6 weeks ago today I left my life in Milwaukee behind.

It's hard to imagine that only 6 weeks ago I left my home town and made my way down to Santiago, Chile. In all honesty it feels like I have been here for months, just just a mere 6 weeks. In the beginning I got pretty home sick, not gonna lie, I missed everyone in home, knowing where I was going, and just home itself. But now I've been slowly getting used to the differences between here and home. I've also started meeting some more amazing people from all over the place! I've also made the realization that I might not ever see some of them after this semester, so I have to make the most of the time we have together. I hope that's not so, and I can go visit each of them in their own country someday, but you never know what the future will bring. I also never know if I am ever going to make it back down here again, so a lot of traveling is on my agenda for the next few months..

I'm kinda stealing this idea from Doug, but oh well... After being here for sometime, I've started to see some cultural differences between Chile and the US. For example down here every thing is done later.. you get up later, go to bed later, eat later, go out later with your friends. Chileans usually don't start going out until 11pm or 12am sometimes.. and it's not unusual to get home at 5am. Some discotecas are open for 24 hours because a lot of Chileans love to dance!

To me down here, the concept of time isn't as important as in the States. Before I came here I was always checking my phone, seeing how long it would take me to get somewhere, or just wanting to know the time in general. Here it's different. Classes never start early they usually start a few minutes late.. and no one is ever in the classroom before the time the class actually starts. It's just soo laid back here, like if you're a few minutes late, thats ok it's not the end of the world. So I have to be careful when I get back to the States when everything is done at it's exact time.

Salt is a major thing down here. When you're down here you'll see Chileans put salt on everything.. even if it already has a bunch of salt on it. Besides the salt usage I love that salads here! Instead of being just lettuce and whatever else you put on it, it's tomatoes and avocados with vinegar and oil! Coming to Chile has made me realize my passion for avocados! I just absolutely love them and we eat them at almost every dinner. Oh and there's no ranch.. so If you come to Chile and you can't live without your bottle of Hidden Valley, you might want to tuck that into your suitcase along with some Jiff or other peanut butter because boy is peanut butter expensive here. I think i bought a jar of it here for 4 or 5 dollars.

I don't know if this is just me, but when you sneeze here, no one says salud or what ever the equivalent is to God bless you in Chilean Spanish. It's kinda weird not hearing someone say Bless you when you do actually sneeze...

Having no heat took me a while to get used to too.. Only the really wealthy people here have actual heat.. most people have estufas or portable heaters.. Besides my body going through a shock from summer to winter in less than 24 hours, it took a little while to get used to having a lot of layers on and always wearing shoes or slippers.. So future travelers that come to Chile in the winter, don't be afraid to pack those wool socks and/or slippers.. You won't regret it!

Hmm... that's all I can think of right now.. Other than that nothing too exciting is happening here.. lots to read for my lit class, which I should probably go finish since we're talking about it tomorrow..

Then next post should be more interesting. I'm going to Valdivia this weekend! My host sister says its so pretty and incredible! I just hope the weather is nice! and I hope I can run into one of my friends that I met in Dallas! Erin goes to school down there! So Chao til next time!

<3 Leslie