First Day at the University

This morning I took "el metro" with my host mom to the university, which they call "La Católica" here. The full name is the "Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso." Taking the metro was WAY easier than I thought it would be. I'm a little nervous about doing it on my own tomorrow, especially because I'm not totally sure how to put more money on my card by myself. My host mom helped me out today, haha. I'm really excited though because my close friends here, Rachael and Taryne, live super close to me so we can do it all together.

This is the courtyard of my university! Very, very cool. 

We had a nice welcome session with the staff for international students at the university here in the morning. Then we had to take a language proficiency test to determine our placement for classes here. I was a little nervous about that, but I ended up in all the classes I wanted, which is great! I'll be taking Latin American Film and Literature and Chilean Conversation and Culture. They should be really interesting classes! We start tomorrow, and we're really only in class for 3 hours a day, which is less than I thought it would be. 

This is the view of my university from the terrace on top of the ISA office. Gorgeous!

The rest of the day was dedicated to tours around the university and surrounding areas. They gave us usernames and passwords to the computer and internet there. We also learned where to go in case of an earthquake or tsunami (don't worry mom!). They showed us how to get to the ocean, as well, which was very cool. 

My host mom and sister picked me up from the ISA office at about 4:30, and we went back to our house. María José held my hand the entire way back; it was adorable. I Skyped with my parents and Jacob a little bit before having dinner with my host family. Then I just hung out and chatted with them for a bit. I'm currently preparing to start classes tomorrow by organizing all my stuff. Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you.