No tengo una cabeza! (I don't have a head!)

Well. Holy cow. I am in Santiago. The reality of this still has not sunk in. You would have thought it would hit me as I waved goodbye to the Rocky Mountains...or when I flew in to the Atlanta Airport...Or even as we flew in to the Santiago airport past the HUGE snowcovered Andes mountains...Nope. Still hasn't hit me. I'm seriously going to wake up tomorrow and think I'm in Colorado. But I'm not. HOLY CRAP. The plane ride was good. My good friend Geneva got hit on by a creepy old male flight attendant. He asked her, "Would you like some coffee or tea?" Geneva thought he asked her: "Where do you want it?" And he said, "Well I can show you where if you're a naughty girl." WHAT?????!!! Who the heck says something like that??? Needless to say we were completely creeped out. Customs wasn't so bad--except I forgot my immigration sheets on the plane. Silly me. Rachel forgetting things. What a concept. Thankfully, this awesome lady helped me get another copy of the papers. I was joking with her and said, "No tengo una cabeza!" Which was an attempt at saying, "I forgot my head today." In spanish that translates to: "I don't have a head." Yeah. I got a courtesy laugh. And I'm sure the whole of Chile now thinks I'm crazy. Sweet. Haha. It's surprisingly warm here! We ate at a cool restaurante right near our hotel--got some fettuchini alfredo (it was one of two options). Pretty good if I do say so myself. Learned a couple new words: quesillo, which is a kind of soft mozzerella cheese, and palmito, which is kind of like an artichoke/beet. Also, I got asked if I wanted agua 'sin gas' or 'con gas' (as in with or without gas). Had NO clue what that meant--turns out agua CON gas=carbonated water. ew. gross. haha. Went to a beautiful religious site celebrating the Immaculate Conception. I guess it was the tallest of the Andes mountains left and the residents of Santiago decided to build a shrine there to the Immaculate Conception. It was absolutely beautiful. So peacefull, and the views of the Andes were incredible! Massive snow covered mountains just jutting into the skyp. I couldn't believe it. Rode the funicular (cable car) down from the site in the SAME CAR that JPII rode in when he came to the site to celebrate mass! SO. COOL. Interested to see what tomorrow will bring. Need to get some sleep tho, because I iz pooped. Love you all! Ciao for now! Rach

The beginning of it all...AHHH!

Hola amigos! I'm off to CHILE!...In like two days, but still. Thought I'd go ahead and get this all set up so y'all can follow me on my grand adventure to the land of the Andes! I will be in Valparaiso (which is on the coast) about 30ish minutes from Santiago, that capital of Chile, studying abroad for about 6 months. (HOLY CRAP.) I'd love to have all of you along for the ride! Comment, post, e-mail me. Vatevah! LOVE YOU ALL! Ciao! Rach