June 25: first day in the new home

So after sleeping for 13 hours, missing breakfast, a very cold shower in the hostel we finally arrived at the campus where we were instantly shuttled off with our families. I live with Ene in a very small house in Ñuñoa, Santiago and there is another student here who is finishing her Spring Semester at La Chile. This day was very stressful as I found Ene very hard to understand especially when the first thing she asked me was if I speak spanish which  sounded to me: hablacatellano? and my blank stare gave me about 3 seconds to realize it was castellano which is another name for spanish that I did not know they used here! Her daughter who lives nearby also has a student from my program so it is nice to have people close. I spent most of the day with a deer-in-the-headlights-look uttering the occasional ok, sí, or mmm because I had no idea what was going on.

My first mistake was agreeing to go to a money exchange place with her son-in-law because I basically had no idea where I was going until I got there and felt very awkward because I did not need more chilean money so I exchanged my measly $15 american dollars left and mainly enjoyed the trip because he was very nice and spoke slowly to me and answered many of my questions, even if they were in Spanish. Back at the house we enjoyed tea in the early evening which I learned most people have instead of dinner, but Ene is nice and tells me I can always eat leftovers if I am hungry.

For most of the night after she went to bed I spent on a website brushing up on my spanish grammar and phrases because for a reason that is beyond me I did not think to do so BEFORE entering a spanish-speaking country. I did not sleep until late because I had so many things to be excited and nervous about. I ended the day with a little bit of doubt in my spanish skills but some sleep was in order to rest my brain and process all that is ahead.