been there for a week with another program and we all just started trickling in. i love the hostel environment. everyone has such interesting stories and reasons for coming out here. i think a lot of the reason we all connect so well is we are all looking for an adventure. something different than what most would normally do.
the day was really long having been up since 5 am on the plane. we arrived, settled in, then started exploring. we walked quite a ways around the part of Santiago we are staying in. i went with a group of about 10 girls. lets just say we were quite the spectacle. people looked us up and down, some boys followed us for a bit, and when we sat outside at a restaurant outside people just walked by and stared. its pretty funny. the tall guys, especially this black guy lester get a lot of comments and looks.
anyway, met a few people from colorado which is neat. this one guy goes to school in boulder and we have been hanging a bit. we didnt really want to go and a get wasted like everyone the first night so we just walked around the city. apparently you have to be pretty careful at night and keep your belongings close because there are plenty of ways you will get robbed.
i think i have the hardest time with all the stray dogs. i mean everywhere you go you see them! the are ignored and just hang out in the streets. i finally petted one, he was so sweet. it really breaks my heart but ill have to get over it.
sunday we woke up late and bought cell phones and went to lunch with a chilean guy another girl knows. about two girls in the group speak spanish well so the rest of us kind of sit back and listen. i must say i understand more than i even dare to speak. it is much more difficult than anyone could expect. the biggest thing is gaining confidence, but that takes time.
i went to a viking restaurant for wine with the guy from colorado. it was so cool. the restaurant was so uniquely decorated. and for a $5 dollar bottle of wine it was so so good.
today was the first day of orientation. so long. i hated sitting in a chair and listening to everything. after that we were put into our classes for spanish lessons. its great because the profesora speaks in spanish only and you just have to figure it out. best way to learn.
tonight we were going to gym and a bible study but we missed the guy we were going to meet. so my friend, jeremy, he went and im here at some random internet cafe in the nice part of santiago. i really need sleep....there is so many more little things i could talk about but i guess thats all for now! chao.