Dia 1

I slept for like 12 hours. I guess I was tired. I slept through a large thunderstorm and a baby crying on an off apparently. Those earplugs really work haha. The food here continues to impress me. I had some fresh squeezed orange juice with home-made yogurt and granola for breakfast.

Today I really didn't do much at all. I got to know the host family a bit more and tried to get more used to how they live here. But lunch at 1 and dinner after 9 will always be difficult for me I think. I watched some TV in Spanish and understood nearly none of it, they talk really fast on the TV, but the commercials here are hilarious.  Tomorrow I go see the University for the first time. How exciting!
I got a picture of Betty with Lorenda (maybe thats her name?, they always say it so fast)

Betty and Lorenda

I am so enjoying the weather here, it was extra humid today from the storm last night so it felt nice and warm. It will be interesting to see how long it feels like I'm on vacation here. Because, since I associate vacation with weather different from home, and its hot here and cold at home, it still feels like vacation.

And my new favorite discovery: netflix works here. And it has spanish subtitles so i can be learning spanish at the same time.

En Cordoba, finalmente

Well I did finally make it. Ryan (the other Clemson student I met in Santiago) and I made it through customs only 4 hours late. It was a long wait. But I am happy to be here. This city is so big compared to what I'm used to. I am no where close to used to 2 million people in a city. As the plane was landing in Cordoba, it took a 360 before landing so I got to see most of the city from an air view.

The Andes

Ryan not knocking over the extra long fire extinguisher

On the drive to my new residence I did get to see a bit more. I cant wait to explore some tomorrow during daylight hours. But I was just not ready to go out tonight with a bunch of students, I just needed a shower, some dinner, and now I am pretty much ready for bed. But before I crawl into my bed, I thought I would share a bit about whose here. So Betty, my host, is very nice and very accommodating which is wonderful. Adriana, her daughter, is also living here and she is really friendly and wants to practice her English with me, I just have to be sure I am practicing enough Spanish while here though, I don't want to end up relying on English too much. And her daughter, whose name I cannot understand in the slightest is 15 months and absolutely adorable (and she is still up and its nearly midnight here, they just live a different schedule here).

Adriana y su bebe

Dinner was excellent; it was exactly what I hoped food here would be like. We had pan fried pork, rice with eggplant, and an interesting potato dish with tomatoes and carrots and onions. It was healthy, and filling, and most importantly, gluten free :)

I have my own little room with some shelves and a closet, and I have even put half my stuff away already! I keep second guessing myself with the water taps, since they say C and F which is calor and frio but I see C and think cold but im used to cold on the right and hot on the left, but the water taps in this house are just whatever the water feels like doing, sometimes its hot, sometimes its cold when you turn the right tap. Which made my shower very interesting haha.

And now I'm going to bed to the sound and smell of a late summer thunderstorm. (Oh, and I'm LOVING the heat)

Y más Santiago

Well my luck ran out after those last two flights. I was sitting next to a wiggly child, in front of a kicking child, behind a seat that was way leaned back, and across the isle was a screaming child. I was like i can handle this for an hour and a half. And then they announced a one hour delay. Que malo! Also my phone was almost dead and I was out of wifi connection. But I was almost there! On the plus side, it gave me lots of time to read my customs declaration form in complete detail. Did you know that you have to declare if you are bringing semen into the country?
And then they kicked us off the plane for an indefinite delay. Well that's 3 for 3 for me for getting flights delayed. Another plus side: the view from the airport is incredible.

Inside the airport I was fine, but on the plane...

Bienvenido a Santiago

Well I made my connection which was very nice. I think they delayed the plane just for me haha. But i am happy to be in Santiago. I have been pretty lucky so far, other than the initial delay. I've had 2 seats to myself on both flights and that definitely made a difference for an overnight flight. Not that I got much sleep but still I at least got some.
Now I'm sitting looking at the Andes, which are a complete contrast to the Appalachians I'm used to. I'm looking forward to landing in cordoba and exploring!

In the center of this picture there is a bird. There were just birds hopping all around the floor of the Santiago airport. 

View from the window of the plane

Off to a Slow Start

Soooo, I get to the Huntsville Airport at like 4, check in for my 5:20 flight, everything is ready to go and then I overhear the conversation between the young army men sitting next to me: the flight is delayed 2 hours. And my connection was 2 hours, there is no way I'm going to make this connection. But hopefully in the next 2 days I will make it to Cordoba, Argentina; to the warm, late summer days of the southern hemisphere. My change in travel plans has not dampened my excitement to finally go below the equator (and see the water drain spiral in the other direction)! I just get to spend some quality time on the Huntsville Airport floor, really its not that bad - I have wifi. And I packed a change of clothes in my carry on just in case. My guess is I will need those, but I'm still hoping my connecting flight out of Dallas will be delayed too so that I can still make the connection.
While delays may not start my exciting adventure the way I wanted to, they still are an exciting adventure. Watching everyone's reaction is nearly enough entertainment to get through the delay. Those army men (previously mentioned) had some ... entertaining thoughts on the delays. I think they are really ready to go home. And it really cool to see how people bond during this time. It's like, now that people know they are stuck with these people for a while longer in the endless joys of travel, they can commiserate together and provide, at the least, companionship for each other.
But that is enough of my people watching and rambling for my first post on a blog about Argentina, in which I haven't even made it to Argentina.