The First Real Day

So today I was a tourista about town!

Mindy, Kate, Katherine, Frashita and I woke up and enjoyed the carbalicious free breakfast that the hostel provided at the restaurant next door – a hard roll and a croissant with café con leche. We bought some groceries, which were incredibly cheap. A liter and a half of water is only 13 euro cents! After dropping off our purchaces, we wanted to see the Cathedral, and Katherine who had gotten lost getting there the day before, fearlessly led us in several correct directions.

Santiago, from where we are staying, doesn’t look any different than any other city. There are farmacias everywhere, marked clearly by the flashing green neon crosses. The closer we got to the cathedral, the more European the city started to become. The streets became narrower with cobble stone and suddenly it was like walking into a movie.

Not everything was picture perfect. There were some dirty looking buildings...

Graffiti...(but at least it wasn't threating, despite the anarchy and ambiguous use of some sort of tobacco (wacky or otherwise) the person still finds a reason to smile)

And mullets.

We made it to the Cathedral and it was breathtaking. No pictures I took really do it any credit, the ones inside all turned out dark and there really is no way to capture the dimensions of it in a picture. But trust me, it was really something to see. (note the altar, it was solid gold)

This was above the altar....creepy!

Who are we kidding, I really embraced the tourista thing!

On the way back we noticed all of the sales. Kate and Fro bought two really cute jackets, i wanted to get one too but nothing fit.




We got back to the hostel and got a moment to catch our breath before we had an orientation where we got insurance cards, our class schedule, and more reassurance about finding an apartment which we'll get another orientation about tomorrow.

After the orientation, I decided to be brave and go do some more searching for a sim card (in typical Valerie fashion, I am without a phone and it makes me nervous, the others make fun of me but i would like one ASAP) alone. The place I needed to go to was closed, and so i found a bookstore and spoke to the owner about getting a book. I told him I was an English speaker (no need to broadcast that I am an American) and wanted something. At first he pulled out a few learning spanish books, but after I was able to communicate to him that I was a student and wanted something authentically Spanish he recomended La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafron. I have no idea what it is about, but I was so pleased that I was able to relate in Spanish to another Spanish speaker what I wanted that I bought it as a victory prize.

Well I am off! Lots of people just piled into my room because Mindy got the KU game over the internet and suddenly I am in party central.

Hasta luego!