There Can Be Only One (Father)!

While I was telling them all about my family, they asked how old my parents were. Accidentally, I said my dad was 500 years old instead of 50. With incredulous faces, they responded, "No, en serio? Five-hundred? Es como el Highlander!" So from now on, my father shall forever be remembered here as the Highlander-Daddy! Lol

Meeting the Family

When we arrived back at the Hotel Acacias de Vitacura on Saturday, our host families were already waiting for us in the lobby. I gathered my suitcase and two bags, and took off with my host-mom, Ana Maria Silva. On the way over, I learned a little about the family and where they live.

The Paredes-Silva family has been hosting study abroad students for years now,and just recruited the neighbors across the street to do so too. The other host-mom is named Olga, and her home-stay daughter from USAC is Lena. As I prefer to go by Elena as my Spanish name, this may end up being confusing!

The Paredes-Silva family comprises of the mom, Ana Maria Silva, the dad, Jorge Paredes, and two daughters, Anea Silva and Macarena (or Maca for short) Paredes-Silva. Jorge Paredes is an accountant and does a lot of programming. When I saw him using Ubuntu on on of the computers at the house, I asked him about it, and he was amazed, saying I was only the second person out of all the students they have hosted who was familiar with the operating system. Ana Maria is a stay-at-home mom, and used to be an English teacher; now she just does private lessons.

Anea, age 22, is studying music at la Universidad Catolica, and is a choral director. Maca, soon to be 21, studied mathematics at Universidad Catolica for three years, but gave up on it due to a lack of job opportunities. In Hispanic countries, what you study is what you plan on doing for a living, and there was simply nothing that she wanted as a job in pure mathematics. When the assistant director saw my housing application, with my mathematics major and participation in music, she thought immediately of the Paredes-Silva family, because of the common interests that the daughters and I share.

The house in in Nunoa, one of the many neighborhoods in Santiago. To get to my classes from here is an hour-long trip on the metro. Luckily, my classes start at 9:30 AM each day, so I have plenty of time to spare if I leave from 8 to 8:15 with my metro-buddy, Lena.
Nunoa is immediately east of downtown Santiago. The USAC classes are on the west-border of Santiago and Estacion Central.

Getting to Know You (Santiago Version)

I arrived in Chile on May 17th at about 7:45 in the morning. Even though it landed fifteen minutes early, our red-eye flight from Dallas had to wait on the tarmac before taxiing into the gate because of a thick fog over the airport. Visas and customs went smoothly enough, though one girl was stopped because she didn't have a student visa, only a traveler's visa. Our program is only for 70 days, and a traveler's visa is good for 90, whereas a student visa is meant for those who are staying an entire school year.She was able to get it sorted out, luckily, and we were on our way.

Our first night, we stayed at the Hotel Acacias de Vitacura so everyone could attend the orientation in one of the meeting rooms. The class schedules were handed out, and the director reviewed the schedule for the next few days concerning meeting our host families and etc. Afterward, the assistant directors put us through a crash course in Chilean culture. 

Picture of the front entrance of the hotel from http://www.hotelacacias.cl/ .

The following day, Saturday, everyone was loaded on a tour bus to take us on a quick trip around the city. The director acted as a guide, pointing out things on our left or right that were of historical or cultural importance. We stopped only twice, once at the Andres Bello University, where we will have our classes, and  once at the Plaza de Armas, where there was a Catholic church that we could visit. The church was very beautiful and grand. My mom, as a fourth grade teacher in California, always dragged my family around to the different missions established by Father Junipero Sierra along El Camino Real; the fancier churches of these had painted plaster on the walls, and a painted wooden pulpit for the preacher to stand in. The one at the Plaza was beautifully ornate and enormous compared to any that I had seen in the missions, and blew me away at first. 

Picture of the Plaza de Armas, facing the church, from http://www.arqhys.com/construccion/plaza-armas-santiago.html .

Yes, I know I am lame for not taking my own photos, but at the time I had no batteries for my camera. I promise I will be better!