arrival

Posting from Santiago! Annie and I arrived this morning without incident. Actually, it was such a good trip that it left me suspicious that something was amiss. How could airline travel be this easy? After meeting up in Miami, Annie brought me into the Admiral's Club where she had spent the day (her plans to visit the new gym in the Miami airport: http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/business-trip-airport-exercise/1/ were foiled by construction). I'm pretty sure that this was my first time in an airline lounge and as usual, it turns out I like places that pamper me. The free alcohol was abundant, as were wireless and printers, coffee and apples. After sending our Chile school itinerary to the printer (too bad we never picked it up!) we found a comfy spot to sit, drink wine, and catch up.
On to the plane where Annie had gotten us bulkhead seats (the wonders of traveling with a consultant). More wine followed, along with more chatting, and then we fell asleep. We woke up to airplane breakfast and coffee... not nearly as satisfying as the first episode of "Royal Pains" which was hilarious because of how bad it was (acting, writing and plotline).
Soon enough we were off the plane and in a van on our way into Santiago! We were greeted in the house by Tia Lucy, the woman who takes care of our house. She is very sweet and helpful, and most importantly speaks very patient Spanish. Our house in Providencia (a nice middle-class neighborhood) is really cute. It's old, so everything creaks and the heat is not so great, but charming. As you can see from the pictures, my room is adorable but hopefully I won't be spending tons of time in it!
After settling in and napping, Annie and I headed out to explore and grab lunch. We walked along Av Providencia - the main thoroughfare in the 'hood and got a sense of the place. We stopped into a small market on our way home and got cereal, milk and fruit so we could eat breakfast in the house. The fruits and vegetables have all been delicious, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised! In the early evening we walked towards downtown along a beautiful park that runs through the city, and explored the area closer to downtown. The center of the city (where downtown, Providencia and another neighborhood, Bellavista are) seems very nice, relatively clean, and safe. We definitely lucked out b/c I don't think that this is the case throughout the whole city. There is nothing particularly special about the city - it sort of just reminds me of European cities with the obligatory mix of 19th century structures alongside 1970's monstrosities and some modern stuff. The only sad thing is that there are lots ofstray dogs (and the population is growing as people put out their dogs b/c they can't afford them), but as Annie points out they look well-fed so I shouldn't be too upset. In fact, in our neighborhood we saw dog food put out on the street for them.
So, after a day of exploring I got back at 10:30 and fell into bed. Tomorrow is my first day of class (but first a placement test - yikes!).

Hasta luego!

co