I'm going to quickly run out of creative titles. . .

Today was a looong day that started out very so-so, but turned out well. I had to wake up wayyyyy too early when it was still dark to meet my half of the group at a metro station about 45 minutes from my house by 815 to go register our visas and apply for our chilean identification cards before class at 2. After 3.5 hours in line at what I assume to be the Chilean equivalent to the DMV, I got to the front of the line and the woman told me I was missing a copy of something, so I had to walk around the corner, make a copy, and return to her. So I did, but what do you know when I get back she's not there! So I waited for a while, and then asked the other woman working right next to her who turned out to be incredibly unpleasant, like possibly the most unpleasant worker I have ever witnessed. I asked her if the lady I was waiting for was going to return and all she would say was, "Si va a volver. Va a volver. No puedo ayudarte. Necesito ayudar esas personas." in a very rude way. This was also very stupid because she was, at this point, not helping anyone and could have very easily helped me. Dumb. So, that was incredibly frustrating especially since I had been feeling a little homesick already and then had to deal with that frustration. Eventually, the lady I was waiting for returned, processed my papers, I got my fingerprints taken, and we were good to go. Mind you, at this point it is 1:50, and our class that is minimum 40 minutes away starts at 2. Luckily, one of the program directors had told us that today, this process took priority and to just get it done, regardless of whether we were late to class (and boy were we!).

An upside of a 3.5 hour line, is it gives you a chance to talk to people. I've gotten to know a lot of people a lot better today, which has helped a lot with the part of me that was really missing home this morning. Tonight I went over to a friend, Lauren's, house which is about 5 blocks from mine and we had some soda and talked on the balcony for a while. It was really nice to just talk and get to know someone, and it turned out we shared a lot of the same worries and excitements, which kind of put me at ease.

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Gina and our friends Lindsey and Christine to go into the center of the city of some of the mercados that sell fruit, clothes, etc. It will be fun to adventure into the city, since there's SO much of it I have yet to see! I've gotten to know my little portion of the city fairly well, but there is SO SO SO much more! I think we are also going to the LAN (Latin American Airlines) office tomorrow morning to get more information of plane tickets to Punta Arenas and Buenos Aires! EEK! And then tomorrow night, we have a dinner thing with our groups and our cultural monitors, so it will be a full day of socializing, with a 4 hour class stuck in.

I do need to figure out a better solution for lunch. Most host families seem to be packing their students lunches and mine doesn't, but maybe I'll just ask, or make my own. I'm growing to like my host mom more and more, and keeping the option open of remaining here for at least and extra month, if not for the duration. I'm not going to make a decision on that for another week or so, which is perfect since I will soon have a live in homestay sister when her 19 year old daughter returns from vacation on saturday!

So, today started out a little bit rough but I am ending it with excitement and drive. I just need to put myself out there and socialize, and this'll be great! I miss everyone so much, especially my parents, but it's manageable and I am going to turn that energy into drive to take advantage of all the opportunities I'm presented with and HAVE FUN!

Chao!