Arrival in Chile and Argentina!

Just a note: I'm writing this on Sunday, 14, July, in order to catch everyone up on all that happened in the past four (only four??) days.

Friday, 12 July

When the plane landed in Chile at 6:55am, it was very foggy and pitch black.  I thought the fog might lift when the sun rose and it did after a long while.  It was clear in time for our departure flight to Cordoba at 9:25am.

While in the Santiago airport, our group of study abroad-ers found another group of students who were in our program.  That's when I met my roommate, Nancy Reynolds.  Evidently she had Facebook stalked me and knew what I looked like because once that group found out we were studying abroad with them, one girl shot out of her chair and ran towards me exclaiming, "Jessica!" and she gave me a hug.  I think I just responded with a, "Hi?" and that was when she stalked me and introduced herself as my roommate. ...No worries though; she's not a creeper.

It was very hard to stay awake for those two hours but we were all so excited when we were called to board.  When I sat down in my assigned window seat I thought, "Oh Lord, this is it.  This is real."  The flight to Cordoba was short (an hour and a half) but it was totally awesome.  We flew over the Andes mountains and that was absolutely fantastic!  They are beautiful!

The Andes Mountains

Our flight touched down in Cordoba at 11:50am local time (10:50am in Indiana).  After breathing my first breath of Argentinian air, I took my first run through customs.  It was a little intimidating but I didn't have any problems.  My luggage didn't get lost either so that's a plus.  We were met at the airport by the two Spanish Studies Abroad directors, Alejandra and Vicky.  They told us we would need to meet at the University Saturday at 9:30am and helped us hail a taxi which took us to our new homes.

Nancy and I were a bit alarmed by our taxi ride to the Cavallone residence as there don't seem to be any rules to driving on the road unless you by chance come upon a street light.  (I think there are more in the center of the city but in our neighborhood I've seen maybe two.)  I was very nervous on the way to meet our host family and neither Nancy nor myself knew what to say when we got there.  Nonetheless, once the taxi driver dropped us off (note: in Argentina, you don't tip cab drivers) we walked up and knocked on what we thought was the front door.  It ended up being the garage door but Gabi, our mother, heard us and opened the front door.  She greeted us with a giant smile and a kiss on the cheek (as is the custom in Argentina).  Everyone kisses everyone whether it's man to man, woman to woman, or stranger to stranger.

Gabi told us her twelve-year-old son, Yaco, was at the theater with his grandfather but he would be there later.  Gabi's mother was visiting from a town an hour away and she greeted us in the same way as Gabi.  Gabi showed us to our room and we immediately began to unpack.  After a bit, we went downstairs to the kitchen and chatted with Gabi and her mother.  We also tried mate for the first time.  Mate is a tea drink that is very typical here in Argentina.  Everyone and their brother drinks mate here.  Before I came here I was hoping that I'd like it because it's such a large part of the culture here; however...something about it kind of tastes like coffee to me and I don't like coffee.  I think I could finish a cup but I'll have to get used to it.

Mate (Credit: alu.ua.es)

After chatting, Nancy and I went up to our room and crashed.  For two hours I think we were both dead to the world.  It was around 8:00pm when we woke up and not long after, Yaco knocked on our door and introduced himself.  Gabi made dinner at 9:00pm (which I guess is sort of early here) which consisted of pasta and maybe some cheese and something that was orange and chopped and had some other vegetables in it.  I wish I knew the name of it but I didn't think to ask.  Not too long after dinner, Nancy and I went back to our room and I think I was in bed at 11:30pm.

It was a great day and I was exhausted, that's for sure.  I was certainly ready for that bed.

Abrazos,

Jessica