Recap of the past 2 weeks

I left Austin on January 5th and the next thing I knew I was laying poolside surrounded by eucaliptus trees, flowers and plum trees with a great view of the mountains. I proceeded to get sunburned, and if the first day was any indication the sunburn will be a reoccurring theme (sorry, mom). But the simple fact that the skies were deep blue and it was 85 degrees was proof enough that skipping out on winter this year was a great idea!
Santiago is beautiful! The downtown area is a mix of old and new, where you can have a 16th century monestary and a gleaming skyscraper right next door. There are 7 million people here and the only time I feel it is when I ride the metro and we are all squished in there like sardines. Good-bye, any perception of personal space (my solution is to wear big sunglasses). But so far the metro has been fun and it's a really convenient way to get around the city. The area where my university is located is so gorgeous. It is in the area of Santiago that used to be where all of the rich families lived, so the street is lined with mansions which have now been converted into the school buildings. I even found a delicious vegetarian restaurant close by where you can get a foux burger or fajita and fresh squeezed juice for 2 dollars.
My classes are all in spanish, and amazingly I can understand (almost) everything they say! Now note that the professors make a point to speak slowly and in "normal" spanish - versus the infamous Chilean Spanish. I guess I had heard that their Spanish was difficult to understand, but I didn't realize how difficult. I am constantly wondering if they are even speaking Spanish at all... it can get very frustrating but after 2 weeks I'm getting a little better. Here are some new words- boyfriend=pololo, cachai=get it?, bacan=awesome, harto=alot, palta=avocado, que te tinka= what do you feel like doing?...... now imagine every word being replaced with something equally as strange and repeated 10 times faster. that would be the easy version of Chilean. Anyway I'm sure I will have lots more to say on the language front, but my classes are all great. I'm taking literature (we are currently reading La Amortajada by Maria Luisa Bombal), cinema (just finished watching the Motorcycle Diaries- which made me want to do a Vespa Diaries), art (we visit a different museum every week), and women in society (starting with the colonial era). I am enjoying them all!
My host family is great, the mom, monica is very outgoing and sweet, the dad is quieter and more reserved, and the brothers are both very nice and call me their hermana.
I've gone to the beach the past 2 weekends, and it looks as if we are heading there again this weekend! The water is deep blue and freezing, but very refreshing. It's actually colder than Barton Springs. The drive from Santiago to the beach takes you through the vinyards and it reminds me very much of Napa Valley... so pretty!!
So, the past two weeks have flown by, and I'm looking forward to whatever comes next!!